Embracing a spiritual aspect in recovery can be an important transformative experience. However, the idea of spirituality can be difficult to embrace, as it is an intangible concept by nature and exists as one’s thoughts and beliefs. Incorporating a spiritual component can change how an individual views the world around them, as well as form the basis of their new beliefs and worldview in their newfound sobriety.
Spiritual counseling is just one part of the recovery process. Embracing aspects of spirituality can affect every other dimension of one’s recovery journey, helping to create a new outlook on the world and one’s own sobriety.
What Is Spirituality?
Spirituality is an independent belief system that can dictate the way in which an individual perceives their environments, relationships, and self. Embracing a spiritual component in one’s recovery can help guide them through difficult emotional times. This can even reinvigorate or help to discover a newfound sense of purpose, peace, or core elements of an individual’s sober identity in the process. This system of core beliefs then manifests in the person’s best practices, continues to aid in goal-setting and prioritization, and helps dictate personal mantras that can provide them with guidance to continue maintaining their sobriety.
Finding a core set of spiritual beliefs and creating mantras can be a crucial element in navigating the often nuanced and difficult world of stress and addiction recovery. There can always be unforeseen stressors or anxieties throughout the recovery process, and one’s spiritual beliefs can help guide them through these situations by providing a degree of direction based on their spirituality. For example, those who embrace the spiritual belief of karma can utilize this concept in how they want to reconstruct and pursue personal relationships. Their core beliefs of kindness and forgiveness extend to others, as well as within themselves.
Spirituality Is Not Religion
One of the main barriers to those seeking to add a spiritual component to their recovery is the idea that spirituality is intertwined with a certain religious aspect. While many religions embrace a spiritual component to their practice, the idea of spirituality on its own is not dictated by any one religion or denomination.
Spirituality is something that is wholly separate from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Wicca, or any other religion. Rather, spirituality is an entirely personal and internal affair. It is possible that the beliefs that one finds within themselves can align with these larger religions, but this is not necessary. An individual may find that they can better explore their own spirituality when they are not expected to abide by any predetermined religious structure.
The belief in a God is also not a necessity when it comes to the idea of spirituality. It is an exploration of beliefs, a sense of personal purpose, and a vehicle that can help define one’s sober worldview — none of which demand the belief in a higher power.
Creating Your Spiritual Framework
Spirituality plays a very unique role throughout one’s recovery journey by helping each individual to make sense of the world around them. Seeing the world through a sober lens can bring a lot of clarity when it comes to one’s own life, actions, and relationships. A person’s spiritual beliefs can help them make sense of these feelings and explore how they can continue to take steps towards their next sober goals. Taking these steps is instrumental in understanding one’s own situation, as well as helping to mitigate stresses and help guide them through difficult decisions.
There is no shortage of difficult emotions throughout one’s recovery journey. Stress, depression, anxiety, frustration, and much more can all be difficult emotions to process, especially if one is experiencing them on a regular basis. The role of spirituality can help an individual begin to navigate these extremely difficult and emotional times. Doing so can help to contextualize these feelings and better understand how they affect an individual and their role within their sober identity.
Many of these emotions can become compounded if an individual is feeling overwhelmed by their presence or is unable to understand or locate a reason behind their presence. One’s spiritual framework and beliefs can be used to quickly and effectively find some meaning behind these emotions, helping prompt action by using appropriate coping strategies.
A person’s spiritual beliefs can act as a simple, guiding force throughout every aspect of recovery. Having a personal mantra to gauge one’s actions, as well as help dictate decision-making and goal-setting, can all help to provide an extra line of guidance throughout the difficult recovery process.
Spirituality and spiritual guidance throughout the recovery process can be a cornerstone of each person’s recovery, helping to inform decision-making and designing the goals for each individual moving through the difficult recovery journey.