Our fears have a way of overtaking our lives and destroying our health. When we’re ready to heal from our addictions and mental health issues, we take on the very important task of addressing the fears that have been contributing to our health issues. How do we stop our fears from controlling our minds and our lives? One of the greatest tools for mental and emotional health is mindfulness. One of the things we learn when we practice mindfulness, the act of developing conscious awareness, is that we have much more control over our thoughts and feelings than we often think we do. We think we’re powerless over our addictions. We think we’re victims of our depression. We think that our ailments are something we simply have to learn to live with because we were born with certain genetic traits or chemical imbalances. The good news is we can strengthen our mindfulness skills. We can practice becoming more conscious, more aware, more perceptive. We can develop our understanding, our sensitivity and our emotional intelligence. We can learn to have more compassion for ourselves and others. We can grow our gifts for empathy.

Our addictions and mental health issues thrive on our lack of mindfulness and our avoidance of our fears. We’re so afraid of being afraid that we give our fears much more power over us than they need to have. Mindfulness teaches us to face our fears directly, to stare them in the face, and to reclaim our power. Being mindful helps us to be grounded in ourselves, to find peace in the present moment, and to feel routed in who we are. Our fears tell us that our limiting beliefs about ourselves are true – that we’re not good enough, that we’re doomed to fail, that we won’t amount to much. Mindfulness, on the other hand, allows us to reconnect with our inner voice, our spirit and our intuition. We start to remember the beautiful things about ourselves, about life and about the world.

There are so many wonderful mindfulness exercises to choose from, so it’s a great idea to try one or two and experiment until you find the things that fit you and your needs. Once you find the wellness tools that work for you, you’ll have effective ways of coping with your anxiety, healing your depression and facing your fears. Mindfulness exercises include meditation, energy healing and yoga. Meditation covers a broad variety of practices including breathing exercises, visualization techniques, calming affirmations, guided meditations, sound healing, walking meditation and so much more. Experiment with different techniques and the ones that you find working for you can be used any time you need them, to help ground you in the present moment and in the truth of your inner being. These practices help us to stop our fears from overtaking our minds and therefore our lives. The more we practice mindfulness, the more we reclaim our power and keep our fears from propelling us toward self-destructiveness.

Bayview Recovery’s treatment programs include multiple kinds of therapy, mindfulness meditation therapy, and yoga to provide you with the foundation for holistic healing. Call 888-570-7154 for more information.