July 29th, 2018
Recovery from addiction is always an imperfect process. There is often an expectation that the process of recovery should be linear and move in a consistent direction, but it does not . . .
July 22nd, 2018
The process of addiction recovery is one of personal change. Often, we will initially facilitate this inner process with changes made to the outer structure of our lives—moving to new surroundings to avoid emotional and familiar triggers, hanging around different people, going to an inpatient treatment facility, etc.—but these outward changes are only made to support the inner processes of change . . .
July 15th, 2018
These are bold words. And more directly related to the process of addiction recovery, they could not be. Whenever we find ourselves trapped within a rigid emotional pattern that we did not consciously choose, it indicates that we have a lesson to learn before we are able to transcend this pattern. Every feeling of discomfort holds the opportunity for this type of lesson should we decide to see it this way . . .
July 8th, 2018
The process of recovery from addiction is necessarily an imperfect one. If it were easy to transcend our addictions, then we would simply do so. There would be little need for intervention, rehabilitation and detoxification centers, or even for reading passages such as this. But addictive patterns are deeply imbedded and usually connected to emotional wounds that lie deep within our psyches . . .
July 1st, 2018
Recovery means changing the very nature of the way we process and experience difficulty. It means taking a closer look at what has led to a painful experience of consciousness, getting rid of the means of distraction from this pain (addictions) and then changing our experience of consciousness in a lasting, meaningful, and healthy way.
June 24th, 2018
Today’s quotation brings up two important points. First and foremost, it mentions the ‘burden of self’, a concept at the very heart of addictive patterns. Much of life is unavoidably burdensome. If we don’t learn to address this inevitable aspect of the human experience in direct and healthy ways, we may create emotional short cuts in the form of addictions.
June 17th, 2018
It is up to each recovering person to take sole responsibility for the direction of their life—and, of course, for their recovery. This does not mean that we should ever try to be free of influence, support, and community, only that we must learn to be the director of our recovery path.
June 10th, 2018
Recovering from addiction is not miraculous. It can range from very difficult to rare, depending on the particular addiction and the person addicted, but it never requires a miracle. It is no more miraculous to work our way out of our addictive patterns than it was finding our way into them.
June 3rd, 2018
There are no literal second chances in life. The closest we can get is to look back, glean an important lesson from a perceived mistake, and use that lesson to move forward in a different, more conscious way. This doesn’t mean that mistakes are unforgivable, they are actually an important part of life and completely unavoidable.
May 27th, 2018
Recovery from addiction necessarily takes great effort. If changing a behavior happens without effort, then that behavior is probably not so habitually imbedded into our emotional defense system that it can be considered an addiction.