Many of us living with addictions and mental health issues believe on a fundamental level that we are inadequate, that we are unworthy, that we are undeserving of happiness. We believe we are unlovable because deep down we don’t love ourselves. These beliefs are often what drive us to try to escape our pain with […]
Category: Resource Center
How Nature Can Support Us in Our Recovery
Many of us live in cities without much regular access to the natural world. This separation from nature is known to contribute to depression, anxiety and other mental health issues and is sometimes referred to as Nature Deficit Disorder. Spending time in nature, even in small amounts, can be wonderfully beneficial to our healing and […]
How Can I Calm My Anxiety?
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health issues we face when living with addiction. When we learn ways to manage our anxiety, we have more control over our daily lives, and we are better able to navigate the many challenges that come with mental and emotional health difficulties. Anxiety is essentially our inner […]
Common Signs of Addiction
Many people living with addictions go to great lengths to hide their behaviors from other people. They find ways to normalize their behaviors and minimize their addictions to keep others from suspecting how serious their issues really are. Addicts will sometimes need their drug of choice or compulsion in order to cope. They might use […]
How Can I Become My Own Best Friend?
When we are living with addictions and mental health issues, we are often our own worst enemy and harshest critic. We adopt the voice of our inner demons and forget that they aren’t our true self. We live in fear rather than self-love. How can we change our inner voice to be our own best […]
Self-Acceptance as a Practice
Coming to accept ourselves is a process, and it takes time, practice and patience. We’ve grown so accustomed to hating parts of ourselves, wishing certain things about us were different, feeling ashamed of certain things about ourselves. When we’re in recovery, we’re actively working to process our addictions and mental health issues, all of our […]
What Can I Do When an Urge or Compulsion Hits?
When we are faced with an addictive urge or compulsion, there are other things we can do that are healthier and more self-protective. The more we practice giving our energy to these other healthier things, the more we’ll develop them as coping mechanisms that we can use to help us recover from our addictions. Journal […]
Healing Our Wounded Inner Child
When we talk about trauma and healing, we often use the term “inner child,” which represents our childhood self. Our inner children are a part of who we are. We don’t leave them behind in the past as we get older. They stay within us. We carry their hurts and wounds with us. Our trauma […]
How Can I Overcome Addictive Urges and Compulsions?
Mindfulness can be an invaluable tool in our recovery from addictive urges and compulsions in that it allows us to bring our conscious awareness to our thoughts, emotions and behaviors. When we are in the grips of addiction and depression, we very often are not conscious on a deep level of what we’re experiencing. We’re […]
Working with Affirmations to Heal Anxiety
When we are most anxious, we tend to let our thoughts run out of control, often without realizing it. We believe that we don’t have control over our minds and that we are powerless over them. We create beliefs around this powerlessness which actually work against us, but we can work to consciously direct our […]