Mindfulness to Heal the Brain
Mindfulness activities can actually help a person re-wire their brain – something very important for addiction or secondhand drinking recovery.
Mindfulness to heal the brain?
As you’ve likely read if you follow my blog or have read my latest book, 10th Anniversary Edition If You Loved Me, You’d Stop!, mindfulness is one of the 4 things you can do, NOW, to heal your brain. The other 3, by the way, are nutritional eating, exercise and sleep. Practicing these four things can help you feel a sense of power over all that swirls around you when you are an addict in recovery or a family member of someone who is or one who is abusing a substance. They become a backdrop, if you will — a constant, a benchmark of progress, a means of “control” — to all the “other” (relationships, housing, jobs, ongoing recovery and what it may look like) that you are likely dealing if you are someone who reads this blog.
So, back to the topic of mindfulness. I read this guest post from Kent Thune on GoodlifeZen.com, this morning, titled: “Mind as Adult, Brain as Child.” The following three paragraphs absorbed my attention and prompted me to what to share them and encourage readers to read his post in its entirety…
Children don’t really think much about consequences. They are interested in getting what they want and getting it now. They want to be entertained; they want to eat more chocolate cake; and they protest when they don’t get what they want.
All of these things could be said about your brain. The behavior is inherently selfish and survival-oriented; yet completely natural. Children, however, need guidance from an adult and the brain is no different.
If your brain is the child, your mind is the adult. Without direction, the brain—the child—will self destruct by consuming itself with egocentric behavior. If you are a parent, you know that there is a delicate balance between giving a child what she wants and giving her what she needs—a balance of play and rest, adventure and responsibility, sweets and vegetables, screens and books, yes and no. The child (brain) needs the adult (mind) to strike this balance.
So where does mindfulness fit in? It’s best if you read the remainder of Kent Thune’s post to find out.
Lisa Frederiksen
Latest posts by Lisa Frederiksen (see all)
- Does a Loved One Have to Hit Bottom? - November 20, 2022
- Resources for Parents of Children with Substance Use and Mental Disorders - October 18, 2022
- 4 Things to Support Brain Health and Function for Recovery - August 30, 2022