Early on in our recovery, our mind will be inconsistent with the up-and-down mood. It will be rainy inside our brains more than it will be sunny. But gratitude is the key to finding consistency inside our heads.
We may have to force thoughts of gratitude into our mind even when everything in our entire being tells us to be negative and hateful. Why would we expect our mood to be perfect when we have been masking our mood for all these years? For years, we popped a pill, had a drink, or smoked something when our mood got low. We self-medicated, and now that we are sober, we have a God-shaped hole in our soul that needs to be filled with the spirit of charity.
If you are struggling intensely with addiction and depression, become a jogger, I beg you! Exercise is God’s system of helping us to get high spiritually. Try this:
A. Go for a 30-minute jog/walk in scenery—switch up the terrain—and be plugged into uplifting music. During the entire jog, pray and work on gratitude.
B. Send out three gratitude text messages.
C. Say an out-loud prayer.
D. Walk back while listening to an audiobook (spiritual)
Try the above prescription. I guarantee that you will feel better afterward. Remember, the adversary will be coaching you on the other shoulder, telling you not to do it. Listen to the spirit and get out of your depressed environment and go for a scenic jog that is unique and full of different terrain (from road, to trail, to grass, to city, etc.). The more unique, the better. We are trying to help you create new memories that are linked to spiritual rewards. If we can help you capture this reward, it will become a habit.
Gratitude is the key that helps us to escape the head prison of stress, anxiety, depression, resentments, and fears. Coupled with exercise, gratitude will put our minds back on the peaks to enjoy the scenic views of life with Jesus Christ.
