Pain. It’s a part of life. It’s what C.S. Lewis called “God’s unwanted gift.” We’ve all been there. Everyone I know has experienced their fair share of pain. The key is how we respond to our pain. Dr. Robert Puff, host of the Happiness Podcast, suggests three steps to processing our pain. It is important…
My good friend, Dr. Roger Patterson, pastor of Houston’s West University Baptist Church, recently preached an amazing sermon on marriage. Roger addressed the subject of selfishness. He said selfishness manifests itself in marriage in four ways: Few things are more damaging to a marriage than selfishness. And that’s a problem for addicts because selfishness drives…
A writer named David Redding wrote about growing up on a farm in Scotland. As a young boy, he was given a beautiful black puppy he named Teddy. Redding and Teddy were inseparable. When Redding had to go off to war, he was unable to return to his farm for more than two years. But…
Juneteenth is a celebration that began on June 19, 1865. Union general Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, to announce the end of slavery. His message was met with shock and celebration. What the people didn’t realize was that slavery had been legally banned two and a half years earlier, on January 1, 1863. The…
Recovery is a journey with no end, yet some people begin to feel that they are cured and don’t have to worry about triggers anymore. It is important to develop a healthy level of self-confidence, but humility is necessary, too. If someone forgets that addiction is a chronic condition, they may be tempted to have…
“Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.” – Step 8 “Every A.A. has found that he can make little headway until he first makes an accurate and unsparing survey of the human wreckage he has left in his wake.” – Twelve Steps and Twelve…
All successful recovery includes two words – hard work. Sorry, I wish it wasn’t so. I wish there was a softer, easier way, but there’s not. To stay sober, you need to master things like surrender, going to meetings, and working the Steps. But you also need this: Hard work. Derek Jeter said, “There may…
No one ever had a more successful career as a singer and entertainer than Elvis Presley. In what may be his most memorable song, he gave a really good example of how a man should express his love for his wife. “Love me tender, love me sweet, Never let me go. You have made my…
German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) is credited for inventing the learning curve. He was also the first psychologist to conduct extensive work on memory studies. Among his findings: we need to hear something five times in order to remember it. Another study found that the average high school student forgets 95 percent of what he…
An analogy that is often used to describe the process of rebuilding trust is that of the empty bucket. We say to the addict, “The reason your wife doesn’t trust you is that your bucket is empty. You need to refill your bucket.” We refill the bucket by going to meetings, doing therapy, and remaining…