Emotional Sobriety: Recovery Coaching

We’re all told in early sobriety that we need to start feeling our feelings. I had been feeling plenty of shame, anger and fear, so I didn’t really understand the directions. If alcohol was numbing my emotions, and I still felt miserable, how much worse would it get? I’ve since discovered that it doesn’t get worse, it gets so much better. And easier. Learn how to feel your feelings in real time and witness your transformation.

Learn how to use thought models as a self-coaching tool to manage your mind. Thoughts are just words in our brain. The words we choose to believe trigger an emotional response, which drives our behavior. Thought models show us how our interpretation of reality is created in our brain, and how to change that reality when we’re ready to get out of our own way.

I help my 16-year old daughter understand thought models using two of her current troubling thoughts. She not only understood, but was excited to “play the game” with more thoughts.

Mental health is rooted in biology. You can’t always think your way through a thinking problem. Emotions are triggered by thoughts, but the physical sensations we feel are created by neurotransmitters. If our brain lacks the “ingredients” (aka amino acids) to make the neurotransmitters responsible for positive moods, cognitive reframing may feel impossible.