The Aviary Recovery Center Blog

A gratitude journal can be a powerful tool for a person in recovery from a substance use disorder. A common approach to a gratitude journal involves writing down three things you are grateful for each day. Many people like to do this in the evening so that they can reflect...

Making the choice to get help for a substance use disorder is a wonderful thing. But after you have made that decision, you still have to make an essential and related choice: Where you will get that help. We think The Aviary Recovery Center is an excellent choice, and in...

Addiction is a serious, chronic disease with far-reaching consequences for you and your relationship with loved ones. It also affects your body physically, with both short- and long-term consequences. Drug and Alcohol Addiction and your Brain Drug and alcohol use has a tremendous effect on the brain. The brain regulates...

If your teenager is regularly abusing alcohol, it is possible that they are able to keep this part of their life hidden from you. Although addiction can take over a person’s mental and physical health, sometimes it can manifest itself in less obvious ways. Learning more about the indirect symptoms...

The spiritual principle of acceptance can seem elusive to many people new to the program of recovery. There are words, phrases, and slogans that are commonly used that you may be hearing for the first time. There may be things you have heard for years, but they just haven’t quite...

Understanding why drugs are so addicting requires an understanding of the brain and how it is affected by drugs. The brain has natural pleasure sensors that release dopamine. When something good happens or we enjoy a nice meal or even a pleasant exchange with someone, the brain releases dopamine. When...

Self-expression can have countless benefits--in addition to the literal creation of art--that can reward you, the creator, on a deeper level. These benefits can contribute to your mental, emotional, and spiritual health and through these avenues also your physical health. According to an article* from Psychology Today, “Art therapy helps...

You may have seen the quote we are about to share a couple of different ways and attributed to a couple of different people. “The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time,” said the mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell (or drop the first “The” and maybe author Marthe Troly-Curtin...

We love to use examples from popular culture to illustrate important points about drugs and alcohol, treatment, and the recovery journey. In “Choose Your Own Adventure” novels, you read for a while and then are presented with a choice. You make the choice and then turn to the appropriate page....

Advertisers love to tell potential customers that they should “accept no substitutes!” You can see a version of it throughout the history of Coca-Cola’s advertising, for example. In the early days of the company, phrases like “demand the genuine” and “accept no substitutes” were a key part of the way...