Am I enabling or helping and what is the difference? This is a question I have been asked by clients many times. It is also a question I have asked myself. We can all think of fact patterns that we would consider enabling. However, sometimes the answer is not so clear. Sometimes the answer is,

The impact of addiction on a spouse or long-term committed partner is not the same for all addictions. For survivors of chronic infidelity or sex addiction, there are five major ways that sex addiction is different than other addictions, creating unique challenges to the betrayed partner and the repair of the couple’s relationship. 1. Sexual

Is four pm a kind of witching hour? Is there some sort of Ayurvedic twist of the clock, a Basal Metabolic shift, a change in the internal tides at that time? It seems my daily resolutions fall apart about then. I set intentions each day. Some are affirmations of long-term Sankalpa, others are directions I

This is a song I wrote on ukulele. Sofa Safari is a deceptively sweet song I wrote to an ex-boyfriend. The mood acts as a counterweight to a much earlier (and rawer) beat poem entitled “You, selfish You”, which was (you might guess) rich in resentment. This only goes to show what a great healer

Dr. Barbour was 40 years old with a high school education when she got sober. Without a plan in mind, she began taking classes part-time at a community college while holding various jobs. After earning a We’re going to be breaking new ground on this week’s SEX TALK. For the first time, the focus will

One byproduct of entering recovery is the multitude of gifts that sobriety can offer us.  Some of the perks are more obvious than others, such as improved health, relationships, overall satisfaction and contentment.  Although life steadily improves after active addiction, there is the stark reality of the state of the life you have just awoken

In my previous post, Partner of an Addict? Getting Your Unmet Needs Met, I discussed the fact that partners of addicts are often unhappy not only because of the addictive behavior itself, but because they are not getting their needs met. In Part I, I outlined the two steps needed to remedy this shortcoming: identifying

    If you attend 12-Step meetings you’re bound to hear a bunch of corny sayings like “Denial is not a river in Egypt.” You’ll either laugh or roll your eyes dismissively. Where you’re at with your recovery has a lot to do with how information gets filtered through the addict-mind, what your ears pick

    “Unhurt, unstruck, or unbeaten” – these are translations of the sanskrit word for the heart chakra. If only our hearts were so pure, so unscathed by life and time as to be called “anahata”. Unfortunately, at least for me, that has not been the case. All types of love: brotherly love, love of

I have been holding Santosha (contentment) retreats for four years. This year is my fifth. Each of the topics is designed to investigate and address something that harms our contentment; preventing us of enjoying peace. This year I am presenting aspect of letting go. What is so difficult about letting go? Why do we hold