We all have much to be grateful for, yet sometimes in life and recovery, we lose sight of this reality. We let the unwanted emotions or feelings caused by our immediate circumstances restrict our belief in ourselves and society. This results in us failing to appreciate all we have and creates a false hope about how much better our lives could be if certain things were different.
If life circumstances are making it hard to find gratitude, simply redirect your thinking. A quick and easy way to find gratitude is to look at all the things we take for granted. Our lives are consistently filled with everyday blessings that we regularly forget to notice. We ignore that life's greatness isn't always about the big stuff, the perfect stuff, or what we think should be. The truth is we can find the goodness of life in the little stuff, the hard stuff, and those experiences that challenge us to be better. We each have thousands of things to be grateful for; we just need to ensure our selfishness and sense of entitlement are not impeding their appearance. For example, below are three blessings each of us has that, if accepted, can transform our lives:
Our Ability to Choose
Our Ability to Act
Our Ability to be Honest
Many of us carry a false belief that our lives will become better, or we will have more to be grateful for once something changes, or we acquire a particular thing. This is not the case, but unfortunately, we often use this line of thinking to limit our actions. Until we choose to get honest and use this honesty to stimulate action, our lives will be void of joy and happiness. The joy, happiness, and satisfaction we all crave only come when we are acting with purpose. It is action that changes our circumstances and builds our future. Action carries so much power because it compounds the goodness in our lives. It allows us to expand upon all that we are grateful for by sharing it with others. It enables us to grow mentally and spiritually in every capacity. By acting on the gifts we have been given, we maximize the principles that define who we want to be. We live life as it is meant to be lived, so we find gratitude in everything we do. FOR CONSIDERATION: If you are having difficulty finding gratitude, see if reading the Choice Gratitude Statement stimulates anything. Today I am grateful for my ability to choose. This ability gives me the freedom to choose happiness, sadness, anger, appreciation, and even resentment. I can choose who my friends are, where I work, where I live, and how I spend my time. I can choose when to laugh and when to cry. I can choose to accept or deny, to be honest, or to lie, but most importantly, I can choose to stay clean and sober, which is what I choose today.
ABOUT CHOICE RECOVERY
Choice Recovery is licensed as an outpatient addiction treatment facility, but it is actually much more than that. Alcohol and drug addiction is about staying clean and sober, but it is also about living a life that you love. It is about appreciating the good and bad life delivers, dealing with it, and coming out better on the other side. This is what Choice Recovery hopes to instill into anyone that enrolls in our opioid or other substance misuses program.
In addition to standard evidence-based addiction treatment, Choice Recovery offers an End-organ disease program for individuals working on candidacy for an organ transplant, a MAT Titration Support Program, and morning and evening intensive outpatient treatment ("IOP"). We accept AHCCCS insurance including Mercy Care, Care1st, and Banner University Health. For more information please call 480-527-0337 or email us at admin@choiceiop.com.