Tuesday, September 30th, 2014 Focus: I choose to make a sincere attempt at emotional purification.

If you make a sincere attempt at emotional purification, the vicious cycle of negative experiences generating further negative experiences will be replaced by a cycle of positive feelings toward others, generating understanding and empathy in family, friends, collaborators, and the community.

Recovering your ties with others and with nature, integrating your mind and body, and transforming your emotions are ends as well as means. They are valuable in themselves and also serve as steps on the road to further growth.

When you are grounded in your body and centered in your emotions, when you are in touch with nature and with others around you, you can open your body-mind to the world and become a positive part of its transformation.

Excerpted from the article:
How to Evolve Your Consciousness
Written by Ervin Laszlo.

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RECOMMENDED BOOK OF THE DAY

Chaos Point 2012 and Beyond: Appointment with Destiny
by Ervin Laszlo.

According to Ervin Laszlo, we are at a critical juncture in history, a “decision-window” where we face the danger of global collapse–or the opportunity for global renewal. He presents a concise overview of the current crises we face (environmental, social, economic, and institutional), persuasively arguing that if something is not done quickly, we face disaster. We have the opportunity right now to head off trends that could lead to a critical tipping point. Laszlo’s solution is a global consciousness shift that entails a new universal morality, a new ecological awareness, and a reverence and caring for the earth. Included here are concrete suggestions of what the reader can do to promote this shift in evolutionary consciousness.

Click here for more info and/or to order this book.
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ARTICLES & VIDEOS IN THE CURRENT INNERSELF NEWSLETTER
EDITOR’S CHOICE:

How To Clear, Heal, Energize, and Protect Your Energy Frequency
Written by Joanne Brocas
https://innerself.com/content/healthy/disciplines/energy-healing/9755

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The Subconscious Has Power When Directed in Faith
Written by Florence Scovel Shinn
https://innerself.com/content/living/finance-and-careers/success/9742

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Mastery of Self: All Things In Your System Doing Their Work Perfectly
Written by Christian D. Larson
https://innerself.com/content/self-help/behavior-modification/performance/9741

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How Capitalism, Democracy, and Liberal Education Must Change
Written by Amit Goswami, Ph.D.
https://innerself.com/content/social-a-political/reforms/9743

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Making Medicines at Home with Common Plants and Weeds
Written by Peter Bane
https://innerself.com/content/healthy/self-healing/9756-making-medicines.html

Monday, September 29th, 2014 Focus: I see the possibility that my mind can be clear and aware.

The mind is always changing. It is easy to understand that sometimes our mind is cloudy with hopelessness or anger or jealousy. On other days we feel good. We don’t flare up so easily. On those days we are more likely to be helpful to ourselves and helpful to the people in our lives.

Imagine what it would be like if we could completely remove all unhappy qualities from the mind. We would be constantly happy. We would be loving. We would be at peace with ourselves and be able to think clearly about any changes that might need to be made to ourselves and to our environment.

The underlying nature of the mind is clean of any negative feelings and any ignorance. In other words, it has the nature of complete compassionate wisdom. By thinking in this way, we can see that the painful parts that cause us so many problems are not essential to our minds. We begin to see the possibility that our minds can be clear and aware. This also gives us hope.

Excerpted from the article:
How to Change Habits & Addictions
Written by Chönyi Taylor.

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RECOMMENDED BOOK OF THE DAY

Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from Addictive Patterns
by Chönyi Taylor.

Presenting the essence of Buddhism without the jargon and fusing it with Western psychology, Chönyi Taylor engagingly combines practical exercises that were developed through her workshops with meditations and stories and presents invaluable insights about how the mind works. Enough! is intended for anyone who is looking for a powerful and effective way out of addiction, regardless of religious or secular background, and is suitable for self-study or as part of a guided program.

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Sunday, September 28th, 2014 Focus: I choose to drop the mask of the personality and begin to live like a Divine Being.

Drop the mask of the personality every now and then and begin to live like a Divine Being, rather than identifying with what people say about you.

Forget what people say about you — whether or not you are beautiful, whether you are good or bad. It is just their opinion of you. It is not you.

Furthermore, any opinion you may have of them is not them either. It is simply personality judging personality, one mask judging another mask. That is all.

Excerpted from the article:
The Real Spiritual Path Is Wherever You Are
Written by Imre Vallyon.

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RECOMMENDED BOOK OF THE DAY

Planetary Transformation: A Personal Guide To Embracing Planetary Change
by Imre Vallyon.

In Part One of Planetary Transformation, the author, working from the Higher Consciousness of a Spiritual Master and modern-day prophet, outlines the spiritual roots of the physical upheavals that are manifesting on Earth, providing deeper understanding for the true spiritual seeker. In Part Two readers are given practical meditation techniques that will raise their consciousness and help them deal with the coming changes.

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September 26, 2014Bill White A MILESTONE FOR SMART RECOVERY

This week, leaders, volunteers and participants of SMART Recovery will gather in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their organization. In recent years, I have had the pleasure of interviewing current and former leaders of SMART Recovery, including Dr. Joe Gerstein, Dr. Tom Horvath, Tom Litwicki, and Richard Philips. I have also served on SMART Recovery’s International Advisory Council and worked with SMART Recovery Executive Director Shari Allwood to prepare a Historical Chronology of SMART Recovery. For me, these involvements have been part of a larger project of exploring the history of the growing varieties of secular, spiritual, and religious frameworks of addiction recovery.
It is thus fitting to take a moment to reflect on the distinctive characteristics and historical significance of SMART Recovery and the challenges and opportunities it will likely face in the future. SMART Recovery is among the surge of secular alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) that emerged between 1975 and 2000 that also included Women for Sobriety (WFS), Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS), Rational Recovery (RR), Moderation Management (MM), and LifeRing Secular Recovery (LSR). Six qualities distinguish SMART Recovery within the history of addiction recovery.
First, SMART Recovery consciously integrates experiential knowledge and scientific knowledge into its recovery guidance, with particular emphasis on the latter. As a result, its recovery support tools are open to continued evolution based on new scientific breakthroughs in the understanding of addiction recovery. SMART Recovery explicitly “supports the scientifically informed use of psychological treatments and legally prescribed psychiatric and addiction medication.”
Second, SMART Recovery offers a hybrid model of professional, peer and volunteer group leaders, the latter being persons affected by or interested in addiction with neither professional training nor recovery experience. The involvement of these three groups throughout the organization positions SMART Recovery schematically between professionally-directed addiction treatment organizations and traditional member-directed recovery mutual aid societies.
Third, having recently reached the milestone of more than 1,200 face-to-face groups, SMART Recovery is now the largest and most geographically dispersed of the secular recovery mutual aid groups.
Fourth, SMART Recovery has attracted women in significant numbers–45.4% of members compared with 34% for AA, 37% for SOS, 42% for LSR, 45% for NA, 66% for MM, and 100% for WFS. (See latest SMART Recovery participant survey and White, 2009 for a summary of other membership survey data.)
Fifth, SMART Recovery has significantly improved its status among treatment professionals, with 38% of members being initially referred to SMART Recovery by either an addiction treatment program or a counselor/therapist. (The comparable number of AA members referred by a treatment program or counseling program is 39%.)
Finally, experience within SMART Recovery challenges the proposition that secular, spiritual and religious pathways to recovery represent incompatible approaches to recovery support. Thirty-two percent of SMART Recovery participants report concurrent participation in 12-Step recovery support programs, and 10.5% report concurrent participation in a faith, religious or spiritually-based program–a pattern of co-attendance also reported in studies of other secular recovery support organization. (Click here for SMART Recovery perspective on this phenomenon of “dual citizenship”).
As SMART Recovery celebrates its twentieth anniversary, significant challenges and opportunities lie ahead.
1. Will SMART Recovery survive and thrive beyond its founding generation–a challenge faced by all recovery mutual aid groups? (Only two founding members remain on the SMART Recovery board.)
2. Will SMART Recovery’s hybrid model sustain its viability or will it migrate towards a purely professional or purely member-led mutual aid organization?
3. What are the boundaries of SMART Recovery’s applicability to drug dependencies other than alcohol, to so-called “process addictions,” and to other problems of living?
4. Will SMART Recovery move beyond its dominant demographic (white, middle-aged, educated, and affluent adult men and women) to achieve greater diversification, e.g., increased representation of youth and young adults, increased cultural diversification via race and ethnicity, and greater educational, occupational and social class diversification?
5. Will a vanguard of SMART Recovery members become visible voices within the new recovery advocacy movement, standing in unity with others as “people in recovery” to celebrate recovery and advocate pro-recovery social policies and programs? Will SMART Recovery exist as a viable and visible support choice within the growing network of recovery community centers, recovery residences, recovery schools, recovery ministries, and other emerging recovery support institutions?
My expectations and predictions are that SMART Recovery will meet these challenges and go on to play an increasingly important role in the future of addiction recovery. To those gathered in Washington D.C. this week, I wish each of you and SMART Recovery a successful journey into that future.

Saturday, September 27th, 2014 Focus: It’s only my mental perception of an event that labels it rejection.

At some point in our lives we all come face to face with feelings of rejection. These feelings can be brought about by many situations. For most of us, the feelings related to being rejected are so severe that we will do most anything to avoid putting ourselves in a situation where they may be triggered.

Let’s examine the circumstances related to feeling rejected. First, where do our feelings originate? What causes them? You guessed it: our feelings come from our own thoughts. That means that our feelings are self-determined and not caused by someone else. No one else can generate our thoughts. They are ours and, consequently, so are our feelings.

The thoughts about being rejected come from our own perception of what happened. That means that the event — the rejection — doesn’t exist. It’s only our mental perception of the event that labels it rejection.

Excerpted from the article:
How to Say Good-Bye to Rejection
Written by Bruce Doyle III, Ph.D.

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RECOMMENDED BOOK OF THE DAY

How to Think Your Way to the Life You Want
by Bruce Doyle III, Ph.D.

This accessible step-by-step guide simplifies the complex subject of how your thinking creates your life. You’ll delight in learning how thought works, and how your thoughts connect you with the universe. How to Think Your Way to the Life You Want is a much expanded edition of Before You Think Another Thought with a new section covering ways to put thought and feeling into action.

Click here for more info and/or to order this book.
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Friday, September 26th, 2014 Focus: When I trust myself, my life is more purposeful and meaningful, richer and fuller.

So how do you learn to trust yourself, to rely on those messages you receive? You build confidence in your connection to Source based on past experience. Maybe you listened to your inner voice when it told you that it was time to move to another state — even though you loved where you were living — and it turned out to be a really good move. Or maybe you chose not to hear the inner prompting that said: Stay away from that person, and you realized later that you should have honored that feeling in your gut.

Eventually, through such validations, you learn to rely on your inner promptings, especially when they come to you while you’re in a clear space — immediately after meditation, for example. Some people learn to trust the messages they receive in vivid dreams, while others pay attention to instincts.

Whatever your channel of communication with Source, your life will be more purposeful and meaningful, richer and fuller, when you come to trust yourself.

Excerpted from the article:
Learn to Trust Yourself: Create a Powerful and Meaningful Life
Written by Deborah King.

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RECOMMENDED BOOK OF THE DAY

Be Your Own Shaman: Heal Yourself and Others with 21st-Century Energy Medicine
by Deborah King.

In this uniquely informative work, you will learn both Eastern and Western concepts and techniques from the earliest recorded healing practices some 5,000 years ago all the way up to modern times with John of God in Brazil and King’s own powerful cutting-edge approach. You’ll find out how to protect yourself from psychic attack, and how to get beyond any limiting beliefs you may hold. Self-knowledge leading to self-mastery is the ultimate quest.

Click here for more info and/or to order this book.
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Wednesday, September 24th, 2014 Focus: I let go of all blockages to Spiritual awareness.

For the Spiritual perspective, every health crisis — every experience of disease in any area of your life — is an opportunity for you to reclaim your responsibility as a Spiritual being, to reclaim your ability to realize and send forth your truth as a being of Spirit.

From this perspective, blame is always an inappropriate response to illness or disease. Blaming, whether blaming myself or someone or something else for my disease, misses the point.

The point is always to wake up starting from here and now, to let go of all blockages to Spiritual awareness, and actively turn your awareness back to your Spiritual truth. For the Spiritual-Holistic view, that is the message and the gift of disease — or more generally, that is the message and the gift of every life experience.

Excerpted from the article:
Opportunities to Heal Your Life and Be “In Synch” with Spiritual Truth
Written by William R. Yoder

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RECOMMENDED BOOK OF THE DAY

The Map: Finding the Magic and Meaning in the Story of Your Life
by Colette Baron-Reid.

Intuitive counselor Colette Baron-Reid is renowned for helping people create the purposeful and authentic lives they desire. In this fascinating book, Colette hands you the “magic wand” of your own awareness so that you can begin to perceive your life as a wonderful adventure, and see yourself as an enchanted mapmaker.

Click here for more info and/or to order this book.
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Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014 Focus: I remind myself that fear is based on a future which does not exist and is simply a possibility.

Fear is based on a future which does not exist and is simply a possibility. Fear can be seen as an acronym for False Expectations Appearing Real. What we fear is simply a figment of our imagination, a projection into the future based on either past memories or current beliefs.

If we go out in the world projecting suspicion and fear, then our “inner magnet” will attract more of the same. Love is the key which opens the door to the future we desire. This is true even if we are surrounded by chaos. So, which will you choose now, love or fear? What about in five minutes? In 2 hours? Tomorrow? It is an ongoing decision.

Even when presented daily with reminders of the fear presence in the world, even when our doubts are being reinforced by the fears and experiences of others, we must remain “aloof” from that energy and remain grounded in the presence of Love. Remain in the “now”, knowing that this moment is all there is. The past is done. The future doesn’t yet exist.

Excerpted from the article:
Feeling Fear… but Choosing Love
Written by Marie T. Russell.

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RECOMMENDED BOOK OF THE DAY

Love is Letting Go of Fear
by Gerald Jampolsky.

After more than thirty years, Love Is Letting of Fear continues to be among the most widely read and best-loved classics on personal transformation. Both helpful and hopeful, this book has guided millions of readers along the path of self-healing with its deeply powerful yet profoundly humble message. Embrace it with an open mind and a willing heart and let it guide you to a life in which negativity, doubt, and fear are replaced with optimism, joy, and love.

Info/Order book (third edition/different cover than pictured here)
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‘Stigma and Service Integration’ by Bill White SEPTEMBER 21, 2014 BY DAVID CLARK

In his latest blog, Bill White emphasises the importance of Recovery Stories and their value in tackling stigma.
‘One of the emerging trends of U.S. health care reform is the tri-directional integration of addiction treatment, mental health services, and primary health care. This is evident in the growing integration of addiction and psychiatric treatment under the rubric of “behavioral health care,” efforts to integrate primary health care within addiction treatment settings, and increased delivery of addiction-related services within primary health care settings, e.g., physician offices, health clinics, and hospitals.
Considerable resources have been invested in creating policy frameworks for such integration (e.g., provisions for office-based treatment of opioid dependence) and developing technological innovations (e.g., screening, assessment, and treatment protocol) to facilitate such integration, but history would suggest a far greater obstacle to service integration: social and professional stigma.
Efforts to integrate addiction treatment into mental health, primary care, and other service settings fail to address two stark historical realities. One, there would have been no reason for a specialized field of addiction treatment if these systems of care effectively addressed the needs of people with severe alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems. Addiction treatment was built on the failure of these allied systems to address such problems.
Two, people with severe AOD problems have been historically excluded, mistreated, and forcibly extruded from mainstream systems of care. The implicit message was: “Riff raff not welcome.” Today, we are trying to define as legitimate “patients” people who for more than a century were defined as unworthy of care based on their perceived moral depravity.
The transformation of addicted people into a desirable “billable commodity” has not changed the underlying atmosphere of disrespect and contempt which people with severe AOD problems all too often continue to face.
Policy and technological advancements in service integration will proceed only to the extent that these perceptual and attitudinal barriers to effective care are eliminated.
The stigma toward people with AOD problems long embedded within traditional systems of care is rooted in the fact that caregivers within these systems daily confront the consequences of acute and chronic addiction but have historically been denied exposure to people in long-term addiction recovery. Within their professional roles, they know the problem intimately but rarely witness the lived solution.
Recovery-focused training of allied professionals is essential to altering these conditions, but people in recovery also have a role to play in this process. Nothing is more effective in altering social/professional stigma than contact strategies, e.g., personal encounters with people in long-term addiction recovery.
Below is the vision of such contact as an advocacy strategy that I presented in my closing remarks at the 2001 Recovery Summit in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“There are whole professions whose members share an extremely pessimistic view of recovery because they repeatedly see only those who fail to recover. The success stories are not visible in their daily professional lives.
We need to re-introduce ourselves to the police who arrested us, the attorneys who prosecuted and defended us, the judges who sentenced us, the probation officers who monitored us, the physicians and nurses who cared for us, the teachers and social workers who cared for the problems of our children, and the job supervisors who threatened to fire us.
We need to find a way to express our gratitude at their efforts to help us, no matter how ill-timed, ill-informed, and inept such interventions may have been. We need to find a way to tell all of them that today, we are sane and sober and have taken responsibility for our own lives.
We need to tell them to be hopeful, that RECOVERY LIVES! Americans see the devastating consequences of addiction every day; it is time they witnessed close up the regenerative power of recovery.”
This month, more than one hundred thousand recovering people and their families and allies will participate in public recovery celebration events in cities throughout the U.S.
These events are part of a larger strategy to fundamentally alter how Americans view AOD problems and their resolution, but these large events may not be as powerful as an army of persons in recovery selectively disclosing in diverse interpersonal and professional encounters their status as a “person in long-term addiction recovery.”
Professionals of all stripes can play a role in helping create the social and professional space within local communities in which such stories can be told.’
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FILED UNDER: BLOG TAGGED WITH: ADDICTION, BEHAVIOURAL HEATHCARE, PREJUDICE, PROFESSIONALS, RECOVERY STORY, STIGMA, SYSTEMS OF CARE, TREATMENT

Sunday, September 21st, 2014 Focus: My expectation can become a self-fulfilling prophecy — and usually does.

Your expectation can become a self-fulfilling prophecy — and usually does. What if you knew that how you thought you’d look, feel, and get around at a given age actually predicted more or less what was coming? Would you make any changes to your expectations? Would you rewrite your definition of old? Would you find more use for people in their 70s, 80s, 90s, and older?

At what age do you honestly think the ability to contribute to society ends? Does it ever? Do you feel at all different today from the way you felt when you were younger?

Our biases are bound by definitions, and most are hidden from our attention unless we actively seek them out. Research suggests that such little things as what I expect of myself when I’m older do indeed affect what actually happens. In fact, the data shows that age can be reversed, simply by fully remembering youth, so that you feel it and see it in your mind’s eye. Change the definition and you become younger.

Excerpted from the article:
Do Beliefs & Biases Rule Our Life?
Written by Eldon Taylor.

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RECOMMENDED BOOK OF THE DAY

What If? The Challenge of Self-Realization
by Eldon Taylor.

What If? is a very personal book. By using everyday situations and guiding you through numerous thought experiments, Eldon Taylor does an excellent job of peeling back the layers and revealing the dissonance in much of our thinking, beliefs, desires, and choices — contradictory beliefs held at the same time with no apparent awareness. Once you have seen your own mind with the filtered lenses removed, it is impossible to remain the same. That is why so many have praised this work as being absolutely life-changing — not just a fascinating read — but a transformational experience!

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