Post Response to AA Haters on Sober Nation's Site

This post is reply to +Tim Stoddart, a talented writer and social media manager at Sober Nation, a site which I visit often. This is a topic that comes up from time to time. AA gets a lot of flak from the outside community for being too cultish.

The group meets, then before and after the meeting they do have some ritualistic shit going on. They are chanting the few paragraphs about AA and helping alcoholics, losing everything, having a spiritual experience, going through 12 steps and getting it all back, unless you happen to be “constitutionally incapable”, then you’re screwed.

I suggest you check out his post. He is talented and Sober Nation has the drop on recovery news, that’s for sure. I repost and share his content often. SN is a great resource for researching current trends in the world of recovery and Tim has his thumb on the pulse of addiction news.

 http://www.sobernation.com/3-things-to-remind-yourself-when-dealing-with-aa-haters/#comment-535506

I am a big fan of Sober Nation and your posts on the Sober Nation web. I almost always agree with you and we have very similar viewpoints. I think the fact that people find recovery anywhere, is awesome. This is by no means an assault on the many steppers out there, who have gotten and stayed clean through the AA/NA programs.

Lately, I've been trying to understand the reasons for some of the decisions to structure AA the way it was, and is and forever shall be.

AA had decades of better success than any ideology around. There wasn't a competitor. 

Naturally, they are so big that they have recovery on lock. And, there is nothing wrong with that. I am convinced that when you break through to people in a novel way and get the success that AA has had, you must assume some of the social responsibility of things that happen outside of a clubhouse.

The closest thing to a mission I see is in tradition number five, "Each group has but one primary purpose; to reach out to the suffering alcoholic." 

I wish that AA hadn't locked itself into self-imposed limits that may have not been thought out for a century ahead. Likewise, that's the reason I keep thinking about the reason's that there had to be traditions locked in as a constitution, making AA unchangeable in a fast moving world.

I guess that the founders had no idea what they were beginning when the traditions were written. AA is the go-to for recovery and everyone in recovery has been influenced by AA.

For the purpose of reaching out to the suffering alcoholic, I applaud the program, but then almost all of the traditions restrict clubs' and members' ability to do so. 

I wonder how different the country would be, if we had had an advocate in the 12-step programs. While the privatized prisons were building their empire in the 80's, we had no one to combat that kind of lobbying and political influence. AA missed a great opportunity to stand up for justice and effect change in so many more lives.

I think the founders had no clue how big AA was going to be. The rest of the traditions are kind of focused on the groups' well-being and all the things that they shouldn't do. They ended up in a box unable to reach for anything. 

What if AA had become professional, had become organized, did accept outside contributions, and did weigh in on public controversy in the favor of the suffering alcoholic they wanted to reach for?

I think tradition 11 sums up their motives. When the world kicks your ass, if you walk through those doors, you can find recovery here, but we aren't reaching. We all found it here and have kept it. But, it's a dangerous world out there and we don't want our last names to be known, for baseless reasons.

Bill and Bob started something very special. When they decided they were content just attracting, AA was set on the path of least resistance. Maybe it wouldn't have survived any other way.

 I still can't help but to think; what if they had decided to promote instead of attract? What if AA had been tenacious?

Hellooo, Heantos!

For a couple of decades, a few thousand miles away from the most addicted nation on Earth, Vietnamese herbal specialists have been administering an all-natural substance to heroin and cocaine addicted individuals with amazing success. Heantos, or Heantos 4 (the 4^th improvement on the formula), now, currently has no scientific or medicinal analysis data. It has been in use in Vietnam for nearly a quarter of a century though, and it’s been working when all else has failed.

Heavily addicted, long-time hard drug abusers have been taking the journey to the Pacific to get help beating their disease. Now, the treatment has traveled to America and anyone can use it for a detox. A friend, is the sole dispenser for the West Florida area and since November when Heantos 4 became available in the U.S., we have seen a wildly successful new detoxification method for active addicts beginning recovery.

The heantos promoters only mentions a few drugs for which Heantos 4 has been known to relieve withdrawals. However, here in Tampa, FL, our Heantos 4 detox professional has successfully detoxed many individuals from more than just the listed drugs its known to work against.

Jennifer has a guest room where an addicted individual can start their detox under her care, 24/7. Although, the compound is considered safe enough to take without round-the-clock care. Jennifer gives her clients the choice. She has aided in the treatment of many actively addicted individuals since she started. Heantos 4 has proven to be safe and very effective. Her clients report that the supplement diminishes the intensity of a withdrawal by an average of 90%, which is great news for those struggling with addiction and don’t know where to start their recovery. There has been a unexpected factor with the administering of this supplement.

Of course, Heantos wasn’t very well known in the West, until November, and its descriptions usually list only opiates and cocaine as the two drugs against which Heantos is effective. However, it has proven effective against the withdrawals of alcohol and a myriad of other dangerous and addictive drugs, at least in the early months of recovery.

If you or a loved one are suffering from an addiction and want to learn more about this treatment, until I speak to Jennifer you can mail me at twolifefocus@gmail.com. Once I speak with Jennifer I will update this post, provided she approves, with her contact information.

The treatment lasts about three weeks and the detoxing individual will sleep a great deal for the first 48 -72 hours, and usually feel comfortable and rested afterwards. The treatment costs, and don’t quote me on this, around $850. This includes the 24/7 attention from Florida’s most knowledgeable Heantos provider. It may seem clandestine but if it works, the method is of little importance. The following is a summary taken from the Heantos Heantos Facebook page.

The antidrug medication HEANTOS 4 is a Vietnamese herbal traditional medication, used for treatment of drug addiction. It was composed and prepared first by Mr. Tran Khuong Dan early 1990’s as a water extract in liquid form. Since 1995 the Institute of Chemistry, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) has cooperated with Dan’s group for further scientific developments of HEANTOS. Since then, the products Heantos 1,2,3 and 4 have been developed in solid form as hard capsules through the improvement of extraction method, composition of ingredients etc. Heantos 4 is the latest product, which is standardized applying the modern technics like finger print HPLC/MS, IR,TLC… During almost 20 years of research on Heantos, the Institute of Chemistry has cooperated with several international institutions and persons in the clarification of toxicology, the chemistry and mechanism of action as well as in the clinical studies of Heantos.e.g. the UNDP/UNOPS; Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle/S, Germany; University of Essen ( Germany ); University of British Columbia, Vancouver ( Canada ); Johns Hopkins University, USA….

In 1996 the UNDP/UNOPS supported this medication under a project named: “Further scientific development of the anti-drug medication Heantos” ( VIE 96/033 ). Through the cooperation between the Institute of Chemistry and the Institute of plant bio chemistry about 200 compounds have been isolated and identified from this medication. None of them was assigned as toxic ( BMBF-projeet: BNBest.-BMBF-98, Germany ). A clinical study in phase II on Heatos 4 was introduced in the Essen University, Germany in 2003-2005. Study on the mechanism of action of Heantos 4 is now carrying out in the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada, under the guide of Prof.Dr. Anthony Phillips and Prof.Dr. Michael Krausz.

You can learn more about this exciting new treatment at www.heantos.org. If you have any information about someone’s experience with Heantos, please share it in the comment section and as always if you need any information about rehabs, detoxes, meetings, interventions, ect., email me at twolifefocus@gmail.com, pm me on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/focusedlifel3c, text or call me at 813.310.5563. I’ll do whatever I can to help.

Is Addiction a Disease?

Is Addiction a Disease?

I have a friend, Allen, who at eighteen, became addicted to opiates. It was a horrible contrast that led to a couple of overdoses and a decade of misery. He was either high and out of his mind or he was sick from withdrawals and suffering, 100% of the time. I could relate in a way. I was addicted too, to benzodiazapine. That’s just the fancy word for Valium or Xanax of which I had a prescription for the maximum allowable amount when I was 22 and I made sure that I didn’t find out much about withdrawals during the very same decade. I thought that I was different, and in some ways I guess I did have a much different experience. In fact, even though he was a very close friend, all of our other friends and I had to separate ourselves from him. Nobody likes a guy that can’t handle his smack. Ya know.

There were many differences in our experiences actually. The main one being supply. My prescription was $8 a month, not even a quarter of what a dose of the drug he was addicted to cost at that time. I would get 120 every four weeks from the pharmacy and another 30 – 90, for $2 apiece, from a street dealer. Of course, Allen had to go out and hunt his down. And he did whatever was necessary. It’s a hard thing to get a grip on. He is responsible, but in a way I know that isn’t really him. Before the drugs he would have never stolen a candy bar. It seemed like no matter what the action and repercussion, he would put that drug first. It came in front of friendships and his relationship with his family. He stole from several of our mutual friends and I constantly heard crazy-Allen the addict stories. I did not consider myself an addict. I didn’t steal for it, I didn’t ruin friendships, I’m sure I kept the gossip mill busy, like him though, but I had an easy, steady supply of the drugs I was addicted to.

He forced us all away from him because of his behavior. We felt conflicted knowing that had he not tried drugs he would be the awesome guy that everyone liked. I’m sure he didn’t imagine he would ever become addicted. That’s never the goal. If you’ve faced addiction before, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t then you are taking the same position that we took right before we became addicted.  Of course, I’m sure you are in no danger. The difference was that were doing drugs then justifying it with denial, because prior to being addicted you could never image that life of constant dependence on a chemical. It often happens quickly because of the snowball effect that accompanies the feelings of sudden worthlessness. I believe Allen went through that as well.

I remember coming back for three weeks in the Army to do a Hometown recruiting Program before I became addicted to Xanax. When I left, Allen wasn’t addicted either, but in 90 days when I got back, I was shocked to see how he had changed. He lost his laid-back personality and charisma that caused everyone to like him. Allen was something else now. It was like a body-snatcher got him. I didn’t see the day to day contrast, but he was addicted heavily very fast.  I will never forget how he told me his back was starting to hurt and he needed forty dollars and got upset when I didn’t have it. I knew that he was off then.

A couple of years later, I got out of the Army for good and Allen hadn’t even gotten his driver’s license yet. He still doesn’t and he is 33 years old. He won’t have the opportunity for another three and a half years. He is finishing up a 12 year sentence for a drug related incident. I get letters from him and it breaks my heart that he is going through the torture that he is.

I only recently started wondering what made him so different. I always thought he just turned into a scumbag because he didn’t care about anything but OxyContin and movies…until he pawned his DVD player and cable was out of the question. For the price of a month of the premium package he could get an 80 mg pill and be high for five hours. I didn’t understand that kind of an addiction. He and I had different severities of addictions because, again the supply, and the price. time, until I got hooked on oxycodone in 2011 after trying it once. I couldn’t think about anything else the next day until I crushed one up (one means three, by the way) sniffed it off the bathroom sink. But, I watched him do them with other friends of ours and they didn’t steal from each other and get sick from doing it every day. Those things were so expensive, that my other friends that did them, did them about twice a month and eventually just quit spending the money. Money meant nothing to Allen in the presence of an oxy. He would pay whatever the dealer wanted. That’s why they became so expensive. I knew a hundred other people just like Allen in the town we lived in.

And just like Allen, the part of their brain located in their frontal lobe had no problem differentiating the euphoria of dopamine made in a lab, from the depleted neurotransmitter that used to be made in his head and associating that pill with the feeling. Seeing how many people that do become addicted to strong opiates after several days of abuse, compared to the individuals who do not, I could almost argue that it’s not a disease. That’s normal. However, I am familiar with the numbers polled by NIDA*, ASAM* and the like. The vast majority do not become addicted when they experiment with the same thing that had him at hello.

I have no excuse. His addiction is what kept me from using opiates myself for all of those years. I thought benzos (Xanax) were nothing compared to opiates, like oxys, dilaudide, morphine, heroin, fentynal and opnana. They may not be as instantly addicting for some of us, but when I was so high all of the time from abusing both, I didn’t stand a chance. I think opiates kept me at bay by the preventive prices for all those years, but when I discovered Tampa, FL and it’s plethora of Pill Mills, prior to House bill 7095 which stopped doctors from writing so many with a dozen or so sanctions, and prevented patients from “doc shopping”, making appointments with multiple crooked doctors, by instituting a database and policies on its mandatory use, Florida’s free-for-all ended overnight in November of 2011. I saw it on the news from the Hillsborough County Jail, in Tampa. I finally ran out of benzos, and I understood the desperation that Allen had been living with.

I didn’t know it then, but your panic switch is on permanent because the part of your brain that keeps us alive in dangerous situation is activated, and though you don’t consciously think so, your grey matter in charge of survival thinks you are going to die. In fact, random neurons are firing at a rate that often causes seizures and actually can lead to death. It causes painful tension that leads to insanity within a few days. The worst part is that when the “acute withdrawal is over, your brain may not return to its pre-addicted condition for many years. This is called post-acute withdrawal syndrome and it’s indescribable, because of the duration and the level of intensity, even though the brain has started healing and producing the neurotransmitters that it ceased to create when it was receiving either GABA or dopamine, without getting too technical, for benzos and opiates respectively.

The thing about addiction is that nobody expects it. I didn’t. I’ve often heard people explain that they don’t  get addicted, no matter, if the use occasionally, which is actually likely, but if someone has to explain that , then the chances are that they are saying that for their own benefit to justify abusing the drug, which is a common indication of denial of the disease.

National Institute on Drug Abuse

www.nida.org

NIDA is a huge Federal Agency that is responsible for research, funding, treatments, drug policy consukting

and anything relating to the relationship between drugs and everything affected by drugs. This is the Agency

that should have jurisdiction over drug policy reform in the US, I believe. 

NIDA was partly responsible for the recent teduction in severity scheduling reduction of marijuana from it's

ridiculously high Federal status of Schedule 1, which meant that the Federal government regarded pot

as having the highest potential for addiction and no medicinal purposes.

NIDA was the first agency to solve drug related problems with science. It was established in 1955 and has

significantly improved the level of drug recovery quality in America since it's inception.

American Society of Addiction Medicine

www.asam.org

These are two of several giant researchers of drugs through scientific method. ASAM predates NIDA and it was 
previoujsly a NY Physicians Association focusing on .Addiction. They added the AM Addiction Medicine in the 
seventies when most of there funding was from another giant that is ultimately subservient to NIDA. They started recieving funds then directly from NIDA to research and develop medical treatments. This organization advocates for the treatment of addiction medically and educates physicians and certifies then to be able to administer addiction medicine programs.

The website I am working on, is https://addictX.org. For some reason it is in groundhog's day mode. Everyday, I add content and come back and it's disappeared. I am going to switch back to an easier to use CRM until I figure out the problem. Check it out. I'm on Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram and rarely twitter, but I have to crank it up a notch. I am going to be depending on my community and online supporters to implement the Focused Life Program in a transitional housing environment in Octtober. If you would like to help. Please, join me and be a part of Focused Life. I know this program will succeed. But, the more people who care and can help the better. Thank you. And, please, be the first to leave a comment on this blog.

How bad will it get before we see a change?

How can people be programmed like a machine? 
It's been a ten days since we saw Baltimore break out in what I would say is "minor rioting". I'm not here to debate the level of damage or violence and I know that a riot like that hasn't happened in quite some time. Many of our members of society were glued to the tube, hanging on every word Nancy Grace, Barrack Obama and Bill O'Reilly said.  That's where the problem lies. We as a nation are too conditioned by "social proof". If something new our unusual happens we often look to others when decided how to properly react. In this case, those others were the talking heads on TV. Its human nature to do this and its part of how we develop our belief systems over time, especially when we are developing them. Most of us will subscribe to the dominant theory, keep our head down, never question it, not because we are sheep or anything like that, but because we are so frickin distracted. 

We all have several roles we play in life. And, we literally 'play' those roles. We act different around different people, in different environments. We can usually sense when a trend is shifting that directly concerns peer appraisal of an aspect of one of our roles. It's a lot harder to notice the beginning of a revolution that will demolish Versailles and the beheaders meet the guillotine. I hope you follow that I wish no ill will towards those who are the oppressors in our society, and if I could’ve saved Marie Antoinette, I wo……...

I do wish that we could start to acknowledge it. I was even a little disappointed with the way things turned out in Baltimore. I didn't want to see any violence or vandalism, but we missed an opportunity to show the leaders what the American people are capable of. We can peaceably assemble and do it at the capitol, with a mob.  

We sit, governed by an entity that is not holding up its part of the bargain, and the reasons why are beyond the scope of this post and even the scope of this blog. We are programmed to be incapable of showing our bought and paid for leadership and the institutions that suck up tax payer's scarce resources simply to maintain their place in the establishment. I know that it will continue to get worse and worse and more of our constitutional rights will be interpreted away based on party affiliations and lobbying corporate interests.

It’s not okay for me to spew negativity. I am passionate about the spin on injustice that we are suckered into buying, or have no choice in this free nation. I apologize for the attitude of this post, but I continue to be disturbed by these games that satisfy the masses. Had there been no riots, there would have been no indictments passed down to those trained killers, and bullies who’ve lived with impunity in a different world be having brunch right now.

"Often your thoughts are not your own."

We give enforcing entities a little power as civil servants or agencies and it's not enough. We pay for their salaries and it's not enough, they take valuable seizures to earn more, they make decisions based on personal agendas that have ended or are postponing the freedom of one in every 100 adult, American men's lives: 1 in 9 African-American lives*. It's not okay. Now, that money is a prime aspect and the hundreds of thousands of Americans that get rich off of the suffering of the millions of socially inferior or less fortunate (by way of birth, environment or genetics), complicate things even further and have caused a divide in our cities, families and especially in Washington. Take a closer look. We pledge allegiance to a political party and not to our country. We have a nation that we could be proud of still, but I see it getting worse. Of course, it will get worse before it gets better, if we don’t allow the scale in hands of “blind justice” to tip beyond a point of return.

I am done spouting and I’ll get to the real point I’d like to make. This is the reason that half of the readers are shaking their heads. Posts like this one can quickly ruin ones credibility, but at the risk of doing just that I will tell you only the truth. If you don’t subscribe to my point of view, I believe you just haven’t had the time to examine the nature of our system of order and justice.

The Bible says, “The love of Money is the root of all evil.”  However, more often you can hear it correctly misconstrued when stated.

If money isn’t the root of evil, it sure as hell is the root of distraction. Most of us are forced to spend most of our time chasing, thinking about, or working for it. I want to challenge my readers to think of the reasons this is. I’m not claiming a conspiracy. I simply believe that when you view money for what it really is that your very attitude towards it will put it in the back seat to what is important.

In my experience, the more I see it as the illusion of fractal and centralized banking the easier it is for me to create it in my life. Money is the biggest, but it’s only one distraction. Distractions come from every direction, even within our own minds. You have an often untamed babbling of nonsense that springs forth from, God knows where. I believe we all have this baseless “voice” that never shuts up. And, you shouldn’t want it to. It is to be mastered; the first thing on your path to lasting change. Even though, it is ongoing and the only off buttons, have a small side effect of unconsciousness. Since there isn’t an off switch, find the volume knob. This is a powerful step. The way to figuratively “turn down” this scripting is through an understanding of how the radio works. There is a popular consensus of where the station comes from, but a shift in your perception doesn’t literally turn it down, it empowers one to choose how sensitive one is to this Kim Kardashian in your head. Why would you listen to something that limits your fulfillment? The consensus I spoke of, belongs to more than the self-help gurus, it belongs to all men who conquer self. It comes from conditioning, programing, brainwashing, you pick the name, but the primary sources are clear

I want to challenge every reader to put any bias and ego aside and use your concentrated perception, not on Ms. Grace's words, but the very valid emotions and assessments that come from a logical mind when it is clear of all programming. I hate to think that I am a puppet, and that's how I felt when I realized that my own thoughts were not my own. Your thoughts are not your own. You are subject to conditioning just like anyone else. The mainstream media is not the best place to get your fix of current events. Unless, of course, you want your news poisoned with programming that we often adoringly call "spin". Spin is deceit and that's a fact; no spin. 

Are you good at your job? How about if you have 20 years’ experience?  How good would you be? What if your job was to play Chess and you studied and learned from mentors early on, mentoring others later and had a couple of hundred years of Chess industry information to draw on? You'd be pretty damn good right? Now, imagine you are teaching new Chess students to play, but you’re super powerful Chess boss creates an environment where you and all of the best Chess players compete, not on the board, but against one another for a coveted position of prestige. The only catch is; these noob Chess players aren't to be taught how to play effectively, they are only to be distracted with learning how to move a couple of pawns. If you can effectively get them to believe they are getting really good, and their Chess style is better than a competing style, you get the coveted position of prestige. These students come to Chess class daily to hear your leftmost pawn movement theories, but you really know how to annihilate your opponent on the board. Power corrupts, and you'd like to keep your status and not fall from Grace, so to compensate for the deceit that you are filling these many student's lives with you shift your views. Of course, you can still destroy any other Chess player, but you convince yourself that the leftmost pawn theory is one of the most important beginning and middle game aspects. Hell, you even start to move your left pawn first when you play.

If a student notices that there is much more going on behind the row of pawns and is bold or dull enough to stand in front of the rest of the students and suggest that there may be more to it than this, he is invited to make clear his points. With your leftmost pawn, you start and as the others watch, laughing at his absurd notion, you go on to make a quick victim of him. Everyone, including yourself is reinforced in left-pawn theory, and rarely ever will anyone raise their hand to suggest otherwise again. Subgroups may for believing the bishop, or knight is key. But they are so distracted they don't realize that controlling the most squares, and the important squares could be a factor. During their days of lifelong right-pawn Chess students, they have many other distracting roles. When they turn the TV off in the morning after recharging their conditioning of pawn theory, they must go off and pay even closer attention to their tainted Monopoly class, maintaining the ability to watch your Chess class on a 65 inch curved smart TV, with instant playback, and pointless features. Not everyone buys into your theory of pawn power, but they identify with it while they are able to get better and better at Monopoly and trade that game for hotels. Some get caught up in pawn theory and all of the other distractions and trade Monopoly for Sorry or even worse: Candy Land, the most distracting game of all.

The code must be entered consistently as the person develops. Some things we believe are ridiculous. We would still believe in Santa if everyone else did and there was no one to tell us when we are 7 that he is only a myth.

Overcoming Urges

One of the hardest thing about making a New Year’s Resolution is keeping your commitment during urges, especially early on. It’s always smart to use the common sense tactics to be aggressive with your offense against your bad habit. It’ highly likely that anyone reading this has already lapsed back into your habit, that you’ve made the commitment to quit. The most common resolution made, or a very common one, at least is the main resolution I made with millions of others in Americans: to quit smoking. It’s easier said than done. In fact, most people who successfully quit smoking, research studies¹ suggest, attempt it over 20 times unsuccessfully. The fact is, if you’ve lapsed back into the habit, you are already closer to your goal than you normally would be, if you pick your commitment up now.

Some of the common sense methods that I mentioned above are the following:

·         Avoid areas that you’re about to identify as high risk zones.

·         Avoid (temporarily, at least, if even possible) the presence of friend and family who are likely to take part in the habit your trying to beat. It’s sucks but it’s an important part of successfully defeating any habit.*

·         Make sure that you’ve gotten rid of all items that you associate with taking part in your bad habit

·         If you’ve been successful until day 4, congratulations. You’ve done the hardest part with the most intense urges and cues to lapse. If not, four is any easy landmark to hit, so let’s focus on that, and at that time schedule something to lock you into your commitment and understand it for what it is, which is a symbol that you will be successful in your attempt to throw off whatever addiction makes you do the thing you don’t really want to. A great example for smoking is to have your teeth cleaned and whitened. Obviously, after that you’ve increased your chances of winning the fight. You’ve effectively tricked yourself to placing a higher importance on the need to overcome smoking. Since the fight is decided by, well, you, then as silly as it is, tricking yourself, or adding actual value to the beating of your decision. Whichever way you interpret it.

·         Another thing to punctuate a successful amount of time is to take on something healthy if it’s for your health, an added percent of a week’s income to boost your savings it you’re saving for something, or three days of doing your new activity for a longer time than normal. If your resolution is to quit smoking, try a 1-3 day juice fast or use a 21 or 30 day toxin cleanser. There is a special one for smokers who’ve quit at Vitamin World, and probably anywhere of that nature.

·         Do something to in the morning to prevent your habit all day. For instance, if yours is to work out, take your supplements before the warring factions of your mind start to argue about whether you should even go today. Or tell the “loser you”, that wants to just relax, that you’ll just drive to gym and then come back home. You’ll find that “winner you” will do the rest if you can just get your body to the gym.

·         Examine the things “loser you” is saying. This is the constant monologue that goes on in your head. LY can come up with some baseless excuses, that’s most of what this part of your mind does. It looks out to avoid immediate pain and seek instant pleasure, ONLY! YOU, though are in charge of you and choose whether or not to take LY’s advice.

These are things that we all know to do, but often it’s a good idea to see them laid out, as simple as they are. I notice with myself, even simple ideas coming from another source as input, can reinforce these ideas and bring them to the surface where I can more readily use them. Use whatever works for you.

There are also some techniques from the sharp psychological frameworks that I use when changing an area of my life. I’ll introduce the areas I usually consult for high power change and some that I am interested in becoming more familiar with.

·         NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) This is my favorite tool set for change in myself and even eliciting change in others. It is a psychological framework developed for influence over yourself and others, based on common human behavior. The idea is that we can study and implement behavior that will receive a certain response. It’s based on the programming the language of the mind. The way you stand, your posture and breathing all send feedback to your brain and can help you change your mood and every aspect of your life. I am a fairly new student of this metascience, but I have used the tools and techniques for effective results already. You can too. Soon, I will post an introduction to this great mindset. For more information on NLP visit http://www.nlpu.com/NewDesign/NLPU.html

A word of warning concerning NLP: There are a lot of people out there that have taken this 40 year old metascience and completely embedded wishful thinking into the processes. Here is an example of what I think does not work with the way our minds are programmed to understand communication. Try this "mind trick" out and let's hear if anyone has much success.

·         Processes and Tactics that are taught by self-help super-coaches, Stephen Covey (most famous for authoring “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”), Anthony Robbins, who has an amazing story and travels the world teaching his processes for change (He is probably most famous for his bestselling book “Awaken the Giant Within”, although he has an extensive volume of contributions that range from books and audio downloads/videos to research in the field of self-help and change.) I used to discount these types of “gurus”, because of the gimmicky industry that they are in. Anthony Robbins took some getting used to, but looking past his high energy and enthusiasm, he has programs for change. He has dozens of little individual exercises he encourages in his tapes, which can have a powerful effect. Tony Robbins - Official website of Tony Robbins www.tonyrobbins.com

Stephen Covey (10/24/32 – 7/16/2012) is an author that I have a reverence for that I’ve never had for someone I haven’t met. This man has authored several books and traveled speaking at seminars for the majority of his career. He is the founder of FranklinCovey, a business that makes business people better, using his original ideas and tools from his own research. If I could identify one factor that changed my life from addiction/suffering to a happy free life; it would have to be Stephen Covey’s work.

In my addiction I had to go to jail and while I was there, with nothing else to do, I picked up a John Grisham book, “A Painted House”, before that I hadn’t read any books, really. It took a while, but I changed and liked to read. I hated it before. After I read all the Grisham books from back then, and a few other fiction books, I decided that I should read books to learn something and better myself. I eventually worked my way to “The 7 Habits”, and though I couldn’t understand it all, I got so much from that book that I was moved to desire a change in my life, and now had some tools to use. I’ve read every word he’s written and the 7 habits 6 or 7 times. Each time I understand more, and it proves the point of the book. The 7^th habit (spoiler alert) is to “Sharpen the Saw”. Basically, this means to learn every day.  When you do, you grow and become more capable, competent and happy. Therefore, each time I read it I can take just as much away from it as the first time. I have to attribute the desire to change to Stephen Covey and the authors that teach real world ways to have what want and base your desires on principles that you value. For more info visit www.franklincovey.com

·         SMART Recovery® is a modern, science based recovery program for addicted individuals. It is similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, in that they have group meetings and fight the same foe. They are different in their core beliefs of what addiction is, how to effectively fight it, and even disagree on pillars of theory that each program is founded on. For instance, SMART Recovery, much less well known than AA and ¼ of the age, it tries to stay abreast of the latest scientific and medical research, using all available tools to attack addiction and defend against it. AA is strict in its traditions that are the constitution of AA and will not change until AA is no longer relevant. SMART doesn’t have 12-steps, they use a 4-point system; Maintain Motivation, Coping with Urges, managing thoughts feelings and emotions & living a balanced life. SMART does not maintain that an addict must hit “rock bottom” to begin to change, religion is outside of the scope of SMART, so a spiritual experience nor choosing a higher power is relevant nor necessary to recover from addiction. Instead of spirituality, they use science, and because of this many addicted individuals use both. You’ll notice the so far, that we have loosely stuck to these four points in the blog posts so far. There is more info about SMART Here.

·         The 12-Steps: since I mentioned them above, I should point out how truly powerful these steps can be and can be applied to any type of change. I know someone who quit smoking using the 12-steps. Find out more HERE.

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Albert Ellis

  Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy is a metascience that was developed by Dr. Albert Ellis, and has changed millions of lives. You can find out more about REBT HERE. I have a free e-book courtesy of the REBT Network, and you can download your free, no hassle copy HERE.

The basic premise of all of these schools of thought is that you can change anything in your life.  You are in the driver’s seat and no matter what obstacles are in the way of you and where you’d like to be, you run you, and making excuses only aids your enemy in controlling your behavior.

For Addiction to Drugs or Alcohol:

If you are trying to stop doing something like addictive drugs, as I’ve said before, that is outside of the scope of the New Year’s resolution strategies segment of this blog. However, I would love to help you find assistance which is imperative in changing a life controlling problem. You still have the power to change, but that power lies in your ability to be able to ask for help when you need it and being brutally honest with yourself. You can never have anything worth having in this life so long as you are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Since that is the main purpose of Focused Life, please, reach out and let us know about your problem and we’ll do all the heavy lifting in finding a place that will help you.

I hold no person in a higher regard than someone who defeats a drug or alcohol addiction. There is no shame in reaching out for help. It is the brave thing to do. It’s easy to stay in your current descending state of crisis, but it takes a noble soul to reach out and get assistance for the problem that is controlling your life. Addictions are very complex issues, and even though you may feel like you can beat it on your own if, you haven’t already, and then it’s highly unlikely that you will. Life is an experience; you can spend your entire existence letting something call the shots for you, or you can step up and get the help to kick this addictions ass. Call me on my cell phone. My name is Ryan and if you follow this link, you will find my number on the left-hand side of your screen. Even if you just need to talk, or want to learn more and aren’t ready to stop, call me. Morning, noon or night, call or text and we can figure out something that works for you.

Thanks for stopping in. Leave a comment and let us know how you are doing with your resolution. Tell us what’s working for you and what’s not. Tell or ask anything….

1. https://www.dropbox.com/s/6cummmymph4v50g/TobaccoFreeFL-Quit-Kit_5-FINAL.pdf?dl=0