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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
I have no tattoos in my 43 years. There are many reasons for this I suppose but ultimately I have just never found anything important enough or UNIQUE enough to permanently etch into my skin. Sure.... I love my kids and think their faces are cute, but how many people do you see walking around [...]
The more I work with guys in recovery the keener my spider senses become. I also refer to it as my BS meter. Sometimes I can feel my BS meter rising into the red zone (I know they are lying). It doesn't mean they are bad people and often times, they really mean what is coming [...]
Step Eight: Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. Step Nine: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. This should be a practice in everyone's life but for the addict in recovery, it's crucial if they want [...]
What I would have given for a mentor as a kid. Someone or something to show me the way to success... to happiness. Seems like life would tease me with it at times but then, like a cruel joke, pull the rug out from underneath me and leave me flat on the floor reminding me [...]
