#MondayMotivation: Mind, Body, & Spirit
August 24, 2015

“Recovery is all about the mind, body, and spirit.” – Anonymous

Mind, Body, and Spirit

The body is a marvelous thing and can tell us a lot about how we are feeling on any particular day. If I am sick, stressed, or fearful – my body and spirit can be affected. The same goes for if I am physically sick. My mind and spirit can be altered by what my body is doing. This is why the mind, body, and spirit of an addict/alcoholic must be taken care of. Working on one without the other will not work long-term. At least that has been my experience.

The longer I stay sober, the better I am to my body. After some years in recovery I discovered that being good to me also included being good to my body. At year 3 I quit smoking, year 4 I got more physically active, and at year 5 I started looking more at my nutritional intake. I am not perfect and found that working on my body along with my mind has taken great patience, practice, and acceptance on my limitations. There have been many times that I have wanted to quit trying to live a healthier lifestyle, only to be reminded that recovery is a mind, body, and spiritual journey. If I want to live a long happy, joyous, and free life, I had to work on all three. This is where I gave it up to my Higher Power and simply made a decision that I would put in the action, and leave the results up to him/her.

Today, I don’t have to be that cranky, miserable, unhappy, judgmental, and strongly opinionated person, because I feel uncomfortable in my skin in sobriety. When I work on my growth, I can just be me and that is good enough today. Recovery and life are a meant to be a human experience and journey. One in which I am always learning and growing. It’s never been about being perfect, knowing it all, or being better than anyone else. It’s always been about being happy, being of service, and trying my best.  There have been times I have lost sight of that, but because of recovery, support, and Higher Power, I am able to be reminded of what really is important.

One of the coolest things about life is that it’s ever changing and if I listen to my body and spirit, I can continue to grow towards being the best the Ashling I can be. I love recovery, because I can go through some of the most uncomfortable experiences and come out glowing on the others side so long as I never give up trying.

Just for today, I will work on keeping my mind, body, and spirit in sync.

Written By: Recovery Gal