Now is great time to focus on love (Valentine’s Day and all), and we notice that when we do, we feel more grounded and just happy in general. Smack-dab in the middle of winter, the cold, gray days occasionally have a numbing effect on our New Year’s fervor, but we encourage you to brew a warm cup of tea and notice the beauty of winter, along with the motivation behind your goals and resolutions. Focus on the little victories and joys along the way, and then share this joy during quality time with family and friends. You might call it our Valentine’s recipe for a good life.
Starting off our issue, as always, is Dr. Tian Dayton. She continues to elaborate on the many issues an adult child of an alcoholic (ACOA) may face as a result of growing up in an alcoholic home; in this case, trauma syndrome. With clarity and personal insight, Dr. Dayton explains the process through which ACOAs develop trauma and how it can haunt them well into their adult years, providing us with a richer and more compassionate understanding of the experience of these walking wounded.
Jasmin Rogg lends a literary flair to this issue with her touching and insightful poem, The ism or Geriatric Children. Here, she relays different stories of addiction in deeply intimate and beautifully heartbreaking fashion, allowing a direct lens into the mind and heart struggles of using and trying to get and stay clean.
Frequent contributor, Stephen Grinstead, gives us private access into his personal experience with chronic pain, and the passion it ignited in his home and work life. His story reminds us that the most important part to heal in any addiction is our thoughts and beliefs around our situation.
Dr. Lisa Firestone takes on that hurtful and often self-defeating critical inner voice with the concept of Voice Therapy. A step-by-step technique to identify and effectively counteract the negative effects of that critical inner voice, Voice Therapy provides a useful tool to add to the successful recovery toolbox.
The speciality of that critical inner voice is mongering fear, a subject with which Marcia Ullett is all too familiar. Fortunately, she learned to understand and overcome her fears by discovering an entirely new way to look at and relate with them. It’s an important life lesson for anyone – with or without addictions.
Herb Kaighan waxes eloquent on the subjects of love, yearning and fulfilment. It’s equal parts inspiration and meditation – an existential cool drink of water that soothes and refreshes.
When relapse is considered by many to be inevitable, discouragement quickly follows for anyone facing a life without using. Fortunately, Dr. Kristina Diener provides us with 10 tips to increase the odds for a successful recovery, including an important reminder to be patient and have compassion along the way.
While this issue is widely varied in its content, the common thread of hope and renewal is undeniably woven throughout. Hope, renewal, love and joy … we’d say this winter is turning out to be very beautiful indeed.
Success and blessings to all,
Jim and Josie
