An Apology and Sad News

I firstly must apologize to my loyal readers as I haven't been staying up to date here at The Addicts Attic. I know from emails that I have many loyal readers seeking information and help with this devastating topic.

For the last year I have been the caregiver for my dear mother who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Sadly she lost her battle on Oct 4. I am now trying to put the pieces back together from her loss and a very difficult year as well as stay clean and sober from my own old demons.

I will be able to get myself together with the help of my remaining family.... most of which are in the picture above (minus the strongest.... my dear Mom).... and with the help of God.

Soon I will be back to providing information and support to my loyal readers as this subject (substance abuse and recovery), as some of you know has greatly impacted my life.

To all of you... my apologies and hang in there! Now More Than Ever I realize that life is but a blink of an eye.... Make the best of it today as we don't know if there will be a tomorrow.

WE MISS YOU MOM

Meditation To Help With Recovery

Meditation pertains to a state where your body and brain are consciously relaxed and centered. Practitioners of this art report expanded awareness, centering, and concentration, as well as a more favorable outlook in life. This can all help with recovery.

Meditation is most normally associated with monks, mystics and other spiritual fields. All the same, you don’t have to be a monk or religious mystic to enjoy its advantages. And you don’t even have to be in a particular place to practice it. You put up even try it in your own living-room!

While there are a lot of different approaches to meditation, the basic principles stay the same. The most crucial among these precepts is that of taking away hindering, damaging, and wandering thoughts and illusions, and calming the mind with a rich sense of focus. This clears the mind of junk and prepares it for a greater quality of activity.

The damaging thoughts you have – those of noisy neighbors, bossy officemates, that parking fine you got, and unwanted cravings– are said to add to the ‘polluting’ of the mind, and closing them out is allows the ‘purifying’ of the mind so that it might center on deeper, more meaningful ideas.

A few practitioners even exclude all sensory input – no sights, no sounds, and nothing to touch – and attempt to detach themselves from the disruption around them. You might now center on a rich, profound thought if this is your goal. It might seem deafening initially, since we're all too accustomed to perpetually hearing and seeing things, but as you go along with this exercise you'll find yourself becoming more aware of everything around you.

If you find the meditating poses you see on TV ominous – those with impossibly arching backs, and painful-looking contortions – you need not fret. The precept here is to be in a comfy position conducive to concentration. This might be while sitting cross-legged, standing, lying down, and even walking.

If the pose lets you unwind and center, then that would be a great beginning point. While sitting or standing, the back should be straight, but not tense or taut. In other poses, the only no-no is slumping and nodding off.

Loose, comfy clothes help a lot in the process as tightly fitting clothes have a tendency to choke you up and make you feel strained.

The area you perform meditation should have a calming atmosphere. It might be in your front room, or bedroom, or anywhere that you feel comfortable in. You may want an exercise mat if you plan to assume the more challenging poses (if you feel more centered doing so,). You might want to have the place ordered so that it's calming to your senses.

Silence helps most individuals relax and meditate, so you might want a quiet, detached area far from the ringing of the phone or the buzzing of the washer. Satisfying scents likewise help in that regard, so stocking up on aromatic candles isn’t such a sorry idea either. Certain scents can aid in recovery as well.

The monks you see on TV making those monotone sounds are in reality performing their mantra. This, in easy terms, is a short creed, a simple sound which, for these practitioners, holds a mystical value.

You don't need to perform such; all the same, it would pay to note that centering on repeated actions like breathing, and humming help the practitioner enter a greater state of consciousness.

The principle here is center. You may also try centering on a particular object or thought, or even, while keeping your eyes open, center on a single sight.

One sample routine would be to – while in a reflective state – silently name every part of you body and centering your consciousness on that part. While doing this you should be mindful of any tension on any part of your body. Mentally visualize expelling this tension. It works wonders. You can also focus on expelling thoughts... like cravings.

Altogether, meditation is a relatively riskless practice and its advantages are well worth the effort (or non-effort – remember we’re unwinding).

Studies have demonstrated that meditation does bring about beneficial physiological effects to the body. And there has been a growing consensus in the medical profession to further study the effects of such. So in the near future, who knows, that mysterious, esoteric thing we call meditation may become a science itself!

Our New Forum

Hey everyone... we just added a new feature to The Addicts Attic to better server your needs. We now have a forum! Come and join us and share your views, your help or your troubles. We expect everyone to behave themselves here and remember that this is a place of help and support for those affected by addictions in some way. Be helpful or you will not be allowed to participate.

You will find the link under Pages to the right.

Thanks and Enjoy!

The Use Of Exercise In Treating And Preventing Addiction

As of late studies have been done to find out whether or not the use of fitness equipment and exercise may help prevent drug abuse and/or assist in recovery. A few opinions on exercise equipment are that there are new grounds to believe that exercise may help prevent drug abuse. Researchers lately discovered that teens that worked out each day were more than 35% less likely to try marijuana than those adolescents that didn’t exercise. Although the causes behind this are not totally known, it adds up that adolescents that exercise and are mindful of their health might be too occupied to get mixed up with drugs or alcohol.

Working out makes us feel good about ourselves, and assists individuals in overcoming damaging thoughts that may lead to drug abuse. Physical exertion and fitness equipment like Tunturi treadmills are often a part of rehab programs, as this supplies distraction, and appears to give a shot of self-assurance and relieves tension and depression.

However a few of the researchers are now finding out why exercise assists in the fight with addiction. Physical exertion stimulates endorphins. Endorphins are in lower supply in addicts, which causes negative thoughts, which keeps them using. With the advantages of physical exertion, an addict could stop the drug abuse.

There are issues that aren't yet understood about the use of exercise in the prevention of addiction, but that there's some information that exercise assists in drug abuse prevention. Besides exercise is just good for you.

The way our youth lives today is very different from years past. TV, computers and video games have been substituted for the physical activities youngsters once loved. Fitness appears to have taken a backseat when it concerns the modern youngster. Our youngsters are becoming victims of inactive, unmotivated, unhealthy living and their health and self worth is suffering.

Instructing your youngsters on the importance of physical fitness and the use of fitness equipment is critical to preserving physical and mental health. Stopping drug abuse before it happens is always the best way to go and a healthy body and self image can go a long way for prevention. However with the new information on exercise and addictions, if you are a recovering addict remember that it it's never too late to get healthy... both physically and mentally.

Get started with some kind of fitness equipment... like a Tunturi elliptical cross trainer for example and get some exercise as soon as you can. As always... be sure to check with your doctor before beginning any new exercise program.

Crushing Addiction Calls For A Firm Push To Keep Developing

Can An Addict Teach Us About Personal Growth:Part 2

Everybody who's on the path of development and growth to fight an addiction peters out of steam every once in a while. In recovery, we calls this complacency. What we have discovered with addicts and alcoholics, is that we're either advancing forward in our recovery, or we're stagnating our way back toward a relapse. There's no “treading water” when it concerns our progress – we must keep pushing ourselves to develop.

Once again, this is something that a lot of recovering addicts learn slowly over time, as they observe a pattern in which they slowly slip back into their stale ways. They in time find that the only way to make constant, forward advancement in recovery is to continue pushing themselves to accomplish fresh goals and achieve new things. Illustrations of this include helping new addicts in recovery, getting back to finish a college degree, or pushing themselves to get a more beneficial job. We can't stalemate and be successful in recovery. Stagnating leads to relapse. Steady development is a huge key to long term soberness.

The significances of complacency regarding personal development are very visible. While many us may read literature day-after-day regarding personal development, and many us may as well have our daily practices and routines that we’ve adopted in order to go after a more spiritual life, how much have we truly developed lately? Ask yourself: should I be reaching for something more in my life right now? Will I be fulfilled if I continue living the way I have been living recently?

Be sure to check back for the next part of our series and watch for my new upcoming book on Stress That Accompanys The Holidays.

Related addiction articles

• Drinking Diaries: On Rejecting Addiction and Drama (psychcentral.com)
• Latin America's crack problem swells (telegraph.co.uk)

Developing a Powerful Vision For Recovery

A vision is an aspiration that you produce in your mind and aim for it and plan for it from start to the end. It's this vision that thrusts you forward and aims your life with a purpose to reach ahead. It gives the power to achieve your aspirations and also inspires individuals around you with your positive mindset and drive to move forward.

However, how does one plan on acquiring a powerful vision and inspire their lives and the lives of others under its influence when it comes to recovery?

Think Ahead and Plan
If you have the ability to dream, you are able to plan your vision to meet your goals. Think of how you are and how you want your future to be. You are able to create a vision not only to pull in power and success to your recovery but it can also work for your relationships and other aspects of life. When you think ahead and plan in your mind, you are able to produce a vision. Let it be very specific and not something that's very vaguely pictured.

Think Positive
To acquire a powerful vision, you need to produce a positive mindset. Unless you think positive, the actions or planning can't happen in a positive manner. So, it's very essential to have a positive thinking in order to move ahead. Without positive thinking, there's no vision. Without a vision, there's no goal achieved in life or recovery.

Apply the Power of Affirmations
Positive thinking and affirmation with a belief in yourself is very crucial to develop powerful visions and carry it forward to attain success in life and recovery. You need to have motivation and it should be constant and there's nothing better than the power of affirmations to help you acquire all the motivation you need.

Determine Goals
Based on your vision, it's crucial to set goals both short term and long term. It's crucial to visit these goals often and check how many of them you've been able to achieve. If you have been successful in achieving your goals, celebrate it and take credit for it. This will help you stay motivated. However, at the same time, if you have not been able to accomplish some of these goals, it's best not to lose heart but to see why you have not been able to reach these goals and consider how to strive towards reaching them.

The vision that you have generated from your zeal to excel in recovery shouldn't just remain a unfulfilled dream. Rather, it's in your hands to give it the proper shape and molding that it requires to make it grow and attain fruition. Otherwise, the vision has no value.

If you need more info for inspiration,inner pace and helping yourself while helping others, be sure to check inspirationDNA.