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The Importance of Holistic Healing

Written by enlightened solutions on . Posted in Alternative Therapy, Recovery. Leave a Comment

Sometimes when we’re dealing with mental health issues and addictions, we tend to focus on treating symptoms rather than addressing the underlying root causes. Sometimes our treatment options are temporary quick fixes rather than long-term healing solutions. What we perceive as mental health problems often also have spiritual, physical and emotional causes. Transforming our lives in real ways requires working with our whole selves to get to the root of those causes and find ways to heal that work for us on a deep level.

We carry within us all of our fears, insecurities and pain, our traumatic experiences and limiting beliefs. All of our coping mechanisms, avoidance strategies, distractions, addictive behaviors and negative self-talk take us away from facing our fears and our pain, all of which only exacerbate them. When we try to slap band-aids over the gaping wounds, we don’t actually heal the wounds. We might delay having to face them, but eventually they catch up with us, sometimes in drastic and catastrophic ways. For example, the hurtful relationship patterns you’ve continued over the years catch up with you, and you’re left devastated and hopeless. The painful thought patterns you’ve tortured yourself with for years are worsening, causing worse depressions, anxiety, insomnia and addictive behaviors. To get to the root of it all, holistic healing brings together the mind, body, heart, soul and spirit to achieve real healing that is powerful and transformative.

When we do the difficult work, we’re going to dig up some very painful stuff: our deepest fears, our most painful shame, our biggest regrets, buried memories, unresolved issues, unhealed trauma.

To heal on a deep level, we have to move past our minds and work with our whole selves: our chakras, or energy centers; our bodies and the trauma we store within; our hearts which hold the capacity for love, self-love and forgiveness; our souls- our unique gifts, talents, stories and dreams, who we truly are deep down under all the different ways we identify ourselves as people- and our spirits, our connections to a higher power and that power within us. Meditation, breathing exercises, affirmations, writing, practicing gratitude and self-care, and spending time in nature are a few examples of holistic healing that have helped people tremendously and that you can learn and implement in your own recovery.

Discover more about yourself, work to uncover what’s been holding you back, and learn how to move forward. Enlightened Solutions is here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Self-Care for Healing and Recovery: Spiritual Practice and Journaling

Written by enlightened solutions on . Posted in Alternative Therapy, Recovery. Leave a Comment

Many of us sacrifice self-care, and for various reasons. We might feel the demands of our families and jobs leave no time for self-care. We might be so depressed we don’t have the energy to be good to ourselves. Whatever the reason, we can start by setting the intention to love ourselves more and take better care of ourselves. Prioritizing our wellbeing mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually, is so important for healing from mental illness and recovering from addiction. As we heal, we learn that the mental component is only one of many factors. Holistic healing, working with ourselves as whole people not just our mental illness or addiction, can bring about deep transformation. Here are some ways you can practice self-care.

Spiritual Practice

You have the freedom of developing your own spiritual practice so that it’s personally helpful and therapeutic for you, and there are countless ways to connect to your higher power, and to the higher power manifested within you. You can create an altar where you meditate or pray, with sacred pieces, crystals, candles, oracle cards, journals, mementos, symbols- anything with which you have a personal or spiritual connection. You can use anything you want for your altar: rocks or sea glass from your favorite beach, gifts or cards from loved ones, photos, inspirational quotes. Decorate it with your favorite colors, spiritual symbols and images. Make it a practice to commit to spending time with your altar, communicating with your spirit guides and angels, your higher power, your ancestors, with yourself.

Journaling

Writing helps us to connect with our inner voice, process our emotions, and allow our energy to flow. Write about anything you feel moved to: the things and people you’re grateful for in your life, the emotional challenges you’re facing, the regrets you’re having trouble forgiving. As you connect with yourself and your higher power, solutions for healing will open up to you. You might receive the inspiration to talk to someone who gives you amazing guidance. You might feel called to be of service and help someone else. You might find that sharing your story helps someone else going through something similar. Writing is one way to connect to our inner wisdom, to share of ourselves, to help others, to learn, and to heal.

The mind is only one part of mental illness and addiction. Holistic healing can make all the difference. Let Enlightened Solutions help you discover what helps you heal. Call (833) 801-LIVE

Obsessive Thoughts and Addiction – It’s All Connected

Written by enlightened solutions on . Posted in Addiction, Mental Health. Leave a Comment

Obsessing, and the related anxiety disorder Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, can be extremely difficult to deal with. While OCD is often associated with people needing to wash their hands a lot or needing to check a lock a certain number of times, there are countless different issues people obsess about: relationships, worries, conflicts, fears, phobias, violence, death.

If we break it down, obsessing is essentially our fears coming at us constantly, on repeat. Our subconscious mind, which stores our fears and memories, creates certain mental associations and triggers that set off fear responses in us. Our minds latch onto them and we develop thought addictions. We often respond to these thought addictions with fear, anxiety, anger, shame, and sadness, which only compound them and make them worse. We are filled with so much fear that we might feel it in physical ways: nervous energy, tightness in the chest, crying, panic attacks. Sometimes the obsessive thoughts can be so troubling, so intense, and so pervasive that people consider suicide just to escape the pain in their minds.

We tend to consume ourselves with the subjects of our obsessions rather than the underlying fears causing us to obsess in the first place. We become preoccupied with what our partner said in a fight, or what someone said on social media. Maybe we become consumed with the mistake we made at work last week, or how embarrassed we were a few years ago, and we just can’t seem to let it go. We obsess about our partners and their exes, we obsess about people we feel threatened by, some of us even obsess about celebrities we’ve never met. Sometimes our obsessing lasts hours, sometimes years. Some of us battle the disorder for most of our lives.

Many people develop compulsions that we feel we have to perform, sometimes to help alleviate the anxiety, sometimes to create more fear and anxiety for ourselves because we are subconsciously self-hating and self-destructive. Many of us develop addictions and engage in addictive behaviors, often to escape the inner demons we’re obsessed with. We use our drugs of choice- alcohol, drugs, sex, relationships, food, video games etc. to distract ourselves from the pain and try to numb it. Sometimes we’re addicted to the pain, and that can be part of the vicious, self-destructive cycle. Sometimes we’re conscious of how this all works together within us, often we’re not.

It is super important for our healing journeys to begin to explore our thoughts and behaviors, and to try to have a deeper understanding of the ways our mental health functions in our lives.

Our mental health issues and addictions are interconnected and related. Let the community at Enlightened Solutions help you start to sort it all out. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

The Shame Spiral: How Guilt and Shame Fuel Addiction

Written by enlightened solutions on . Posted in Addiction, Recovery. Leave a Comment

The conversation around addiction and addiction treatment has been a multifaceted and complex one over the years. While some would assert that addiction is a disease with genetic predisposition, others maintain that addiction can result from severe trauma. With all of the differing causes and manifestations of addiction, one thing many addicts have in common is the prevailing sense of shame that consumes them- both shame for their addictive behaviors and the pain they cause, and shame for the traumatic events that may have contributed to their addiction in the first place.

Addiction can take on many forms, including a dependence on, and dangerous overuse of, alcohol and narcotics, gambling, love and sex, cigarettes, etc. It can also be an over-reliance on seemingly innocuous things such as work and exercise. Addiction can involve anything one might use in self-destructive ways in order to escape his or her pain and fear.

Human nature has some universal truths, and shame is one of them. Guilt has to do with remorse for particular incidents, while shame morphs that guilt and remorse into an all-encompassing sense of unworthiness and low self-esteem. Shame can come from anywhere. A parent or caregiver might blame a child excessively for the family’s troubles and convinced him that his behavior was the cause. An addict may have experienced abuse or neglect in childhood, leaving her feeling generally unloved, unsafe and unworthy. Similarly, trauma can come from many sources, from the shock and destabilization of a car accident, to the feeling of abandonment that can come from divorce, separation or death. The pain of being deeply ashamed of oneself can lead an addict to want to run from that pain, choosing a drink or a lover or some other unhealthy behavior instead of safer tools for healing.

Once on the shame spiral, it can be heart wrenchingly difficult to remove oneself. An addict carries shame from his childhood, for example, then engages in addictive behaviors to numb himself from the pain; he hurts himself and others more and more in the process, as shame is compounded exponentially over time. When an alcoholic feels ashamed, her instinct is to drink to feel better. As an addict runs from her shame rather than confronting it head on, she instinctively escapes the pain with the rush of the high from her drug of choice, and thus the shame cycle repeats itself.

The path to healing is different for every addict. One tool for healing everyone can add to their toolbox is simple but not easy, and it involves healing on the spiritual, emotional and mental levels. Forgiveness. Radical forgiveness. Unconditional forgiveness, for yourself and for all of your mistakes and wrongdoings. Forgiveness for those who hurt you, for those who may have contributed to your struggle with addiction over the years, for those who traumatized you and caused you pain. Forgiveness. It feels so much better than the bitterness and resentment. Worlds better than the relentless self-loathing of shame. As you strengthen and heal yourself, place your hand on your heart and meditate on forgiveness.

Forgive yourself. Let Enlightened Solutions help. We provide therapy, mentoring, and friendship. Call (833) 801-LIVE today.

How Running from Our Fears Perpetuates Addiction

Written by enlightened solutions on . Posted in 12 Step Program, Addiction. Leave a Comment

Fear is a part of life, painful but unavoidable. Many people who have experienced trauma have over the years developed an unhealthy relationship with fear. Instead of allowing oneself to feel the fear and move through it in healthy ways, an addict might use different coping strategies to try to escape it. Trauma affects us in deep ways and can contribute to the development of very unhealthy, self-destructive tendencies which can easily become addictions. Running from our fears can happen in many different ways: avoidance, distraction and self-medicating are a few of them.

When battling an addiction or really any major life challenge, the sufferer and those around him or her are often aware of the problem, but because it is so painfully difficult to address, they avoid it instead. An addict might avoid talking about the issue altogether because he is filled with guilt, remorse, regret, shame and embarrassment. His family and friends might avoid addressing the issue with him directly, in order to prevent anything remotely triggering, and to offset the chance of verbal, emotional or physical abuse. The addict himself may avoid thinking about the addiction altogether and find ways to distract himself.

Distracting oneself from the realities of addiction not only perpetuates the original problem but can manifest in additional addictive or cyclical behaviors. A sex addict might drink excessively to distract herself from her pain. An alcoholic might distract his partner with gifts after violent incidents to try to compensate for the abuse.

Similarly, an addict might develop addictive thought patterns, or obsessions, as a subconscious means of distracting herself from the pain. These obsessions can revolve around anything: other people, partners, mistakes we’ve made, past regrets. At the center of these obsessions are deeply rooted fears needing to be addressed, but our minds are often too consumed with, and distracted by, the subjects of our obsessions to be able to do that important healing work.

Unchecked obsessive thought patterns and behaviors can morph into neurosis, which can compound addiction by giving the addict yet another source of pain to try to avoid. For example, a sex addict might become obsessive about his wife’s whereabouts and grow increasingly paranoid that she is having an affair. This is his subconscious mind’s way of distracting him from the real fears that are at the root of his addiction, such as the fear he might cheat, for example.

Another way addicts avoid painful truths and distract themselves is by self-medicating. An addict might overuse sleeping pills not only to help with insomnia but to sleep through the day to avoid the pain of her current reality and to escape the racing thoughts. Similarly, an addict might turn to other drugs, overeat until sick, or binge on TV shows for days on end rather than face responsibilities. One way to describe addiction would be to say we are essentially running from our fears, but eventually, as we know, there comes a point when we can no longer run from ourselves.

Be Brave. We know firsthand how terrifying addiction can be. At Enlightened Solutions, we have personal experience with recovery and can help. Call us today: (833) 801-LIVE.

 

Recovering from a Nervous Breakdown: Climbing Your Way Up from Rock Bottom

Written by enlightened solutions on . Posted in Addiction, Anxiety Disorder, Mental Health, Nervous Breakdown, Recovery. Leave a Comment

A nervous breakdown is a serious breakdown in one’s mental, emotional and spiritual health that can have many different causes and factors, including trauma, lack of sleep and/or bio-chemical imbalances. Anyone who has experienced a serious breakdown knows that in order to truly understand what happened to you and why, you have to dig deep and get to the root of the issues and fully address all of the underlying problems that you might or might not be fully conscious of, in order to find holistic solutions. Here are a few suggestions to help in your healing process.

After a breakdown, you might find yourself having to relearn how to live life. It might sound crazy to anyone who hasn’t experienced a serious depression or mental breakdown, but for those who have, daily routines might feel impossible- even getting out of bed may feel insurmountable. You might wake up every morning in a state of panic, or have chronic insomnia, or both. You might find yourself unable to eat, or to stop crying, or to make the panic subside. You might be filled with persistent anxiety and/or suicidal thoughts.

However your difficulties manifest themselves, you may find yourself having to master the basics of daily life all over again. It can help immeasurably to break things down into small steps and tasks, and walk yourself through them. Make lists of things you want to accomplish, however small they may be: showering, drinking water, exercising, cleaning. Completing even small tasks will give you a sense of accomplishment and will be a step on your journey of recovery.

When seriously depressed, we tend to judge ourselves harshly for being in the state we’re in, for not being able to get out of bed, for not being able to keep our home clean, for missing another day of work. When we are suffering is when we need our compassion and forgiveness the most. Rather than berating yourself, try telling yourself things like “I’m sorry you’re suffering. I love you unconditionally.” This change in your perspective and your self-talk can help to reprogram your subconscious mind over time, to fill yourself with love rather than the self-loathing that can come with depression, and to give you more motivation to make positive, healthy changes for yourself.

When you are down, you might find yourself feeling impatient with your progress or lack thereof. As much as you can, have patience with yourself. You didn’t fall into this hole overnight, and you won’t dig yourself out overnight either. The big changes you need to make in your life will require diligence, energy and time, and the more you can have patience with yourself during this very difficult healing process, the easier it will be to implement those changes.

Finally, and very importantly, get support. A family member, friend, support group, neighbor, even a social media acquaintance can be there to offer support if you are open to receiving it. Let someone know you need help, and then allow yourself the gift of being helped. Try not to feel guilty for needing help. Instead, accept the gift with gratitude, and remind yourself that you, like all of us, deserve help, support and love.

Give yourself the gift of help and support; you deserve it. Enlightened Solutions is here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE today.

A Link Between Addiction and Mental Health- Depression, Anxiety, OCD, etc.  

Written by enlightened solutions on . Posted in Addiction, Mental Health. Leave a Comment

Many addicts suffer from mental health issues, and similarly many of those suffering from mental health problems also struggle with addictions. We tend to think of addiction as a dependence on drugs and alcohol, but people can have addictive relationships to anything from eating, to lying, to shopping, to dating. Just as our behaviors can be addictive, so too can our thought patterns be addictive and obsessive. There are some clear links between addiction and mental health problems, and these are a few of them.

Addicts can be addicted not only to their drug or behavior of choice, but also to ways of thinking that become ingrained in their subconscious minds after years of programming. For example, an alcoholic might have come to believe on a deep level that he is inherently inadequate and unworthy of love. He might create mental and emotional associations between drinking and feeling more confident, extroverted and secure within himself. This thought pattern reinforces and perpetuates the problematic behavior, in this case drinking alcohol, and as he continues to drink, he may feel worse about himself, making him want to drink more, thus continuing the cycle.

A person with chronic depression may have formed thought patterns over the years of self-doubt and self-hatred. As she continues to tell herself stories that she will never reach her goals, or that she is inferior to others around her, she becomes more and more addicted to self-deprecation. Her low self-esteem makes her more depressed, and as our inner world creates our outer world, this can manifest in more circumstances reflecting this belief: financial instability, unhealthy relationships, daily struggles- making her that much more depressed.

Anxiety-sufferers may be addicted to worrying, to pessimism, to jumping to conclusions, or to expecting the worst-case scenario. Those suffering from delusions might compulsively accuse others of silencing or victim-blaming them. Similarly, people can develop different forms of neurosis, such as pathological lying, as coping mechanisms that morph into addictive, compulsive behaviors. Another neurosis, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is essentially an addiction to certain thoughts and behaviors. All of these mental health problems can derail your life, in much the same way addiction can, and all of the above can be a result of our relationship to trauma: how we face our trauma or run from it, how we address it or try to escape it. Do we feel our pain and find healthy ways to heal it, or do we turn to self-destructive coping strategies that ultimately harm us more?

You’re not alone in this. Enlightened Solutions provides recovery treatment, therapy, mentoring, holistic healing and more. Call (833) 801-LIVE to get the support you need.

Self-Hate Manifests Abusive Relationships

Written by enlightened solutions on . Posted in Mental Health, Recovery. Leave a Comment

If we believe that our inner world manifests our outer world, then our thoughts, beliefs and emotions play a huge role in the development of our lives, including our relationships. All our lives we are being fed messages from our surroundings, our families, our teachers and role models, from advertising, from society at large. These messages program our subconscious mind to believe certain things, and for many of us, this programming leads us to develop limiting beliefs about ourselves and the world. A common limiting belief we share as humans is that we are unlovable. Many of us grew to feel this way because we experienced some form of trauma in our lives, such as our families being separated by divorce, violence or death.

Feeling abandoned, or even just the fear of being abandoned, can cause children to believe they are unworthy of being loved. A child’s mind might think, “If I’m lovable, my father would never have left. If I were good enough, my family never would have split up.” Some children blame themselves for their family’s circumstances, and then grow up to be quick to be self-blaming and self-deprecating. Others develop an inadequacy complex, never feeling good enough no matter what, and constantly trying to measure up against the people around them.

When we are deeply unhappy within ourselves, we naturally attract the relationships and circumstances that reflect that unhappiness. When we abuse ourselves inwardly, we attract partners who abuse us. When we are filled with insecurity, we might attract partners who insult us and harp on our insecurities, thereby exacerbating them. We attract partners who tell us we’re not good enough, who abuse us, because we have been conditioned to believe we are inherently unworthy. We choose abuse because subconsciously we feel that is what we deserve.

Our responses to fear and trauma are not usually rational; instead, they manifest out of all the pain we’ve stored within us but haven’t healed from. We might logically think “I would never allow myself to be abused, I would never stay in an abusive relationship” but then find ourselves in the vicious cycles of self-destruction because deep down we don’t genuinely love ourselves. We manifest what we believe we deserve, and when we don’t feel worthy and deserving of love, we attract more people and experiences to prove and compound that sense of unworthiness.

To set ourselves free, to heal, we must choose unconditional self-love. If we want to experience loving relationships, we must first and foremost love ourselves.

We listen, and we understand. Many of us have personal experience with recovery. Enlightened Solutions offers therapy, mentoring, and friendship. Call (833) 801-LIVE today.

Self- Forgiveness

Written by enlightened solutions on . Posted in Mental Health, Recovery. Leave a Comment

A common theme for many addicts and those with mental health problems is the deep shame and guilt we carry, not only because of our past mistakes and wrongdoings, but also from the false beliefs we hold that we aren’t worthy of love and forgiveness. Often when we experience trauma in childhood, we carry within us a persistent sense of inadequacy and unworthiness. We carry our regrets as heavy burdens. We find it increasingly hard to forgive ourselves. We learn over time though, that self-deprecation only adds to our pain, and when we make the important decision to choose happiness and wellness, we know self-forgiveness is a necessary part of our healing.

Being unable to forgive ourselves perpetuates our mental health problems and addictive behaviors. Having self-forgiveness can feel daunting, even impossible, especially when we have been carrying around years of embarrassment, regret, guilt and shame, sometimes for most of our lives. The practice and process of self-forgiveness, and extending unconditional love to ourselves, can be quite liberating and can really help us to heal from our mental and emotional challenges and addictions.

When we are suffering, we tend to be unreasonably hard on ourselves. We beat ourselves up for lacking motivation when we are depressed, we criticize ourselves harshly when we neglect self-care, and we judge ourselves harshly for our mistakes. We forget that we are human, and that none of us is immune to making mistakes or hurting other people. We speak to ourselves in such unkind ways that we both perpetuate and exacerbate our depression, anxiety and addictive behaviors by compounding the deep sense of unworthiness and inadequacy we already felt. When we are down, we want that substance, partner or habit that temporarily makes us feel better, but then the ensuing feelings are often of regret and shame, which makes us want to turn to our drug of choice yet again. We find ourselves in a never-ending cycle of trauma, then avoiding, suppressing, compounding and exacerbating the pain of that trauma.

The inner child within us needs to be told that she is good enough, that her mistakes and regrets don’t undermine her worth, and that she deserves unconditional love. If you believe in a higher power, tell yourself that He/She/it has already forgiven you and that you have permission to forgive yourself. Place your hand on your heart, activating its energetic power, and meditate on forgiveness. Visualize yourself at peace within yourself. Affirm that you are safe, secure, deserving of forgiveness, and unconditionally worthy of love. Radical self-forgiveness allows us to free ourselves from the cycles of self-deprecation that fuel our mental and emotional challenges and addictions.

We listen, and we understand. Many of us have personal experience with recovery. Enlightened Solutions offers therapy, mentoring, and friendship. Call (833) 801-LIVE today.

Remembering Who We Were Before the Addiction

Written by enlightened solutions on . Posted in Addiction, Addiction Recovery. Leave a Comment

Addiction is so powerful that it can take over your life in drastic and devastating ways. Not only does addiction wreak havoc on your daily life, your health, work, relationships, goals and dreams, it can psychologically manipulate you and convince you that you are worthless and that your life is little more than the pain and regrets of your addiction. You might feel like the addiction has completely taken over your life, and that your mistakes and wrongdoings define you as a person. You are no longer the complex human being you once were, full of potential and possibility. You are reduced to being merely a user, and your life story is reduced to the history of your addiction, how it began, and how it took over your life. You are little more than the mistakes and wrongdoings you have come to identify yourself with. Your soul and spirit lose their vital connection to one another. Your motivation in life has become how to get high, how to numb the pain, how to score your drug of choice. You prioritize your addiction over pretty much everything else in your life, and it becomes all-consuming.

But as we are struggling to extricate ourselves from these self-destructive patterns, we could begin to tell ourselves a new set of truths: that our addiction is one chapter in our lives but not the whole story, that living through our pain strengthens us and empowers us to choose a better life for ourselves, and that we are far more than the drugs or behaviors we feel so ashamed of. Rather than continuing to dwell in our shame and regret, we could choose instead to tell ourselves things like “I’m proud of you for fighting to stay alive. This pain will be over soon.” When we are feeling scared, vulnerable or weak, we can affirm “You are brave, strong and powerful. I believe in you.”

What did you love to do as a child? Before you started using. Before your addictive behaviors set in. If you loved to write, you are a writer. Start a journal, take a class, or start songwriting. If you loved to swim, find a community pool or a nearby pond or beach. There is an infinite abundance of resources and opportunities, both online and off, to help you explore any new hobby, interest, skill or healing tool you want to develop. Our life story does not need to end with our addiction. Addiction fools us into thinking that we are merely addicts, and that our lives have been reduced to our addiction story. But if we try, we can remember who we were before the mess. We can take steps to reunite with that person, to reemerge as the person we always had the potential to be.

We listen, and we understand. Many of us have personal experience with recovery. Enlightened Solutions offers therapy, mentoring, and friendship. Call (833) 801-LIVE today.

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