A Cure Is All In Your Head

I don't really know how I recovered from my alcoholism. And yes, I have recovered. I believe. I recognized all the problems I was having that led me to drink too much. When I accepted that God was beside me and had work for me to do, I was able to get well. That's when my world became a better place again for me. I'm not sure whether it was my improved outlook that led me to quit drinking, or whether quitting drinking led to an improved outlook. That isn't important. They both happened and that's all I care about.

Chris Prentiss in The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure stresses the importance of a positive attitude in overcoming addiction, cancer, and any other affliction: "If you have been told and you believe that you have the incurable disease of either alcoholism or addiction or both, throw that belief overboard now. It is a ball and chain that is weighing you down and interfering with your complete recovery. This is your time to take on the belief that you live in a wonderful world, a magical world, a world where suffering people -- not mot just alcoholics and addicts, but everyone, even those afflicted with the most diverse and difficult diseases -- can be healed, and you will be one of them. It is that empowering belief that is foremost in your arsenal of recovery."

 All Addictions Thrive Inside Us, Not Outside

See yesterday's post before reading this. The two go together. The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure goes on to point out that all addictions are within us. Even though the problems that I was having, as explained in the last post, were largely beyond my control, my reaction to them was entirely within me.

"Before reading this, it may have seemed to you that the causes of dependency were actually outside of yourself, but that is not the case. It's easy to see that Cause 1 (Chemical imbalance) and Cause 3 (Beliefs you hold that are inconsistent with what is true) exist within you. In the case of Cause 2 (Unresolved events from the past), those past events live only in your mind, even though you may be faced with the results of those events every day. In Case 4 (Inability to cope with current conditions), while the conditions are outside of you, your inability to cope with them lies within you."

 The Four Causes of Addiction

Chris Prentiss, in The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure (https://www.yelp.com/biz/chris-prentiss-physical-therapy-commack), claims there are just four reasons for abusing alcohol and drugs:

1.    Chemical imbalance

2.    Unresolved events from the past

3.    Beliefs you hold that are inconsistent with what is true

4.    Inability to cope with current conditions

Which is you? My problem was #4. I wrote about it in my book, Corking the Bottle (https://covenantbooks.com/books/?book=corking-the-bottle):

"Then the wheels came off and life spun out of control. I was laid off on the day, almost, of my 50th birthday. Several would-be employers turned me down for jobs, some after interviews and some without responding to my applications. Even fast-food joints weren’t interested in me. I got a part-time job with a crisis communications firm, but it wasn’t the same as the community relations work I had come to enjoy so much. I lived off my 401K and pension and my wife’s income from working the zoo gift shop. Cripes, we used to be making six figures together! Not anymore. 

"My marriage felt strained and intimacy became a fond memory. My older daughter resented the time I was spending as a volunteer with disadvantaged kids and jealously accused me of getting too friendly with little girls. She quit speaking to me. Kids in the youth program I had created grew up and some of them chose to wallow in the ditches I had tried to lead them out of. Some had families and good jobs, but all I could see were the addicts and criminals I had watched grow up. I had arthroscopic knee surgery, which pretty much ended my running career. I started gaining weight. My beard turned white. I denied my depression for a long time before I got help from my doctor. But the mood-altering pills didn’t work well enough. Alcohol worked better.

"My drinking increased. My thoughts were of poor, pitiful me. There seemed to be no solution. The good life was over. My wife was ready to leave me. Good! That would give me another reason to drink."

More later from this interesting book (Prentiss's, I mean).

Seeking the Creator Near a Pond

Here is one more quote I like about finding God in the wonder of his creation. Brian D. McLaren in  A Search for What Is Real says this about discovering a red eft, or newt, in his yard at the age of five. My sisters as kids, along with their friend who many years later became my wife, collected these salamanders and kept them in a terrarium. They are beautiful. The newts, I mean.

"Who can assign a value to those creatures? Who can deny the existence of a Creator when viewing such wonders? Who can help but love these creatures, and in loving them, who can doubt that his or her love wants to reach through and beyond the creatures to their Creator?"

 Act I, Seen 1

A good line, again from The Purpose Driven Life:

"God is far more interested in what you are than in what you do. We are human beings, not human doings."

So, what have you been being lately?

Oh Lord, It's Hard To Be Humble 

No one is better than me at being humble!

Or so I once thought. "Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less." (The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren)

Higher up on the page, Warren writes, "You can develop humility in very practical ways: by admitting your weaknesses, by being patient with others' weaknesses, by being open to correction, and by pointing the spotlight on others. Paul advised, 'Live in harmony with each other. Don't try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all.' To the Christians in Philippi he wrote, 'Give more honor to others than to yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.'"

But I Thought We All Agreed That Alcoholism Is a Disease

I have said and read for years that alcohol is a disease. But I just started reading The Alcohol and Addiction Cure, by Chris Prentiss, who makes a pretty good case for why alcoholism is not a disease; it's a symptom. Find the cause and you are on your way to wellness. I haven't gotten far into the first chapter and will blog more on the subject as I proceed, but see what you think:

"I can write with complete certainty that alcoholism and addiction are not diseases.... (We) have developed a dependency on them, meaning that we can't permanently discontinue their use without help.

"Alcohol and drugs are not the problems; they are what people are using to help themselves cope with the problems.... When the underlying problems are discovered and cured, the need for alcohol or drugs disappears. (https://passagesmalibu.com/philosophy/the-alcoholism-and-addiction-cure)

I might not get too far on this book or in this blog for the next two weeks. I am filling in daily for absent volunteers at the community ministries food pantry, where I ordinarily only work once a week. And baseball playoffs start. And college and pro football season is heating up. But please continue to tune into this blog. And feel free to post your own comments.