When I first walked into Ocean Bay Recovery, a recovery addiction centre, I figured recovery just meant quitting drinking. I had no idea how loud my mind actually was until everything went quiet for the first time. That silence? It freaked me out. I had always drowned it out, with booze, with music, with any sort of chaos I could find. Anything to avoid facing my own thoughts.
Finding Stillness Through Step 11
Then I hit Step 11: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” I’ll be real with you. I had no clue what that actually meant. I wasn’t sure what I believed about God, and meditation sounded like something other people did, not me. Still, my counsellor at the recovery addiction centre nudged me. “Just try five minutes,” he said. Sit still. Breathe.
So I did. And at first, my brain was a mess. Thoughts about my past, all the things I’d screwed up, stuff I was afraid of, they all came rushing in. But after a while, it shifted. No lightning bolts, no booming voices. I just started to feel these tiny pockets of peace. At first, they barely lasted. Then they stuck around a bit longer.
I began to notice when I felt calm, or grateful, or just a little bit connected to something outside myself. Prayer stopped being about asking for stuff and turned into more of a way to listen, to ask for direction. Sometimes all I could manage was a simple, “Help me stay grounded,” or, “Thanks for today.”
Through meditation and prayer, I learned I don’t have to have all the answers. I can just pause, breathe, and trust that I’ll find my way. It’s still tough sometimes, but it’s honest.
Finding Peace and Purpose at a Recovery Addiction Centre
Step 11 really changed things for me. It helped me start rebuilding my relationship with myself and maybe with something bigger, too. I’m realizing now that connection isn’t always about the right words. It’s there in the stillness, in feeling grateful, and in those quiet moments when I notice I’m actually okay, right here, right now.
Research even shows that mindfulness and meditation can play an important role in recovery addiction centre programmes.
At Ocean Bay Recovery, we know that a recovery addiction centre isn’t just a place to stop unhealthy habits, it’s a place to rediscover peace and purpose. If you’re ready to take that next step, contact us today and start your journey towards lasting recovery with a trusted recovery addiction centre that understands the power of stillness and self-discovery.