Absolutely true! I dont knwo why…but it does engage the brain differently
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from “Recovery Dharma: How to Use Buddhist Practices and Principles to Heal the Suffering of Addiction” by Recovery Dharma -
“This is a book about using Buddhist practices and principles to recover from addiction, but you don’t need to become a Buddhist to benefit from this program. One of the most revolutionary things the Buddha taught was that the mind is not only the source of great suffering—due to craving, greed, anger, and confusion—but the cure for that suffering as well. So what we’re doing is using an ancient, proven way to literally change our minds. And we’re choosing to trust in our own potential for wisdom and compassion for others and ourselves”
Time for a new book to read. Instead of reading something new, i decided to revisit the RD book…
The thing that i love most is the part about trusting ourselves and our own potential. A view point i need to have reinforced when I happened upon this path.
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This is something I’m working on hardly rn. To trust in my potential.
I kept on reading Buddhist sources from time to time, even this did help me in many ways.
It’s not my main way tho but helpful 
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I will never be a Buddhist, i admire their teachings. What attracted me to this as a recovery program was that which I quoted above. In some aspects the opposite of my prior recovery program.
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from “Recovery Dharma: How to Use Buddhist Practices and Principles to Heal the Suffering of Addiction” by Recovery Dharma -
“Ours is a program that asks us to never stop growing. It asks us to own our choices and be responsible for our own healing. It’s based on kindness, generosity, forgiveness, and deep compassion. We do not rely on tools of shame and fear as motivation. We know these haven’t worked in our own individual pasts, and have often created more struggle and suffering through relapse and discouragement. The courage it takes to recover from addiction is ultimately courage of the heart, and we aim to support each other as we commit to this brave work.”
I have read this so many times, and a main reason i like re-reading this book. This quote is what made finally decide to start this path. However, I some times still grab for shame and fear out of my toolkit. Whether its to help me or someone else. I never liked those “tools” being in my tool box. For some reason, they end up back in there from time to time.
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I hear you. Whenever things go not so well my mind keeps coming up with ‘great thoughts’ of shame, guilt, self-pity, despair, you name it. I think this is a habit like every other one. And I can feed that habit, or not.
The more often I realize that these thoughts come up, and the more often I just let them be and don’t try to get rid of them, the easier it gets to not get sucked into the drama and into thinking of them as tools.
Does not mean I don’t get fooled by them on a regular basis. I just don’t believe them any more.
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Very good stuff here. Fear and shame are baked into into our culture in the US. And I’m sure many other countries as well. So I think it naturally creeps into recovery programs. Fear that your punishment for doing a program wrong, or the wrong program is death.
Fear-based thinking and behavior . It’s reptilian, primal and really impossible to measure or define. How afraid should you be? Extremely. Always. Negative, always. Survival. Sure it keeps people in line, a short cut to simply acquiesce, because who knows how bad it can get! How do you know if a threat is legitimate, and if so, how legitimate? Would being terrified be more effective than slightly worried? If you’ll die, yes.
Who’s gonna play those odds, ya know? I sure didn’t, for a long time. But I could not get on board, completely. I couldn’t get any lower, how could more shame help. I was so afraid I couldn’t speak in meetings, would adding the fear of dying in a relapse because I screwed up step 5 help me? I just found it extremely damaging to my self esteem and needed a way to be more confident. That I actually did have some value, and the ability to be stronger. Shame walks through my past were awful too. Is abuse I experienced a character defect? Just did not help me at all and did me harm.
I’m just so happy there are so many options, and I really like what I have seen here so far 
. Sorry this is so long. 
. Hugs to everyone and thank you. I have some Pema books somewhere. When Things Fall Apart. I haven’t read it in a decade but it’s ready for a fresh look.
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Welcome! I love your input.
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Thanks! Happy to be here . I’m searching and I really like this thread.
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from “Recovery Dharma: How to Use Buddhist Practices and Principles to Heal the Suffering of Addiction” by Recovery Dharma -
“This is a program that asks us to recognize and accept that some pain and disappointment will always be present, to investigate the unskillful ways we have dealt with that pain in the past, and to develop a habit of understanding, compassion, and mercy toward our own pain, the pain of others, and the pain we have caused others due to our ignorance and confusion. That acceptance is what brings freedom from the suffering that made our pain unbearable. This book is only an introduction to a path that can bring liberation and freedom from the cycle of suffering created by addiction. The intention, and the hope, is that every person on the path will be empowered to make it their own. May you be happy. May you be at ease. May you be free from suffering.”
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I keep this one on my phone home page. 
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Nothing sums up like we dream about. I have always wanted to get this implemented in a tatoo.
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I used to get rattled when suddenly, everything changes and life is uncertain. It’s always comforting to remind yourself: life is always
uncertain. Certainty is an illusion. It is whether you perceive uncertainty as a good thing or not! Uncertainty leaves space for growth and novelty if I’m not too busy fretting about the discomfort of all the new things that came flying at me. I see that tie to my alcoholism too— that desperate grasping and wanting things to stay exactly where I think they should be. The anxiety when they shift. Glad to be freeing myself from that now.
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Something a little different to share, but seems like elements of the article ring true
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Cannot wait to hear what you think!
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from “The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)” by Pema Chödrön -
“Many of us prefer practices that will not cause discomfort, yet at the same time we want to be healed. But bodhichitta training doesn’t work that way. A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next. We can try to control the uncontrollable by looking for security and predictability, always hoping to be comfortable and safe. But the truth is that we can never avoid uncertainty. This not knowing is part of the adventure, and it’s also what makes us afraid”
I would like to say that i have mastered my fear of the unknown. There are times that anxiety of the unknown will make my mind get wrapped around all the “what ifs”. I find myself “talking my self down” from the anxiety and fear, and taking thecstep forward. Maybe this is as far as I will get. Atleast, sober me, can have those conversations with myself…sooth the anxiety, and still move forward.
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Wow, this is great. Revisiting Pema. Alcohol made me a fearful person. I’ve had very little courage unless sober. I think back on my life. and the big leaps into uncertainty were always taken sober. Drinking, I get stuck and stay stuck. All the while agonizing over being stuck. I was going against my true nature, which has courage.
Drinking brought both comfort and distress at once! It was maddening. I knew I needed to go but my feet wouldn’t move- I was terrified. When I put down the booze, and practice fearlessness at a smaller scale, like micro even…once I hit 6 , maybe 12 months sober I want to throw all manner of shit at the wall, leap from planes 
. Usually life changes that are major. It’s so weird and counterintuitive. But it’s actually warrior behavior. I get sober, I start reading these types of materials, start living and doing those things I’m afraid of, and it goes from there.
First comes the training. Discipline and discomfort. Thank you for posting this reminder. I think I know where my Pema books are!
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