Even before entering into recovery for my food addiction, I had heard a slogan that kind of, sort of made sense…but didn’t really. Don’t just do something. Sit there. I knew at least intellectually that it meant, “Stop trying so hard. Stop being a perfectionist. Let...
Addiction and unhealthy attachments can be powerful drivers in our lives—drivers that put us on a course of destruction, pain, and insanity. Below are four ways that addiction and unhealthy attachments create insanity in our lives. A Repetitive Cycle of Suffering...
Rule 1 of St. Ignatius’ “rules of discernment” stands alone in many ways, describing the experience of one who is moving in the wrong direction, away from God, and towards vice and sin. In a modern sense, this first rule also describes those of us who are diving into...
In his book Change or Die, Alan Deutschman details the three phases required to undergo lasting change in our lives: relate, repeat, and reframe. This is also what we do to find healing and freedom in recovery. We relate to others by joining a recovery community that...
Each week, I drive by a beautiful park on my way to a recovery meeting. During my drive, I always notice a particular bench and remind myself that that’s where “it” happened—the Lord’s miraculous healing of my alcoholism. I came into the rooms of Recovery in 2013. I...
When we are caught in our active addictions or unhealthy attachments, we seek short-lived fulfillment, pleasure, and temporary reprieve from the realities and suffering of life. Yet, when we are reawakened to the Lord’s crucifix and begin working our recovery, we...
In today’s culture, the world tells us that each of us is supposed to have what it takes to satisfy our interior sense of emptiness—this hunger for more that we all feel. Those of us who have been blessed with what we call “addiction” (and yes, it is a blessing for...
Notice in reading the Gospels that whenever Jesus is facing something difficult, He prays. In one of His most human moments, Jesus struggles in agony in the garden of Gethsemane. Before his arrest, He endures a night of extreme stress that we cannot imagine. He even...
The world would be uninteresting without uncertainty. There would be no fear, yes, but also no surprise. There would be no pain but there would be no joy or wonder, either. That’s why people enjoy scary movies in which the monster isn’t revealed until Act III or never...
As a faithful member of Catholic in Recovery and Alcoholics Anonymous, I’m abundantly blessed to have so many avenues at my disposal to remain sober and grateful to be able to share my experience, strength, and hope with others. But what if I told you that even with a...