This week... a relapse and a death. What's the lesson? There are a lot of lessons. How does it make me feel? Grateful. I'm grateful that I adhere to principles which have granted me the best 12 years of my life. These casualties along the way.. the many, many casualties only make me feel blessed [...]
My 7-year-old son was bullied at school recently. Fighting off tears, he told me a kid punched him in the stomach "and it really hurt". He explained further that there were two boys and after the one punched him in the stomach another gave him an Indian burn (twisting one's arm separate ways, creating a burning [...]
"Brainwashing".... has a stigma about it, doesn't it. I quit school and my banker job in my young twenties to join a network marketing company... (more stigmas!). I remember my good friend (and the guy who signed me up) rebutting claims from people saying the company was "brainwashing" us. He said, "maybe we need some [...]
How have I never heard the term Interdependent until recently?! (two marriages later). I've discovered that most people are somewhat familiar with the term codependent but not interdependent, just like me. It's taken me two marriages and a whole lot of legal battles, losses, and lessons learned to understand that I am a codependent (unhealthy) with [...]
It is amazing to witness the incredible results in someone's life, especially after some time has gone by and we celebrate milestones that allow for reflection. Compound that with a gathering of family and the sanctity of a marriage ceremony and it's tough to fight back the tears. I found myself doing this on more [...]
I heard one of my recent program participants refer to my sober living home as "God's House". Coming from a very religious background I could easily see one of my active family members gasping at even the very notion that anything other than a building affiliated with the church could be assigned such a label... sacrilege!! [...]
You drink, drug, gamble, sex, lie, control others, rage, manipulate (or any other flavor of destructive behaviors) to the point that it has documented itself to be a negative element in your life and/or the life of those around you....... yet you keep doing it. To quote my brother 11 years ago (on my sobriety [...]
There is a consistent theme developing with those who do not make it in the Sober Living home. They blame others, bash the house, me, the program... anything other than themselves. It's disgusting and cowardly. The sad reality is that they will never succeed in their efforts to stay clean and sober much less life in general [...]
I was forced to remove one of my Program Participants from the sober living home yesterday and it had nothing to do with him using or drinking. The logic was based solely on the premise of horrible decision making (ladened with emotion) that put the entire house in danger. The worst part about this incident [...]
Growth is painful and scary. Especially Growing upward (UP). It can require going against gravity (as an example), defying other's opinions or getting outside of our comfort zone. I've heard that the human brain is designed to prevent us from certain types of growth and limit decision making (that could be beneficial) on a very [...]
