If you’re feeling down, then it can be very difficult to find the motivation to make those positive changes. The challenge is to find those smaller steps that will encourage you to progress into the more drastic changes to your life. Focusing on the smaller changes can actually boost your mental health far more than you may have thought, so if the idea of tackling your feelings of negativity already seems like too much, then perhaps it’s time to consider just how small those changes can be, … [Read more...]
Relapse does not make you Weak
July 27, 2014 by
What is relapse anyway? Changing the face of relapse during recovery For those recovering from addiction, “relapse” has been a shameful event for years and years. Friends and family would scorn the fallen addict, self help organizations would make the person throw away their “clean time” and get a beginner’s chip while having to attend 90 AA meetings in 90 days. Relapse during recovery meant jobs would be lost and relationships would end, among other hardships. Instead of facing all this … [Read more...]
Looking in the Mirror is Amazing! – WOMEN in RECOVERY
February 27, 2013 by
Like the spine of a human being, there are a lot of things that simply will not matter unless the “core” of your life is intact. The spine of the human being is vital. Without it, legs, vocal cords, arms, and brains are far from useless, but still less useful than if the spine was intact. That spine is sobriety. Sobriety for me holds me together. It holds my routines together, my desire to better my life. It braces the need for education. It structures my need to help others, and it truly … [Read more...]
Recovery is a Journey…Enjoy the Trip
December 11, 2012 by
Recovery is a Journey...Enjoy the Trip. So how does your recover-strategy-goal-setting prepare you to enter into the journey of recovery? Say, you’ve had a heart attack, actually your heart has been attacked; not your physical, anatomical heart, but your breakable, emotional heart. The personal heart that grows weary, the hardened heart, the heartless one, the cold heart, the heart that aches, that stands still, that leaps with joy and the one who has lost heart; yes, your very human … [Read more...]
The 12 STEPS of RECOVERY – "Free Floating"
July 30, 2012 by
The First Three Steps are Your Own Doing Never Alone Again for You have travelled ... Beyond the Light !!! Twelve Step programs are well known for their use in treating addictive and dysfunctional behaviors. The first 12 step program began with Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.)in the 1930s and has since grown to be the most widely used approach in dealing not only with recovery from alcoholism, but also from drug abuse and various other addictive and dysfunctional behaviors. The … [Read more...]
Story as an ‘Over-Eater’, Recovery in Michigan
May 9, 2012 by
Double Dipper (The story of an OVER- EATER) "I have to tell you. I am not a double dipper. Although, as horrible as this may sound, when I lost my OA [Overeaters Anonymous] abstinence, I went down to the local discount liquor place and set out to become an alcoholic. I stupidly thought I could switch addictions. In my mind, being an alcoholic was somehow better. I never thought all alcoholics were thin nor had eating problems. Boy, was I ever wrong! I … [Read more...]
WOMEN in RECOVERY – Brutal or Rigorous?
April 5, 2012 by
Celebrate the Freedom of being rigorously honest a first time! As you share and disclose to your support groups and trusted community, remember the difference between "rigorous honesty" and "brutal honesty." Brutal honesty is self-centered. Its focus is saying whatever is true just to make you feel good about yourself, or to relieve your guilt. To avoid this kind of behaviour, try to think before speaking, reminding yourself that 'what You think about Me is non of my … [Read more...]
12 STEPS to Recovery – WOMEN, Amazing Journey!
January 23, 2012 by
"The Twelve-Step Program" Twelve Steps were first published in the book, Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men/Women Have Recovered From Alcoholism in 1939. The method was then adapted and became the foundation of other 12 Step Programs. As summarized by the American Psychological Association, the process involves the following: admitting that one cannot control one's addiction or compulsion; recognizing a greater power that … [Read more...]
