Setting Intentions for Recovery

Often when we are thinking about recovery, we don’t know where to start. We think of recovery as an overwhelming process and don’t know how to go about it. To help us work on our recovery, let’s set some intentions for ways we can implement healing in our lives.

Reach Out

We very often want to close ourselves off from the world and all the support we could receive, sometimes because we are prideful and don’t want to risk feeling ashamed or embarrassed about our addictions and other mental and emotional health issues. Sometimes we reject other people and isolate ourselves. Often at the root of these things are fear, fear of being judged, fear of being hurt. Let’s try and work through that fear and give ourselves the gift of help and support. Let’s set the intention to reach out whenever we can, however we can – to a friend or family member, to a support group, or to a mentor or spiritual guide. Let’s reach out for help in finding a therapist or treatment center. Let’s set the intention to communicate that we need help and find support in our recovery.

Let it Out

Another intention we can set is to stop holding in our emotions, suppressing them and containing them within ourselves. We need to let the energy of our feelings flow, and we can do this by expressing them, verbally or in writing. We can use prayer and meditation to work with our painful emotions. We can use music, poetry, art and other forms of creativity to express our pain. Crying, moving our bodies, sharing with other people are all ways we can allow our emotions to flow in healthy ways. Setting the intention to let our emotions out rather than holding them in is a powerful change we can implement in our recovery. Every step we can take helps and adds up in our healing.

Care for Ourselves

We very often neglect our needs and don’t prioritize self-care. The recovery process asks that we start taking better care of our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual needs. Let’s set the intention to check in with ourselves more often. Let’s ask ourselves, “What do I need? What can I do to give myself love and care right now?” Maybe it’s drinking more water, getting more exercise, or journaling to cope with our emotions. Whatever we can do to take better care of ourselves, let’s set intentions and follow through on them.

Let’s use the power of setting intentions to help us make progress in our recovery.

We’re here to support you! Call (800) 871-5440 for information on how we can help.