Recovery |

To understand what living amends are is to understand the concept behind amends in a 12 step program. Part of healing the past is owning the wrongs we have made towards people and places while living in our addiction. An amends is not an apology or “I’m sorry” for a wrongdoing. The most widely accepted...Read More

Why does anyone join an alumni program? Do you want to keep in touch with individuals from a school or organization? Maybe you need to be part of something that has given you so much. Maybe you like the socialization aspect of it. Well, individuals in recovery have many of the same reasons for joining...Read More

A Personal Story Being in recovery from alcoholism is not about alcohol at all. The basis of the whole-person care approach to recovery is the underlying factors that drove me to use alcohol as a method to cope with life in general. When I began a 12-step program of recovery almost three years ago, I...Read More

The endless chatter of the mind is one of the most difficult roadblocks in recovery. Most addicted people rely on substance use to quiet that chatter, but sobriety brings massive challenges in coping without self-medication. Meditation is a practice that has been around for many centuries and serves a wide variety of purposes. The most...Read More

Learning about the importance of self-care in addiction recovery has been an unexpected surprise in life. Self-care can be as simple as meeting our basic needs in life–eating, bathing, brushing our teeth, working to meet our financial needs. In my addiction, some of these basic needs were often neglected.Read More

I am coming up on three years of sobriety from working a 12-step program. When I first got sober, I knew nothing about how to live a sober lifestyle. I had been in a 12-step program about ten years ago and relapsed, so I apparently never learned how to live a sober way of life....Read More

You’ve heard the phrase “laughter is the best medicine.” Well, humor-based therapy relies on that concept to help heal internal mental and emotional wounds. “Laughter activates the body’s natural relaxation response. It’s like internal jogging, providing a good massage to all internal organs while also toning abdominal muscles,” says Dr. Gulshan Sethi, head of cardiothoracic...Read More

Talk to any recovering person who has “put the plug in the jug” and you will immediately get a fairly long list of the benefits of being sober. While there are some immediate benefits of being sober, there are also intermediate and long term benefits. Since the benefits keep accruing over time, it is useful...Read More

A Personal Story When I think of the spiritual principle of acceptance, I immediately think of the Serenity Prayer. It is a common prayer in the circles of recovery. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the...Read More

Many people new to sobriety wonder how their recovery will affect their family relationships. It is often true that in the throes of addiction, we seldom realize just how much damage we are doing to our loved ones. They can tell us time and time again, but until we realize that there is a problem...Read More