Faith and belief can be hard to come by as men who have lived with the struggle of addiction in their lives. Being men, and being men who have been addicted, aren’t even necessarily influential factors, though these facts play a part. Faith and belief are hard for anyone to come by as human beings on planet earth. We face an inherent existential crisis in our existence. There really isn’t any answer for who we are, why we are here, or what happens to us when we leave. Faith and belief are often religiously affiliated, and the answers to some of those big existential questions come from religious faith and belief. Unless we are total nihilists and believe that nothing about us or our existence has any purpose or meaning at all once so ever, we are like to be in some kind of a battle on the front of what we believe and do not believe.
Believing in something requires a certain degree of vulnerability because we have to become willing to abandon our stronghold on what we do not believe. Faith is our sustained belief, our deepest hope that what we believe is true. When we have belief and faith in our lives, we live in a state of inspiration. We can be inspired by what we believe in, we can be inspired by what we have faith in, or, we can believe and have faith in what we are inspired by.
Spirituality and recovery have long gone hand in hand, but the spiritual lifestyle isn’t a fit for everyone. What most people can identify with is inspiration. People are inspired by all different kinds of activities, experiences, sensation, and more- men who have been addicted have experienced inspiration of some kind at the hands of their substance of choice, for example. However, inspiration is everywhere- life is full of inspiration, and we can define some of our beliefs by what inspire us. Nature, adventure, philosophy, love- there is so much inspiration to be found in our human existence, it can be overwhelming. Playing around with spirituality and religion can feel limiting. Experimenting with all the inspiration available in life can be a liberating experience. All we have to do is have faith that there’s inspiration out there, believe that we can be inspired, and seek a greater meaning to life.
Tree House Recovery of Orange County, California is a premier men’s addiction treatment facility that uses eight different modalities to help our men become the best versions of themselves they can be. We teach our men that every day of their journey is something to celebrate, and that recovery isn’t a sprint– it’s a marathon. By showing our men how to celebrate each day’s victories, we show them that self love isn’t about what we have or haven’t done. It’s about getting a little closer to where we want to be. To get started with Tree House Recovery, call us today at (503) 850-2474