When I first started going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, I did feel a strong sense of belonging. In the meetings, I heard people talk about […] Read More
Tag: healing centered engagement
I’m just going to straight-out say it: There’s no way the words “alcoholic” or “addict” are ever going to become words that evoke pure compassion […] Read More
Guest Blog at AA Beyond Belief: THE RIGHT WAY TO RECOVER? GASLIGHTING AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION
The term “gaslighting” comes from a 1938 play called “Gaslight,” and it’s a story about a wife and a husband who’s set out on making […] Read More
The reasons for addiction, like snowflakes, have one thing in common—they are all absolutely unique. The intricacies of a snowflake pattern can be an easy […] Read More
Every day hundreds—thousands?— of persons with a substance use disorder make a decision to quit. How many of them actually do something about it right […] Read More
Recovery should be your number-one priority. Period. When you’re a person with substance-use disorder, you must spend the rest of your life fighting not to […] Read More
Unlike any addiction memoir you’ve read before, Parallel Universes: The Story of Rebirth, examines identity and what it means to be an adopted secularist in […] Read More
There’s a popular belief in the self-help world (and beyond) that in order to be happy we need to FIND OURSELVES. I don’t know how […] Read More
What happens when you discover everything you thought you knew was a lie? Read one man’s grueling search for identity ,truth, and reality in […] Read More
It’s the New Year, and with it comes new resolutions. We love starting afresh, and January is famously the month when gym memberships skyrocket, when […] Read More
One of the most interesting aspects of recovery is what support groups often referred to as “service” or, simply, step 12 (the non-secular version reads: […] Read More
I can’t even count the number of times where I’d been surrounded by people and felt as alone as if I was the only person […] Read More
There is no doubt that addiction and mental health remain the two hot-and-awkward topics which seem to never stay far away from controversy, and related […] Read More
In honor of the new year, I’d like to share with you a chapter I wrote for the book Do Tell! Stories by Atheists and Agnostics […] Read More
I am honored that ASRC – Adoption Search Resource Connection – has published my essay Becoming Yourself as an Adoptee. Please read the entire essay here at […] Read More
So you know somebody who wants to get sober? Great! Unfortunately, getting sober is really complex and every individual is different in how they arrive […] Read More
Guest Post on AA Agnostica: The Evolution of Identity Excerpt: I used to identify in a very specific way. In the beginning of my recovery […] Read More
One of the biggest obstacles in the life of a person with substance use disorder is asking for help. Ironic, isn’t it? We are often […] Read More
“I can’t take this anymore” is a thought that is familiar to many people with substance-use disorder. The “this” can be the obsession itself, life […] Read More
There’s nothing like the holidays, “the most wonderful time of the year…” This is when most of us prepare for the big family gatherings and […] Read More