When life in quarantine began, I did what I often do and decided that I was just going to remain busy and plan like crazy to get through it. The first thing that I did was get really motivated to exercise. One of my many passions is rowing. Social distancing meant...
After I first became sober I thought that I’m better now. I can handle it. I had been in AA for years and attended hundreds, maybe thousands, of meetings. I had volunteered, read the Big Book, and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, and worked through the Twelve...
I had the privilege of being born and raised as Catholic, where the Irish nuns during my schooling emphasized that Jesus is our very best friend. That has made all the difference in my life. After discerning my vocation, I married my college sweetheart. We shared...
When I first came to a recovery program I was brought to it by a very caring woman who saw the pain I was going through. She stressed the need for having a sponsor and suggested that I listen and find someone with a length of sobriety whom I respected. There was an...
Attachment, as we have seen in previous articles (Part One and Part Two), is central to addiction, recovery, and spiritual growth. But what is it? Where does it come from? How does it get so compromised that we turn to substance abuse and other compulsive behaviors to...
In a recent discussion on how to develop virtuous habits to combat negative ones connected with sexual sin, I was introduced to the four cardinal virtues, which are prudence, courage, temperance, and justice. Each of these virtues can help us live moral lives....
Lately, I have been having dreams of my high school years. Many of these years involve specific memories of my failures on the gridiron. Missed tackles. Blown assignments. Not giving enough effort. The inevitable fear that I always played with. Being screamed at by...
When I first walked through the doors of a 12-step meeting over 13 years ago I was hopeless, helpless, and desperate for a change. It was by far the hardest and best thing I ever did and I immediately felt accepted in a room full of complete strangers. 30 days earlier...
Before discussing five strategies that help me stay clean with regard to porn and masturbation, let me start by explaining that nothing short of the grace and mercy of God ever worked in helping me experience victory over this ongoing battle, which spanned over 40...
In my last article, I talked about “attachment” as a common thread among addiction, psychology, and spirituality. Attachment in all of these areas is about relationships, whether spiritual (God and the human being), psychological (mother and child), or...