Worth Recovery

I never thought as a child that I wanted to grow up to be a sex addict.  That wasn't the course I was on.  Life knocked me a few degrees here and there along my journey.  Without course corrections, we end up a long way from our original destination.  A few degrees can make all the difference on where we end up and the course of our recovery.  

During the month of July we celebrate Independence Day in the United States.  Amy shares her feelings on declaring her independence from addiction and how that has impacted her life.  Celebrating the day you declare independence is just as important as celebrating the day you won your independence, your sobriety date.  What victories can you celebrate today?

We just finished our event in Seattle Washington and I wanted to share with you the three impact moments for me.

Continuing from Episode 95, Amy shares more about her spiritual healing process.  Recovery is a healing process that requires dedicated effort and time.  That healing has to happen physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  The second principle of spiritual healing that Amy shares in this episode is prioritization of our spiritual life.  If we really are suffering from "an illness only a spiritual experience can conquer" (from the AA Big Book, then our spiritual connection is more important than ever!  Listen to Amy share how she changed and prioritized her spiritual recovery.

When my nephew told me, "Adults are not to be trusted", it broke my heart.  I hurt for him and his current reality AND I hurt for the feeling of familiarity I felt when he said that.  Trust is a difficult thing.  Learning to trust ourselves and to keep our word is an essential step in recovery.  In this episode, I share some of the ways I've learned to be better at this thing we call honesty.

Healing happens on purpose.  In this episode, Amy shares the year she became intentional about her recovery.  It is easy to float along in recovery, trying different things, dipping our toes into many options and moving on before we see results.  It is also easy to keep doing things out of habit but not really evalutating to see if the action is having the intented impact.  Learn how to be more intentional as well as more about our event in Seattle this summer.

Learn more about Aaron Glade here.

Learn more about Heidi Kinsella here.

Learn more about Staci Sprout here.

Register for Intentional Recovery in Washington here!

So much of living in recovery is living in the in-between times: the time from where we were to where we want to be.  Whether it's the space between denial and awareness, the space between addiction and sobriety, the space between feeling lost and feeling direction, these in-between times make up so much of our lives.  These spaces are places of extreme, hope and despair, love and loss, forward and backward movement, pull and push.  How do we live there?  How do we find the courage and patience to stay in recovery during these times?  In this episode, Amy talks about the three major lessons she has learned living in the in between and three tools that help you move forward!

Continuing the journey through the 12 steps, Amy concludes the discussion of Step 9 with this episode:  It Works When I Work It.  The SAA Green Book guides us through a 5 step process in how we actually go about making amends for the wrongs we have done.  In this episode, Amy discusses this process and gives examples from her own experiences.  Cleaning up the wreckage of our past is essential in order to move forward with a solid foundation.  

So much of recovery is a healing process.  Healing of mind, body, and spirit.  The SA White Book tells us that healing has to come about in three areas of our lives - emotional healing, physical healing, and spiritual healing.  I recently was able to prepare some thoughts for a women's retreat about spiritual healing.  As I studied and prepared, so many things went through my head.  In the next few episodes, I will take some time to share some of my own process of spiritual healing. 

Are you tired of saying you're sorry?  Picking back up the series on the 12 steps of Recovery, Amy continues the discussion on Step 9:  Made direct amends whenever possible, expect when to do so would injure them or others.  Making amends is more than just apologies or saying we are sorry.  It takes a complete attitude change.  Listen to Amy share a portion of that changed attitude and how to approach amends from a helpful place.