Tag Archives: recovery
Positive Affirmation Programs from Enhanced Healing
Being the Possibility of the Principles in Life
In recovery one is made aware of the 12 Spiritual Principles. The Principles are to be lived in all of our daily affairs. I recently ask a few people to think about the idea that if they were to practice or be the 12 Spiritual Principles how would their life be. The question for you is the same, if you were to practice and be the Principles how would your life be different than it is now.
If a person were to do this, to practice and be the Principles, the possibility exists that their life would be truly extraordinary. While the concept of the Principles comes from the world of recovery, their application for transformation of life applies to everyone.
1. Honesty, overcoming or giving up denial, resulting in surrender.
2. Hope, overcoming or giving up despair, resulting in open-mindedness.
3. Faith, overcoming or giving up fear, resulting in serenity.
4. Courage, overcoming or giving up cowardice, resulting in strength.
5. Integrity, overcoming or giving up self-deception, resulting in self-awareness.
6. Willingness, overcoming or giving up self-seeking, resulting in God-reliance.
7. Humility, overcoming or giving up pride, resulting in self=acceptance.
8. Self-discipline, overcoming or giving up self-indulgence, resulting in responsibility.
9. Love, overcoming or giving up indifference, resulting in tolerance.
10. Perseverance, overcoming or giving up perfectionism, resulting in vigilance.
11. Spiritual Awareness, overcoming or giving up impatience, resulting in wisdom.
12. Service, overcoming or giving up self-centeredness, resulting in fellowship.
Necessary before and during work on the 12 Steps.
There are things that are necessary before one successfully takes on working on the 12 Steps when in Recovery. While these things will not be mastered before starting the 12 step process they will be dealt with as one moves through the program. Being aware of their existence in the beginning of the program is vital.
1. Taking Suggestions. Taking suggestions is one of the primary things necessary for one to successfully do recovery. Without it the individual will most likely fail. ”The first requirement is that we be convinced that a life run on self will can hardly be a success.”
2. Connecting with another human being. Creating and maintaining a relationship with another person, a sponsor or counselor or both, is absolutely necessary for one to be guided through the 12 step process. The individual can not do it by himself or herself.
3. Being open to being confronted. Without confrontation we do not seem to change. While the confrontation can take a variety of forms it is vital for change to take place. Without ones belief and thinking system being challenged it will remain the same and with it the individual’s behavior.
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The Four Stages of the Process of Recovery.
It appears that there are four stages of the process of recovery that one should be aware of. Sometimes awareness can be of great benefit to those who are taking their recovery seriously. Knowing the four stages will assist an individual in being able to access where they are in the process and if needed taking appropriate action to avoid relapse.
Stage One: Working the program of recovery. When individuals come out of treatment they tend to feel good, believing that they have truly started a process of recovery and transformation.
Stage Two: The Dip. The Dip is when the individual begins to experience the negative emotional side of life, and all of the negative emotions associated with it. The person will feel sad, depressed, anxious, frustration, etc.
Stage Three: The Breakdown. It is here that the individual starts to move toward relapse. It is here that the individual is starting to lose the knowledge and wisdom once gained. Relapse has not yet happened.
Stage Four: Relapse.
The key to this type of paradigm is to know when one is going into The Dip and the steps to take to avoid slipping into Breakdown. Once in a Breakdown it is difficult to pull oneself out of it and avoid relapse. Usually the individual did not follow suggestions when they entered The Dip. The Dip is part of life, part of being a human being. We all experience it, and especially an individual in recovery. The key is being able to manage The Dip appropriately, of reaching out to another human being for counsel. If The Dip is not managed appropriately and effectively the individual will enter a Breakdown and most likely relapse. The goal is to manage The Dip and return to stage one, practicing the program of recovery.
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Using Personalized Positive Affirmation Technology in Recovery.
The technology of utilizing positive affirmations that are recorded in a person’s own voice and therapeutic relaxation music is currently being employed in the treatment of those suffering from substance dependency problems. At the Holistic Addiction Treatment Program in North Miami Beach, Florida, clients are given access to this powerful technology. Clients have the ability to create personal affirmations that empower them and support their recovery and also are able to record these affirmations in their own voice. The recorded positive affirmations are then mixed with specially designed therapeutic relaxation music to create a powerful audio product to assist the individual in his recovery. Once created the client is trained in the most effective manner in which to utilize their personal CD as part of their overall recovery plan. Those clients who utilize this powerful technology tend to improve their self- esteem, stay in recovery and improve the quality of their life in general. When a person feels and thinks more positively about himself he tends to be more positive towards everything that he is taking on in his life, including and most importantly his life and recovery.
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Signs of Resistance for someone in Recovery
Much of the process of recovery is about being in a dance, a dance of moving back and forth between resisting and surrendering. The dance will go on for awhile, if not forever. Knowing some of the signs of when you are in the part of the dance that is or could be a prelude to relapsing is important. Below are listed from of the signs of resistance for someone in recovery.
The person wanting to quit the recovery program.
Being out of communication with ones sponsor or counselor.
The person having major upsets in their lives that gets in the way of recovery.
Missing or being late for groups or meetings.
Missing or being late for calls with ones sponsor or counselor.
The person having many emergencies occuring that gets in the way of recovery.
The person becoming too busy, so busy that they are distracted from doing the work of recovery.
Never doing the homework assigned by the person’s sponsor or counselor.
Leaving the group or meeting to make phone call, go to the restroom, etc
Never sharing in groups or meeting.
Complaining about the groups, meetings, sponsor or counselor.
Not listening to what is going on in the groups or meetings.
Creating disruptions in the groups and meetings.
Falling asleep or being tired in the groups or meetings.
Being resistant or arguing about the topic or subject of the group or meeting.
The person leaving the group or meeting before it is finished.
The person creating a relationship early in the program of recovery.
It is important for the person to review their behavior on a daily basis, especially early in the process, and share with another any of the Red Flags that they may become present to.
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Weekly Homework for Individuals in Recovery.
Many individuals going into treatment for drug and alcohol dependency have questions about what to do when admitted to a program. While the opinions and suggestions given to them will vary from program to program and even person to person, the following are five things that someone can stay present to as they move through treatment.
1. To read and take notes from either the NA or AA text. In addition to needing to know what the program of recovery is truly about, it also important to take notes as one read either the Basic Text or the Big Book. There will be a tendency to forget, hence the need to take notes.
2. Attend AA or NA meetings daily. Attendance helps keep one in the conversation of recovery.
3. Work on and complete “Step One.” While the person will do it again once they get a sponsor after the treatment program, it is good practice to engage the process while in treatment.
4, Write out your “Counseling Agenda” each week before your counseling session. Having an agenda written down allows you to stay focused on what you need to talk about and work on and also creates the space for being responsible for your situation.
5. Work on and complete your “recovery plan” one week before your discharge. Having a plan helps to ensure that you will actually engage the program immediately upon your discharge. Having no written plan will usually amount to little action on the individual’s part.
The idea is to review these five things with the staff and especially with your counselor in order to evaluate your progress in the treatment program.
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More on Dealing with Breakdowns in Recovery.
Within the work of holistic counseling, the process of gaining insight will assist the individual in becoming authentic and also allow that person to stay in his recovery. Gaining insight is a very important component of holistic counseling, the utilization of which allows the individual to move out of his self-limiting belief and back into being his created possibility. When one begins to experience a breakdown he has gone back into being his self-limiting belief. Their will be the story which is made up about what is happening in his life and also that which is hidden from him, that which is truly directing and creating his life, including the story. The technology of the insight process allows the individual the ability to transform his experience by being authentic and as a result letting go of being his self limiting belief thereby regaining his power and freedom through being his possibilities. Utilization of the process of insight as with transformation itself is a practice that requires a great deal of commitment. As with any skill the structure of gaining insight is taught and it is in communication with the persons coach or even sponsor that its implementation is brought forth into the individual’s life.
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Holistic Counseling for Transformation and Recovery.
Given that much of our life is lived in a state of pretending, from the construct of ego, becoming present to that which is hidden, to who we are truly being in life, is absolutely necessary for transformation and recovery. It is in that which is primarily hidden from us that one will discover what is determining ones life, referred to here as ones self-limiting belief. The first component of the holistic process is for one to become present to the hidden thoughts and beliefs that have been limiting him in life and in particular to his self-limiting belief. It is in the being of the self-limiting belief that one will discover the primary constraint or barrier to his life, to him living a life that he loves and living it powerfully. We live life from who we think we are. Who we think we are forms the background for our life. Having the awareness or distinction of the self-limiting belief allows one the ability to not be it, to not have his life be merely the reply of the past. Without the distinction of the self-limiting belief one will continue to create his life from the backdrop of this ideational barrier and as a result life will appear much as it did in the past.
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