The Global Conversation

Tag: addiction recovery

  • With arms wide open

    “As long as the ties that bind us together are stronger than those which will tear us apart, all will be well.”   Narcotics Anonymous literature

    Conversations with God, along with countless other spiritual and religious institutions, mention that we are all one.  Many of us, myself included, would nod their heads in approval not truly knowing what this means, or if we really even believe it to be true.  I mean, how can the guy who nearly ran me off the interstate today truly be one in the same with me and my God?  You see, my God is loving and caring and compassionate, and always considerate!  My eyes tell me we are not one in the same.

    Ah, now there is the rub.  We are one, just not the same, by design.  We are one on our journey of self-improvement, evolution, and struggle to overcome what our eyes tell us we are separate from.  We are cut from the same cloth of God and we come here to experience the grandness of life.  Many times we become entrenched with the conflict between what our heart feels and what our senses pick up from external sources.  Resistance and opposition are viewed as negatives while offering us the grandest of all gifts – contrast.

    When I first began my sober life, I was fortunate to meet people who welcomed me in and identified with me.  In fact, I was told that I was the most important person in the room that day.  This was because the people who were already there needed to see that their old ways were not working. I was the gift for them that day; I was the contrast.

    Together we are in this physical plane of life where we require a contextual field to provide us with a definition of ourselves.  Without all of you, I have no way of knowing anything about me.  God has given us this life, indeed.  He has joined with us in this physical vessel we call our bodies so that she, too, may know the grand nature of his-herself.

    The first thing that brought comfort to me when I entered the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous was the togetherness, the oneness, the comfort in knowing that I was not alone in my dis-ease.  The 12 steps are the same regardless of which program you enter.  The wording only changes slightly, but the meaning stays the same.  So the reason there are so many different programs available is simple. We are all seeking like-minded people.  We feel comfort around those who know what we have been through by their own experience.

    Recovery in the purest sense is not possible without incorporating others into our healing process.  Healing cannot take place without the help, support, and encouragement of others.  This is not to say people can’t stop using on their own.  They can and do.  Recovery is a completely different than simply being abstinent; recovery is a state of being.

    When in recovery, we are a light unto the darkness that others suffering with similar dis-ease can be drawn to.  Our energy is shifted from that of reaction, to a place of creation.  Each day brings about an opportunity to consciously observe and create our self in a more grand way.  We look at areas of shortcomings and recognize the need for change.  In moments of enlightenment, we can admit to others that we behaved in ways that we were not proud of and express our intention to make every attempt to correct our behavior.

    Doing these things brings about a sense of pride in ourselves that we have not experienced in a very long time.  We share with others our struggles and our victories.  We ask each other for help in our times of weakness and we lend our shoulder to others when they experience theirs.

    The sober/recovering person is a gift to the community and inspiration to those still suffering.  In this state of beingness, one invites others into the dark corners of their life and does not hide behind excuses any longer.

    Isolation is the partner of dis-ease.  Experience tells us that where two or more are gathered, God is made flesh.  Many years have gone by since I was greeted that fateful day.  I owe a debt of gratitude to that room of people who opened their arms and welcomed me in. I have long since moved away from that room of people, but I have taken the gift they gave with me.  It is now my place in recovery to welcome newcomers into the room, and tell them they are not alone anymore.

    Join us Path to Peace recovery retreat in Orlando, Florida, October 24 – 27th.  JR Westen and myself are taking the messages found within the ”Conversations with God”  Cosmology, along with our combined 53 years of personal recovery from alcohol, drug, and food addictions, and offering these retreats as a means of returning people to their authentic selves.  We understand the difficulty people face with overcoming these challenges in life and offer a simple, compassionate, and effective means of living a happy, joyous, and free life. These retreats are not simply a weekend long reprieve from our troubles.  Each attendee will be introduced to past and future participants through our community Facebook page.  In addition, any past participant can attend any future P2P retreat for any donation they wish to make.  You read that right – any donation, from $1 to infinity.  We have seen the lives of people change and remain changed from these retreats.  If this is for you, click here to register.

    We understand that there may be financial hardships keeping you from attending this retreat.  If you feel you would benefit from this retreat but cannot afford it, please contact Will@cwg.org and ask about our scholarships.  It is our deepest desire to help those who truly seek change and we want nothing to stand in the way of that.

    (Kevin McCormack, C.A.d ,is a certified addictions professional and auriculotherapist.  He is a recovering addict with 26 years of sobriety. Kevin is a practicing auriculotherapist, life coach, and interventionist specializing in individual and family recovery and also co-facilitates spiritual recovery retreats for the CWG foundation with JR Westen. You can visit his website here for more information. To connect with Kevin, please email him at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)

  • This just in: you’re addicted to the news

    When does too much turn into addiction?

    I am often asked this question in many different forms, about many different subjects.  It usually comes across in questions like am I addicted to work, or money, or candy, sex, alcohol even television.  The list goes on and on.  Society has done a wonderful job of blurring what is really very obvious to most people. In order for something to be considered an addiction the following definition must apply.  You will not hear the definition of addiction talked about in the media.

    Continued use in spite of negative consequences.

    For those of you who read this column regularly you have heard this definition before.  These negative consequences for the 5 major addictions are obvious to everyone who knows the addict.  For the soft addictions the consequences may not be so obvious from the outside.

    Many people would say that a person who makes millions of dollars and continues to build his wealth is addicted to money. Without knowing who this person is and what he is up to with his money, it is not for us to say that he is addicted.  Take for example, the person who works 100 hours a week.  We would judge this person to be a workaholic.  But what if that person is doing what he or she loves to do?  What if the work this person is doing is for a cause that could bring great joy and freedom to large numbers of people?  Do we still say that person is a workaholic or do they now become a saint?

    So if a person likes to come home from work every night and crack open a cold beer,  sit on the couch and watch the evening news is he addicted?  My answer is, “I don’t know, what happens if he doesn’t watch the news?”  You didn’t see that coming?  Really?

    The news media uses fear as the driving force to keep people coming back.  And it works! How does being informed of the murders, house fires, and potential terrorist threats, on a daily basis help us to feel joy?  Do we really need to know what the weather is going to be this coming weekend so we can make plans?  Many people keep a cable news channel on all day long listening to the same 5 stories be repeated endlessly.  You don’t think this is addiction?  Tell me what good this serves in our lives.

    Fear, is the opposite of everything that we are.
    God said that in CWG book one.

    Fear causes tension and anxiety which leads to all sorts of physical and mental health issues. Fear causes the body to enter into the fight of flight syndrome.  While in that mode the body cannot repair itself thus becoming vulnerable to disease.

    Living with a pattern of behavior that creates a mental state of fear qualifies as addicted by definition.  Repeating a behavior that is non-beneficial to our physical health or our mental well being is dysfunctional living.

    Hang on — there’s breaking news — oh no, a carjacking in New York City.

    Yes, this story gets the headlines; one man carjacks somebody in a city of 12 million people and this makes a top story on the 5 pm news?  Why?  What is the end game of this type of reporting?  Is it really just to keep us coming back day after day so they can sell ads?  Why do we not see the bigger picture?  That the majority of humans are out in the world doing good things, living normal, happy lives?  When will we decide take back our reality creation instead of letting someone create our reality based on what sells more advertising for them?

    It is staggering to see what the media chooses to report on when you look at it honestly.  The news is merely another form of entertainment much like professional wrestling. They are going to look for the most sensational piece of news and beat it over our heads for as long as possible.  A sensational plane crash gets 2 weeks coverage at the top of the hour while meanwhile 44 people per hour per day die from addiction-related incidents.

    My wife and I decided a few years ago that we would not watch news unless there was something happening that we felt the need to be informed of.  We also decided if we were going to watch that we were going to keep our finger on the channel button and turn it off as soon as we received the information we desired.  For the most part we get our news through the internet where we can pick and choose what it is we want planted in our head.

    My suggestion to everybody is how much news are you watching?  How is it affecting your life?  Is it helping?  Or is it just filling your head with useless information?

     In June we kicked off our first in a series of CWG on recovery retreats.  A small group of people all shared a life-changing event.  If you are in recovery and not experiencing great joy and freedom or are still suffering with addictions, please consider giving yourself this experience.   Our next retreat will held in San Jose, California, Sept 19 -22nd, 2013.  On October 24 – 27th, 2013 we will have another retreat in Orlando Florida.  Click here for more information on these life changing retreats.

    (Kevin McCormack, C.A.d ,is a certified addictions professional. He is a recovering addict with 26 years of sobriety. Kevin is a practicing auriculotherapist, life coach, and interventionist specializing in individual and family recovery and also co-facilitates spiritual recovery retreats for the CWG foundation with JR Westen. You can visit his website for more information at www.Kevin-Spiritualmentor.com  To connect with Kevin, please email him at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)