Our program goes above and beyond to empower individuals during their recovery. Taking time to focus on gratitude, especially during the holidays, allows us to be present, content, and feel more positive emotion. Just being grateful for the gift of recovery is a great place to start your gratitude practice. Perhaps the greatest impact gratitude can have on your life and your recovery is by gratitude and recovery improving your mental health. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than half of adults and more than 60 percent of adolescents with substance use issues also have co-occurring mental health issues. These typically include issues like major depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, ADHD, PTSD, personality disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and schizophrenia.
Understanding the positives that sobriety brings and equally recognizing the harm substance abuse causes in all aspects of life are traits strengthened by gratitude. A grateful person knows sobriety is essential to healing the harm caused by addiction to themselves and to others. To go a step further to tie entitlement to addiction, entitlement can be caused by the convenience of being able to use a substance to get a certain effect. After a while, as the addiction takes hold, so does a sense of entitlement to the feeling of getting drunk or high. There is no longer an appreciation for the benefits of sobriety or the loved ones who may be hurt by your addiction.
What is Gratitude?
You can be grateful for minor occurrences as long as they make you happy. Once you start paying more attention to the small details of your life and how they make you feel, gratitude will come more naturally and in abundance. Including practicing gratitude into your recovery is beneficial in a number of various ways. For starters, practicing gratitude allows you to maintain an optimistic mindset. The more optimistic you are, the less negativity you bring into your life.
- Countless studies have found that people who actively practice gratitude report higher levels of happiness and are less likely to suffer from depression.
- One group wrote gratitude letters–which are discussed below–one group wrote about their thoughts and feelings, and the last group didn’t write anything.
- Gratitude helps promote the focus on channeling inspiration and motivation into sobriety.
- This may be especially helpful if you feel your life is spinning out of control and experiencing a sense of impending doom.
- While the benefits of gratitude are clear, learning how to cultivate and practice gratitude can be tricky, especially early in recovery.
It’s much better to be sincere and specific, even when thanking someone for something relatively small. Insomnia and disturbed sleep are common withdrawal symptoms and they may last well beyond the detox phase of recovery. Some people continue to experience insomnia for the first several months after getting sober. This is a problem because poor and inadequate sleep has been linked to a number of mental health issues, including major depression and anxiety disorders.
Fill Your Moments With Mindfulness
In recovery, excessive negative emotions put people at risk for relapse. This is not to say negative emotions should be overlooked or ignored, but obsessive or continuous negative thinking is hazardous to a healthy recovery. Expressing gratitude each November is part of tradition, but for people in recovery, gratitude is a year-round practice and an important tool. By practicing gratitude daily, people in recovery remind themselves of all the blessings they have and foster positive thinking, happiness, and wellness.
- Recent work on the concept of gratitude in philosophy and psychology.
- Inspiration and motivation work together to support a focus on recovery.
- The good news is that gratitude is a mental outlook that can be developed and strengthened over time.
- Jim holds a Bachelor of Science, cum laude in Computer Science and Psychology from Loyola University Chicago.
When you choose to think with a grateful mindset, you will improve your physical, mental, and spiritual health. All of which makes for a healthier, happier, and more fulfilled you. If you’re having difficulty staying clean or battling cravings, it might be best to seek help at a reputable drug rehab center.
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This acknowledgment can be verbal, written, or an act of kindness. Gratitude allows an individual to celebrate the present and be an active participant in their life. However, taking the time to practice gratefulness can remind you of just exactly what it is you’re fighting for, and that can be extremely motivating and inspiring. Such exercises in gratitude can change people’s perspective and transform minds and hearts for the better in the interests of successful, long-term recovery.
When you feel overwhelmed, anxious, or depressed, try a guided gratitude meditation to help ground you. Circle of Hope is a Luxury Addiction Treatment facility located in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles. Our patient-centered, evidence-based approach to treatment allows us to put the care of the client first and provide a foundation for long-term recovery.
As a recovering addict, developing a sense of gratitude about the things you appreciate may help you break free from the darkness of addiction. No matter what your religious or spiritual beliefs, taking some time each day to say thank you to your Higher Power is a great way to cultivate more things to be grateful for in your life. This multiplies and before you know it your life is beyond your wildest dreams. Get a jar of any kind and when something good happens write it on a strip of paper and put it in the jar. Then each day (once you get some stockpiled) take one out and remember what you have to be happy about.
Gratitude doesn’t just happen, but it can be easy to develop, just by being mindful as you move through daily life. Creating a “gratitude practice” starts with simply paying attention to good things large and small – and tools such as journals, lists or meditation can help. But if you’re in early recovery or beyond, it’s that much more important.