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ANDRA WEST
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Awakening Mindfulness Blog

Are you sleep walking through your life? How mindfulness can wake you up.

4/18/2018

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The 5 Surprising Benefits of Quitting Alcohol

4/16/2018

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The day I decided to quit drinking alcohol was not the first time I decided to quit. If fact, I had spent nearly a year, maybe even two, stuck in a place where I felt uncomfortable with my own drinking habits. To say I thought about my drinking habits a lot is an understatement, I thought about it approximately 50% of my day. Sounds exhausting, I know, and believe me when I tell you that IT WAS!
During this time in my life an average day went like this:
Wake up: Slightly hungover
Say to myself: I am never going to drink again...
Say that mantra, again and again: I will never drink again, I will never drink again...
Beat my self up a bit about my lack of will power...and by "a bit" I mean A LOT.
Around 4 pm my resolve began to crumble
By 5pm, never before 5pm (I know right? that makes it normal to need a drink every night because thats when its socially appropriate to drink...right?!) after SO MUCH deliberation, I would have talked myself back into having a glass of wine. Than maybe two, often three...never 4 because thats a whole bottle folks, and we all know that if you drink a full bottle of wine by yourself, you have a problem....right?!
Wake up: Slightly hung over
START THE WHOLE CYCLE AGAIN...
Are you exhausted yet? I have a feeling if you have read this far, you know exactly how this cycle goes, and that you are yearning for freedom. 
I am here to say that freedom IS possible.
The best way to start is to get support and take a break from drinking. Easier said than done, I know. Different things work for different people. To start, you can join our Mindful Sobriety community on Facebook, and sign up for our 30 day Mindful alcohol-free challenge. That jump start may be enough to start your alcohol free journey. You may find that you want more support.
There are tons of great recovery programs out there, AA and Refuge Recovery are at the top of the list. You can find a great counselor/therapist that will guide you. There are also great blogs out there to read to get perspective: check out Mr's D is going without , her blog was a major part of the success of my sobriety.
There are so many surprising benefits that happen when you quit drinking. Starting with what I think is the most important.
  • FREEDOM FROM THINKING ABOUT DRINKING! You will have so much more time, mental energy, and clarity. If 50% of your time was spent thinking about your drinking habits, imagine what you can do with all that space! Maybe you will start a new hobby, take up exercise, join a book club, learn to bake bread. You can use all that thought process energy to think about your goals and dreams. What do you want to do with your precious life, how can you take action to make your dreams reality?
  • Better sleep! Hallelujah!!! SLEEP. IS. BETTER. WITHOUT. ALCOHOL.  Alcohol helps you fall asleep, but all the sugar, and the toxins (it's poison, remember) make you wake up around 3 or 4 am with a start, you feel nauseous, heart pounding, thinking of the night before, regretting drinking. You know all about this one. It sucks. Once you stop drinking, you will need to learn some new self soothing habits to get to sleep, but once you are asleep you will sleep like a baby, and you probably will not have to wake up to pee, because you will not have all that booze onboard that needs to leave your system. 
  • Better mood! Alcohol is a Depressant. It stimulates you for like...a millisecond...and then, bam you crash. It depresses your mood, and increases anxiety acutely and long-term. I always found this to be the most shocking lie that we buy into about alcohol. We drink to relax and to feel good, but the joke is on us. Alcohol makes you feel crappy. I was so surprised by how much my mood improved when i stopped drinking. 
  • Improved physical health! Alcohol has sugar in it...a lot of sugar. It is also poison. When you stop drinking a zillion grams of sugar filled poison a day it effects your health, in a very positive way. Here is a short list of the health benefits I have experienced since i stopped drinking: I exercise more (because i feel better). I have better skin. I have lost weight (water retention gone). I am stronger. I have more energy...the list could go on and on. 
  • Improved relationships! So many of my friendships when I was drinking were centered around... drinking. Wine was everywhere, playdates, girls night out, dinner with my husband. When I stopped drinking there were a few friends who peeled off, they were not comfortable with my choice and that was their choice. It was a bit tricky socially in the beginning of my sober journey. I had to figure out how to navigate the social world without alcohol, and that was new and scary. But the fruits of my alcohol-free relationships were beyond what I could have imagined. I discovered who my real friends were. I discovered that I have more meaningful conversations that I remember when I am sober. I discovered that i have MORE FUN. I feel like i need to repeat that one, for me and for you because it is the most amazing part. I have MORE FUN sober than I ever did drinking alcohol. I love who I am because I feel good about myself, I love that i show up fully present and AWAKE, I love that my relationships are not built around numbing out.
The alcohol-free ADVENTURE is waiting for you. It is a wild ride, and it is worth its weight in gold. I hope you will join us  for our 30 day alcohol free challenge so you can experience a taste of the freedom and health that are possible for you. 
To your health!
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Join The Mindful Sobriety community

4/9/2018

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Interested in taking a break from alcohol? Come visit the Mindful Sobriety community page on Facebook and like and share for upcoming challenges, community, and posts about living a mindfully alcohol free life.
Mindful Sobriety is a place to connect with community and get support around living an alcohol-free life. Wether you are deciding to take a break from alcohol temporarily or you are are looking for a long term change of habit, 
Please know that you are all welcome and supported here.
We don’t use labels, and we don’t put you in a life long labeled box. We don’t refer to Drinking alcohol as a sickness or imply that abstaining from alcohol is the solution for everyone and everything. 
We believe that rethinking habits is healthy, and we believe that living an alcohol-free life is great for your mental and physical health. We are a bunch of mindful teetotalers (you may need to look that one up ;))
We base our alcohol-free life choice on 5 pillars
1. Alcohol-Free comitment
2. Community/Connection 
3. Meditation/Mindfulness 
4. Movement/Exercise 
5. Inquiry/Reflection
I am so glad you will be joining us on this great adventure. Bring a friend, and look out for our 30 day alcohol free challenges, private sobriety coaching, and online courses. 
Love, 
Andra West 
Mindful Sobriety Coach
Please note: 
*This community is not a substitute for a structured recovery program, and it is not a substitute for detox, it is also not a substitute for a long term rehabilitation program. If you feel you need any of those types of intervention than please let me know and I can help connect you with someone who can help.
Join Our 30 Day Alcohol-Free Mindfulness Challenge
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Abundance or scarcity? You choose.

3/27/2018

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If your living in a community and your afraid your going to run out of...let’s say...cake, make more cake. Don’t just gobble the whole cake up yourself. That kind of greed only leads to sickness of the soul. Teach other people to make even better cakes than you. Enjoy their cakes, and appreciate their cake baking skills. Congratulate them on their cakes, encourage them to make more. Notice the twinkle in their eye and the way they light up when you tell them their cakes are delicious. Cultivate abundance and you will live an abundant life. Focus on scarcity and your plate will be empty. You choose. 
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Oh codependency you are a slippery sort...

3/26/2018

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March 25th, 2018

3/25/2018

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March 25th, 2018

3/25/2018

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Moderate or abstain..that is the question

3/21/2018

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I walk through my life aware of my addictive tendencies like...mindful....moderation....mindful....moderation....and then i am at a party and see a gigantic overflowing bowl of M&M's and i am like, i am mindful of the call of those M&M's, i am mindful that i am eating what could be considered a non-moderate amount of M&M's...and then....ugh i think i just ate 300 m&m's...and so it is....Sometimes when your not drinking and everyone is you join the kiddos in the sugar craze. Back to the focus...mindful...moderate...self forgiving...healthy
But here is the interesting part, last night at this wonderful party i was chatting with another sober girlfriend and another girlfriend who helps people in sobriety, but does not struggle with addiction. My friend who doesn't struggle with addiction was telling us that she was able to use drugs and alcohol in her youth but she was able to moderate and walk away, my sober girlfriend reminder her "thats great for YOU but not everyone is so lucky, for some people moderation is literally impossible." This is a BIG truth that you cannot understand unless you have experienced it first hand or with a loved one. Some people do not have the off switch. I feel like people who excel at moderation need to stop trying to teach and preach moderation to others, these two types of people are speaking different languages and their is literally no translation that is sufficient. Some of us non-moderators are lucky enough to be awakened to the our inability to moderate and choose to just abstain, but let me tell you first hand that it is super tricky to practice moderation in all things (especially things that we need to interface with on a day-to-day basis to survive) because that part of our brain is always like...how can i find MORE comfort in this moment. We are comfort seekers gone a little haywire. The whole world becomes a lesson, a practice in truth, integrity, moderation, forgiveness...So, if you know an addict who is sober you should have a deep respect for them...they are working very hard. Its the walk of the warrior. I bow to you, all addicts in recovery, in deep respect. You are amazing and a light, beautifully bright and strong. May your time sitting in the fire of abstaining ignite your spirit and transform you, and may you shine your transformation on others.

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Street Retreat

3/21/2018

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​Taking a Street Retreat

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It's a thing, really...or at least i say so...
How can you make a moment of your life today, even an itty bitty one sacred? When you are out in the hustle today, see if you can pause, take a deep breath and slow down just a little bit. Sense your body as it is, sense the world around you as it is, take it all in. Notice, and find something to be grateful for. Ask yourself, What is standing in the way of me being fully present in this moment? What can i let go of that is not serving my deep need for peace?
Great places to practice the street retreat:
In line
Waiting for your kid to do....anything
waiting for...anything
while driving
when you find yourself triggered or angry...yep...stop drop and roll
when you open your computer
when the phone rings
any little moment you can capture...its yours to reclaim your peace.

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    Author: ANdra West

    Andra is committed to helping people who feel stuck find freedom through awakening mindfulness. 

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