A2D - From Addict to Disciple

Today's episode is a group session with our guys in recovery. The question they respond to is "Think about the following quote and tell me what you would say to someone caught in this cycle." Here's the anonymous quote "When you can stop, you don't want to. And when you want to stop, you can't. That's addiction."

Were you raised by a Critical Parent? Today's episode looks at signs of the wounds of childhood criticism that we carry into our adult life. We look at how these wounds have affected our self image, our relationships and our socialization. I utilize the 16 signs as outlined by Dr. Seth J. Gillihan from this article on Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/think-act-be/202212/16...

In this group session episode of guys in recovery share their thoughts on being tempted by the idea of something to take the edge off their feelings of guilt. The truth is we can either get bitter or better! Do you have a support community to turn to when you feel guilty? Do you have repressed guilt because you've never found the person to talk to who made you feel safe enough to share? If this is...

This is another group session and one member of our group brought the topic for discussion. Charlie suggests that social media can be a place that fuels the emotions that cause people to hurt and want to numb. Listen as the guys in our group discuss whether or not social media can lead to relapse and if it is the new drug, the new mind altering experience!

In this episode we look at what it means to be a peacemaker. Then we discuss how to be a peacemaker with ourselves. With our past, with our present and with our future. What fears are you still holding onto that keep you from being a peacemaker? Also nite the new Q&A option on Spotify to send your feedback.

This episode is another group session. Our guys in recovery give their responses to the statement "Addiction is the only prison where the locks are on the inside!" They focus on finding the keys to open the door to recovery, healing, faith and hope. Can you see as they did that the longer you keep secrets hidden inside, the longer you stay in isolation, you are basically trapping yourself in a sel...

Today's episode is a group session where it guys in recovery respond to the statement "You never recover until you know what you're recovering from!" The guys share their ideas around admitting you have a problem, seeking help, the triggers of the ghosts from our past, having the right tools for a sustainable recovery and finding the deeper root causes of your addiction.

That's the question! Did you dance today? Using quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche we view four reasons why we should be dancing in recovery, in our situation or circumstances. Whether or not people think we are crazy or insane for dancing, it's important to dance everyday. As Nietzsche said "We should consider everyday lost in which we have not dance at least once!"

If I chose a subtitle for this episode it would be Stayin' Alive. Today we look at recognizing the death and destruction of addiction and choosing life. Then we build a plan for removing those things from our past which would impede our new life and to work closely with a coach, mentor, sponsor to see clearly those things we need as a foundation as we rebuild and seek to restore our original plan...

Today's episode is about rage. You know when we look like a snapping turtle out of water ready to attack anyone who comes near us or gets in our way. Using the LIFEMORTS mnemonic by R. Douglas Fields, an American senior researcher at the National Institutes of Health, we look at the nine triggers to rage which may have people always telling us "you need to take an anger management course bro!" Lis...

This episode is another group meeting with our guys in recovery from the US, South Africa and Australia. Today's topic is about how we have changed in recovery. We are not the same man we were in addiction. The guys look at three quotes about change. One deals with people thinking it's easy to be in recovery. The second talks about finding strength in the depth of a winter season in life. And the...

This episode is about making amends to our spouse, partner, grown children and possibly our parents. You may want to listen to episode #41 which deals with making amends to a variety of people that we have harmed in our addiction. Here we are dealing with accepting the reality that in some cases "That Ship Has Sailed" and we are never going to fully reconcile with certain loved ones. In this tough...

In this episode we look at the link between the character development stage of recovery and the development of our identity. Too often addicts stay stuck in a lifeless form of recovery because they feel their addiction and behavior in addiction defines their identity. We look at questions like: who are you? Who do you want to be? What are the doubts stuck in your head? How do rewrite your story? A...

In this episode or group of guys in recovery share there reactions to the lyrics of the Jim Croce song "One Less Set of Footsteps." Specifically, the line "But tomorrow's a dream away and today had turned to dust" is our focus for discussion. How can we reach the point where we're ready to dip down into that pile of dust and paint the shining star of our future in the sky?

In this group episode our six guys in recovery from the US, South Africa and Australia share their hearts about the things from their past that they have or still need to overcome. We all have that same stuff that keeps popping up unexpectedly. They show up out of nowhere or they can haunt us like ghosts or broken records. The key is we need to focus on processing them and finding life. Using the...

This episode looks at our decision making process. Salad Days refers to the times of our youth when we were carefree and innocent. We dug into how make decisions now that bring negative consequences and how we can make good decisions going forward.

Today's episode is another group meeting where our guys in recovery answer these three questions: 1) When the music stops that's when they pain begins? 2) When the music stops and your game is gone who will remember you? 3) What happens to the party when the music stops? They share great insight as to how they have handled recovery as the music of their addiction and addictive lifestyle stopped.

In today's group session our guys in recovery from South Africa, Australia and the US respond to these two quotes: 1) The beauty was once I lied to myself and believed the lie, I could lie to anyone with whatever unique emotion they needed to believe me and to do whatever I wanted. 2) My lies were the perfect escape! They allowed me to escape punishment, escape consequences, escape shame, escape g...

Do you find yourself holding on to fear and pain? Are you stuck feeling like a victim of injustice? What do you do to find pleasure when you can't find joy in your daily life? Have you turned to isolation as your only way to feel safe in self preservation? Well the answer lies in friendship!! Join us on this journey with Thomas Aquinas to leave fear, pain and loneliness in your rear view mirror.

This episode is an interview with Danny Cosby. He talks about his work in prisons and in church as he shares about addiction and recovery. And for Danny it's all about heart!! If you want more of Danny just search on Danny Cosby Ministries and Danny Cosby Music.

In this episode we look at the difficulty of having a loved one, spouse or partner as our accountability partner. The addict in recovery feels like they're constantly walking on eggshells at home. What is safe to say? How do they talk about cravings? Where do they turn when their spouse makes them feel like they're always messing up? Listen as we outline what's needed in an accountability partner...

Today's episode is another group session. How do you respond to this anonymous quote? "Sometimes you have to make  a decision that will break your heart, but will give peace to your soul." Listen as our six guys in recovery talk about having to break relationship with friends, family members and their old self in order to safeguard their recovery and bring peace to their soul.

Today's episode is in response to feedback from episode #119 on futility. We look at ways that we have been self sabotaging any thoughts of changing or succeeding. Things like self harm, self undermining, self doubt and self dislike. We then outline five changes we can make to break this cycle of self sabotage including self awareness and self transparency. Goldie Hawn said "The only thing that wi...

Do you find you're living a life with little or no purpose? Maybe you feel that whatever you try always results in little or no success. You could be caught up in futility. Feeling like all you are ever doing is dusting and, as soon as you dust things off, your life is instantly dust again? It's never too late to be who you want to be! Be encouraged by this message to find the strength to start ov...

How can you focus on simplicity? What does that look like? What things that you are now focusing on tend to overwhelm you and steal your peace? Do you find yourself wanting to solve the complex or complicated things and ignoring the simple things that are right in front of you? It's time to begin the simple steps of simplicity in recovery.