Gratitude in Recovery

If people feel grateful they will automatically be thinking positively. Those suffering from an addiction and entering drug rehab will learn how important it is to change how they perceive the world and create a better attitude towards life.

Still, Thanksgiving can be a difficult time for others, especially those in recovery. However, the Thanksgiving season can be an excellent time for those working to take a look within and examine the things in life that we can be grateful for. If you’re struggling with sobriety and want to break free from addiction’s hold so you can reclaim your life, there is help. At Gateway in Chicago, Illinois, we want to support you so you can find a life of gratitude and sobriety.

Thank Your Way out of Addiction: How Gratitude May Be the Key to Recovery

Inflammation is a major risk factor in the progression of heart disease and keeping it low is crucial for heart health as well as other dimensions of physical and mental health. If you or a loved one is suffering from a drug or alcohol addiction, please contact us today. When people are grateful for what they have, they will experience a great deal of happiness. When beginning your new life after recovery, changing the way you view https://ecosoberhouse.com/ the world can be a way to help you along that process. Part of this transformation involves incorporating gratitude into your daily routine. Being grateful for the blessings in your life, whether large or small, helps cultivate a humble, appreciative attitude. Especially in early recovery, there are a lot of emotions that surface that are no longer being numbed by drugs or alcohol, and these emotions can sometimes feel overwhelming.

Gratitude becomes like a sweet salve that not only heals but also contributes to your sense of joy for breaking free from substance use. When we show gratitude towards others we are in relationships with, they too feel better and the relationship can heal and improve. Some studies have shown that when gratitude is expressed in romantic relationships feelings of happiness lasted through the following day.

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While we can look at each one of these things and find an issue, the power is in finding the good in each. When we are optimistic we see good outcomes in even the most trying situations.

• Keeping this positive outlook on life as a whole will open you up to a world of goodness, and will truly bolster the recovery process.
• Every over dramatized fear and worry was extinguished more and more with every call.
• For those who are engaged in recovery, it can be extending help to the still suffering alcoholic or addict with 12th step work.
• Practicing gratitude allows you to “switch gears” mentally and see the positivity and hopefulness in the process.
• Having trouble focusing your gratitude onto a specific person, place or thing?
• As Thanksgiving approaches, people talk more about gratitude.

Often they live in constant fear about numerous issues, they feel they’ve been given a poor lot in life and they cry out in anger about why they have been forsaken. Entering into recovery, addicts and alcoholics are directed to a healthier and more positive outlook. This positive outlook is something that is important to be sustained long term in order for someone in recovery to continue their journey or healing and growth in order to stay clean gratitude in recovery and sober. The active, regular practice of gratitude increases happiness, quality of life, and other positive emotions. For people in recovery from addiction, gratitude practices can be powerful ways to strengthen sobriety and reduce relapse risk. The act of gratitude can be as simple as making a list of good things that happen and thanking people for what they do to support recovery. These and other activities benefit recovery in powerful ways.

Showing Gratitude to Yourself

Are there other ways that you focus on gratitude in your home, community, and recovery? We stand side-by-side with our guests as they do the hard work of looking at unhealthy patterns and behaviors and help them build the tools and skills they need for a sustainable and healthy recovery. Volunteering or being in service is one of the best ways to begin to get grateful. Not only does volunteering help us get out of our heads and inot the present moment. This helps us to see and appreciate the good things in our lives now.

And while it may not come easily at first, just like negative thinking is a habit for some, being grateful can become a habit too. You also learn to share the same level of love and respect that you have for yourself with others. Your positive nature can help others who are starting their path toward recovery.

Why Gratitude?

Butch also maintained a private practice, specializing in family of origin work and addiction populations. Dr. Sledge is a sought-after speaker in the industry, talking about the critical need to treat both the mind and body of those struggling with substance use disorder. In addition to working for Cumberland Heights, Dr. Sledge is an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. Since 2016 Jay has served on the board of directors of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers .

• A great way to take the focus off yourself and your own difficulties is to help others.
• Gratitude and being grateful are terms heard often in recovery.
• Pick a beautiful journal and decide a time of day when you can spend five minutes writing a gratitude list.
• At its essence, gratitude is feeling joy for the things you have in life.
• Often they live in constant fear about numerous issues, they feel they’ve been given a poor lot in life and they cry out in anger about why they have been forsaken.

It is actually a defense mechanism to protect our erratic behaviors. One gets to thinking less of self and more of the efforts of those trying to help. By cultivating this in addiction treatment and in recovery, we develop a better mindset overall and have a much more positive perspective on life. Those who practice gratitude are generally happier people.

The study above asked participants to write once a week for 10 weeks but you can probably speed things up by writing every day for the first couple of weeks. Doing this exercise right before bed can help put you in a positive frame of mind, which the study on gratitude and sleep cited above indicates can give you the added benefit of better quality sleep. Our default mode is to look out for danger and try to anticipate what might go wrong. Our minds are far more sensitive to bad events than good ones. Ten people tell you it looks great and one person tells you it looks stupid. Most of us will remember the one person who said it looked stupid. Practicing gratitude is a way of pushing against our natural tendency to dwell on the negative.

• In fact, integrating gratitude into your daily life becomes, in essence, a reflection of the spiritual awakening you’ve experienced in recovery.
• If individuals are grateful to be on the road to recovery, then it is less likely they will relapse because they are empowered to move forward.
• Our mental health plays a massive role in our physical health.
• It will also allow you to take some time for yourself and express some creativity in the process.
• Embarrassment and frustration are self-defeating emotions many people encounter when trying to become sober.

Substance abuse is often the unexpected side effect of improper pain treatment, or repeated, recreational use of prescription pain medications or heroin. Regardless of how dependence begins, once it has developed, it is considered a disease that must be medically treated. Buprenorphine is an opioid medication used to treat opioid addiction in the privacy of a physician’s office. Buprenorphine can be dispensed for take-home use, by prescription. This, in addition to buprenorphine’s pharmacological and safety profile, makes it an attractive treatment for patients addicted to opioids. Violation of the federal law and regulations by a practice/program is a crime. Suspected violations may be reported to appropriate authorities in accordance with federal regulations.