Recovery (Sort Of) - The Podcast

We are talking about the spiritual principle of gratitude. We look into trying to find a solid definition we can agree on. Then we talk about what gratitude might look like in your life, or feel like. We give a list of ways to practice gratitude, and also list some of the benefits of increasing your gratitude. Listen in and then share your thoughts with us. Episodes mentioned: ⁠ Spiritual bypassin...

We are going through listener feedback, comments, and the like. Listener feedback on episodes provides a great opportunity for a little closer look at the topics recently covered. Billy and Jason also share a little about where their lives are at and what they've been up to. Listen in, participate, comment, and share your thoughts with us. Episodes mentioned: MARA TranqDope Caffeine Marijuana Anon...

We are exploring the program of Sexaholics Anonymous. Rick joins us to talk about how the program works, how it differs from more traditional recovery programs, and what you can expect when going to a meeting or working the program. We talk about the differences that we know between the different sex addiction programs. We talk about concerns and questions we have with the program. We explore why...

We have on Caroline Beidler, MSW and author of the book, Downstairs Church , to help us explore the world of recovery from a female perspective. We talk about the lack of housing options for women in recovery, the lack of access to treatment, lack of childcare supports at every step of the recovery process, and what we might be able to do right now to ease some of these struggles. Listen in as Car...

We are exploring the difficult topic of what it's like to be a survivor of suicide loss. We have Austin on to help us explore the challenges of navigating life after losing someone you love to suicide. We talk about the grief, the ways recovery helped, other things that have helped, and ways to try to assist when we see someone struggling. Listen in as we explore this tough topic.  How to fin...

We are talking about the spiritual principle of humility. What does it mean to be humble? It sounds similar to humiliation, but it's very different. We try to define humility. We talk about thinking of ourselves less instead of thinking less of ourselves. How can we increase our humility? Is there a way to practice it? Then we make Billy take a quiz on humility. Listen in and then share your thoug...

Have you taken antidepressants? How much did your prescriber tell you about them, their side effects, and their withdrawal? We have on Brooke Siem, author of May Cause Side Effects , to help inform us and our listeners about the potential risks of antidepressants, and what prescribers either do not know, or are not telling people. We talk about the length of time to potentially be on antidepressan...

Caffeine, by definition, is a mind and mood altering substance. However, along with it's partner in crime nicotine, flies under the radar in 12 step fellowships that abstain from all other mind and mood altering chemicals. What makes caffeine acceptable to ingest? We talk about caffeine, reasons why it is not treated the same way as other drugs, and some of the possible benefits and drawbacks of c...

We are exploring the spiritual principle of tolerance. What does it mean to be tolerant of something? Is it purely to be able to put up with it? Or is tolerance being open to it? Is there such a thing as too much tolerance? Billy, Caraline, Jason and Jenny try to figure out just what tolerance, or to tolerate, is, and also how to practice this spiritual principle.  How to find us and join the...

We are talking with a member of Marijuana Anonymous (MA) to find out more about the program. Do they work similar steps to the more familiar programs of NA and AA? What kind of requirements do they have for membership. Do they call it clean time? What is different from a more typical 12 step meeting? Also, listen in to learn about the free literature in Marijuana Anonymous, the app that you can an...

We are doing a recap episode! Instead of doing our recap here and there as we were, we are going to try to have recap episodes every so often to talk about the feedback and add everyone's voice to the show. We talk through lots of messages that were sent our way, some of our plans for 2023, and some of the highlights of accomplishments from 2022. We also introduce our Audible sponsorship thing whe...

We are exploring MARA, Medication-Assisted Recovery Anonymous. This program, created to address the need of a place for persons using medication assisted recovery methods, is intended to provide a space for all to feel welcomed in recovery. We have Murk on to help us understand what to expect from MARA, how to access their meetings, what might surprise us coming from a more traditional 12 step fel...

We are talking about the concept of beginner's mind. Dave joins us to teach the Buddhist idea of beginner's mind. Does beginner's mind mean to not know? Does it mean to come to a situation as if you have never seen it before? What is beginner's mind useful for? Why is it good for your loved ones if you practice beginner's mind? We also talk about what is NOT beginner's mind. And when beginner's mi...

We are talking about Certified Peer Recovery Specialists. Or certified peers. Or peers. Or certified recovery peers. Whatever you want to call them, peers are making an impact in the recovery world. We talk with Jenn, from Voices of Hope, about the peer movement. We explore what a peer is, what training goes into becoming a peer, what the peer job entails, and what peers should not be doing in the...

TranqDope, aka xylanzine and fentanyl, is becoming more and more prevalent in the Baltimore/Philadelphia area. Xylazine in a tranquilizer, hence the tranqdope term. This is a dangerous mixture to anyone who does not know what they are getting, because narcan does not work on a tranquilizer overdose. Further making this terrible for anyone struggling with using, is the wounds that sometimes appear...

Unconditional love. Seems like a lofty goal. We investigate and explore unconditional love as a spiritual principle. How can we practice this? Where is a model of unconditional love in the world? Is unconditional love the deepest love, or the most basic love? Is unconditional love, abuse? Is love more about the feeling, or the actions that go with it? How can we practice unconditional love when we...

We are talking about the promises from AA's big book and program. Originally a reading in the 9th step section of the Big Book, the promises have been made into a reading in AA, and separated out into 12 promises. We go through each promise to see if we believe that it's a promise we feel like the 12 steps could live up to fulfilling. Are these even possible ways of being in the world? And if they...

With many states enacting medical marijuana laws at this point, and most of those also having recreational marijuana laws, we thought it was time to explore the legalizing marijuana debate. We explore some of the topics around the idea of marijuana legalization. Some of the research has conflicting results, but we talk through some of the basic points. Listen in and then tell us your thoughts.&nbs...

Ever thought your life would make for a good book? We have Bruce come on to discuss the book written about his life. We explore what motivates someone to think a book would be useful? What intention goes into a process like this? If a book about your life is against the 11th tradition. Going public with your story of addiction recovery. And anything that might be fascinating about the book writing...

Is faith really a spiritual principle? What is it? A belief in something? What does this belief do for us? How in the world would you practice faith? Faith is defined in many ways. Some level of belief applied to a situation that you may not be able to know for sure. We discuss the spiritual principle of faith. Is faith so closely tied to Christianity that it makes our non-religious 12 step progra...

Is you or someone you love struggling with getting into a detox or rehab for alcohol use? Have you felt like you've been getting the run around? Does it seem like people who are entering treatment for other substances have an easier time getting in? Not to go too conspiracy theory on you, but we have Charlie on to talk about the problems people face when trying to gain access to treatment for alco...

Ever heard of mommy and me housing? Or a mommy and me program? What comes to mind when you think of a service like that? Do you think of people that you've known who were in mommy and me housing? Is it safe to have kids with their newly recovering mothers? What supports are present to help the new moms in recovery? We talk with Sarah Jo about her time in the mommy and me house and what to expect i...

What do you do when meetings stop working? Conventional 12 step wisdom says it's not the meetings that are the problem, it's the individual, who isn't doing enough, trying enough, or looking at it the right way. And if you don't hit meetings, you'll use and die. But we explore the options in case that's not true. What do you do when meetings stop hitting the spot? What need was it that meetings us...

We explore the spiritual principle of self-discipline. Is self-discipline different than self-control? Are both of these also different than willpower? What actually is self-discipline? How does it work? Do we train ourselves to get better at sticking to a plan? Do we actively find ways to calm our nervous system over time so that we are more capable of sticking to a set routine or schedule? Can y...

Do you have boundaries? In today's episode we explore the world of personal boundaries. We talk about why personal boundaries are important to your life. We look at signs that might show up in your life if you are needing to set some boundaries. We explain some of what we understand about why we suffer from struggling to set boundaries, as it's related to our childhoods. We explore the myths about...