She serves as a consultant to the Expanding Peers in Community Services (EPICS) committee team. Crystal is filled with a desire to help others and find a life of fulfillment and she dedicated herself to offering the message of HOPE to anyone who is willing to receive it. Ben is a New York State Certified Recovery Peer Advocate (CRPA), a Certified Peer Specialist and a Friends of Recovery – NY Best practice Trainer.
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While some people have strong, pre-existing support systems and communities, those new to recovery might need to search a little. With gratitude, you can sense how far you’ve come and where you might go next. You feel a deep sense of pride and accomplishment for all your hard work and good intentions, and you look for opportunities to connect with people, the world, the moment. Volunteering or being in service is one of the best ways to begin to get grateful.
University of Maryland, Baltimore
- Creating a “gratitude practice” starts with simply paying attention to good things large and small – and tools such as journals, lists or meditation can help.
- While cultivating gratitude is an ongoing process, its rewards are immeasurable.
- Through lived experience, with her sister as her qualifier, Katharine developed an alternative therapy for substance use disorder, a Pathway to Wellness through Movement.
- By expressing thankfulness for everything you have in your life, you can begin to see the glass as half full rather than half empty.
- David Beasley is a compassionate leader and the visionary founder of Design for Recovery Sober Living Homes, where he dedicates his life to helping individuals reclaim their lives from addiction.
Gratitude involves more than self-reflection; it should be practiced as love in action. In recovery, the brain begins to heal and as it heals, with practice, selfishness and other damaging attitudes begin to fade away. Replacing selfishness with gratitude can be revealed through intentional service to others by volunteering, charitable giving and even supporting others in recovery. Be grateful for the simple beauty of a clear blue sky, the grace of a flock of birds, the sweet hug from a friend, the majesty of a starry night – things that went long unnoticed and unappreciated before recovery. Gratitude strengthens your recovery, ushering in joy, peace and selflessness that will empower your journey and positively impact, even inspire, your loved ones.
- Also, having a grateful heart teaches us to love and respect ourselves—that we are worthy of receiving love—and enables us to give love and respect back to others.
- Online resources for gratitude meditation, such as apps, podcasts, videos, or articles, are also available.
- You’ll hear people say, “I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed this morning.” This reflects the negative thinking that just draws more and more to it.
How Gratitude Benefits Mental Health and Brain Function
- However, the effects on other physical health aspects, such as blood pressure and blood sugar levels, although showing potential, are not consistently proven across studies.
- Gratitude can help you concentrate on the positive aspects of your situation rather than dwelling on the negative ones.
- This is where showing appreciation for even small gestures of kindness or relatively minuscule positive occurrences comes into play.
- For people working on recovery from substance abuse, cultivating the proverbial “attitude of gratitude” can boost the success of all aspects of a recovery plan.
It allows you to appreciate what you have instead of dwelling on your difficulties. According to studies, gratitude and happiness are always strongly correlated. In one study, researchers asked one group to note the things https://edutechinsider.com/top-5-advantages-of-staying-in-a-sober-living-house/ they were grateful for. They then asked another group to write about the daily irritations or things that had displeased them. The third group was asked to write about the negative and positive events that affected them.
Choosing to stop using addictive substances and actively work toward recovery is a positive step. But it can be derailed quickly by those hopeless, negative thoughts, and the actions that go with them. Trapped in that mindset, an addicted person might think that there’s no point in trying to recover, because they’ll always use again. When you start being grateful for the people Sober House and things around you, you become calmer and more relaxed with yourself. This gratitude and giving to others increases self esteem and self satisfaction which in turn helps you recover from your addiction. In order to understand how gratitude affects addiction recovery you have to realize the benefits of gratitude in general and what it does for a recovering addict.
- In recovery, make self-care a priority by taking steps to improve your circumstances or your health, or saying no to people and activities that don’t support your goals for recovery.
- Gratitude is often misunderstood as complacency or settling for less.
- According to the American Psychological Association, gratitude is a sense of happiness and thankfulness when to receiving a gift or experiencing a fortunate event.
- When someone develops the habitual practice of expressing gratitude for what they have, they tend to stop thinking about what they do not have and concentrate on the things that they do.
How Do You Keep a Grateful Attitude Over Time?
You may think that gratitude is difficult to practice, especially when you are facing hardships or difficulties in life. You may feel that you have nothing to feel grateful for or that you don’t have the time or energy to express gratitude. Studies have shown that grateful people experience more positive emotions, such as joy, love, and satisfaction. They also have higher levels of self-esteem, optimism, and resilience.
