Being able to conduct a self-check is a crucial aspect of both substance abuse recovery and mental health recovery. Addiction and mental health disorders can create habits and patterns that individuals may be unaware of. These patterns can hinder the client’s progress in recovery. It is important for individuals to regularly check in with themselves and become more self-aware to help prevent relapse and maintain their journey to lifelong sobriety.
Conducting a Self-Check In Treatment and Recovery
Knowing yourself is the first step in learning to live a healthy, sober life. A comprehensive treatment program for substance use disorders (SUDs) and mental health disorders should incorporate a range of self-awareness tools, including mindfulness, prayer, and therapy.
As those recovering from SUD, we may not recognize warning signs and triggers. There are neurobiological changes that occur during addiction. These changes to your brain can cause certain environmental cues, like being in certain places, to trigger addictive behaviors. Knowing these triggers can help prevent relapse and create a successful recovery.
Mindfulness and Prayer to Keep You Centered
Mindfulness techniques, like meditation and yoga, help to center the body and the mind in the present moment. This makes us more aware of the sensations we are currently feeling and puts us more in tune with our thoughts and feelings. By using mindfulness techniques, individuals increase awareness of the changes in their internal and external environments and learn how to change them.
Prayer offers a similar effect to mindfulness. Like the Om of the Eastern religions, prayer provides a verbal chant that helps us direct our desires for ourselves onto a singular purpose and path. Connecting with a higher power helps the individual gain a sense of perspective on their lives they might not otherwise have.
Doing a Self-Check Through Therapy
Group therapy is another way we can be self-aware in treatment. Our peers who experience the same treatment and recovery that we do can often provide one of the best perspectives when we go astray. Peers are also understanding and empathetic to our experiences. Discussing our struggles in a safe and confidential space helps us work through our problems while receiving the benefit of the experience of others.
Therapy provides a good way for us to check in on our progress. In addition to peers, a therapist provides a meaningful touchstone on the progress we have made and the work that still needs to be done. When we become more self-aware, we can identify those warning signs of relapse and work to circumvent the issues that lead us to that backslide. In therapy, we benefit from the collective experience of the group, the individual wisdom of the therapist, and the cathartic experience of the community.
How Prayer and Mindfulness Can Center Your Treatment and Recovery
Prayer and spirituality can play an important role in substance abuse treatment and recovery. For many individuals, a connection to a higher power or a spiritual practice can provide comfort, hope, and a sense of meaning and purpose.
Including prayer and spirituality in substance abuse treatment can help individuals connect to something greater than themselves, increase feelings of gratitude and hope, and provide a sense of community. Incorporating prayer and spirituality into substance abuse treatment can take many forms. These can include:
- Daily devotions
- Group prayer or meditation
- Participation in a spiritual community
In addition, mindfulness techniques such as yoga and meditation can be an effective addition to substance abuse treatment. By incorporating these practices into a comprehensive treatment program, individuals can develop new coping skills and strategies, manage cravings, reduce stress and anxiety, and improve sleep. This can all play an important role in helping individuals maintain their recovery and prevent relapse.
Incorporating Prayer Into Your Self-Check
One of the benefits of incorporating prayer and spirituality into substance abuse treatment is that it can help individuals develop a deeper sense of self-awareness. By reflecting on their beliefs and values, individuals can gain a better understanding of themselves and their motivations.
The self-awareness prayer can help individuals identify negative patterns of thinking and behavior and develop new coping skills and strategies that support their recovery. Incorporating prayer and spirituality into substance abuse treatment can also provide a sense of hope and optimism.
Spirituality can play an important role in supporting an individual’s recovery journey. This can mean connecting to a higher power or a spiritual community. It can even result in increasing self-awareness and promoting feelings of hope and gratitude. By including these practices in a comprehensive treatment program, individuals can develop a stronger sense of purpose and meaning.
How Mindfulness Can Keep You in Touch With Your Body and Mind
Mindfulness is not just mental exercise. Yoga allows us to exercise our bodies, stretch our weary muscles, and align our bodies. It can also help us to get in touch with our physical selves and attune our bodies for a self-check.
As an exercise, yoga has been shown to reduce stress, improve sleep, and increase feelings of well-being. Practicing yoga helps you to learn to focus on the present moment. This lets you become more mindful of your thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Yoga can be done at home or in groups. Many cities have outdoor yoga classes in the warmer months that also help us get out in the sunshine.
As a mindfulness technique, meditation can also be incorporated into substance abuse treatment. Meditation involves focusing on the present moment and calming the mind. In eastern religions, this is accompanied by a chant. But meditation can also be accomplished by lying in a comfortable place and clearing the mind. Just let yourself drift in the now.
Meditation has been shown to reduce stress, improve sleep, and increase feelings of well-being. In substance abuse treatment, meditation can be used to help individuals manage cravings. It can also reduce negative thoughts and emotions and help the client develop a sense of self-awareness.
One of the biggest challenges you may face in recovery is recognizing when you are beginning to slip back into old habits and patterns. This is where self-awareness comes in. By becoming more self-aware, you can identify when you are beginning to experience cravings, negative thoughts, or other warning signs that you are in danger of relapse. This allows you to take action and make changes to prevent falling back into unhealthy patterns. At Renaissance Ranch, our goal is to help you build the coping skills and self-check tools to know when you are in trouble and the support network to keep you on track. For more information, call us today at (801) 308-8898.