On Recovery from Addiction - from the Recovery Learning Series at SupportNet.ca - Resources for Your Recovery

This Learning Seminar is On Recovery from Addiction -

What you need to know - How it works - and how Recovery can help you to enjoy your life today.

What You Need To Know

At the root of addiction is a compulsive drive to consume alcohol or drugs that alter mind and mood.

The compulsive use of addiction is a lingering, recurrent and powerful tendency - that has lost connection to rational sense, casual habit or psychological meaning.

Left unchecked - other aspects of life and personhood are overtaken by the compulsive appetite of addiction.

Healthy habits and relationships are left aside. The need to obtain and to use drugs becomes the focus of day to day activity.

Mental habits of thought, feeling and perception are distorted in the service of recurrent and relapsed use. Changes occur within the brain.

The Ways of Addiction - Denial - Blame - Dishonesty and Secrecy - lead only to the next crises and to risk of relapse.

Regrettably, the compulsion to use - and the distortions of lifestyle, mind and brain that occur - do not disappear because we decide one day that we do not want to use.

Recovery finds opportunity in moments of awareness - when we are faced with the destructive impact of addiction on our life.

Recovery is learning to enjoy life - without the use of alcohol or drugs that alter mind or mood.

It is treatment for the condition of addiction - an approach to the challenges of life - and a path to personal growth.

Recovery offer a set of principles - that counteract the sick tendencies of addiction - and that direct us to a more settled life with less likelihood of conflict and crisis.

Applied to the challenges of day to day life - the Principles of Recovery empower and awaken us to a healthier way of life.

The Principles provide direction - to the choices that we face each day. And they suggest healthy ways to respond to the challenges of life.

These Ways of Recovery are drawn from the experience of others - from spiritual traditions and strategies for healing.

Talking with others, journal writing, meditation or prayer - attending to group or learning to say ‘No’ - may all be examples of the healing Ways of Recovery.

The common feature of these ways - is that they counteract the sick tendencies of addiction - and provide us with tools to enjoy life on life’s terms.

The Principles of Recovery provide us with direction - away from the sickness of addiction - and towards a more satisfying life.

The healing Ways of Recovery provide us with the strategies that we need - to respond to the challenges of our life - to allow us to heal and to nurture our health.

Recovery Now

The consequences of addiction are unpredictable and potentially grave.

There is no certainty as to when they will occur - or to whom.

The only real protection is to not use again today.

And to protect our selves from relapsed use - there will be things that we need to do - to avoid or to change.

Recovery does not say that our first goal is to sort out all of the problems and issues of our past right now.

Recovery does not expect others to change for us - or for someone else to resolve our problems.

The powerful and immediate way of recovery - is for us to do things differently today.

What I say and do during this next twenty four hours -

is likely to be the most important influence on how I will feel -

and for the course of my life - during the next few days.

If I steal today - I will feel like a thief. If I steal every day for two weeks - I will come to be a thief. It will become my person.

If I talk honestly today - I will feel a little relief today.

If I talk honestly every day for two weeks - I will begin to change myself inside - and come to feel the power of recovery grow in my life.

Your Personal Program of Recovery

Recovery may be personalized - but it has its necessary Principles and Ways. It is not a matter of selecting what is convenient to do.

To be reliable as treatment for addiction, recovery requires structure and mindfulness on a day to day basis. It will always benefit from the support of others.

SupportNet helps you to define Your Personal Program of Recovery - providing structure and routine to your day to day activities.

Your Personal Program may be adjusted over time - but is best written down - as an agreement with yourself.

Recovery counteracts the compulsive tendencies - and the sick habits of addiction.

It educates and encourages us to consider healthier options than the quick fix of relapsed use.

Recovery provides alternate ways to self calm, cope with and respond to the challenges and crises of everyday life.

It teaches that substance use is not the only solution.

Recovery offers a network of support - through group interaction, personal discussions or digital communications.

Recovery Support Groups meet every day of the week - in your local community - or within Internet chat rooms.

A common phrase to hear in recovery is that The person who I was - would always need to use.

The Principles of Recovery provide direction for the choices that we make - and for the ways that we interact with others.

Healing of emotion, personal growth and spiritual awakening are the result of conducting our selves differently today.

Recovery offers a way out - of addiction, chaos and repeated life crises.

It teaches specific strategies for Relapse Prevention - and provides healthy direction for difficult life choices.

Recovery encourages a calm enjoyment of today - allowing us to heal from a painful past - and helping us to let go of worry for an imagined future.

In Summary

The Principles of Recovery provide us with direction - away from the sickness of addiction - and toward a more satisfying and healthy life.

The healing Ways of Recovery provide us with the strategies that we need - to respond to the challenges of our life - to allow us to heal and to nurture our health.

Your Personal Program of Recovery helps you to structure and to sustain your activities - and alerts you to times when you are not doing what you need to do.

Your Personal Program of Recovery is a day to day foundation for the activities of your recovery.

You have now reached the end of On Recovery from Addiction.

Look for this and other Learning Series topics at www.SupportNet.ca - Resources for Your Recovery.

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