Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
When certain muscle groups learn a specific skill through practice, they become more efficient. We can easily imagine this if we think of what it’s like to play a favorite sport or learn a musical instrument. The same is true for our mind. If we consistently work on our ability to concentrate, visualize, imagine, or logically analyze, the functioning of these faculties will improve, which increases our sense of well-being and capability to live confidently in the world.
One of the most damaging aspects of addiction is that it often interferes with our normal development. We experience an enormous brain growth spurt between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, and if our substance use began in earnest at an early age, we suffered some setbacks in the normal progression of our brain’s faculties. This is often especially true in terms of the frontal lobe, which is the center for planning and problem solving, judgment, and impulse control.
With time and attention, sobriety allows us to overcome these deficits. With practice, we can again become masters of our own thinking and processing. We can learn to observe the flow of our own thinking and to transform it with more empowering thoughts.
I honor the reparative functions of my brain and work diligently to improve my mind.
Hazelden Foundation
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