Treatment Archives - Page 9 of 31 - Enlightened Solutions

Setting Goals for our Healing and Recovery

Written by enlightened solutions on September 26, 2018. Posted in Addiction, Addiction Recovery. Leave a Comment

Creating goals for ourselves can be a very helpful tool in our recovery process. We often are so consumed with our addictive thoughts and behaviors that we don’t know how to go about planning for recovery or seeking help. Thinking of the process in terms of setting and achieving goals can be therapeutic and can help us motivate ourselves to take the steps to get better.

Set small, manageable goals. The idea is to prevent getting overwhelmed by breaking things down into actionable steps. We don’t want to try to do everything at once, that can be intimidating and can cause us to give up before we even try, or to keep procrastinating on our recovery.

Your end goal might be to stay sober or abstinent, and more generally, to achieve inner peace. What does that feel and look like for you? What healthier behaviors would you adopt, such as regular exercise and meditation? What things and people would you avoid, aside from your drug of choice? Start thinking about how you can implement changes to both your routine and your mentality.

Here are some ideas for goals you can try for yourself.

Goals:

To spend time with the people in my life who want to help me and who encourage my recovery, rather than those who enable or contribute to my addictive behaviors.
To find new activities I enjoy, that feed my soul and creativity, that make me happy, that don’t include using my drugs of choice or engaging in my addictive behaviors.
To make time for meditation, prayer or other form of spiritual practice.
To create space between myself and my unhealthy relationships, in order to focus on my healing.
To start a day count for every day I stay away from my drug of choice, unhealthy behavior, or toxic relationship.
To create affirmations around my healing and recovery that I can write, repeat out loud, record and then listen to, and meditate with. “I am at peace within myself. I am strong enough to do what’s best for myself.”

7a. Find a local meeting or support group and get more information on it.

7b. Attend a meeting.

7c. Choose a sponsor.

7d. Pick a meeting schedule and stick to it.

Thinking about the whole recovery process can be daunting and scary, but when we break it down into small steps that we can take for ourselves every day, the process can be easier to manage. As we take the steps, our faith in our ability to heal grows, and we’re on our way.

The community at Enlightened Solutions has years of experience helping people in recovery and can help you. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Learning How to be Alone

Written by enlightened solutions on September 25, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Recovery. Leave a Comment

It can sometimes take us a long time to realize that we stay in unhealthy relationships in part because we are afraid to be alone. Often when a relationship is toxic for us, we know we need to end it for the sake of our happiness, mental health and inner peace, but we find ourselves unable to. When our relationships become addictive, we sacrifice our own wellbeing.

Some of us are caught in unhealthy relationship cycles and battling addictions at the same time. For some of us, our relationships themselves are the addiction. It can take years to extricate ourselves from our self-destructive relationship patterns, but learning how to be alone is one of the best things we can do for ourselves in our recovery.

Many of us are afraid to feel the painful loss of a breakup, sometimes because we experienced that same sort of separation in our families. Letting go of someone we love can be one of the hardest things we’ll ever have to do. We are battling fears of being abandoned, replaced, rejected, fear of inadequacy, fear of being lonely. Our current experiences often mirror the ones we experienced as children and witnessed with the adults in our lives. We inherit patterns from the people who raised us, we learn from everything we see, and our childhood experiences often inform and direct how we function as adults.

For many of us, our addictive relationships can contribute to and exacerbate our depression, anxiety, other mental health issues, and other addictions. We often struggle with suicidal thoughts, just as many other addicts do.

Some of us have racked up one painful relationship breakup after another with no time alone to really process, grieve, and work through our pain. How do we start the process of learning how to be alone?

It starts with a choice. Just like with any addictive behavior, you make the decision that you can’t live like this anymore, that you’ve hit your rock bottom and refuse to fall any lower. You decide that you want to live.

Choose to face the fear and the pain. Choose to prioritize inner peace. Affirm that you are strong enough to do what’s best for yourself. Grow your self-love so much that you never want to settle for unhappiness again. These things take time. Many of us struggle with unhealthy relationship patterns for years. You deserve to be safe, happy and respected in all your relationships. If you are in physical danger, please get help.

Call (833) 801-LIVE for more information on how Enlightened Solutions can help you.

Coming to Terms with Our Addiction

Written by enlightened solutions on September 24, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Addiction. Leave a Comment

Accepting and coming to terms with our addiction may be one of the hardest things we’ll ever have to do as addicts. For many of us, we’ve spent much of our lives embroiled in our addictive behaviors and caught in vicious cycles of suffering and self-destruction. We may or may not have realized we struggled with addictions. With the stigmas, judgments and stereotypes surrounding addiction, we may have been afraid to identify as addicts. Acceptance is a powerful part of the healing process.

Many of us are in denial about the severity of our addictions. We know our addictions well and aren’t prepared to give them up yet. Some of us haven’t become conscious of our behaviors yet, and we haven’t put it together that our recurring, problematic, self-destructive issues are related to addiction.

When it hits us that we are addicts, we can feel a whole range of emotions. We feel deep sadness, regret, shame, embarrassment- about who we are, how our lives have played out, the people we’ve hurt. We might be filled with fear, dread and panic at the thought of being in this much pain for the rest of our lives.

The sooner we come to terms with our addictions, the sooner we can get better. When we have acceptance, we can surrender, allow ourselves to receive the lessons and then move through the pain. We often try to resist the truth about ourselves and fight against it. We take our fears and pain about who we are and bury them under more drugs, alcohol, relationships, sex, food, gambling, video games, etc. Eventually it catches up with us, though, and after a few more go-rounds, we hit “rock bottom” – that place we know we can never let ourselves get back to, if we want to stay alive. Sometimes we’re in that place and still haven’t accepted what it is we’re up against- addiction.

We’re often afraid of being judged and rejected by the people we care about. We’re afraid of disappointing the people who believed in us. Sometimes we try to hide how bad it’s gotten, for however long we can, until we can’t, and we surrender. We accept. “This is my truth. I am an addict.”

To help pull ourselves out of that place, we can start to change how we think and talk about ourselves- as recovering addicts. We can choose faith and hope. We are capable of change, and we have the power to heal.

The community at Enlightened Solutions is here to support you, and we understand the recovery process firsthand, from personal experience. Call (833) 801-LIVE

Choosing Inner Peace

Written by enlightened solutions on September 21, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Addiction Recovery. Leave a Comment

Those of us with addictions and mental health issues often find ourselves consumed by inner turmoil. We are in conflict with the people around us, who often have similar issues they’re dealing with. We find ourselves caught in unhealthy relationships and self-destructive patterns. When we are in these cycles, healing can seem like an impossible ideal that we’ll never reach. Mental and emotional health can feel like abstract concepts rather than tangible goals we can actively work towards. Many of us know we are unwell but when it comes to working on our healing have no idea where to start.

Sometimes the journey starts with a choice. It is a simple choice but not always easy to make. Inner peace. We are so accustomed to being in conflict with ourselves and others that even the thought of inner peace sounds far-fetched. We think we’re in too much pain, we’ve made too many mistakes, we’ve hurt too many people. Inner peace eludes us. It’s not possible for us.

The truth is, though, we can choose inner peace for ourselves. It is not an automatic switch. It requires time, patience with ourselves, and self-love. It requires that we make the choice over and over again, on a daily basis. Any time something comes up that threatens to disturb our equilibrium, any time we feel at odds with another person. Any time we feel fear rising within us, in the form of toxic thought patterns, limiting beliefs and inner conflict. We can return to our choice to be at peace within ourselves.

We have a lot more power over our inner world than we think we do. We come to believe that we are susceptible to any outside force that might destabilize us. We blame other people and situations for how we feel. We use others’ actions as an excuse for our emotional distress.

As we grow and learn more about ourselves, we realize we can have more control over our thoughts, emotions, moods and behaviors. We are in control of ourselves. It doesn’t always feel that way when we are in the midst of an addictive or depressive cycle, but it is possible to practice evoking inner peace.

What does it feel like to be at peace- mentally, emotionally and physically? Can you visualize yourself at peace? Hold onto that feeling and return to it as often as possible. Write, read and repeat affirmations such as “I am at peace.” The more we practice choosing inner peace, the more we can maintain it within ourselves, even when triggered. Soon this new stillness and peace will be your natural default, you will experience more clarity and balance, and you will feel a sense of calm and groundedness. You certainly won’t miss all the drama!

Enlightened Solutions is more than addiction treatment. We help you to uncover your inner strength and find the healing tools that work for you. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

The Benefits of a Spiritual Practice

Written by enlightened solutions on September 20, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Alternative Therapy. Leave a Comment

There are numerous benefits of having a regular spiritual practice. Starting anything new can be challenging, as can being consistent, but the more we practice, the more we will see the powerful effects. The transformation lies in the practice, rather than perfection, and as we do the work, we see huge changes in our mental and emotional health. Here are some of the many benefits of creating and following a spiritual practice for yourself.

Connecting with spirit has a calming effect that is hard to put into words. It is comforting, nurturing and soothing. It reminds us we aren’t alone, as we are one with our higher power and all the other life it created. When we genuinely feel this connection, it can help us to transcend the temporary, human, fleeting circumstances we often find ourselves troubled by.

When we allow ourselves to be guided by our spirits, we are connected to the universal flow of our higher power. This connection can help us to uncover powerful healing solutions for ourselves that we might not have been open to by simply using our thinking minds. Having a spiritual practice enables us to connect with our spirits more easily and more regularly. Some of us tend to pray or meditate only when we’re in distress, but if we can implement these things on a regular basis, we might find ourselves reaching that point of distress much less frequently, if at all.

Our spirits can help us to remember who we are. Our ego minds tend to dwell on our fears and our woundedness. They often bombard us with meaningless illusions that distract us from our life mission and purpose. Our spirit, on the other hand, is our higher power manifested within us. When we are able to tap into that power, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Our healing becomes tangible and lies within our reach. We can reclaim ourselves as the people we were destined to be, rather than what our fears have created. The limiting beliefs we have imposed upon ourselves start to fade, and we have renewed faith in ourselves and our abilities.

As we practice, we grow in resilience. The emotional challenges and triggers we once suffered over become the platforms from which we launch ourselves. We are better able to manage our complex moods and emotions. We have increasing control over our thoughts and can direct them in more positive ways. With a spiritual practice, we come to learn that we have the power to choose inner peace, and as we continue to practice, the more we can return to that state easily and naturally.

Holistic healing is a large part of treatment at Enlightened Solutions. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Reprogramming the Subconscious Mind

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

The subconscious mind stores our emotional information and directs the vast majority of our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. When we are dealing with addictions and mental health issues, we are working with subconscious minds that are running on self-destructive programming. Our thoughts tend to default to negative patterns and limiting beliefs. To heal ourselves and be happy, we have to reprogram the way our minds think.

The subconscious mind responds excellently to the written word and can process it without all the usual filters of our fears and pain. To heal our subconscious minds and reprogram them to think the way we want them to, we can work with new programming for them to absorb. Try writing out your positive affirmations in addition to saying them. When you’re setting intentions for yourself, write them down. Use a journal to process your emotions, and to write about the healing changes you’d like to implement and the future you’d like to manifest. Think about creating a vision statement or mission statement for yourself and for your life, and then write it down. Read your affirmations, intentions, journal entries and mission statements as often as you can.

The subconscious mind also benefits from repetition. Practice repeating everything you’ve written for yourself, multiple times a day. Keep what you’ve written easily accessible and refer to it often. As you repeat your new programming, try to embody these new beliefs and over time, they will become second nature.

The key to ridding ourselves of problematic thoughts and beliefs is to create new thought patterns to replace them. Rather than fighting the old ones, focus on the new. Trying to battle our bothersome thoughts only makes them stronger, and as we focus on them, we amplify them. By creating resistance, we reinforce and increase their power over us. Instead, give your focus and energy to the new, self-affirming thought patterns you’re introducing. Rather than focusing on the thoughts we don’t want, we can focus on the ones we do want, which helps them to take root in our subconscious minds, thereby changing our default thought patterns.

The subconscious mind also responds to imagination. As we are reprogramming, we can use the power of visualization to help manifest the healing we are working towards. Imagine yourself healed, feel as though you are healed, believe you are healed.

The subconscious mind holds unlimited power- the power to heal and to create the lives we want for ourselves. Knowing how to reprogram our subconscious mind can make all the difference in our healing process.

Learning about ourselves and our minds is a crucial part of healing. The community at Enlightened Solutions can help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Suggestions for Beginning a Spiritual Practice

Written by enlightened solutions on September 18, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Alternative Therapy. Leave a Comment

The idea of beginning a spiritual practice can be intimidating for many people, especially those who don’t consider themselves to be spiritual people. A spiritual practice can provide tremendous benefits and can help you heal through your most difficult life challenges.

As we know, our addictions and mental health issues can be so powerful they take over our lives. They can make functioning on a daily basis feel unbearable, and they can make our lives feel unmanageable. We can feel so overwhelmed that starting something new feels too daunting to even try. When we are deeply unhappy and unwell, anything pertaining to self-care can feel insurmountable.

A spiritual practice can help us to navigate our complex emotions. It can help us to prevent falling into a deep depression, and if we’re already in one, it can help us to pull ourselves out. When we are in the depths of our pain, we may only be able to do a very small bit at a time. Even one minute can make a huge difference and can have a lasting, transformative impact.

A spiritual practice can include anything that makes you feel connected to God, the Universe, your angels, your higher power, collective consciousness- however you choose to refer to the power that is bigger than us as individuals but that we carry within us as creations of this higher power. If you’ve never considered yourself a spiritual person, give some thought to how you might connect with that higher power.

Look to your past experiences for guidance. Maybe you went to church with your family as a child. Maybe you have felt comforted when you said a prayer. Perhaps you’ve heard the expression “count your blessings.” Maybe you’ve taken a deep breath when you felt overwhelmed. Maybe you feel calmed and soothed when you’re in nature. Maybe you’ve found writing out your problems to be cathartic.

Ask other people what they do to feel connected to their spirits. Look for suggestions online. Anything can be a part of your spiritual practice so long as it is personally effective for you and helps you connect to your spirit. Prayer, meditation, breathing exercises, spending time in nature, a gratitude practice and journaling are all wonderful healing tools. You can create an altar and collect sacred pieces for it. You can learn about the healing power of crystals and start a crystal collection. You can learn about the moon cycles and follow rituals to harness their power and/or create new rituals for yourself. You can read spiritual texts, walk meditatively, light candles, create art, or form personal spiritual ceremonies. Anything you do to connect with your spirit will help you to grow, heal, learn and transcend difficulties.

The community at Enlightened Solutions believes in the power of holistic healing, and we have years of experience helping people heal themselves. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

The Importance of Spiritual Practice

Written by enlightened solutions on September 17, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Alternative Therapy. Leave a Comment

When we address addictions and mental health issues, we often tend to focus solely on our minds, namely the chemical imbalances of our minds. We sometimes forget that these issues often have spiritual causes and manifestations. Because we are much more than just our minds, we have to address healing in a holistic way.

Our spirit is our connection to our higher power and to the divine power within us. It is connected to every part of ourselves and extends to every facet of our beings. Trauma, therefore, affects not only our minds but also our spirits. We store our fears and emotional memories in both our subconscious minds and our spirits because it is our spirit that connects our divine power to every element of ourselves- mental, emotional and physical. In short, everything we experience has a spiritual cause, effect and manifestation, because our spirit lives in every part of us.

When we become too focused on the thoughts produced by our minds, we sometimes neglect the health of our spirits. Our ego, or sense of self, is often wounded from the trauma we experience, and therefore our thoughts are often negative, limiting and self-destructive. Our thought patterns and behaviors are often so pervasive and damaging that they become our addictions, depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. In order to heal these deeply rooted patterns, we can look to spiritual solutions that go deeper than the ego mind.

Sometimes our minds are limited to the information they have already been exposed to. We tend to think in shortsighted ways because our minds have a hard time being open to unknown possibilities. Sometimes we can’t see past our current circumstances and find it difficult to be open-minded, especially when we are struggling with such difficult challenges as depression and addictive behaviors. Sometimes it’s our minds causing our problems; they process and store emotional information for us and are very powerful, so any imbalances and unwellness in our minds can easily turn into full-fledged mental health issues.

Our spirits, however, are connected to the infinite wisdom and guidance of our higher power. We can also call this power collective consciousness, which includes all living creatures. Imagine all the information we can access when we tap into this higher power. The possibilities for our healing are limitless.

When we are open to the idea of creating and following a spiritual practice, we open ourselves to a world of healing that goes deeper than the mind can go.

Holistic healing is a major focus at Enlightened Solutions. We can help you find healing solutions that work for you. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

How Trauma Can Affect Our Behavior

Written by enlightened solutions on September 14, 2018. Posted in Healthy Living, Mental Health. Leave a Comment

Trauma is something we are deeply affected by, often long after the initial traumatic experience. We store the emotional memory of our trauma within our subconscious mind, which then directs the majority of our thoughts and actions. Our behavior, therefore, can be greatly impacted by our traumatic experiences.

Many of us develop strong fears, phobias, neuroses, complexes and sensitivities as a result of trauma. When we have been hurt or scared in a certain way, we might then be easily triggered by anything that is similar or reminiscent. We might find ourselves being reactive or agitated. We might be easily frightened, disturbed or angered. We may react to other people with defensiveness. We may behave in erratic or volatile ways. Some of us may escalate and become aggressive, even violent.

The people who come into contact with us might be confused by our behavior. They might be overwhelmed, surprised or alarmed by it. To them our behavior might seem irrational or illogical. We might make them uncomfortable. Our behaviors may be extremely bothersome or even scary to other people, especially if they don’t know where they are coming from, or if they don’t have prior knowledge of our trauma and trauma responses. If we become violent, we often scare the people around us, who may fear for their safety as well as ours.

Trauma can cause us to develop behaviors that we use to distract ourselves from our pain, to try to forget, to numb ourselves. These behaviors often become addictive, and we struggle to heal not only our initial trauma but all the residual trauma incurred by our addictions. We can also develop toxic thought patterns as a result of our trauma, such as limiting beliefs about ourselves. These thought patterns can cause us to behave in all sorts of harmful ways, such as lashing out at other people or isolating ourselves.

When we’ve been traumatized, our behavior can have destructive effects on our relationships. It can cause us to separate and distance ourselves from other people. It can also cause them to want or need to separate themselves from us.

When we are working to heal from our addictions and mental health issues, there are many factors at play, our behaviors being one of them. The more we learn about ourselves and our behaviors, the more we can help ourselves heal.

To help you and your loved ones deal with the many effects of trauma, the community at Enlightened Solutions offers therapy, mentoring, intervention services and more. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Working With Your Inner Child

Written by enlightened solutions on September 13, 2018. Posted in 12 Step Program, Addiction Recovery. Leave a Comment

Many of us struggling with addictions and mental health issues experienced trauma during childhood. Our emotional responses to our trauma get stored within us, and sometimes we continue to feel their effects years later. As we are working to heal our pain and fears, one healing technique we can use is communicating with our inner child.

Focus your attention on bringing forth memories of yourself as a child. It can help to look at any photos you might have. Ask yourself questions and begin to try to answer them. What pain did you experience? What losses did you sustain? What grief were you carrying? How did the people around you hurt you? How did this trauma make you feel? What are the effects you’re feeling now, as a result of this trauma?

As we’re asking ourselves these difficult questions, we might struggle with revisiting our childhood. Some of us bury our pain so deep and suppress our memories so much we have a hard time remembering. Some even block things out and retain no memory of their trauma. For some of us, it can feel too painful and too frightening to face. Some of us feel confusion around our memories and struggle to know the truth about our experiences. With the help of a therapist, mentor or spiritual guide, we can work to recall memories we may have suppressed and try to sort them out.

Whether or not you can remember details of your childhood trauma, you can work with your inner child to help heal your pain. Take your childhood photo if you have one, or hold an image of yourself in your mind. Talk to this child, your inner child, and say things like “I’m so sorry for your suffering. You didn’t deserve the pain you experienced, and it wasn’t your fault. You are perfect. You are safe.”

Offer the compassion to your inner child that you may not have received when you were younger. Offer yourself comforting and soothing words. If you are still struggling with residual shame from the mistakes and wrongs you committed as a child, tell your inner child, “You can forgive yourself. You are forgiven.”

Much of what we struggle with as adults comes from what we experienced as children. When we can connect and communicate with our inner child, we can provide ourselves with a powerful source of healing.

Healing from addictions and mental health challenges means healing mind, body and spirit. The community at Enlightened Solutions is here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE

Tag: Treatment