As we move through the recovery process and learn more about our mental health issues, we start to see that many of our fears are not based on truth but rather on illusion. We are consumed with fear about things we don’t actually need to be afraid of. We feel threatened by things that don’t have an actual effect on us. Many of us develop severe anxiety, including debilitating anxiety disorders and neuroses, because we have convinced ourselves that our illusions are based in reality.

When we practice meditation and self-reflection, we go inward to a peaceful place of stillness within ourselves. Going to this place helps us connect with our intuition and helps us to see with our third eye, beyond what our two seeing eyes can perceive. We learn to see beyond the things we are anxious about, all the fears we’ve developed based on illusion. When we meditate and reflect, we connect with our inner selves in a conscious way to access our truth beyond the illusions.

How do we know when we are accessing truth rather than illusion? We can recognize when something feels true to us by how it makes us feel. Our emotions and our physical reactions give us signals. We can begin to take more notice of them, and to pay attention when they’re trying to tell us something. When you think about something that brings you a twinge of panic, for example, chances are it’s not based in our truth. What do we know to be true? This is something we all have to determine for ourselves. For many of us, we feel our truth as something we guidance we are receiving, from our hearts, from our inner voice, from our higher power.

Truth makes us feel safe. It makes us feel at home. It makes us feel secure. Truth makes us feel as though we can rest there. Fear does the opposite. It makes us feel threatened and insecure. It makes us panic and triggers our fight or flight responses, and when this happens on a regular basis, it can cause disturbances in our thought patterns, severe anxiety for example, as well as anxiety disorders such as OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. We feel afraid and sad. Our addictions are often our desperate attempt to try to escape these painful feelings.  

Give yourself some time to meditate, sit with yourself, reflect on your fears and how they’re impacting your life. The more you go inward to find your truth, the easier it will be to shed layers of fear.

Our mental health issues can take a toll on our work, our education and our personal lives. They can cause extreme pain and suffering. We provide treatment and support for both addiction and co-occurring disorders. Call 888-570-7154 for more information.