owners agree that their animals offer health benefits. According to a 2002 survey by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), 92 percent of people who have pets are convinced their health is improved by having them around. Seventy-six percent feel their pets lower their stress levels. And, 31 percent believe their pets keep them more physically fit.
As in any equation, the less love and nurturing I put into my relationships with my family, the less they had to give me in return; only my needs were bottomless, and their detachment only verified what I already “knew”— that I was worthless. What I needed was unconditional love, but I know now that my addiction made it impossible for anyone to give that to me. (Even if they had, I wouldn’t have been able to receive it.) Sunny came to my rescue.
Her unconditional love is manifest. She is the incarnation of unconditional love and encouraging regard. In learning, growing, and healing in recovery, I hope to become as good a person as Sunny already thinks I am. Contact with her reminds me I am worthy of love and deserving of self-acceptance. As a result, one day at a time I am discovering the person I was intended to be and uncovering the true self that’s been waiting to greet me.
Sunny also is state-of-the-art in being present-centered, that is, staying in the moment—this moment—right here, right now. She is neither focused on what has already happened, nor what could potentially happen in the future. Sunny is simply here, now, looking forward to whatever this very moment may offer. There are many ways in which being present-centered, also known as mindfulness, promotes health, healing, and recovery. Staying in the moment provides sanctuary from the poisonous prison of the past, as well as from fatalistic fantasies of the future. For me, it bestows respite from past resentments, as well as freedom from fear of the unknown.
WHAT IS
MINDFULNESS
MEDITATION?
Mindfulness Meditation is a form of meditation that seeks to promote a heightened, keen awareness of one’s experience. The focus in mindfulness meditation is on the full range of one’s physical, emotional, and cognitive experience. Mindfulness also promotes a perspective of open, nonjudgmental acceptance, as opposed to automatic or habitual evaluative reactions. Although full awareness of experience is a goal, and calmness and serenity are not the goal of mindfulness meditation, calmness and serenity do often come about as by-products of practicing mindfulness meditation.
Mindfulness Meditation is thought to be helpful in reducing stress and may also be useful in the treatment of a variety of mental disorders. Research is beginning to focus on possible mechanisms through which this form of meditation may affect physical and psychological well-being, such as altering immune function.*
*From the US National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
One of the things I’ve done consistently in my recovery is meditate and pray on a daily basis. Even during meditation and prayer, other thoughts sometime intrude on this most conscious and disciplined effort to stay in the moment. While I could become frustrated, angry, or self-critical, I try to accept it without judging either the thoughts or myself. When it happens, I’ve learned to simply become consciously aware that my mind has drifted away from the moment and use that awareness to refocus my attention on the here and now.
When I am fully mindful of this moment, I am genuinely emotionally and spiritually available. When I’m able and content to simply be here, now, my heart is accessible to the will of my higher power. When I am present-centered, I have the capacity to get out of my own way. As the living embodiment of present-centeredness, Sunny helps me stay in the moment and more connected to my spiritual center.
I still find myself struggling to stay in the moment. It is an ongoing challenge. I regularly give myself reminders to “be here, now.” One of the few things I know well is that the only way to get better at anything—sports, cooking, work, or using the tools of recovery—is to learn and practice the techniques that work for me. Fortunately, it’s about “progress not perfection.”* Although Sunny seems to have achieved perfect present-centeredness, for me, staying in the moment, much like recovery itself, is a journey, rather than a destination.
For this addict, there is a direct correlation between staying present-centered and maintaining an unwavering positive attitude for myself and others; the more mindful I am of this moment, the greater my capacity for constructive, helpful action for myself and others, and the better able I am to be present-centered.
My relationship with Sunny improves the quality of my character and enhances my humanity. When I am called upon to expand my conscious focus to include the pets in my life, I automatically become less self-centered, more aware of the presence and needs of others, and more present-centered. As I become more mindful of the many blessings in my life and learn how to maintain conscious contact with my gratitude for them, my spirituality deepens, my recovery gets stronger, and I take a few more steps toward grace.
* From Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 60. © 1939, 1955, 1976, 2001 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved. The phrase from Alcoholics Anonymous is reprinted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (“AAWS”) Permission to reprint this phrase does not mean that AAWS has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication, or that AAWS necessarily agrees with the views expressed herein. A.A. is a program of recovery from alcoholism only – use of this excerpt in connection with programs and activities which are patterned after A.A., but which address other problems, or in any other non-A.A. context, does not imply otherwise.
“As long as life
remains,
recovery is
possible.”
Addiction is an all-consuming disease that often expresses itself as an overwhelming lack of concern for just about everything. The further the disease progresses, the deeper sufferers become immersed in the illness, the more their perception narrows until there is almost nothing left but the quest for more, be it more drugs, more alcohol, more food, or more “fill in the blank.” The American Society of Addiction Medicine defines addiction as “a primary, chronic, neurobiological disease.” It is a brain illness “with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations.” It is characterized by alterations in the brain that lead to habitual and compulsive drug-seeking and use despite demonstrated harmful consequences.
Many years ago, addiction was merely a pharmacologic term that referred to a person’s using enough drugs to cause tolerance—the requirement that greater dosages of a drug are necessary over time to produce an identical effect. While tolerance is part of the bigger picture, addiction is incredibly complex. It includes genetic, social, environmental, and behavioral components. Additionally, with some drugs, non-pharmacological factors may actually cooperate with the drug’s pharmacological actions to encourage compulsive substance use or abuse and ultimately lead to addiction.
Many medical professionals agree addiction causes changes in the brain’s mesolimbic pathway, which is one of four neural pathways in the brain. Scientists believe it is involved in producing pleasurable feelings and is associated with feelings of reward and
