Emotional Sobriety: My Journey to ACA » 1 Answers

A Month of Addiction Recovery Stories and Spiritual Experiences

kberman — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This holiday season from Thanksgiving to Christmas is very hard for many of us. Because I found my addiction recovery 35 years ago on Thanksgiving, I have always felt especially vigilant about helping others to find heaven on earth and give up the hell they are living in. So for this month, my posts here which I also highlight in my Facebook Fan Page, Emotional Sobriety, will be recovery and/or spiritual stories as told by the recovering person. My wish and prayer is that you will be able to indentify and join a support group to help you with your life. We all need all the help we can get.

I will be using excerpts from several sites. Today’s site I have read for years as it is a place for those of us who have had spiritual experiences to be able to read about each other’s experience.

Spiritual Experiences & Spiritualityis your source for spiritual, religious and mystical experiences, the study of spirituality, religion, enlightenment and teachers.

We are interested in stories from readers like you, if you have experienced any kind of inner awakening, personal development, growth or if you had a life transforming realization, an experience of transcendence, an inspiring story or if you have a gift on matters of spirituality, please submit it! If you want to have your own profile page, please sign up, it’s free!

It is also a powerful community for sharing with others.

Today’s selection is “The Darkness Was Crushing Me”:

“After having a deep conversation about Christianity with my boyfriend I found myself alone downstairs doing work because I had a deadline today and had a lot of work to do. But I was quite upset because he was asking me these questions and I feel like I’ve missed out on something everyone should be able to learn and decide about because I didn’t know about sinning, I feel like I’ve got no chance of being righteous I have sinned so much already… I recently had a couple of piercings too and now this has happened. I kind of feel like they are burdens for my sins.”

“About 20 past 3 I turned everything off and went to go upstairs. As soon as everything went pitch black I suddenly felt freezing cold. I felt a tremendous pressure around me and inside me. I was so shocked, I stood there for about 10 minutes just too scared to move, but then I just thought get to my room and turn on a light. It was so horrible I felt like a million things were staring at me and following me up the stairs. I ran into my room and threw the door to shut it and it stopped, leaving a tiny gap which my cat ran through all big and angry looking. So I just sat on my bed for about 20 minutes feeling the pressure. It was kind of like the darkness was crushing me, so I prayed.”

“I’ve never really been taught about Christianity but it felt like the right thing to do, and suddenly I felt warm like I’d just got out a bath the pressure went and I suddenly could not keep my eyes open.”

“I need to know what happened to me, and can you please tell me when you began to believe? Or is everyone unsure to some extent? All I know is I want to believe and I have asked for signs but I have nothing.”

Photo credit.

Work From Home A-Z Links Directory

kberman — Tue, 24 May 2011 05:00:43 +0000

Best equity is sweat equity

Calendar

The compact calendar

Christian work at home

Click and work

Connect to help another by computers

Convince your boss to let you work from home

Freelancer links—

Forms and downloads for freelancers

Ten absolute “nos” for freelancers

Jobs for freelancers

Freelance writing, screenwriting, playwriting, novels, non-fiction

Freelance Graphic Designers, Web Designers, Programmers Work Jobs

Freelance Jobs, Freelance Work Exchange, Post Jobs Free

Freelance Parent - Running a Home Based Freelance Business | eMoms at Home

Freelancers Union :: Home

Freelance Work: Freelance Projects: Starting Small Business: Free-lance Jobs Search: Home Business Opportunities Ideas

Outsourcing to freelance programmers, web and logo designs, writers, illustrators on elance

Getting off the treadmill of life

Home business

Homeworking jobs, work at home

The ultimate home office

How to work from home

How to successfully get work done in a home-based business

How to get things done inside and outside the home

Lessons learned

Make money online

Marketing

Meetup: Community of local meetups

Mind mapping software

Home based working moms

Finding the value in niche networking

Online office, word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, CRM

Open Office.org: Home

Get organized and stay organized

Online work projects and professions: access and outsource online work

New way to use your phones

Twenty ways to stay productive when working at home

Self-Discipline

Self-publishing

Should you start your own work at home business

Start a home-based business

Start-up nation

Success and motivation

To do list and task management—Remember the Milk

To do list: Ta Da List

Telecommuting jobs

Where everyone works from home

Six effective tips to work from home

Daily diversions for writers

Work at home forum

Work at home resources for home-based entrepreneurs

Work at home with WhyDoWork

Work at home jobs

Work anywhere home page (seasonal, temporary,permanent throughout Europe and worldwide

Working from home

Photo credit.

Becoming Aware of Choosing Emotional Help

kberman — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:39:55 +0000

Addiction treatment by the medical model means that an addict is “sick” and that someone else knows how to get that addict “well”. In reality, each person has a part of themselves that is perfect and was given to them at birth.

The basic problem with the medical model of addiction recovery is that the medical field calls someone “well” by sending them to take classes about symptoms and this determines the level of “help” that the “well” person will be able to give.

The reality of any emotional/mental help is that the healer can’t help beyond his/her level of recovery. We are all wounded healers but growth only happens after surrender to the need for recovery.

What other field of medicine focuses mainly or only on the symptoms? I mean, where is the cure? Certainly a label can help by identifying what information is needed to lead to a cure. But how does telling someone that they are in denial help that person to understand that their thinking is faulty?

Denial is not about lying but about someone not knowing the truth. Isn’t it more helpful to say that an addict is someone using a learned pattern of behavior to deal with uncomfortable feelings? If there are problems because of the addiction, then the learned pattern has to be given up and a new pattern of behavior has to be chosen for the energy used to be a positive for the addict.

In other words, some of the main issues in addiction treatment are maturity issues. The age at which a person started drinking, using, eating, buying, being overpowering to others, shopping, being preoccupied with sex, etc. is the emotional age he/she still is. If he/she started at age 15, which is pretty normal, then he/she is age 14 emotionally.

So recovery is generally about growing up. Another main issue of why people are addictive is so he/she can continue to live life in his/her head or imagination. No one knows reality–we only have a perception of reality. But the perception of reality with a clear mind away from addictions has a firmer grasp on reality.

In the self-discovery model of group healing, everyone in the group is a student. The sharing of power in relationships defines the health of the relationship. No hierarchy is needed when people enter groups to help each other. The leadership of the group can be shared by all on a rotation basis.

The group members in the self-discovery group must agree to follow guidelines that the group chooses. The main goal of the group should be short-term with the idea of splitting up to form new groups. Some people may choose to recycle–repeat the same group–before branching out to their own group. After 2-3 times recycling, the other group members may help with the formation of new group to a group member who needs more support.

The Mental Health Institute claims 20% of the population suffers from mental illness. These people generally can benefit from mental health counseling. In America, with all our wealth, many of these poor souls wander our streets as the homeless. They have no medical insurance so mental health care is a sometime thing. Since most of the population isn’t mentally ill, education groups can be a great source of comfort and growth for those not needing therapy.

Photo credit.

We Teach What We Most Want to Learn

kberman — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:53:37 +0000

For many years, I’ve noticed that what I study next presents itself. With the wonderful help of Google Reader, we can easily keep on track of our current interests. I will on Mondays be giving a short summary of the blogs I read that contain a common topic.

Today’s topic is gratitude.

(1) Kimba: Although I’ve lived in Florida and Cuba for 31 years, few nature photos are prettier than a fresh snowfall. The photo with the accompanying Bible verse helps to start the day in an attitude of gratitude.

(2) Emily: Finding gratitude for our loved ones is beautifully described by Emily in “The Stillness of a Saturday Morning”.

(3) Alan and Vanessa: In this “Just do something nice for somebody else”, we reconnect with how helping someone else reminds us to be grateful for the surge of joy we receive when helping others.

(4) Akemi: Akemi offers her Online Gratitude Journal Holiday Edition #20. In this post, written Dec. 24, 2008, she expresses gratitude for being snowed in in Portland. During her confinement, she was able to be grateful for every day treasures.

(5) Daniel Scocco: I am grateful continually for all the help, support and knowledge that other bloggers share so freely. Today I am grateful to Daily Blog Tips for “56 Internet Goals to Get You Inspired for a Great 2009”. This post is meaningful to me because it taught me a new way to do posts that feature other bloggers’ posts. He gives the author credit at the beginning of the post by including the author’s name and then including a short excerpt or comment about the post. I liked this method so well, I will use it for my Monday posts.

Shelter From the Storm

kberman — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:09:54 +0000

The Summer 2008 issue of O At Home includes information about four solutions for housing for the New Orleans area destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

1. Brett Zamore for Architecture for Humanity, $135,000. With $33,000,00 fro Oprah’s Angel Network, this organization set up shop in Biloxi, Mississippi, and attracted 250 volunteers who helped residents rebuild or replace their homes. Plans for a 1,415 sq. ft. shotgun//dogtrot home by Zamore (the one pictured is called the ParkerHouse} are among seven blueprints free at openarchitecurenetwork.org/biloxi.

2. Graft for Make It Right, $150,000. The 1,028 home is a collaboration between Graft, the Berlin-based architecture firm and Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation which aims to erect 150 homes by 14 architects in New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward. All 14 firms will share their blueprints for free which you can see at makeitrightnola.org. To request Graft’s plans, call 323-441-9610.

3. Marianne Cusato for Lowe’s, $120,000. After Cusato designed the award-winning Lowe’s Katrina Cottage in 2006, she and four of her colleagues added 18 more homes to the line, ranging from 308 to 1,807 square feet. Buy the plans for this 697-square-foot, two-bedroom charmer for $700. at lowes.com/loweskatrinacottage, or purchase both plans and materials (about $40,00 for the model pictured) at any Lowe’s store.

4. Looney Ricks Kiss for Mississippi Alternative Housing, $50,000. Over 2,000 families in Mississippi ditched their FEMA trailers for the featured 400 sq. ft. cottage thanks to Viking Range CEO Fred Carl, who convened a dozen architects to create a better option. To buy one fully installed, call 574-293-6507 in the Northeast, 817-478-5551 in the West, and 877-747-9800 in the South.

In the back of the issue, O At Home also recommends these three ways to help rebuild the homes and lives of those uprooted by Hurricane Katrina. (1) Make It Right Foundation–your money can buy everything from non-toxic paint ($25) to an energy-efficient, three-bedroom home ($150,000) at makeitright.org. (2) Architecture for Humanity–a $100 gift will feed and house volunteers–like the ones who’ve been helping out in East Biloxi, Mississippi at architectureforhumanity.org. (3) Finish the Job–6,600 families in Mississippi still need help and projects continue for 8,900 more. Just $1 from every American would do it at finishthejobfund.org.