“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength… Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.\u201d<\/strong> How do I love my neighbor… my brother… my children… if I don’t love myself?<\/p>\n I often have this discussion with clients I counsel at the prison since they have come to believe that they are addicted to alcohol and drugs and do what they do because they are self-destructive and need to love themselves again. Then I come along and suggest that they already do love themselves and that there is where the problem lies that lands them in prison time and time again.<\/p>\n \u201cBut Mr. Steve (they are ordered to address staff as Ms. And Mr.), how can you suggest that I love myself when I can\u2019t stop hurting myself and those I love and keep ending up in this place I hate?\u201d<\/p>\n We all do what we do in pursuit of something better than what we have and what we are. If what we have are feelings of physiological deprivation, we will seek a remedy to feel better. If we are feeling psychologically deprived and emotionally wanting and needy, we will seek a remedy to feel better. The need for remedy and gratification is not partial or respective of anyone. We are all addicts of pleasure and relief. It is in our nature to protect our innermost self to survive.<\/p>\n If I am wounded I need and want healing. If I hurt I need and want relief from the pain. If I am tired I need and want relief from fatigue and weariness by way of relaxation and sleep. If I am anxious I need and want comfort from my anxiety. If I am immobilized by the pain of guilt and shame, then I need to escape the pain. My methods might be painful and destructive to myself and others but make no mistake; I was motivated by my need for something better than what I have and where I am at. And I care enough about myself to be about doing<\/em> something about it.<\/p>\n The following recovery lesson is intended to help you to examine your inner self, as well as assist you in managing the depressive symptoms that emanate from internalized guilt, shame, anger, and resentment. It is a vehicle to acknowledging love of self so that one can with methods into a plan of action on how to love oneself in a way that is best\u2014healthy, constructive and productive. When done prayerfully, and perhaps with assistance from a trusted confidant, it is a real opportunity for transformation out of fear, depression, and internal doubt, into courage, positive regard, and confidence in the truth about your self and how you see and function in the world.<\/p>\n Develop coping skills necessary to manage depressive symptoms.<\/p>\n Develop understanding of the connection between anger, fear, self-destruction, withdrawal (isolation), and the underlying depression.<\/p>\n Please refer now to TWRAC 049<\/a> for this week’s recovery application challenge for managing depression. <\/p>\n
\nMark 12:30-31 (NLT)<\/p>\nGoal<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Objective<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Actions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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