I Sing a Song of Myself

I Sing a Song of Myself

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself…”
Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”

“Love, evidence & respect.”
– Maia Szalavitz’s answer via Twitter to the question,
“What fights addiction?”

I am kind to myself.

I identify my feelings and thoughts.

I learn, practice, master, and use skills that help me with my feelings and with my thoughts.

I empathize with my feelings.

I understand and validate the existence of my feelings and thoughts.

I learn, practice, master, and use skills that give me – my self – the power to choose to what I give my attention – which feeling, which thought, which sensation, which memory, which thing that is happening now.

I use my empathy, understanding, and attention to connect with my inner wisdom, the finest synthesis of my feelings and thoughts, the unique gift of my individual heart and mind.

I inform my inner wisdom’s guidance with courageously selected values.

I sort my thoughts into “helpful” and “unhelpful” categories and give my attention to the helpful thoughts.

I note physical sensations and the levels of comfort and discomfort in my body.

I become aware of sensing that I am hungry, full, hot, cold or thirsty. I respond to my physical needs.

I soothe, ease, comfort, and reassure my heart, mind, and body.

I become aware of my sensory preferences and use sensory experiences to help me feel more stable with my feelings, thoughts, attention, and sensations.

I am interesting company for myself. I learn new things and new ways so I can continue to be an engaging companion for myself.

I acquire sophisticated skills that enrich my inner wisdom’s tools and abilities.

I use my inner wisdom’s skills – constantly growing and evolving – to track what I’m doing. If I’m aware of something, I give myself a chance to do something about it.

I make decisions grounded in acknowledgement and acceptance of reality, however hard the decision might be, however much I might wish reality were different. I approach, rather than avoid, reality.

I take conscious action based on my inner wisdom’s guidance.

I continue to gain clarity on what’s important to me and how I want to live my life.

I discover and develop my strengths.

I discover and validate my needs and wants.

I discover my preferences – in addition to my preferences for, perhaps, actions and substances that, unfortunately, have become problematic for me – for meeting my valid needs and wants.

I learn, practice, master, and use personal and interpersonal skills effectively.

I make conscious choices about with whom and how I will love, relate, live, and work.

I live in ways that I value.

I am aware that I am a self-knowing, self-loving, self-deciding, self-respecting, other-respecting, powerful person.

I have the freedom, power, and peace that awareness gives me.

I am free.

Excerpted from Help That Helps: A Kind, Research-Informed, Field-Tested Guide for People with Substance Use Concerns, by Anne Giles, M.A., M.S., L.P.C. and Sanjay Kishore, M.D., July 2019.

This content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical or professional advice. Consult a qualified health care professional for personalized medical and professional advice.