At St. Joseph’s, we appreciate that the road to sustainable recovery can be long, winding, and unique for each individual. There is one strategy that all people suffering from addiction can add to their arsenal – something that we incorporate into our traditional services, groups, and medical treatments. As you may recall from time spent at [...]
The fourth component of the True Self is Will. Will works with feelings, reasoning mind, and intuitive mind. It takes the information from these three sources and uses it to make decisions. We exercise our will when we choose. When we choose intimacy, we can know that our will is functioning at its highest level. [...]
The third aspect of our True Self is our intuitive mind. While our reasoning mind takes a more active, conscious role, our intuitive mind is deeper and more subtle. Our intuitive mind works with both our unconscious and with the divine. It supports our spirituality and enables us to see beyond appearances to our deeper [...]
Families with an addicted loved one need to create and enforce healthy boundaries. As part of St. Joseph Institute’s Family Program, we encourage families to develop a written contract with their loved ones to establish ground rules and facilitate a strong recovery. A contract is useful for several reasons: It makes both parties aware of [...]
How many times have you made New Year’s resolutions, determined that this year will be different and you will be better? We make resolutions because we don’t like ourselves the way we are. We don’t like our tiredness, our fatty parts, our busy schedules, how much (or little) money we make, how often we yell [...]
Note: Part one of this Components of True Self series: Feelings was posted here. The second component of our True Self is our reasoning mind—what we might call our intellect or our logic. Our reasoning mind analyzes, deduces, observes, understands, plans, and concentrates. It is conscious, active, and often creative. It looks at evidence and [...]
Those suffering from addiction commonly resort to manipulation as a communication style. They lie, blame others for their problems, and do anything they can to get people to leave them alone so they can continue to use drugs or alcohol. Through manipulation, they can make their addiction seem like your fault. As you support your [...]
At St. Joseph Institute, we teach the four components of the True Self: feelings, reasoning mind, intuitive mind, and will. A genuine connection with our True Self creates the basis for intimacy, the practice of getting to know others and allowing them to know you. In a series of four posts, we will discuss each [...]
We all know that addicts engage in self-destructive behavior—their addiction is the most obvious way they attempt to harm themselves. But less obvious behaviors are also self-destructive, and when addicts—especially those in recovery—begin to engage frequently in these behaviors, you can be sure they are headed toward relapse. Self-destructive behavior is caused by guilt and [...]
How many times have you looked in a mirror and felt disappointment? We all have complaints about our physical selves, and for many of us, our disappointment runs deeper, to the ways we think, feel, and act. This disappointment leads us to harm ourselves, whether it’s by eating too much, not sleeping enough, over-exercising, letting [...]
