How Can Spirituality Help Overcome Addiction?

How Can Spirituality Help Overcome Addiction?

Published August 2018

It will be difficult to overcome an addiction without a true spiritual practice.  Substances are able to numb the pain when you are feeling lost, depressed, discouraged, or disappointed with how things have turned out.  However, substances will not make any of your pain go away.  They may give you a brief escape or temporary relief, but at some point, you will need to face the pain and find a way to create a new reality, one where you are happy.

By finding a real spiritual practice that you can look to on a daily basis, you will slowly find yourself replacing the need for substances.  You will experience a high that is greater than anything a substance can offer because it will be a high that lasts.  As Wayne Dyer said, “addictions are vehicles that people board in order to get someplace higher, more pleasurable, more peaceful, more tuned in and turned on, and so on.”  A spiritual practice will help you align with your true source of natural energy so that you can experience a permanent high.  You will no longer rely on a counterfeit one (addiction).

A spiritual practice or spiritual discipline is a full-time job of regularly participating in the actions and activities that cultivate your inner life.  What is your spiritual practice?   You can start by meditating every day, listening to relaxing music, journaling, facing your fears, connecting with others who view life as a spiritual journey and addressing the mind-body connection (through yoga, acupuncture, reiki, energy healing, etc.).  If you are open to the spiritual life and willing to do the work that it takes to heal, the truth will not be withheld from you.  Make your spiritual practice the top priority in your daily life, and you will find that the need for substances becomes replaced by a natural high on life.  If you need a team to help you develop a spiritual practice, make sure to find a rehabilitation center that works with the whole person.  Passages understands that body, mind, and spirit are all connected, so you will not leave without gaining tools for a true spiritual practice.