8 Ways to Maintain an Attitude of Gratitude in Addiction Recovery

When we are grateful for something or someone, we feel an immense appreciation for them. Too often, we forget to practice gratitude because of our busy lives. However, in recovery, it is important to follow through with such actions and actually express thankfulness. When properly cultivated, gratitude becomes an action of expressing your love for someone or something. If you’re grateful for your recovery, you stay committed and contribute to it.

As mentioned, when a person begins to think negatively it often just grows and grows until they are upset, angry, bitter, and eventually resentful. When you begin to think good thoughts they too will grow and grow. This is true for both negative thinking, positive thoughts, and gratitude. It may be helpful to remember that everyone gives love and receives love in their own unique and preferred way. If an individual is familiar with the love language of their friend or family member, they can thank them using their love language. For example, some people receive love best through gifts, while others prefer quality time or words of affirmation.

Humility and Gratitude in Recovery

If you’re already using a journal to support your recovery, you can add a gratitude section or allot part of every entry to record things that you’re grateful for that day. You may also want to create a dedicated gratitude journal to keep you focused. Journaling has a long-established history as a tool for self-discovery and healing. Journal therapy is a part of many kinds of counseling and group work, but anyone can use a journal to explore feelings, process events, and create conditions for change. For people working toward recovery, a journal can be a place to track progress, uncover causes for addiction, and figure out new ways of dealing with stressful situations.

While there are many things that you can be grateful for, many people spend a considerable amount of time looking for big or important things that have meaning. It’s important to keep in mind that things don’t have to have any significance for you to be grateful for them. The sun could be shining, someone could have wished you a good day, you could have a good book, have woken up happy, or any number of other seemingly insignificant things. Think about little things that make you happy on a day to day basis.

#2. Start a gratitude journal.

Although issues may arise, they view it as a chance to grow rather than an obstacle. This positive way of thinking helps them reach their recovery goals. When faced with difficult events, you have learned to see the good, which allows https://ecosoberhouse.com/ you to decrease stress levels. A research study looked into resilience and gratitude following a traumatic event. The article reported that people with gratitude had an appreciation for life within the moment versus those who did not.

• For example, if someone from your AA group needs a place to stay for a week, opening up your home is a great way to be generous.
• While we can look at each one of these things and find an issue, the power is in finding the good in each.
• Creating a gratitude list in recovery is an effective relapse prevention tool, in that it can give you a sense of meaning and purpose.
• Often, those in recovery, forget to show gratitude to themselves for all they have overcome and accomplished.
• Twelve-month percent days abstinent (arcsine transformed) was regressed on mean-centered 6-month gratitude and mean-centered 6-month percent days abstinent.

Gratitude isn’t just a nice thing to practice — it’s essential for long-term recovery. Being grateful reminds us that even when things go wrong, there are still plenty of things to be thankful for. Having a grateful mindset allows to take on challenges with a positive mindset and instead of seeing relapse as a failure, we can see it as an opportunity why is gratitude important in recovery to improve. Practicing gratitude also teaches us how to love and respect ourselves, which enables us to love and respect others as well. Another way that individuals can practice gratitude is through self-care. Gratitude is not always outward expression; individuals can show gratitude toward themselves and their inward progress.

Why Gratitude Matters and How It Can Transform Recovery

Studies have found that quality of life improves with length of sobriety (Best et al., 2012; Laudet, Morgen, & White, 2006; McGaffin, Deane, Kelly, & Ciarrochi, 2015; Subbaraman & Witbrodt, 2014). Such improvements might naturally foster increases in frequency of state gratitude. Life improves with recovery, such improvement is recognized and appreciated, and gratitude is the natural consequence. Relief and thankfulness likely would attend the lifting of the substantial burden of addiction. Taking time to focus on gratitude, especially during the holidays, allows us to be present, content, and feel more positive emotion. Just being grateful for the gift of recovery is a great place to start your gratitude practice.