“Spirituality is one of those realities that we have only so long as we seek it; as soon as we stop seeking, we stop finding; as soon as we think we’ve got it, we’ve most certainly lost it.” Kurtz, E. & Ketchum, K. What does the spiritual journey seek? A wise teacher would probably reply […]
“When we attempt to ‘define’ spirituality, we discover not its limits, but our own.” ~ Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketchum, The Spirituality of Imperfection. Religion concerns itself with boundaries: belief against unbelief, insiders against outsiders, church and state, etc. If I try to define spirituality, I can refer only to my own incompleteness and am […]
The trauma is not what happens to you; the trauma is what happens inside you….The loss of self is the essence of trauma. The real purpose of addiction treatment, mental health treatment, any kind of healing, is reconnection (with one’s authentic self). ~ Gabor Maté, “How Childhood Trauma Leads to Addiction.” YouTube video: link Both […]
A good friend of mine recently posed this question to me in an email: Sometimes you can be around people and continue to feel alone, like nobody understands. So hopefully that doesn’t happen to you. If it does, what does that mean? Mis-perception? I ask this question honestly because trauma can do weirdness to perception. […]
In recovery, I am ambivalent, perhaps indifferent, to the matter of whether or not God exists. If the gift of recovery is available only to believers, and therefore unattainable to non-believers, does this not make for a punishing and cruel God? More importantly, does it not also place limits on God, since God’s grace is […]
Suffering. We all experience it as a fact of human existence. But what happens to us when we begin to define ourselves by our suffering? Some say that suffering is a choice. For those who actually suffer from mental health challenges, it does not appear to be or feel like any sort of choice. It […]
Power can be understood as having two aspects: power-over and power-with. Power-over others arises from and unequal capacity for effective action and access to resources. This could involve individuals or groups holding the means and influence to control the actions of others. Of interest in this discussion is power that comes from within a person […]
I believe that addicts who hit bottom and reach out for help have one thing in common: the way they are living runs against their most cherished values. Choices and actions run in opposite directions to what matters most to them. How often do we hear in recovery the story of how an addict has […]
Everyone needs something to lean on sometimes. As a recovering addict, I definitely need some sort of power greater than myself to stay sober and to quell the self-destructive rebellion in my mind. Fortunately, that power doesn’t need to be outside myself. The nature of pure awareness Thoughts, ego, personality–and desires and cravings–are all aspects […]
The Peace of Wild Things 
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