About two years ago, a mentor of mine invited me up to go sailing on Lake Erie to a somewhat famous tourist attraction called Put-In-Bay. It was October Fest weekend, which gave people all the more reason to drink excessively and act nutty. Of the group of guys I was...
Step Four: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Step Five: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. I was warned by my sponsor that many people find Step Four and Step Five very difficult—some...
One of the keys to moving away from habitual sin is spending time daily with Scripture and in prayer. Most of us have heard this for years and our immediate response might be, "I don't have time." I felt this way 10 years ago. But I can tell you today, as I enjoy over...
On my path of recovery, one of the absolute best experiences I have had was my time spent in inpatient rehab. I spent 35 days in a facility in order to receive help for my addiction to pornography. However, to my surprise, I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive...
One of the tools that I learned as I went through the Consoling the Heart of Jesus: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat spiritual practice to help navigate challenging situations was a beautiful breathing exercise. Even today, over three years clean of my porn addiction, when...
When in the rooms of recovery, you often hear how people are depending on each other for support not only in staying sober, but for handling the difficult situations of life. The Twelve Steps are meant to guide us towards a God-reliance, which can be difficult to have...
Step Two: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. I remember telling my sponsor early on that the first few steps in my 12-step program didn’t pose much of a challenge to me because I already believe in a “Higher Power.” I...
"Every man who enters a brothel is looking for God.” This quote, attributed to G.K. Chesterton, is one of the foundational concepts of Saint John Paul II's “Theology of the Body,” which is a collection of talks the pope gave on human sexuality. Theology of the Body...
As I write this, the thought that comes to mind is: “How do you put something so vast, infinite, and truly marvelous as God’s mercy and love into words?” For those of you reading this who may not know me or my story, I am a revert to the Catholic faith. I attended...
Michael Murphy, Ed.D., writes as a Catholic psychologist with more than three decades of experience combining clinical psychology and the Catholic faith. He writes regularly for CIR on topics related to addiction recovery, mental health, and Catholicism. As we witness...