Category: Recovery

As we do the work to figure out our unhealthy behaviors, patterns and coping mechanisms, we can also be creating new healthy ways to cope that are self-affirming rather than self-destructive. We’ve created coping strategies over the years to deal with our trauma, our woundedness and our fears, but these strategies not only don’t heal […]

One way to understand our addiction, depression and other mental health issues is to see that they are essentially the unhealthy coping mechanisms we’ve developed in response to our emotional pain. Very often we don’t understand why we struggle the way we do, why we’re suffering so much. While we’re in the midst of our […]

Supporting our loved ones through their recovery process can be incredibly challenging for us, whether or not we ourselves struggle with addictions. Each recovery process is different and unique to the individual, but there are some things we can do to support our loved ones as they recover. Listen When it comes to addiction recovery, […]

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 […]

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 […]

We often think of recovery as abstaining from our drugs of choice and addictive behaviors. It might serve us to think of our recovery as being deeper than that. Inner peace is the foundation for lasting happiness, and chances are that when we make abstinence our goal without also prioritizing inner peace, we will always […]

One of the most damaging and painful emotions that we experience as human beings is shame. Most of us feel guilt for the ways in which we’ve hurt other people, for the mistakes we’ve made, and for the wrongdoings we regret. This is normal. It tells us that we have a conscience, that we have […]

Many of us have developed thought patterns that repeatedly flood us with the thoughts we most associate with fear and sadness. It can feel like we’re drowning in our emotional pain. One way to transform these vicious mental cycles is to consciously choose to focus on gratitude. Oftentimes when we are suffering, we have come […]