According to a Pew survey of US adults conducted in August of 2017, nearly half of adults have a family member or a friend who has been addicted to drugs, reports Vox. Forty-six percent of adults surveyed meet the criteria. … Read More
Alcohol vs. Marijuana: Which is Worse? (And Why it Doesn’t Matter)
Entering the rooms of recovery, whether they be twelve step meetings or the walls of a treatment facility, we learn something very quickly: there’s no room for comparison. Yet, most of us come in comparing. We weren’t that bad. At … Read More
The Benefits of Mindfulness Are Exponential
Inarguably, mindfulness does have positive benefits. However, those benefits may be limited, though they are transformative and impactful. Two researchers set to do a thorough audit of the thousands of publications of mindfulness research to evaluate which fit the “gold … Read More
Psychological Signs Of Cravings
Cravings are part of what we could call the “suchness” of addiction. Addiction is a chemical dependency on drugs and alcohol that influences the way the mind and the body work. Research into the neuroscience of addiction has revealed more … Read More
How “Camping” Accidentally Happened
Man has been connected to the outdoor elements for all of his existence, because he was born of it. Our earliest ancestors did not have a language to communicate with, let alone the comforts of a modern world to survive … Read More
Where We Fall Short When We Talk About Training the Brain
We like thinking we can create a super brain ourselves and be the engineers of our cognitive capabilities. Research shows we can drastically improve our brains, that is, the working memory, which can feel like a life changing improvement. We … Read More
Themes and Metaphors of Recovery in The Winter
Without the winter, we may not be able to so deeply know, recognize, and appreciate the other seasons of the year. Themes about the winter season are as metaphorical and profound as philosophy, poetry, and spirituality. John Steinbeck once wrote, … Read More
Tricks For Beating Seasonal Affective Disorder When You’re Recovering For The Winter In Portland
According to the National Institutes of Health, six percent of the US population is affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder. More of the population, about 14 percent, experience the ‘winter blues’, a less severe form of SAD. As the brain struggles … Read More
Are You Being Your Authentic Self?
Authenticity is the quality of being authentic. To be authentic is to be undisputed, original, and genuine. Most men who have lived through active addiction to drugs and alcohol have lost their authentic selves. Many take on roles and characters … Read More
Reflection Points For The End Of The Year
24 hours in a day. Seven days in a week. 52 weeks in a year. 525,600 minutes of living from January 1st to December 31st one year after another. Some years fly by. Other years seem to crawl. As we … Read More