Spiritual fitness and one’s emotional state are inextricably tied to anyone working a program for addiction recovery. Your connection with a “higher power” is the crux of self-progress. The more spiritually fit you are, the better able you find yourself in avoiding the snares and traps of addiction. Your disease is a force to be reckoned with, and your recovery must be too.
This time of year, you might find it difficult to keep constant contact with a power greater than yourself. Paradoxically, the end of the year is when one needs their higher power most of all. At Hope by the Sea, we implore you to keep the importance of spirituality in mind this Christmas. To accomplish such a task, you may need to double your efforts regarding prayer and meditation. Those who take a spirit-focused course over the next few days will find themselves better able to protect their program. Emotions run high for people in recovery during Christmas time, which means you need spirituality more than ever.
Spirituality Is The Shield of Recovery
“Man is lost and is wandering in a jungle where real values have no meaning. Real values can have meaning to man only when he steps on to the spiritual path, a path where negative emotions have no use.” —Sai Baba
Most people in early recovery are still addressing the wreckage of their past. Addiction can lead to loss of people we love in our life, not necessarily permanently, but it can take a significant amount of recovery time for one’s family to take your efforts seriously. Familial estrangement can lead to a host of negative emotions during major holidays; which means that one must utilize their self-care tools to keep malaise from taking control of the ship. Prayer and meditation is the surest method of keeping negativity at bay and fostering positive thoughts.
Your life may not be a basket of roses (yet), but it’s certainly a far cry from where you found yourself before adopting the cause of recovery. In time, everything comes together the way it’s supposed to; life might not be what you planned, but it’s authentic and meaningful. In most cases, those who stick to the path receive gifts beyond their wildest dreams, including rekindling familial relationships.
The Spirit of Fellowship
Spirituality is the vehicle which carries us out of the darkness of our disease and into the light that is lasting recovery. Individuals who give spirituality its proper due witness their life change for the better right before their eyes. What’s more, the fellowship is a physical manifestation of one’s spiritual connection. Your peers, in a sense, become like family; we help each other to help ourselves stay clean and sober.
Our individual progress is only made possible by the fellowship around us; the fellowship is because of you and everyone else. No one truly recovers alone; I am because of you and vice versa. Please acknowledge your role in the recovery-verse around you. Let your connection to the group, along with your spiritual relationship with a higher power, carry you through Christmas, relapse-free. Pray, meditate, call your sponsor or recovery mentor, and get to meetings; doing all those things will strengthen your resolve to keep on track.
Hope By The Sea would like to extend our best wishes for the millions of people dedicated to recovery this Christmas. We hope you have a safe and sober holiday.
