When entering recovery we embark upon a journey with many new perspectives from different sources that can help us heal from a seemingly hopeless state of existence. Lots of options and information. However, as women we are often the main caretakers in our environments and have many roles we need to attend to. Our own
Kintsukuroi is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery through the use of a lacquer resin sprinkled with gold powder to mend the broken pieces back together. At some point in the 15th Century, the Japanese started to employ this technique. Collectors everywhere started to clamor after these repaired pieces because they were seen to
Matters of the heart are generally a big issue for people in recovery. Not only from the emotional aspect, as we learn to come to terms with our past, but also from a physical sense, having spent years abusing our bodies recklessly. So what mends a broken heart? Self-care is always the first port of
What does Valentine’s Day have to do with yoga and recovery? Love, admiration, and relationships that are discovered within ourselves and with one another at meetings and other sharing. But occasionally we draw in advertising, movies, and other social media and experience sadness, loneliness, and, maybe, self pity. Sometimes we crave and contemplate what we
Happy New Year! A changing of the calendar page, turning over a new leaf, the hope of a new beginning. There is hope but there is also the illusion of imagining that a future day could mean more than the embrace of the present in a new or more faithful fashion. I am a rebel.
I learn so much from people at meetings. A month or so ago we were talking about intentions, and a woman said she “found the results of her intentions in her crisper bin.” We all burst out laughing, because we all know that drawer in the fridge—the one with exotic vegetables: celery root, kale, mustard
The illusion of uncertainty masks the depravity of the fear I feel locked in the void of not knowing but not wanting to stop either Looking out at the endless rain and mucky landscape there is always something else to ponder aways a sense of not being there yet And not knowing where the
Last night I sat in a circle with 124 other women. The questions were asked. What are you done with? What are you ready to scrub off yourself? What have you processed and cooked and beat to death this year? What are you ready to throw on the compost pile. I stress the word compost
Good stress, bad stress – distress finds redress. The word stress comes up over and over again at this time of the year as the seasons change from Gratitude (Thanksgiving) to Shopping (Christmas.) We move from being grateful for all we have to the sales and promotion influences of needing more. This can cause pressure.
When we become abstinent from our drug or behavior of choice, a world of opportunity for healing the mind body and spirit opens up to us. Many of us find that the reality of our lives without our addiction to lean on is highly stressful. The nutritional needs are higher than average when we are
