The Global Conversation

Tag: addictionology

  • Came to believe

    Just about everybody knows someone who is addicted to something, and I am not talking about the soft addictions that limit our connection to our highest self.  I am talking about hard core addictions that are affecting the lives of not only the addict, but also many lives around them.  Addiction takes no prisoners and it spares no lives. Families are torn apart, friendships are dissolved, businesses go bankrupt and employees lose their jobs.  Children are left without parents and parents lose children to drug related tragedies.

    Many of us have been asked to help someone who is in need of treatment, only to find that after a few days of sobriety the person has returned to their past behaviors.  I know of one person who has spent over $200,000.00 on treatment programs for his son only to have him end up using after all was said and done.

    Addicts are not soulless-bad people who willingly harm others for the sake of doing so.  They are suffering with a disease that affects their mind, body and spirit.  They are doing what they feel they need to do in order to survive and they live in fear of having to change their way of life.  They are afraid because the disease of addiction strikes at the center of the brain that operates through our subconscious; the same part of the brain that controls our heart beat and our breathing as well as many other survival functions.

    If you have ever watched the television shows such as; Addicted, Intervention, or even My Strange Addiction, you will see the cold hard truth of what it is like to be under the spell of addiction.  You will see, “Continued use, in spite of negative consequences” up close and personal.  Still, without having the experience yourself, you can never truly understand what is going on in those persons thoughts. The behavior appears to be completely insane, and it is.

    Insanity is defined:  Repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.  The addict truly thinks that the next drug is going to fix them and they will never need to use again, hence the term “get my fix.”

    What I have found in my experience, as well as in the experience of others, is that insanity is temporary. The second step of the Twelve Step programs is; Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.  So how do we do this? How do we come to believe?  How did you come to believe?   Have you always believed? Do you still not believe?

    When I first came to sobriety, and was confronted with this step, I did what many others have done; I went on faith.  If it worked for others it could work for me – unless they were lying!  Yes, I didn’t believe yet, but I was willing to give it a try.  What I have come to understand over the years of being clean is that to be fully sane, is a lifelong process. I return to sanity in bits and pieces only to awaken to other areas of insanity.  Through the enlightenment of unhelpful behavior patterns exposed in my life, my level of joy and freedom are increased.

    To be fully sane, is a lifelong process.

    Faith is simply taking someone’s word for something and being willing to give it a try. It doesn’t mean just trust me and don’t question me.  Faith is not going blindly on what others say.  Faith is temporarily putting aside current beliefs to experience another way of doing things.  Faith, with experience, turns to belief.  Belief, with experience and awareness, turns to knowing.  When you get to a place of knowing something to be true, you have found peace.

    So this is what I am here for, to help others to take a leap of faith, and support them through their process of coming to believe, and then walking beside them as they get to know, who they really are and what they wish to do.  This is life in recovery.  This is the path to peace.

    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 here for more information. To connect with Kevin, please email him at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)

  • Expansion by Contraction

    Most people look at the addicted person and see a waste of life; others see lost potential.  As for me, I see a person who is moments away from a spiritual awakening that can change not only their life, but possibly the world.  Does this sound like and outrageous claim to you?  Well, let me back it up.

    Let’s go all the way back to the early 1930s.  There you will find a man, a drunkard named Bill Wilson (later in life to become famously known as Bill W.)  This man could not stop drinking, or if he could stop, it would not be for long.  And each time he started again, his drinking became worse and worse.  He was in and out of hospitals four times and was at the end of his rope.  His family and friends were fed up with his antics.  His drinking ruined his reputation at work, and it was known that he could not be relied upon.  By all accounts, this man was the living example of a wasted life, sure to die a premature, painful, and lonely death.

    Enter the unknown, the unforeseen, and the miracle, if you will.  This is where the unexpected comes in to play and why, as humans, we should always hold the space for our reality to change and our consciousness to expand.  Bill, the life long drunkard, found sobriety; he also found a way to keep it.   According to Wilson, while lying in bed, depressed and despairing, he cried out, “I’ll do anything! Anything at all! If there be a God, let Him show Himself!”  He then had the sensation of a bright light, a feeling of ecstasy, and a new serenity. He never drank again for the remainder of his life.

    Does this story sound similar to anyone we know?

    In finding his own sobriety, he also co-created the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, hence changing not only his life and the lives a few people around him, but actually changing the lives of millions around world.  The 12 steps have long since been the most effective method for those suffering from “hard” addiction to achieve sobriety.  Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of the 12 steps, many members have achieved a level of freedom that many without an addiction in their lives  may never experience.

    The Bill W. story is a glaring example of how, by eliminating a detrimental aspect of one’s life, you can then open up the space for something truly transformational to take place in the world.  This is available to all of us, as we were all created in the image and likeness of God.

    God does not reserve greatness for only a select few, and we all have had or will have opportunities presented in our lifetime to do great things.  For me, I choose to seek the path that will enrich the lives of those who are presented to me.  It would bring great joy to my life if what I have learned and experienced through the messages of Conversations with God and the 12 steps could be given to those to whom happiness, joy, and  freedom have not frequented.

    What gift could you bring to the world?  And what would have to change in your life to make that happen?  Are you ready to take those steps today?  What is your greatness potential?

    (Kevin McCormack is a Conversations with God Life Coach, a Spiritual helper on www.changingchange.net, addictions & recovery advisor.  To connect with Kevin, please email him at Kevin@theglobalconversation.com.)

    (Questions in the ADVICE column are answered by a team of life coaches who write for this online publication. Address questions to:Advice@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

  • Hung up and held back

    The accepted definition of “addiction” in the medical community is “continued use in spite of negative consequences.”

    Now combine that with Conversations with God’s definition:  We experience addiction when the absence of something in our life renders us unable to experience joy and happiness.

    Let’s look at humanity’s addiction to our story.

    What is “story”?  Story is a tool the ego uses to protect the small us, the physical sense of who we are.  An observation of mine is that most beings are living in a distorted reality as a result of our ego protecting what it has made up about what it imagines we are lacking.  We then take that out into the world, either silently or quite loudly.  Some of us sneak through life quietly, hoping to not be noticed due to our story that we are simply not good enough; others have to be the center of attention, the loudest person in the room, for fear that they, too, will be seen as insufficient.  We all know the person who is always ready to knock someone else down in order to prop themselves up.

    We have all heard someone tell stories like, “I would have gotten the promotion, but my boss doesn’t like people who are taller than him” or “Jane broke up with me because she didn’t like how I say what is on my mind” or “The cops had it in for me because I have tattoos.”

    Is that person really higher up or more evolved than the rest of us, therefore deserving of their self-created pedestal?  Is anyone greater or less than another?  Are we addicted to our separation?  Are our hang-ups holding us back from experiencing life in all its grandness?

    Why is it that many of us tend to hide behind a story?  A reason for why we act the way we act?  Are we really just acting out our lives  here in this grand illusion to protect ourselves from some unforeseen danger?

    What makes some people rise above their story?  What is your story and when will you change it or, at the very least, challenge it?  What would it look like if you did this?  What would the world look like if we all managed to get out from under our self- imposed prisons?

    By now almost everyone has heard the saying “The truth will set you free,” yet not too many people are willing to tell the truth even to themselves.  Does the truth hurt or does it truly open us to more freedom and joy?

    (Kevin McCormack may be reached at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)