Social Acceptability vs. Recovery
Everyone has ups and downs. For alcoholics and addicts, these ups and downs are taken to the extreme, in the worst cases leading to manias or deep, deep depressions. It’s not uncommon for newly sober people to look, well, a little rough. In our addictions we pick our faces, lose large amounts of weight, and […]
Go With The Flow in Addiction Recovery.
Imagine that you are racing down a ski slope, snow-draped trees whooshing by as you maneuver between obstacles, frosted air whisking your cheeks, your focus intensely locked on the position of your body and skis. In this moment, you are not aware of the conflicts and contradictions that often preoccupy your thoughts, you are not […]
Are Addicts Creatures of Habit?
Do you remember your first time parallel parking? At first, it was challenging and stressful. But the more you grew comfortable reversing and pulling your car in, it became easier — almost habitual, you could say. There’s an evolutionary logic behind our habits: they conserve time and mental energy. That’s a good thing! Yet, this […]
Selfless? More Like Think About Your Self… Less
“Hi, how are you?” It’s something we’ve all said countless times. But what about in recovery? When things are beyond tough or challenging or just utterly unknown? When any random moment can be that thin line between life and death? Well, that’s when those four words can literally save lives. We learn to greet each […]
Whats Your Rat Pack
Much of what we know about addiction comes from tests performed on lab rats in the mid 20th century. The experiment is simple: put a rat in a tiny cage, alone, with two water bottles. One is just water, the other is water laced with cocaine. The results are almost always the same: an unsurprising […]
Self Mastery To Beat Substance Abuse In Los Angeles
The story of Microsoft is legend: two guys drop out of college, start writing software (presumably in a garage), and become billionaires. Simple, right? But if we look beyond the legend, we find that it took Bill Gates and Paul Allen tons of work and hours upon hours of pursuing their passion. The pair met […]
Practicing Meditation For Addiction Recovery
Phone calls. Texts. Appointments. Calendars. Emails. Stop!!! The technological age we live in is a bit of a double-edged sword. What we gain in convenience we lose in peace of mind. Our brains try to process information at the speed of our handhelds and along the way something gets lost. So what can we do […]
Living The Moment and Knowing The Moment
No matter where we are at any given moment, no matter what we’re feeling, how we’re feeling, or why we’re feeling, there’s a natural existential setting all us humans have to endure one way or another—being in the moment and knowing about being in the moment. I know, I get it. And trust me, I […]