Drugs

Overindulge? Who Me?

2 Peter: 1:5-6: Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness.

I turned on the TV to hear the news and the weather report. In a commercial, the person said this is the season “of overspending and overindulging.”

Years ago, a friend told me she gains 10-15 pounds every Christmas season. My mind pictured her in January with her eyes bulging out of her head as she tried to squeeze into her jeans. Vaseline on her legs wouldn’t have helped her slide her body into those jeans.

An acquaintance told me that when his credit card bill from last Christmas came it was as high as the national debt.

Overindulge? Who Me? Read More »

A.A. – “Stick with the Winners” – Preparing the Newcomer

“Stick with the winners!” That’s one of those often heard, but little understood suggestions a newcomer hears both in his treatment program and in the recovery rooms of Twelve Step Fellowships. The problem is: Who are the winners! How do I find them! What do they do and say that is recognizable and profitable. And if the newcomer is not prepared to spot them, seek them, and follow them, he can’t reap the benefit of “sticking” with them. We believe the winners will subscribe to the following.

A.A. – “Stick with the Winners” – Preparing the Newcomer Read More »

Is God a Choice for You in Your Recovery Today?

In this article about God and Alcoholics Anonymous, we pose the question: Is recovery, healing, spiritual growth, and Divine Aid (as Bill Wilson called it) in A.A. still about “finding God” and “establishing a relationship with God”? A.A.’s basic text still says, “Yes.” And you can find the documentation on pages 29, 58-59 of the Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, published in 2001. See also Dick B., God and Alcoholism (www.dickb.com/godandalcoholism.shtml)

Is God a Choice for You in Your Recovery Today? Read More »

Soft Addiction and Accountability

SELF-ACCOUNTABILITY
The key to overcoming bad habits or a Soft Addiction is to take the time to learn how to become self-accountable. If a person is not held accountable for something, there is little motivation to change. We, who struggle with behavior addictions can relate to this problem. It is a main element of denial. It is getting into the habit of saying, Who, Me!

Soft Addiction and Accountability Read More »

Behind the Kaleidoscope

Beyond the sugarcoated nuserynameled rhymes,
Wands no longer waving, castles in decline,
Past the golden carrots lemmings love to follow ’round,
Dreams of ease and riches now in pieces on the ground,
When Lucy and her diamonds are seen nowhere in the sky,
Puff the magic dragon’s taking Chantix on the sly,
When Mister Rogers sends regrets he cannot be your friend
And Captain Kangaroo elopes with Mr. Moose’s twin,
You may awake to find you’re not in Kansas anymore,
Surrounded by the jungle’s heat you hear the Lion’s roar,
All these things, though good intended, serve as launching zones,
Take the leap of faith and find the Life behind the koans.

Behind the Kaleidoscope Read More »

Addiction as Besetting Sin

by Franklin E. Payne, Jr., M.D., author of several books, is Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia, in Augusta, Georgia.

Addictive disorders and alcoholism cost $165 billion a year in the United States alone!1 The addict screams, "I can’t help myself! I’m addicted." In response, "experts"2 and society feel compassion with ever increasing programs for them.

However, I want to substitute "besetting sin" for "addiction." The primary problem is moral and spiritual,3 not medical, and cannot be addressed without that perspective.

What is Addiction?

Addiction as Besetting Sin Read More »