What No One Tells You About Recovery

What comes to mind when you hear the word recovery?

Most people will immediately say addiction. Addiction is often connected with: drugs, alcohol, overdose, epidemic, violence, death, crime, 12-step meetings, AA, Al-Anon, rehab, therapy. As we can see, the word recovery tends to be connected with extremely negative images, people and situations.

But what is recovery really? Is this one word reserved only for people who are battling hard (alcohol & drugs) and soft (co-dependency, gambling, sex, food, internet) addictions?

Recovery is a concept that I feel applies to every one of us and this is why.

Take a moment to ask yourself the following questions:

• Have you had a loved one die?
• Have you had a relationship end?
• Have you had a friendship end?
• Have you lost a job?
• Do you feel the need to please everyone?
• Do you feel less-than if you think someone doesn’t like you?

If you have answered yes or if the above questions made you think, then you are in recovery. We all recover from the good, the bad and the ugly that happen in our lives.

Spiritual Awakening

Marianne Williamson said ‘The goal of spiritual practice is full recovery, and the only thing you need to recover from is a fractured sense of self.’ Take a moment to think about that. Fractured sense of self. When have you felt fractured?

When my Dad passed away I felt grief, pain, anger, sadness but most of all I felt fractured. A part of me was missing and that feeling of ’empty’ invaded my soul. To deal with being fractured, I had to push through grief and put the pieces of me back together. There will always be a few cracks that never disappear but when we fill those cracks, through the process of recovery, we are truly able to live our life’s purpose.

The core of recovery can be defined as a spiritual awakening or spiritual awareness. Spiritual awakening starts with connection, to friends, family, our community and the planet and to something greater than ourselves. A power greater than ourselves that some may identify as God or Goddess or Spirit or Mother Nature. Our individual concept of a higher power is as unique as each of us. Recovery shows us how to take this connection and spiritual awakening to the next level — where we discover peace of mind, body and soul.

Peace

Through recovery we look at what ‘is’, our values and the gifts that we bring to the table. We learn how to deal with our emotions. We see the big picture and see our location on our map through this journey we call life. We are able to navigate through the hard times and we are truly able to celebrate our good times. Recovery is learning how to survive and how to live. In essence, this is why we are all in recovery. We are learning how to live life on life’s terms. That is peace.

I would love to hear how you have personally recovered. Please reply to this email so that I can celebrate your success.