Are you ready for your family to find a positive recovery?
Are you looking to live a more peaceful existence?
Positive recovery can mean changing some of your habits that aren’t working so well and creating new ones that enhance your life.
It can also mean taking care of yourself so that you are better supporting your child who is struggling with substances.
Many have found recovery and gone to live a life filled with inner peace, which really makes day-to-day living so much easier.
It seems like many of those in recovery are invisible. However, here are four incredible authors who found recovery in their own unique way. They have not only let go of habits that no longer serve them, but they have also gone on to live amazing lives and share their gifts with others.
Most of all, by having the courage to share their past, they are a beacon of hope to those who are struggling with addiction.
Practice your priority
Rolf Gates is a yoga teacher from Santa Cruz, California, and has written a beautiful book of daily reflection on the path of yoga. His book, Meditations from the Mat, Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga, inspires and provides spiritual guidance as he discovers and explains yoga’s beauty.
Rolf writes, “My very first practice was abstinence from alcohol through the use of the twelve steps. When I was about two years into that practice, a woman asked me what I wanted in life.
I told her that in twenty-five years, I wanted to be twenty-seven years sober. She told me that if I continued to feel that way, it would probably come to pass.
Abhyasa, or practice, is really about making something a priority. As we enact that priority, energy builds in our life to support it.”
Don’t let the past steal your present.” ~Terri Guillemets
Creativity can help positive recovery.
Julia Cameron is the author of The Artist’s Way, A Spiritual Path of Higher Creativity.
The book reached the top 10 bestseller list after selling millions of copies worldwide. This is the book from where the infamous “morning pages” originate and what Julia calls the primary creative recovery tool.
“In 1978, in January, I stopped drinking. I had never thought drinking made me a writer, but now I suddenly thought not drinking might make me stop. In my mind, drinking and writing went together like, well, scotch and soda.
For me, the trick was always getting past the fear and onto the page. I was playing beat the clock — trying to write before the booze closed in like fog, and my window of creativity was blocked again.”
Julia’s book was the catalyst for many to have the courage to explore their creativity and follow their dreams.
“Even in the midst of devastation, something within us always points the way to freedom.” ~Sharon Salzberg
Learn to be fearless
Steve Chandler is an author who has written dozens of books, including Death Wish: The Path through Addiction to a Glorious Life.
He is a world-famous personal success coach and a nationally recognized keynote speaker.
“I was one of them—a reactor. Big time I was sick, ruined, bankrupt, addicted to drugs and alcohol, lying to everyone I knew, especially the ones closest to me.
A life of fear and more fear. The best I could ever feel, on my best day, was just worried. I was often okay with being worried.
It was better than being flat-out terrified. But the terror would always return. And the pink cloud period of constant worry never lasted.
A recovery program saved my life.
Then, from there, I had the stunning privilege of learning to live freely.”
“No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible.” ~George Chakiris
Talk about your shame.
Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston and has spent the past ten years studying vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame. She has written several best-selling books, her latest being Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead.
Brené says that we can change our relationships and the way we live if we can find the courage to talk about shame and its effect on our lives.
“I started to get a clearer understanding of my own social dependence on alcohol. I quit drinking and smoking in 1996, the weekend I graduated with my master’s degree in social work. I was lucky. I had the information and tools to make that choice and found the support I needed to put down the sword and shield. I consider my journey in recovery to be one of the greatest gifts in my life.”
Many have found the gift of positive recovery. With the power of our collective voices, may we begin to let go of the stigma of our past and share the truth that recovery works?
What positive changes have you discovered in yourself or a loved one? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
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