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)
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