change therapy

this morning, i visited chitowngreg’s sunday post about gratitude. it was fabulous to see all the comments there – 48 at the time i was visiting. and then of course my research brain got curious. what a great treasure trove to delve a little into to find out what specific things people are grateful for! [...]

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the 12 steps of alcoholics anonymous are sometimes summarized in these seven words: i can’t god can i better let god these pithy words come from the first three steps: 1. we admitted we were powerless over alcohol, and that our lives had become unmanageable 2. we came to believe that a power greater than [...]

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a topic i think about a lot these days is acceptance. here are some words about acceptance, adapted from “for today”, a little book of daily meditations by OA. pain often comes from non-acceptance. if i find that i can neither change nor accept a certain reality, i let it go for now, knowing that [...]

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this is part 2 of this month’s buddhist carnival. part 1 is here. the wild mind and the wise body i like this article by the wild moods that takes the actual here-and-now feelings and sensations of mental illness and uses them to get in touch with mental health … take a second to think [...]

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a guest post by the 12-step buddhist: how do you feel now that barack is official? i’m still in shock. waiting for a big news release about some kick ass exec orders reversing idiocracy. one of the big questions for me is how to practice buddhism and the principles of 12-step recovery around politics. on [...]

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i haven’t done an entry on the twelve steps for a while. the last one was on step five. the idea of discussing the 12 steps here is to look at how they can help anyone, not only people who go to groups like alcoholics anonymous, overeaters anonymous or alanon (for people with alcoholics in [...]

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it’s been almost a year that i last discussed a step from the 12-step programs a la AA. thankfully, someone made a comment on another 12-step post, and that spurred me on to another post. while the 12 steps were originally intended to help alcoholics and addicts, they have proven to be a fine blueprint [...]

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a prayer by someone dealing with addiction: dear higher powers: thank you for another day of life. help me to walk closely with you today. work through me so that i may better help others. help me when i am weak. help me to reach out to your unending strength. help me to remain hopeful [...]

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one of my twitter friends, ben, has been alerting me to all kinds of interesting links lately. through him i found this here, the 12 steps of liberation, a recovery program from a buddhist view. it’s brought to us by the universal compassion centre. the 12 steps of liberation 1. the truth of suffering. we [...]

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here we have another instalment of our discussion of the twelve steps of alcoholics anonymous and other similar groups. unlike the other three steps we discussed, steps 4 and 5 are two steps that can very easily be taken out of the 12-step framework and applied in everyone’s life. the purpose of these steps is [...]

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this post is in response to scott’s comment on my article on step 3, part of my 12-step discussion. scott’s last line was, “thoughts”? oh, scott, i’ll always have thoughts – probably too many of them first of all, thanks, scott, for your kind words regarding my attempt to make step three palatable to people [...]

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this is the third installation of a series of discussion about the 12 steps as conceived in various programs of recovery, from alcoholics anonymous to adult children of alcoholics, from debtors anonymous to naranon. today i’ll present you with a meditation on step 3: made a decision to turn our will and our lives over [...]

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today i’m on the run. too many things happening, including helping my very pregnant daughter move (yes! i’m becoming a grandmother! more on that soon.) so let’s turn this problem into an opportunity and see how you, gentle reader, like it when i just present you with my notes. it’s a continuation from last month, [...]

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i’ve been interested in the 12 steps for almost as long as i’ve been a counsellor – 15 years now. what first attracted me to them was their fierce commitment to honesty and being real, to be humble, and to follow an ethical and spiritual way of life. the 12 steps came originally from alcoholics [...]

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