Getting High on Recovery

Your thoughts are powerful, but they do not have power over you. 

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In a recent article, I explored the power of your thoughts and how your thought life can literally change your life. You can find the article here, How to Harness the Power of your Mind to Accomplish Anything You Want. The article explores how your thoughts can be used to change your mind and support your recovery and your healing.

The idea for the article came from a journal entry. I was struggling with a repetitive thought that I couldn’t shake. So I wrote,

It’s just a thought, and a thought does not have power over me. Thoughts pass. Journal entry, November 4, 2016

Your thoughts are powerful, but they do not have power over you. Put another way, you are not your thoughts, they will pass.

Think about the statements in the sentence that I just wrote. They are bold to encourage you to pause at each one:

Your thoughts are powerful.

But your thoughts do not have power over you.

You are not your thoughts.

Thoughts of fear, depression, anxiety, isolation, guilt and triggers to use again are powerful. But they do not have power over you. In reality, our thoughts only have as much power as we give to them. Because you are not your thoughts. Give it time and the thought will pass.

In reality, give any thought time and it will pass. That’s why I have a notepad, an iPhone note app, and paper everywhere I go. Thoughts come go as quickly as it takes to find a pen and try and write them down.

Your thoughts are merely leaves on a stream. You may want to practice an exercise designed to teach you to let your thoughts pass. If you are interested, just click on the stream photo below.

Let this be your mantra today: Your thoughts may feel very powerful. But they do not have power over you. Because you are not your thoughts. You are much, much more than your thoughts.

If you are not your thoughts, who are you? Learning about yourself, your true self, is recovery. I wrote an article about the Uneasy Peace of Recovery where I looked at the 12 steps as stances rather than steps. Another way to look at the 12 steps is to see them as steps of self-discovery.
Recovery is self-discovery. You are not finding God, or finding a way. You are finding yourself again, you are learning who you are, step by step.

The 12 Steps of Self-Discovery

1. Learn to accept that your limitations are a gift.
2. Learn that you can believe in yourself and to hope again.
3. Learn to accept that power can be gentle and loving.
4. Learn that by searching your heart, you can change your mind.
5. Learn that by admitting your weaknesses will make you stronger.
6. Learn that being ready to change is change.
7. Learn to ask for what you need and to be self-compassionate.
8. Learn to take responsibility and to be ready to repair what you can.
9. Learn that you heal as you help others to heal.
10. Learn that when you thought you were finished with something, you are really just getting started. Old habits can be your teachers. 
11. Learn that your strength comes from giving grace to yourself. 
12. Learn to wake up to life and to help others to also wake up to life.

You are more than your thoughts. Your thoughts may feel very powerful. But remember, they do not have power over you. Your power will grow as you practice self-care, discover more about yourself and practice the grace needed to change what you can, and accept the rest. 

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,Courage to change the things I can,And wisdom to know the difference.

I write articles about wellness, leadership, parenting and personal growth. My hope is to deliver the best content I can to inspire, to inform and to entertain. Sign up for my blog if you want to receive the latest and best of my writing.

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Keep it Real

Photo by Christopher Paquette