Recovery from addiction can seem like a never-ending process, and so it is, from a standpoint of healing. That does not need to be as daunting as it may sound. Healing is both a circular and a spiral process, not a linear one. As recovery deepens over time, the recovering person will encounter the same issues and hit the same brick walls that they experienced in recovery.

While these issues will certainly heal, the process will bring them back into focus again and again, for deeper and more significant healing.

Growth Comes from Depth

As an example, let's look at Henry. He had trouble with intimacy before his recovery from addiction, and he will continue to have the same issues as his recovery progresses. If he is stable in maintaining his growth and development in recovery, he will need to address his intimacy issues.

This is something that he could not come to terms with when he was using substances. The longer he remains in recovery, the greater his ability to go deeper into intimacy with others will become. Therefore, the never-ending process has rewards that are a part of, but separate from, his recovery. Due to his recovery, Henry will be able to address his issues with intimacy in ways that he would never have dreamed possible. This is true for all who are in recovery, no matter what their issues may be.

Circular and Spiral Patterns in Healing

Healing in a circular pattern means that we will come back to the point of the issue with certain things in our lives over and over. The spiral pattern means that we will come closer and closer to the core of who we dream of being and closer to our hearts as we grow.

The energetic patterns of all matter are circular and spiral, such as the movement of the Earth around the Sun and other orbits, such as the helix of an atom. If energy is circular and spiral, then it is fitting and appropriate to visualize healing as such. As we grow closer and closer to our hearts over time, we will become free of the old patterns of behavior that were part and parcel of addiction.

Recovery will then become a journey, not the destination some people believe it to be. The journey takes us into the realm of our heart, which is the center of the circular pattern as well. As we grow deeper and deeper into our hearts, we become more healed from the behaviors that we practiced in our addiction and more available to participate, not only in healing and recovery but in a beautiful life.