After rehab, I entered ‘the rooms’ as a protocol for what I, and others, believed would be helpful. I was desperate to overcome the feelings that I had tried to outrun my entire life. As life would have it, my life improved for some time. I went religiously to meetings three times a week,

If you remember the famous Tina Turner song, you remember the refrain: “What’s love but a second hand emotion.” That is the way it used to be. I loved you if my needs, thrills, cravings, or wants were being met. I didn’t see YOU, I saw my desires. I was loving the “if…then” experience, not

    It’s been a tricky week. A week where I’ve been evaluating the triggers of a deep depression I’ve experienced for a month or two. Perhaps a bit longer. Gladly I seem to be out the other side of it, but boy was it brutal. It rendered me breathless, thoughtless and bottomless. It felt

  I was diagnosed with Anxiety Disorder in 1994 in the seventh year of my recovery from addiction, by a specialist in the field. I know I’m not the only one. Many of us deal with the debilitating symptoms of anxiety at different times in our lives. For a few years medication helped to blanket

Like most people, I like to look my best. For me looking my best coincides, or in fact begins with, feeling my best. Pre recovery I’d try to make myself feel good by obsessing over my appearance. Endless buying of clothes, sweating at the gym and purchasing of miracle creams ensued to summon up even

What it used to be like, what happened and what it is like now is the traditional framework for sharing at a meeting. This progression holds true for both my recovery and my yoga practice. At one point my life was consumed by suffering which eventually became overwhelming. I had a life changing experience and

    Dr. Jamie Marich sent me this link today to share with the readers at The Cafe. It discusses whether or not your therapist disclosing some of their own experience is something that hinders or helps. There are differing opinions for sure and it’s something that most people in the therapeutic and life coaching

I am the boat and I am the ocean. The waves are constant, swelling, falling. Doubt, Insecurity, Why? I can’t adjust my sails for they are broken. Once they were full and beautiful, able to catch the breeze, free to travel. Now they are stranded upon a vessel lost on a troubled sea. The tides

  I just achieved a recovery milestone. I kind of feel like I am “aging out” of relatability. I have been around for so long that nothing should go wrong, I have amassed a trunk load of tools, I have practiced the principles for a while and, face it, I’m old!  What could possibly be

    My dentist peered into my open mouth, “We’ll have to take the bonding off your tooth if we want to do Invisalign.” (Clear braces). As a middle child, I fell into the category of “good enough.” My older sister needed braces, a dermatologist and a counselor. My younger brother needed glasses and an