Treatment Archives - Page 13 of 31 - Enlightened Solutions

Healthy Ways to Express Your Emotions

Written by enlightened solutions on July 25, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Mental Health. Leave a Comment

All too often we hold in our difficult emotions, which is really toxic for our mental and emotional health. When we suppress our emotions, sometimes it’s because we are afraid to handle them, sometimes because we don’t know how to express them. Sometimes we don’t feel the space is safe to share our pain and vulnerability. Sometimes we don’t have the tools to express ourselves. Sometimes it’s just scary, anxiety-inducing and painful, and we avoid it as much as possible. We use our drugs of choice, we distract ourselves, we bury our emotions under other issues.

When we don’t work to heal our emotions, they have a way of coming repeatedly. We develop all kinds of life cycle patterns- mental and emotional illnesses, addictions, financial struggles, relationship issues, and so on. When we look at our patterns, chances are we’ll find emotions we haven’t fully dealt with and fears we haven’t yet faced. The resulting problems will keep returning, to test us, to determine if we’ve learned the lessons we’re meant to learn. When we’re used to drowning our sorrows in ice cream or Netflix, or sex or alcohol, it can feel overwhelming and scary to face our emotions directly. Sometimes we don’t even know where to begin. Let’s go back to the basics.

Talk

Many of us have a very hard time with this one. Maybe the people you’ve confided in have hurt you and you’re afraid to get hurt again. Maybe you feel like you don’t have anyone to talk to. Maybe you find it hard to talk in general and avoid difficult subjects. Talking things out with someone else can be comforting and remind us we’re not alone. If we’re open to it, we might receive really helpful advice, guidance and wisdom. It can be in therapy, with friends or family, in a support group, or calling a help line- being able to open up and talk is an important step towards healing.

Cry

Our culture tells us it’s weak to cry, especially in public, and that it’s something we should be embarrassed by. We’re taught to hold in it. Crying helps release stuck emotions as well as toxins stored in our bodies. Often we feel the wave of emotion come and we hold it back instead of letting ourselves cry. This suppressing of our feelings can be so destructive for our mental and emotional health. Let it out!

Music

Music can help us express our emotions by allowing us to really feel them, right alongside the stories and pain of our favorite songs. Music can inspire us to be honest and vulnerable about our feelings and experiences. Music is powerfully transformative; whether you’re listening or creating, it’s such a gift.

Holistic healing means finding solutions to our mental and emotional challenges. Enlightened Solutions is here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Accepting Ourselves – Making Peace with All Our Stuff

Written by enlightened solutions on July 24, 2018. Posted in Mental Health, Recovery. Leave a Comment

Self-acceptance is something many of us struggle with, whether or not we have experienced mental health issues or addictions. It’s a pretty standard thing in human nature to have insecurities, dislike parts of ourselves, feel ashamed, and even hate ourselves. We base our opinions of ourselves on all kinds of factors, both inside and outside of ourselves: the judgments and criticisms of others, our status in society, our accomplishments, comparisons to other people, the expectations we have for ourselves and those others have for us, the mistakes we’ve made, the regrets we hold onto.

We carry a lot of burdensome weight when we reject parts of ourselves. When we can’t accept ourselves for who we really are, we often find ourselves in inner turmoil that affects all different areas of our lives: managing our emotions, processing our thoughts, making decisions, maintaining relationships. We can find ourselves feeling overwhelmed, scared, worried, anxious, and sad. We might feel inadequate, like we just aren’t enough, no matter what we do. We may feel inferior, like other people are better than us, and we don’t measure up.

What would it be like to feel unconditional self-acceptance? What would it look like to love yourself, right in this very moment? If you’re like many of us, there’s a little voice inside that often fills you with fear, doubts, judgments and comparisons. You might think things like, “well I love myself, but I hate my body.” Or “how can I love myself? I’m broke.”

How liberating would it be to love ourselves not despite our flaws, but including them? To see our “imperfections” as part of what makes us unique, special and strong. To realize that perfection is an illusion, and that striving for inner peace instead feels much better. How would it feel to take our biggest mistakes and wrongs and have forgiveness for ourselves? What was once our weakness could be our greatest source of power, when we open ourselves up to allowing that. Can we choose to see vulnerability and humility as strengths?

If we’re open to it, we can choose to see our struggles as necessary parts of our evolution. Our pain is an integral part of the journey. We wouldn’t be who we are without it. If we can figure out ways to be happy and find inner peace, it will all have been worth it. Accept yourself, just as you are, right in this moment. Of course there will be things about yourself and your life that you want to improve upon or change, or let go of altogether- that’s a part of life- but can we love and accept ourselves along the way?

Coming to terms with our mental health issues and addictions is not easy, and self-acceptance can be one of the hardest parts. Let Enlightened Solutions help; we’ve been there. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Becoming Conscious of Our Deepest Fears and Pain

Written by enlightened solutions on July 23, 2018. Posted in Alternative Therapy, Mental Health. Leave a Comment

One of the challenges many of us face is that we often don’t know why we are struggling with the mental and emotional issues we have. We suffer without knowing the deeper reasons for why we are suffering. We experience so much fear, often without realizing it, without knowing what our fears are and what they mean. To go deeper and gain more understanding, we have to go beyond what we are conscious of. We have to access the subconscious mind, where everything pertaining to our emotions is stored.

The subconscious mind governs 95% of our daily lives, including our behaviors, habits, thought processes, and patterns. It stores our fears, insecurities, memories, worries, traumas and pain. That means that if we allow the fears and pain of our subconscious mind to go unchecked, it will be our fears and pain running the show. Imagine your fear running 95% of your life. This is how most of us live- subconsciously driven by fear.

A major function of the subconscious mind is to keep us safe, and one of the ways it does this is by sending us warning signals to avoid things that might endanger us. Once our minds have been impacted by trauma, our subconscious mind will sometimes fire off these warning signals about things that don’t pose an actual threat to us, but that we feel afraid of and threatened by. Our deeply rooted fears stay lodged in our subconscious, which will send warning signs any time those fears are triggered. These fears become so deeply ingrained in our psyches that they play a huge role in our mental and emotional health. Our natural responses to these fears are often intense anxiety, nervousness, panic, sadness and anger. We usually carry out these responses in unconscious ways, unaware of what is driving us.

The first step to healing our fears is to be conscious of what they are. We can start by asking ourselves questions: What am I triggered by? What patterns do I keep repeating? What default thoughts and feelings am I experiencing? What do I have strong emotional reactions to? What problems do I keep manifesting?

When we look at the patterns in our emotions, thoughts, relationships and life cycles, we can start to analyze what fears have been driving us. Are we afraid of being abandoned by the people we love? Are we afraid we aren’t good enough? Are we afraid of failing? Are we afraid of taking risks because we fear people might judge us?

Healing on a deep level requires us to be conscious of the patterns of our thoughts, emotions and behaviors in order to start figuring out what our actual fears are. Our mental and emotional health depend on it.

On our healing journey, we sometimes need support. It can be scary stuff. Reach out. Contact Enlightened Solutions today.

Understanding the Subconscious Mind to Heal Ourselves

Written by enlightened solutions on July 20, 2018. Posted in Mental Health, Recovery. Leave a Comment

The healing process requires that we get to know ourselves inside and out. As we learn more about ourselves and how we manage our mental and emotional health, it’s helpful to understand how our minds process our thoughts and emotions. We think an average of 60,000 thoughts a day, with 95% of them being governed by the subconscious mind. Our subconscious is where we store all of our emotional information and memory, such as the emotions we associate with our traumas and hurts, our fears, anxieties and insecurities, our mistakes, wrongs and regrets. Because our subconscious mind directs the vast majority of our thinking, we often think, feel and act based on our emotions. Until we learn how to heal the pain stored in the subconscious mind, we often find ourselves responding to life with the energy of that pain.

When we have unresolved pain, our emotional responses to things will sometimes be confusing, unpredictable or illogical. Sometimes they might be misdirected or misunderstood. We may transfer the pain of our old hurts onto current situations. We might lash out at people, even those trying to help us. We may take things personally or be easily triggered by other people’s words and actions. Our sensitivities and emotional issues are often the result of unhealed trauma.

Similarly, how we cope with emotional challenges can be impacted by the unresolved pain stored in our subconscious minds. We may find that we become easily overwhelmed or begin to panic when certain emotions arise. We might have crying fits or trouble sleeping. We may experience chronic physical pain and illness. Over time, all of this unresolved trauma can build up and cause us to experience a major breakdown in our overall health. Our subconscious mind is the key to healing our mental and emotional illnesses.

There are many powerful ways to work with the subconscious mind to find peace with our pain. Meditation, repeating affirmations, self-hypnosis and writing are a few.

One meditation you can try is visualizing yourself holding your inner child and together releasing the pain.

As we process the stories of our lives and work on our addictive behaviors and our mental and emotional issues, healing the subconscious mind is fundamental to resolving our pain and living our lives with more freedom and joy.

The healing journey isn’t easy, but the community at Enlightened Solutions is here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Understanding Energy for our Mental and Emotional Wellbeing

Written by enlightened solutions on July 19, 2018. Posted in Mental Health, Recovery. Leave a Comment

As living creatures, we are constantly producing and circulating energy. Our mental and emotional energies are made up of our thoughts, beliefs, intentions, actions and behaviors. Fear, trauma and pain can do a number on the health and balance of our energies. We often act from a place of fear, pain, anger, sadness and shame, and this can impact everything in our lives, from our daily routines to our most challenging issues. Our energy influences our circumstances, our relationships, our emotional, mental and physical wellbeing- potentially all the elements of our lives.

Many of us become trapped by the fears we create from the illusions of our ego minds. We tell ourselves we’re not good enough, that we are in competition with other people, that we can’t reach our goals, that we’ll never amount to anything. We watch the news and lose faith in humanity. We stay stuck in our fears and lose faith in ourselves, our lives and our purpose.

When our traumas go unhealed, our fears and pain can affect us in powerful ways. We become unkind and lash out at others. We judge ourselves and each other harshly and without compassion. We become dishonest, disrespectful, even abusive. We develop addictive behaviors. We struggle with toxic relationships. We self-destruct. Some of us become violent, towards ourselves or others, or both. We isolate and live in fear, some of us unable to leave the house or talk to other people. We develop all kinds of dysfunctional life patterns: phobias, neuroses, pathological tendencies, addictions, obsessions, compulsions, delusions, and countless other disorders.

As we become mired in our toxic thought patterns, our energy suffers. This is the energy with which we live. It’s how we respond to life; how we deal with ourselves, the world and the people around us. We create and manifest with this energy, and our lives show us direct results of our energetic blueprint. When we are experiencing inner turmoil, we manifest struggle and problems. When we are insecure and don’t love ourselves, we manifest relationships that are destructive and abusive. When there is violence within us, we create more violence around us. When we are drowning in fear inside of ourselves, we manifest more circumstances that cause us to feel afraid. When we feel unworthy and don’t value ourselves, we manifest more instability and pain.

It can be so helpful to understand how energy works and how it relates to our addictions and mental health issues. Enlightened Solutions can help you find healing solutions. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

The Law of Attraction, Mental Illness and Addiction

Written by enlightened solutions on July 18, 2018. Posted in Addiction, Mental Health. Leave a Comment

What we focus our attention on grows. When we focus on our complaints, we are left with more to complain about. When we focus on what we’re grateful for, we find more things to be grateful for. When it comes to mental health and addiction, a huge part of our recovery is working with how we feel about ourselves as people, as people who are unwell, as people who are struggling. We carry a lot of shame, regret and embarrassment. We feel we can’t live down our pasts.

As we work to heal our self-image and grow in self-love, we have to change how we talk to and about ourselves. The Law of Attraction says that what we focus on we attract, what we emit we receive. If we focus on healing and recovery, and align ourselves with those energies, we are more likely to heal and recover. Self-talk is huge. Choosing our thoughts and words consciously goes a very long way.

Constantly thinking or saying “I’m an addict” tells yourself, the people around you and the universe that you are an addict, that you believe you’re an addict, and in a way implies energetically that your identity is your addiction and little else. Repeating things, mentally or out loud, such as “I’m too depressed to do anything,” “I’ll never get better” or “I’ll never change” keeps you depressed, blocks your growth and sets you up not to be able to change. It stifles your capacity and your potential, not to mention draining you of your energy and motivation to do the healing work. These negative words and thought processes don’t reflect healing or the recovery process, and they don’t invite in the people, tools, resources and solutions that can help you.

Try affirming “I am healing” instead, and “I am learning how to be at peace.” Affirmations work best when they are framed in the affirmative rather than the negative. For example, “I am healing” or “I am recovering” will help you to manifest your healing and recovery, while saying “I’m not going to drink alcohol” reinforces the idea of drinking alcohol, making your energy more likely to attract the drinking of alcohol.

When we learn that we are able to consciously manifest what happens in our lives and that we can change everything by changing our energy, we can begin to direct our words and thoughts differently, for the sake of inner peace, wellbeing and progress.

Learn new healing solutions and manifest a life you are happy to live. Enlightened Solutions can help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Gratitude Practice as a Tool for Depression

Written by enlightened solutions on July 16, 2018. Posted in Mental Health, Recovery. Leave a Comment

If you search online for ways to deal with depression, one of the things you’ll find highly recommended is starting a gratitude practice. In our daily lives, we tend to take things for granted, the blessings of our families and friends, having a roof over our heads, having enough to eat. Depression can be exacerbated by focusing on everything that is going wrong in our lives, rather than all the things that are going right. Gratitude can help change some of the mental thought patterns that contribute to depression such as a scarcity mindset rather than an abundance mindset- feeling like you never have enough can be transformed into being grateful for everything you have. You have eyesight to read these words, you are able to read, you have a mind working to process and understand. You can choose to be grateful for anything and everything. With gratitude, painful experiences become lessons learned, challenges become opportunities for growth and empowerment.

When you first wake up, when you go to sleep, and/or throughout the day, try listing some of the things you feel grateful for. If you’re depressed or anxious, this might be really hard to do, but try. Maybe the sun is shining, and even if you’re feeling too depressed to go outside, even saying the words “I am grateful for sunshine” might spark the motivation to put your face in the sun, even for just a few minutes. Any steps you can take will help, and gratitude can often be the catalyst. If you woke up in a comfortable bed with pillows and blankets, or got enough sleep, or are waking up in order to get to work, be thankful for anything and everything- the bed, the pillows, the sheets, the blankets, the job you have that allows you to pay for the things you need, the family you’re supporting by going to that job, the love you feel for your family. Be grateful you got to eat today. Be grateful you made it home safe. Be grateful there are people out there who care about you and want you to be happy.

Positive thinking isn’t always easy, especially when we’re depressed and giving up hope, but try, and keep trying. The more you practice looking for things you’re grateful for, the more your mind will naturally direct itself to find more things to be grateful for. Gratitude helps program our minds to start seeing the good in things automatically. Having the energy of gratitude opens you up to receiving even more blessings. When we are feeling down and defeated, simply saying “Thank You” for the blessings we have can transform our energy and help lift us out of depression.

Let Enlightened Solutions help you discover new ways of healing. Contact us today.

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

Written by enlightened solutions on July 13, 2018. 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 July 12, 2018. 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.

Meditation for Obsessing and OCD

Written by enlightened solutions on July 11, 2018. Posted in Alternative Therapy, Mental Health. Leave a Comment

One thing many of us with mental health problems and addictions have in common is our tendency to obsess. We obsess about the argument we just had, or the hurtful thing someone said last year. We obsess about our insecurities and mistakes. We obsess about our drug of choice and how we’re going to get more. Maybe we fearfully obsess about how long we’ve been clean, when we relapsed, and how much longer we can hold out.

Obsessing is essentially anxious and fearful thoughts on a constant playback loop, repeating themselves continuously, causing you tension and anxiety every time they pop up. Perhaps you obsess only occasionally when something is really bothering you. Perhaps your obsessing has taken over your life and you’ve been diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD. However much you obsess, whatever it is you obsess about, there are things you can do to help.

Meditate

Meditating helps you learn how to have more control over your thoughts. It teaches you how to focus on your breathing, which can be critically important when your thoughts feel as though they’re out of control. OCD is considered an anxiety disorder, and there are many wonderful breathing exercises for anxiety, including 1:2 breathing, where you make your exhale twice as long as your inhale.

Repeat Affirmations

What are you obsessing about? Find statements or words that help you to calm down. If you’re obsessing about a fight you had, you could try repeating “we are going to get through this.” If you’re in turmoil about that fight, try “I choose to be at peace within myself, before, during and after this situation.” Whatever you can say to yourself to feel better, say it. The more we can direct our thoughts to peace, the more we will feel at peace. Because our energy helps to manifest our reality, we can affirm the outcomes we want by repeating things like “we will come to an understanding,” and that energy can help us to manifest that desired outcome.

As we practice meditation and repeating affirmations, we often find that our anxiety and obsessiveness begin to calm down. We start to feel more at peace. The mental, emotional and physical nervousness start to subside. As we continue to practice, we start to find even more healing solutions for our mental and emotional challenges and addictions.

Our thoughts can make us feel like we’ve lost our minds, like there’s no hope. Enlightened Solutions can help you figure out ways to heal. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

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