Our lives with addiction have felt so hard for so long. Empty and unfulfilling. There has been music all around us, but we have struggled to hear it. Or feel it. Let alone to be able to truly let it move us. When we are active in our addiction, it’s difficult to truly feel anything. But now we are choosing to be present, authentic, and feel again. It may take some time, but eventually, we will be able to feel the music of our hearts again.
Breaking Down Walls
If we are to fill our hearts with music again, the first thing we have to do is break down the walls of our addiction. Maybe we have tried to stop drinking before or to wean ourselves from our drug cold turkey. But addiction is very powerful, and this is very difficult to do on our own. We have built up walls around our addiction, protecting our habits and justifying our behavior, and those walls are difficult to remove on our own.
Those walls have kept us from feeling normal emotions and sensations, even music. Now, we realize how harmful our addiction is, and it has finally come time to sober up and tear down those walls to let the music back in. We can seek treatment to help us not break down the walls of our addiction, but to also help us allow music to flow within us again.
Removing Barriers
Once we are physically free of substances, we will need to remove the barriers in our lives that made us want to numb ourselves in the first place. Whether it be fear, anger, resentment, trauma or whatever else, those barriers are not serving us. They are barriers toward feeling all emotions, positive and negative.
Without using substances, all of those emotions are laid bare, so it is natural that we would want to put up barriers. But when we block out the pain, we cannot feel the joy. It is time to remove all of our barriers so that we can enjoy all of the emotions and all of the music.
A Simple Tune
When we remove those barriers, we might be overcome at times with emotions. Powerful and sudden, they can surprise us at any time. That is okay, though, we want to feel again. We are just learning how to feel so many different things once again, and our minds and bodies will eventually regulate emotions for us.
Something that can help us is music. We can find a simple tune, our own anthem. When we are overwhelmed by emotions, we can keep that tune inside of us and it can be our anchor. Whenever the emotions swell – whether positive or negative – we can listen to that simple tune in our heads and it will help us to navigate those emotions and bring us back to calm waters.
Feeling the Music
Once we start learning to regulate our emotions successfully, we will notice that we are starting to feel the music inside of us. Not just hearing a song, not just tapping our feet or to the beat, but truly feel the music and lyrics as if they were part of us. We can use music powerfully, to help us feel happy, to match our moods, or to express ourselves and where we are.
We can explore different kinds of music, and notice how they make us feel on the inside. We are often drawn to songs that make us feel happy or positive or songs that put a smile on our faces. As we learn to feel the music, it is like opening a door to a life we may not have known before. Music is so powerful, and when we start to feel it, it can help us grow stronger and resist temptations.
A Heart Full of Song
There will be a time in our recovery when we truly are grateful and rejoicing for the life that we have taken control of. We are grateful to be able to feel again, even to feel sadness or pain. We are happy to have discovered our divine power and to find the tools that help us choose recovery every single day.
When we have found our way onto this path, likely, our hearts will be full of song. We will fill our hearts and minds with music that makes us feel alive and brings us joy. Our hearts will feel so many things, and music will feel like the rhythm our heart is beating to.
It is difficult to describe how alive it feels to have a heart full of song. Like taking the first step on a new journey, trying delicious new foods, or hearing a song that speaks to our souls. This is what awaits us when we choose recovery. This is what awaits us when we take that first step to find our own song of the heart. Speak to one of Enlight’s admission experts today at (805) 719-7954.
