Defeat Your Ego Before it Defeats You

<p> </p><blockquote>“He’s so full of himself” is a statement of derision. The irony of life is that whoever said it is probably full of herself too. Such is life. But does it have to be that way? While it is too much to expect to change others, you can certainly reduce your own ego and I recommend it. What few gains I have made in ego reduction have greatly increased a deep and lasting sense of well-being in my life. That is why I consider this topic top priority for both happiness and success training. First, what is ego? There are many different definitions, so I will clarify. I don’t mean that ego is your self, otherwise killing ego would be killing yourself, a terrible misunderstanding. Instead, I mean it is an illusory concept of self, inflated beyond reality. In this sense, killing your ego gets you in tune with reality. Sounds good, but there’s a catch. Wouldn’t that make you depressed? If ego protects you from the truth you don’t want to know about yourself, doesn’t destruction of ego open you up to depressing truths? Well, that depends. The only reason those truths are unwanted in the first place is because we are attached to the notion they are true. Having your sense of self popped is depressing for anyone. However, having no ego, by which I mean a sense of self that is accurate, means much less chance for disappointment. I’ll discuss how to get there in a moment. In other words, if you are not attached to a particular outcome, any outcome can be a pleasant reminder that you are alive. It’s quite nice. I invite you to try it. Lies are social lubricant because ego cannot handle the truth. Flattery, because of ego, is something that always works, though you would like to believe it doesn’t work on you (it does), but the less ego you have the less flattery can fool you. Do you really want to reward people for lying to you? Perhaps, if it makes you feel better. But soothing the ego only makes you feel better in the sense that smoking a cigarette makes you feel better: it keeps you from feeling worse. You would feel even better than that if you did not smoke at all. Likewise, without ego, you do not require soothing lies, and this will save you a lot of energy. Not only will you not have to lie to yourself, you will not have to work so hard to cover up for your (poorly concealed) self-delusions or build your ego back up while reality continually damages it. That’s never any fun. Most people assume an inflated ego is an unalterable reality, probably because most people have one all their lives. The normal, happy person consistently overestimates her abilities. Nevertheless, there are many people who have successfully reduced the ego and exhibit greater happiness and poise as a result. What did they do? Ask the happiest person you know, and see what she says. Check her recommendations against mine. Ego gets in the way of more happiness and more success. The good news is you can reduce it. HOW TO KICK THE EGO HABIT This is where your typical 7-10 steps is a waste of time. They have too many “don’ts” and too few “dos”. That can be frustrating and ineffective. I will simply share a habit or two that helps me and which I think will help the most people. Two may be one too many, since these habits are difficult and take much practice. Do only what makes sense to you. Seek doing your best instead of personal achievement. Getting in the zone and working hard makes you feel better, do better and frees you from your limiting ego. Practice concerning yourself with doing your best and getting in the zone, without benchmarking. This is huge. If you need to be “good” you will become discouraged by the fact that we all start out at the beginning and things take longer than we wish them to. So you will need to be lied to in order to keep going. “You’re doing a great job!” That is how we treat children. The problem is that when we assume we are doing better than we really are, we get scraped up real good. Ouch. Now consider the alternative. If you realize that doing your best is a deep source of satisfaction, no matter how you end up, the truth is always good news. You have plenty of room for improvement. And, since the unadulterated truth is the best aid for doing your best without running into barriers or waiting for external reinforcement, the truth will become your friend, not your enemy, and flattery will be your enemy, not your friend. Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck calls this the Growth Mindset, and she finds that when a child adopts it, even for a moment, his capacity to handle honest feedback goes through the roof, almost instantly. On the flip side, 40 percent of those whose intelligence was praised overstated their scores to peers. “We took ordinary children and made them into liars,” Dweck says. Similarly, Enron executives who’d been celebrated for their innate talent would sooner lie than fess up to problems and work to fix them. [Stanford Magazine]. When young people’s sense of self-worth is bound up in the idea that they are smart—a quality they come to understand as a genetic blessing from the sky—at least three bad things can happen. Some students become lazy, figuring that their smarts will bail them out in a pinch. Others conclude that the people who praise their intelligence are simply wrong, and decide that it isn’t worth investing effort in homework. Still others might care intensely about school but withdraw from difficult tasks or tie themselves in knots of perfectionism. (To understand this third group, think of the Puritans: They did not believe they had any control over whether they were among God’s elect, but they nonetheless searched endlessly for ways to display that they had been chosen, and they were terrified of any evidence that they were not.) [The Chronicle Review] Meditate on the idea that the individual self and the universal soul are one and the same, aka “all is one.” Don’t try and prove logically that it’s true or false. That would be absurd and frustrating. The authors of the Upanishads spent years contemplating and arguing among each other until they agreed on this one basic truth: all is one. The wisdom from all corners of the world seems to boil down to the same statement. The tremendous benefit of this centering belief is that you understand that you are simultaneously eternal and infinitesimal. When you die, you lose nothing. If you hurt another person, you are hurting both yourself and the whole world. I don’t know why, but this idea gives me deep serenity, and no shelter for ego. If you don’t like the spiritual flavor of that, meditate on the scientific probability that there are infinite universes. That has a very similar conclusion, part of which is that there is no reason to make such a big deal about getting your way or to bemoan minutiae. However, there is no reason not to either, so I cannot say you are wrong to disagree with me here. All I can say is what I sincerely recommend. ONE CAUTION Though you choose to reduce ego to improve your quality of life, be sure to respect other people’s decisions not to reduce ego or to have a poor quality of life. You can still try to convince them and, besides, doing so respectfully will be most effective. Of course, if you reduce ego, you will naturally respect others’ decisions. I just mention this because it is one place I tripped up many times.</blockquote>

Defeat Your Ego Before it Defeats You

  “He’s so full of himself” is a statement of derision. The irony of life is that whoever said it is probably full of herself too. Such is l...

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For reasons still obscure, the program and the fellowship of AA could cause a surrender which in turn would lead to a period of no drinking.

<p> </p><p> It became ever more apparent that in everyone's psyche there existed an unconquerable ego which bitterly opposed any thought of defeat. Until that ego was somehow reduced or rendered ineffective, no likelihood of surrender could be anticipated. AA, still very much in its infancy, was celebrating a third or fourth anniversary of one of the groups. The speaker immediately preceding me told in detail of the efforts of his local group—which consisted of two men—to get him to dry up and become its third member. After several months of vain efforts on their part and repeated nose dives on his, the speaker went on to say: "Finally, I got cut down to size and have been sober ever since," a matter of some two or three years. When my turn came to speak, I used his phrase "cut down to size" as a text around which to weave my remarks. Before long, out of the corner of my eye, I became conscious of a disconcerting stare. It was coming from the previous speaker. It was perfectly clear: He was utterly amazed that he had said anything which made sense to a psychiatrist. The incident showed that two people, one approaching the matter clinically and the other relying on his own intuitive report of what had happened to him, both came up with exactly the same observation: the need for ego reduction. It is common knowledge that a return of the full-fledged ego can happen at any time. Years of sobriety are no insurance against its resurgence. No AA's, regardless of their veteran status, can ever relax their guard against a reviving ego. The function of surrender in AA is now clear. It produces that stopping by causing the individual to say, "I quit. I give up on my headstrong ways. I've learned my lesson." Very often for the first time in that individual's adult career, he has encountered the necessary discipline that halts him in his headlong pace. Actually, he is lucky to have within him the capacity to surrender. It is that which differentiates him from the wild animals. And this happens because we can surrender and truly feel, "Thy will, not mine, be done." Unfortunately, that ego will return unless the individual learns to accept a disciplined way of life, which means the tendency toward ego comeback is permanently checked. This is not news to AA members. They have learned that a single surrender is not enough. Under the wise leadership of the AA "founding fathers" the need for continued endeavor to maintain that miracle has been steadily stressed. The Twelve Steps urge repeated inventories, not just one, and the Twelfth Step is in itself a routine reminder that one must work at preserving sobriety. Moreover, it is referred to as Twelfth Step work—which is exactly what it is. By that time, the miracle is for the other person.</p>

For reasons still obscure, the program and the fellowship of AA could cause a surrender which in turn would lead to a period of no drinking.

   It became ever more apparent that in everyone's psyche there existed an unconquerable ego which bitterly opposed any thought of defea...

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Murder in the Rooms of AA

<h1 class="article-head" style="clear: both; font-size: 54px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 54px; font-weight: normal; font-family: NewsGothicBT-BoldCondensed, Arial; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"></h1><p class="top-teaser" style="color: #444444; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: NewsGothicBT-BoldCondensed, Arial; background-color: #ffffff;">One AA sponsor was falsely implicated in the slaying of a prostitute, while another was gunned down after divulging someone's top-secret "fourth step" confession. Just how protected are you when helping people who may be mentally ill—or even dangerous?  </p><div class="image" style="float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 17px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; background-color: #ffffff;"><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-above"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img alt="" src="http://www.thefix.com/sites/default/files/styles/article/public/AA_GunRed.jpg" style="margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" /></div></div></div><p class="caption" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #000000; color: #ffffff; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 15px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 15px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0px;">Killing the messenger</p></div><div class="attribution" style="clear: right; float: right; width: 161px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 40px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: #858585; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; background-color: #ffffff;"><p class="author" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 12px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px;"> </p></div><div class="body" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">Confessing less-than-savory acts to a trusted AA sponsor is not an unusual scenario for most people during the early days of their recovery. A “fearless moral inventory,” in fact, is one of the backbones of the 12-step program. But what would you do if someone confessed something to you in an AA meeting that went far beyond the bounds of the usual the usual tales of drug-induced bad behavior?  What if they confessed to cold-blooded murder?  When 20-year-old Bob Ryder came to his sponsor, Floyd Nadeau, with something on his conscience, Nadeau surely had no idea that what he was about to hear would have a lasting impact on both men’s lives.</p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; font-style: italic; color: #d31820; width: 280px; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">There have been many high profile cases of murder prosecutions hinging on admissions of guilt coming to light during AA meetings. This one was among the most biizarre.</p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">According to Nadeu, Ryder confessed that he had been getting high with a prostitute at his home in Lewiston, Maine when the prostitute started to “irritate him” by constantly complaining about her tough life. The final straw came when Ryder allegedly caught the woman rifling through his wallet. According to Nadeu, Ryder said that he grabbed the nearest thing to hand—a wooden clock—and viciously beat his victim to death with it before concealing the body in the basement of his home.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">Nadeu later told authorities that at first he was highly skeptical that Ryder had murdered anyone. His sponsee, after all,  had a history of mental problems, which had led to his being discharged from the marines. But to prove he was telling the truth, Ryder supposedly took Nadeu down into the basement and showed him the decomposing corpse. Still, it would be over two weeks before Nadeu went to the police; when questioned on this seemingly inexplicable delay, Nadeu <a href="http://www.truecrimereport.com/2011/07/bob_ryder_confesses_to_aa_spon.php" style="color: #d31820; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">claimed</a> that he was worried about violating AA’s teachings on confidentiality.  </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">But the sponsor had even more revelations to come. After Ryder was arrested, he claimed that he and Nadeu had been cruising for prostitutes when they picked up the victim, Danita Brown, a mother of nine children. Ryder claimed that he and Nadeu had spent two days partying with Brown before the murder, and though he killed the woman while Nadeu was out, he insists that he immediately told Nadeu about his crime as soon as he came back. Ryder added that his sponsor had advised him to use baking soda to cover the corpse’s odor. Nadeu <a href="http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/15/news/lewiston-auburn/lewiston-man-charged-in-woman%E2%80%99s-death/" style="color: #d31820; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">denies all the allegations</a>. "I had nothing to do with it," Nadeau is reported as saying, "and I've been cleared." The truth will no doubt be unraveled now that Ryder has been formally charged with Brown’s murder.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">Of course, it’s really not a surprise that a program that deals exclusively with addicts—and thus people who are sometimes, by extension, leading criminal lifestyles—might involve those who have several nasty skeletons in their closets or have issues beyond substance abuse. There have been many high profile cases of murder prosecutions hinging on admissions of guilt coming to light during AA meetings. Last year in Alabama, Jamie Letson was <a href="http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/jamie_letson_convicted_of_1980.html" style="color: #d31820; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">found guilty</a> of the 1980 murder of an 18-year-old student. The case remained unsolved until Letson confessed to her AA sponsor about it in 2002. There was also the case of Southern California resident Scott Gordon Reynolds, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-11-07-3603151677_x.htm" style="color: #d31820; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">who was sentenced to 50 years</a> for the murder of his AA sponsor, Uriel Noriega, in 2008. The killing, which took place in front of multiple witnesses during a meeting at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Long Beach, California, occurred because,when Reynolds snapped after he found out that Noriega had told other members at the AA meeting that Reynolds was gay. He said the secret was known only to his mother and his sponsor.  Reynolds told police he took the gun to the meeting with the intention of committing suicide in front of the group, but once he got there, he had a change of heart and decided to murder Noriega instead. If Reynolds’ version of events is to be believed, this case is an interesting inverse of Ryder’s, where an alleged disregard for AA’s principle of anonymity led to tragedy. (The prosecutor has gone on record to say that Reynolds’ claims were never fully proven in court).</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">Still, both of these cases bring up some interesting ethical questions, such as: what are the limits of confidentiality in AA? What should you do if you’re sponsoring someone who seems mentally ill or dangerous? And is there any kind of legal protection over what you say in a meeting or to a sponsor?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">According to Michael Cohen, the executive director of <a href="http://fla-lap.org/" style="color: #d31820; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Florida Lawyers Assistance</a> and a legal expert who is in recovery himself, "Probably the best course of action would be for a sponsor to let the sponsee know in advance that if the sponsee confesses to a crime, there is always a possibility that the sponsor could be forced to disclose the information, or that the sponsor might do it voluntarily if they were really troubled by the disclosure. I would advise anyone I sponsored that if they needed to disclose this type of information, they might want to consider doing it to a therapist or clergy, in which case it would be protected by statute."</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">“Unlike attorney-client, doctor-patient, substance abuse treatment counselor-client, or priest-penitent relationships, there is no statutory confidentiality protection for sponsors or 12 Step group members, and they have been compelled in some cases to testify about information received,” Cohen explains. “The police could threaten to charge the sponsor with obstruction of justice if they refused to cooperate.” Under US law, while therapists and other professionals are legally obliged to disclose information to the authorities if they believe a client presents a danger to themselves or others, this statute protects them from having to testify in court.</p><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px; font-style: italic; color: #d31820; width: 280px; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">“We’re only as sick as our secrets,” says one AA mantra. But what about a case where the secret is murder?</p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">There are a few legal precedents here. In the case of<a href="http://www.dinslaw.com/files/Publication/e1417e0d-26bd-48bc-a52e-0a4c1bf3e6a8/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/ff9d9818-2cff-490c-9025-0e1954cc4f7b/Borowicz%20-%20Cox%20v.%20Miller%20The%20Clergy%20Privilege.pdf" style="color: #d31820; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Cox Vs Miller</a>, a 2002 decision by the 2nd circuit court of New York struck down a previous decision by the Southern District of New York Court’s which said that a confession of murder by Cox (disclosed to several AA members) fell under the auspices of New York’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessional_privilege_%28United_States%29" style="color: #d31820; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">clergy privilege</a>, the 2nd circuit court’s decision was that since the confession was not made “in order to seek spiritual guidance,” it did not qualify. However, the court did not go as far as to analyze whether or not Alcoholics Anonymous should be treated in the eyes of the law as a traditional religion for future clerical privilege analysis, therefore leaving something of a grey area for future cases.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">AA is a program that doesn’t differentiate. Meetings take place everywhere from exclusive Beverly Hills neighborhoods to the bowels of maximum-security prisons. When I was in drug treatment, I felt that I could—and should—talk openly about the petty theft and fraud I’d engaged in to fund my heroin habit, as it was part of the process of “getting better.” “We’re only as sick as our secrets,” says one AA mantra. But what about a case where the secret is murder?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">“Spiritual suggestions are not above the law,” said an AA spokesperson I talked to about these issues, adding that there is often confusion between the idea of anonymity and “privileged communication.”</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">“The tradition of anonymity does not mean that AA members enjoy privileged communication as we are not professionals,” the spokesperson told me. “However, Bill W. tells us in the Big Book that our sobriety allows us to become citizens of the world again. I think that based upon our core principles, most AA members would encourage one another to take responsibility for their actions.”</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">AA has long strived to protect its identity as a program without leaders, a program built upon the foundation of addict helping other addicts. But I can’t help but wonder—given some of the examples detailed here—whether or not some kind of formal training should be required before someone takes on the massive responsibility of sponsoring another addict. After all, if I were to set up an office tomorrow and advertise myself as a psychotherapist, I imagine I would be closed down in a matter of weeks unless I had the necessary qualifications. Yet AA sponsors, unpaid and untrained, are entrusted with the spiritual and mental wellbeing of fragile—and occasionally dangerous—newly sober people every single day. Surely it’s not too critical to suggest that the program as a whole should consider implementing some basic protections for sponsors and sponsees alike?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;">Whatever the eventual truths that emerge from the Ryder murder case however, anyone who argues that cases like this prove that the rooms of AA are dangerous is missing the point. There’s nothing more threatening happening in the meetings and fellowship than anywhere else where you may come into regular contact with your fellow human beings. (During the years I attended AA meetings, the most dangerous thing I ever encountered was the second-hand smoke wafting over from the usual huddle of chain-smoking ex-dope fiends.) For every tale of a 12-step tragedy, there are hundreds if not thousands of stories being shared about lives being saved. And sometimes, as it turns out, the rooms themselves can be a safeguard—as they were for an unlucky armed robber who was gunned down <a href="http://www.wistv.com/story/10169294/man-shot-killed-while-trying-to-rob-five-pts-aa-meeting?clienttype=printable" style="color: #d31820; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">while trying to rob</a> a particularly well-armed AA meeting in Greenville, South Carolina. How many other places are there where the guy sitting next to you—who happens to have a concealed weapons permit—is willing to risk his life in order to keep the group safe?</p></div>

Murder in the Rooms of AA

One AA sponsor was falsely implicated in the slaying of a prostitute, while another was gunned down after divulging someone's top-secret...

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No A.A.'s, regardless of their veteran status, can ever relax their guard against a reviving ego.

<p> </p><blockquote> The function of surrender in A.A. is now clear. It produces that stopping by causing the individual to say, "I quit. I give up on my headstrong ways. I've learned my lesson." Very often for the first time in that individual's adult career, he has encountered the necessary discipline that halts him in his headlong pace. Actually, he is lucky to have within him the capacity to surrender. It is that which differentiates him from the wild animals. And this happens because we can surrender and truly feel, "Thy will, not mine, be done." Unfortunately, that ego will return unless the individual learns to accept a disciplined way of life, which means the tendency toward ego comeback, is permanently checked. This is not news to A.A. members. They have learned that a single surrender is not enough. Under the wise leadership of the A.A. "founding fathers" the need for continued endeavor to maintain that miracle has been steadily stressed. The Twelve Steps urge repeated inventories, not just one, and the Twelfth Step is in itself a routine reminder that one must work at preserving sobriety. Moreover, it is referred to as Twelfth Step work-which is exactly what it is. By that time, the miracle is for the other person.</blockquote>

No A.A.'s, regardless of their veteran status, can ever relax their guard against a reviving ego.

   The function of surrender in A.A. is now clear. It produces that stopping by causing the individual to say, "I quit. I give up on my...

Read more »

quite a few people face death of a loved one or their child or spouse, suddenly they question their beliefs.

<p> </p><blockquote>Philosophies collapse in the face of extreme disaster. Before, they might have had philosophy or religious beliefs, but when quite a few people face death of a loved one or their child or spouse, suddenly they question their beliefs. "This wasn't supposed to happen to me, I had a business arrangement with God. I wasn't supposed to suffer." The mind, the "me", collapses. Explanations fade. So you're faced with disaster you cannot explain that seems to deny the existence of something deeper. The cross seems to stand between you and the transcendental dimension to love. But, strangely, that very cross is the opening also. Somebody once put it this way: "What stands in the way is the way." And you realize that when you no longer internally resist the form that this moment takes. I call it the "is-ness" of this moment.</blockquote>

quite a few people face death of a loved one or their child or spouse, suddenly they question their beliefs.

  Philosophies collapse in the face of extreme disaster. Before, they might have had philosophy or religious beliefs, but when quite a few p...

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The addiction to drugs, food, alcohol, etc. is nothing compared to the addiction we humans have to thinking.

<p> </p><blockquote><img alt="" height="465" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5aZt9SgW0WEmXxNpMn1uhQagFPcKGD-w87cNJ0h8cjhLR-snC5RITZUbYPInigNLM6Li1JtPZE8FcIdlljTMARP97p24XduemBpRBlYjN8q0R9etuY9Igo1SlV6iHZkHPunHRI1P55ABO/" style="float: left;" width="640" />The addiction to drugs, food, alcohol, etc. is nothing compared to the addiction we humans have to thinking. Sitting quietly in silence is so foreign to most of us that the mind quickly starts thinking of its "problems" simply because it feels more "natural." We say we want peace, but because of our conditioning many of us actually feel more comfortable worrying. Worrying about what? Anything, the mind is not picky. -Michael Jeffreys</blockquote>

The addiction to drugs, food, alcohol, etc. is nothing compared to the addiction we humans have to thinking.

  The addiction to drugs, food, alcohol, etc. is nothing compared to the addiction we humans have to thinking. Sitting quietly in silence is...

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Take 5 seconds just to be quiet.

<p> </p><blockquote><img alt="" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoLA-uFCrgjlcfFnyFStq1vg4Y8uyc_WL2PQ3er1Y4Ul5-EKLuMwyhCn9fMN_U6-2Vsm58nNrdTTzKSCVzbF0h-FUHx9r_LEmc8y3Bpam4uirepPUXDbT1n5xVn2fprgG53dTAfpW9w_K7/" style="float: left;" width="348" />Take 5 seconds just to be quiet. Everything that disappeared in those 5 seconds for you, that’s what’s not real. So when you are not thinking, everything that disappears… that’s what’s not real. For most people, that’s about 99% of their whole experience of life… their whole world.</blockquote>

Take 5 seconds just to be quiet.

  Take 5 seconds just to be quiet. Everything that disappeared in those 5 seconds for you, that’s what’s not real. So when you are not think...

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Take 5 seconds just to be quiet.

<p> </p><blockquote><img alt="" height="465" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-_NKVe93ufjo/TsO7cvE6X9I/AAAAAAAAJ_E/TENPO7RLlPg/%25255BUNSET%25255D.jpg" style="float: left;" width="640" />Everything that disappeared in those 5 seconds for you, that’s what’s not real. So when you are not thinking, everything that disappears… that’s what’s not real. For most people, that’s about 99% of their whole experience of life… their whole world.</blockquote>

Take 5 seconds just to be quiet.

  Everything that disappeared in those 5 seconds for you, that’s what’s not real. So when you are not thinking, everything that disappears… ...

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If Life has no interest in the past, why should you?

<p> </p><blockquote>If Life has no interest in the past, why should you? –Michael Jeffreys</blockquote>

If Life has no interest in the past, why should you?

  If Life has no interest in the past, why should you? –Michael Jeffreys

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It doesn't matter what it is--an atom, a thought, a sound, a situation, a body, a mental state, a plant a storm, a mountain, or a galaxy--everything that we know of is changing

<p> </p><blockquote>It doesn't matter what it is--an atom, a thought, a sound, a situation, a body, a mental state, a plant a storm, a mountain, or a galaxy--everything that we know of is changing, either quickly or slowly. Inward and outward, big or small, there is only this shift and flux. If this is fully acknowledged, it may be realized that this is all that actually exists. No object or "thing" is ever truly formed anywhere. Nothing is ever established or defined. No thing ever comes to stay, to exist, to "be."</blockquote>

It doesn't matter what it is--an atom, a thought, a sound, a situation, a body, a mental state, a plant a storm, a mountain, or a galaxy--everything that we know of is changing

  It doesn't matter what it is--an atom, a thought, a sound, a situation, a body, a mental state, a plant a storm, a mountain, or a gala...

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Wabi Sabi teaches how to become fundamentally present and how to arise in mastery of your mind and ego

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsF7fxMqcRhJS9SHnVm4vJK1Yq6z6C8WkuLJ6O4soM_Ni4DexDnbmAW96M22bouqv2NrNo5SV9T2JaIEKlVNCJJKXugf83omWSxZOO2milMIcFlCen8SMcHiWqCWMMi4N2svDlos4Mr65m/s1600/wabi+sabi+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsF7fxMqcRhJS9SHnVm4vJK1Yq6z6C8WkuLJ6O4soM_Ni4DexDnbmAW96M22bouqv2NrNo5SV9T2JaIEKlVNCJJKXugf83omWSxZOO2milMIcFlCen8SMcHiWqCWMMi4N2svDlos4Mr65m/s320/wabi+sabi+logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Wabi Sabi teaches how to become fundamentally present and how to arise in mastery of your mind and ego, so that you are no longer involuntarily pulled out of Presence. Teaches that the fully awakened state of consciousness is available now. </span><div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It is not something that occurs in the future. It is already here, waiting to be revealed. As you awaken into the present moment, your thoughts will stop, your mind will fall silent, and you will awaken to an inner silence and peace that is beyond understanding. You will begin to encounter what the mystics and masters have been speaking of for centuries.</span></div>

Wabi Sabi teaches how to become fundamentally present and how to arise in mastery of your mind and ego

Wabi Sabi teaches how to become fundamentally present and how to arise in mastery of your mind and ego, so that you are no longer involunt...

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The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference

<p> </p><blockquote>The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference--the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds. We look inside first, decide the kind of world we want to see and then project that world outside, making it the truth as we see it. We make it true by our interpretations of what it is we are seeing. -A Course in Miracles</blockquote>

The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference

  The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference--the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds. We look inside...

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As Bill Sees It-Selfish? - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

<p> </p><blockquote>" I can see why you are disturbed to hear some A.A. speakers say, 'A.A. is a selfish program.' The word 'selfish' ordinarily implies that one is acquisitive, demanding, and thoughtless of the welfare of others. Of course, the A.A. way of life does not at all imply such undesirable traits. "What do these speakers mean? Well, any theologian will tell you that the salvation of his own soul is the highest vocation that a man can have. Without salvation--however we may define this--he will have little or nothing. For us of A.A., there is even more urgency. "If we cannot or will not achieve sobriety, then we become truly lost, right in the here and now. We are of no value to anyone, including ourselves, until we find salvation from alcohol. Therefore, our own recovery and spiritual growth have to come first--a right and necessary kind of self-concern."</blockquote>

As Bill Sees It-Selfish? - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

  " I can see why you are disturbed to hear some A.A. speakers say, 'A.A. is a selfish program.' The word 'selfish' ord...

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Selfish, the way it’s commonly used, means taking care of oneself only and without regard for others or to the detriment of others.

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWiD_JMDcRdgY-UD8YzEW8RSUCO99TEMhoC-40CJ8bw5EFZy3vYg1nf-iixFEIKyUQEOdWWl2vSjPKU8Tst6FNLXimsJnKUivwN-Zfg-RV2wqFCW8iWH9zjxyMWywC7fo8UVah56wewbiA/s1600/zolo+assembly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="425" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWiD_JMDcRdgY-UD8YzEW8RSUCO99TEMhoC-40CJ8bw5EFZy3vYg1nf-iixFEIKyUQEOdWWl2vSjPKU8Tst6FNLXimsJnKUivwN-Zfg-RV2wqFCW8iWH9zjxyMWywC7fo8UVah56wewbiA/s320/zolo+assembly.jpg" width="226" /></a></div> <br /> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">AA First and the “Selfish” Program I shudder, shudder, shudder when I hear someone say AA is a selfish program. Back to the dictionary and the meaning of words. Selfish, the way it’s commonly used, means taking care of oneself only and without regard for others or to the detriment of others. The word selfish is used many times in the Big Book to mean just that, and it is presented as a bad thing. Not a good thing. It’s in As Bill Sees It and certainly elsewhere that Bill W said AA is a selfish program. He said that it’s selfish in the same way that a person cannot enlighten someone else while the person himself is not enlightened. You can’t make someone believe in something you don’t believe in (or rarely). You can’t give away what you haven’t got. If an alcoholic is not sober, she is a danger and detriment to herself and everyone else.</span><div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> This alcoholic must first set about achieving sobriety. When a new person comes into the rooms and is told what a commitment AA needs to be in the beginning, sometimes the person protests. People feel they cannot neglect or leave their children or parents or jobs or what have you in order to go to meetings or to rehab. The point is, this person may actually lose all those things and much more if she doesn’t attain sobriety. In that way, sobriety has to come first. Rarely, but unfortunately sometimes, </span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I hear a newcomer say that his family or friends are actually against his attendance in AA. There are lots of reasons for that. The family or friends may not want to stop drinking, may be dependent on that person and fear a change, or may have a bad opinion of AA. In those cases, the newcomer has to defy the people who don’t want him in AA and attend, and hopefully most of them will come around to realize that is best. Usually, though, I hear the “selfish” program phrase thrown around when someone is considering giving less than is appropriate to some other area of life. We are not encouraged to neglect our families, careers, or other responsibilities in order to devote time to AA or our other spiritual quests. It is plainly written again and again that we are to rejoin society and serve and contribute, not crawl away into an AA insulated cave where we selfishly look after our own needs and fulfilment. It’s a pet peeve and a prejudice of mine that I see lots of “therapy” and pop psychology as being too introspective and selfish to do good for anyone besides the therapist or book author. And I’m NOT commenting on all therapy and all books. </span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> I know that people have real needs and realise real benefits every day. Still, for many of us, I do believe that the AA program well worked gives us a good balance of introspection and encouragement to take care of our own – our own being this place and all the people here with us at this time.</span></div> </div>

Selfish, the way it’s commonly used, means taking care of oneself only and without regard for others or to the detriment of others.

AA First and the “Selfish” Program I shudder, shudder, shudder when I hear someone say AA is a selfish program. Back to the dictionary a...

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A Selfish Program?

<p> </p><blockquote>"A Selfish Program?" I can see why you are disturbed to hear some A.A. speakers say, "A.A. is a selfish program."  The word 'selfish' ordinarily implies that one is acquisitive, demanding, and thoughtless of the welfare of others.  Of course, the A.A. way of life does not at all imply such undesirable traits.  What do these speakers mean?  Well, any theologian will tell you that the salvation of his own soul is the highest vocation that a man can have.  Without salvation-however we may define this-he will have little or nothing.  For us of A.A., there is even more urgency.  If we cannot or will not achieve sobriety, then we become truly lost, right in the here and now.  We are of no value to anyone, including ourselves, until we find salvation from alcohol.  Therefore, our own recovery and spiritual growth have to come first-a right and necessary kind of self-concern.  From As Bill Sees It</blockquote>

A Selfish Program?

  "A Selfish Program?" I can see why you are disturbed to hear some A.A. speakers say, "A.A. is a selfish program."  Th...

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Pain is god disguised as your greatest teacher. The greater the pain, the bigger the opportunity for a breakthough.

<p> </p><blockquote>Pain is god disguised as your greatest teacher. The greater the pain, the bigger the opportunity for a breakthough. -Michael Jeffreys</blockquote>

Pain is god disguised as your greatest teacher. The greater the pain, the bigger the opportunity for a breakthough.

  Pain is god disguised as your greatest teacher. The greater the pain, the bigger the opportunity for a breakthough. -Michael Jeffreys

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UC Berkeley researchers pinpoint areas of brain linked with addiction

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKgbAuJ_Q5WxEi97e9Xw_5ozmVrS7wO0kzuMNBawN3SRHGRhx0_BhqzuK5N3fZPez6xUYQjyQHfOsDcv9wyokV2y4tV3_N0zNLZ6Z_pPwFv4Bp6lGulaoVTP0S0jqY4Jbco6y6YZWKdeDd/s1600/rebelle345.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKgbAuJ_Q5WxEi97e9Xw_5ozmVrS7wO0kzuMNBawN3SRHGRhx0_BhqzuK5N3fZPez6xUYQjyQHfOsDcv9wyokV2y4tV3_N0zNLZ6Z_pPwFv4Bp6lGulaoVTP0S0jqY4Jbco6y6YZWKdeDd/s320/rebelle345.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <br /> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Researchers at UC Berkeley have determined the specific areas of the brain that value and interpret decisions, which they hope may lead to new treatments for individuals who struggle with addiction. By measuring the neural activity of macaque monkeys, researchers were able to pinpoint the two specific ways the brain makes decisions, which they explained in a study published Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience. They now understand that neural activity in the brain’s orbitofrontal cortex determines the value of decisions, while neural activity in the anterior cingulate cortex evaluates the difference between expectations and results, which is responsible for future behavior. “The brain is basically a computer, and the neuron is taking information and then giving information that they’ve calculated,” said Jonathan Wallis, associate professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the principal investigator of the study. “This is the first time we’ve been able to show the specific computation to decision-making in specific areas of the brain. That was really the novelty.” </span><div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">While previous research has determined that these sections of the brain are dysfunctional in addicts, the new research explains how the damage leads to addiction. If these parts of the frontal cortex are impaired, addicts lack the signals that provide them with accurate information about how valuable a choice is, making it less likely that they will learn the consequences of their actions, according to Wallis. “If you’re an addict and this area is impaired, you may not realise your goals, and you potentially are not going to learn from unhealthy decisions,” Wallis said. Wallis and his team conducted the research by testing the neural activity of macaque monkeys as they played games that gauged their ability to make decisions. Researchers could measure the calculations that the monkeys were making in the different areas of the brain, which mimicked the way that humans make decisions. </span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The researchers completed the experiment in 2006 and have spent the last five years analysing the data. Although still a few steps in the future, the ultimate goal of the study is to use the results to treat for individuals with addictions. “Besides therapy, there is nothing we can do for someone that is severely addicted,” Wallis said. “So far no surgical or pharmaceutical treatments exist. By figuring out what is going on when healthy people are making decisions, we can figure out what is going wrong when addicts make bad decisions and find some ways to target these specific areas of the brain.” While the study has led to a greater understanding of how the brain values decisions, researchers will still need to further investigate how addictive drugs are valued in order to develop more effective treatments, according to Howard Fields, professor of neurology and director of the Wheeler Centre for the Neurobiology of Addiction at UC San Francisco. “This is a new and important scientific advance,” Fields said. “It is likely that addiction involves dysfunction of the relation between valuation of outcomes and subsequent decision making. In other words, drugs become overvalued compared to other action outcomes. Only by understanding the relation of valuation to action selection will we fully understand how drugs become addictive. After we do that, we’ll be able to develop more effective treatments.”</span></div>

UC Berkeley researchers pinpoint areas of brain linked with addiction

Researchers at UC Berkeley have determined the specific areas of the brain that value and interpret decisions, which they hope may lead t...

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Boy, 17, shot in back in Poplar, east London

<p> </p><p>teenager has been shot in the back in east London. The 17-year-old boy was wounded in East India Dock Road, Poplar, in the early hours of the morning. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A 17-year-old male had a gunshot wound to the back and is in hospital in a serious condition." The attack happened just before 01:00 GMT, police said. Any witnesses to the shooting should call the Metropolitan Police.</p>

Boy, 17, shot in back in Poplar, east London

  teenager has been shot in the back in east London. The 17-year-old boy was wounded in East India Dock Road, Poplar, in the early hours of...

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Armed guards are to be deployed on British civilian ships for the first time to protect them from pirates,

<p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Armed guards are to be deployed on British civilian ships for the first time to protect them from pirates, David Cameron announced today.</span></span></p><p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>A legal ban on weapon-toting protection staff will be relaxed so that firms can apply for a licence to have them on board in danger zones.</span></span></p><p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>The Prime Minister said radical action was required because the increasing ability of sea-borne Somali criminals to hijack and ransom ships had become 'a complete stain on our world'.</span></span></p><p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>He unveiled the measure after talks at a Commonwealth summit in Australia with leaders of countries in the Horn of Africa over the escalating problem faced in waters off their shores.</span></span></p><p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Under the plans, the Home Secretary will be given the power to license vessels to carry armed security, including automatic weapons, currently prohibited under firearms laws.</span></span></p><p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Officials said around 200 ships were expected to be in line to take up the offer, which would only apply for voyages through particular waters in the affected region.</span></span></p><p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>It is expected to be used by commercial firms, rather than private sailors such as hostage victims Paul and Rachel Chandler.</span></span></p><div class="thinCenter" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; min-height: 1px; width: 470px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="Pirates: There are around 50 ships currently being held hostage" class="blkBorder" height="230" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/10/30/article-2055254-0E75C29500000578-633_468x230.jpg" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 1px solid black;" width="468" /></span><p class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Pirates: There are around 50 ships currently being held hostage</span></p></div><p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Asked if he was comfortable with giving private security operatives the right to 'shoot to kill' if necessary, Mr Cameron told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: 'We have to make choices.</span></span></p><p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>'Frankly the extent of the hijack and ransom of ships round the Horn of Africa is a complete stain on our world.</span></span></p><p style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>'The fact that a bunch of pirates in Somalia are managing to hold to ransom the rest of the world and our trading system is a complete insult and the rest of the world needs to come together with much more vigour.</span></span></p><div class="relatedItemsTopBorder" style="min-height: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: #ffffff; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>

Armed guards are to be deployed on British civilian ships for the first time to protect them from pirates,

Armed guards are to be deployed on British civilian ships for the first time to protect them from pirates, David Cameron announced today. A ...

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Drug That Killed Michael Jackson "Was Self-Injected"

<p> </p><p>The jury hear evidence that MJ had also taken a large number of sleeping pills… 08:42, Sunday, 30 October 2011 The last defence witness in the trial of Dr Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s personal physician, has told the courtroom that he believed the star was responsible for his own death.   Dr Paul White told jurors that the most likely cause of death was self-injection of a fatal dose of the anesthetic Propofol, after Murray had already administered a small amount. "With the administration of the additional 25 milligrams that we're speculating was self-injected by Mr Jackson, the level increases rapidly and at the time of death would be almost identical to the level found in the urine at autopsy," Dr White said. He revealed that the superstar also appeared to have taken a large dose of sedatives – eight Lorazepam tablets – earlier in the night without Murray’s knowledge. White said that mixing the two drugs would be deadly. "The combination effect is potentially profound." Earlier this week a specialist testified that Michael may have also been addicted to the painkiller Demerol, and was also a regular user of Botox. Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter into the star’s untimely death in June 2009. The prosecution has already presented four weeks of evidence so it won’t be long before the jurors retire to decide the verdict. Michael’s sister Janet Jackson recently postponed tour dates in Australia in order to be in LA when the verdict is announced. She explained her decision in a statement: "When I planned these shows, the schedule in California was completely different. After talking with my family last night, I decided we must be together right now.”</p>

Drug That Killed Michael Jackson "Was Self-Injected"

  The jury hear evidence that MJ had also taken a large number of sleeping pills… 08:42, Sunday, 30 October 2011 The last defence witness in...

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Hells Angels feud leaves trail of death and destruction

<p> </p><p>The bloody turf war between the Hells Angels and a rival motorcycle club called the Vagos, has also led to shoot outs in the neighbouring states of Nevada and Arizona. According to the US Justice Department both the Hells Angels and the Vagos are "outlaw" gangs involved in drug and weapons trafficking, extortion and money laundering. The current spate of bloodshed between them can be traced to a disagreement at a Stabucks in the beach town of Santa Cruz last year. A brawl in which some participants wielded ball-peen hammers erupted outside the coffee shop before police arrived and bikers scattered. That led to a gunfight in the northern Arizona town of Chino Valley which left five people wounded and 27 under arrest.</p>

Hells Angels feud leaves trail of death and destruction

  The bloody turf war between the Hells Angels and a rival motorcycle club called the Vagos, has also led to shoot outs in the neighbouring ...

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Two killed in biker gang war started over Starbucks

<p> </p><p>TWO men have been killed and a number wounded in a turf war between two California biker gangs that began over who got to hang out at Starbucks. The San Jose Hells Angels has clashed with the rival Vagos gang in a series of violent incidents in the state. In the latest, senior Hells Angel Steven Tausan, 52, was shot and killed by a fellow member in an apparent quarrel, the Telegraph reports. That shooting occurred at the funeral of the chapter’s captain Jeffrey Pettigrew, 51, who was killed at a casino last month.  Security is tight for Tausan’s funeral tomorrow, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The row began in January 2010 when Hells Angels and Vagos members fought with hammers outside a Starbucks in Santa Cruz. Local deputy police chief Steve Clark told Reuters: “It was all about who would be allowed to hang out at the Starbucks downtown,” adding that the Vagos had made an attempt to gain control of the area. “Only in Santa Cruz would you have biker wars over who’s going to control pumpkin spice lattes,” Clark added. The conflict escalated in August last year, when the two gangs exchanged gunfire near a house in Prescott, Arizona, where CBS reports the Hells Angels were having a party. At least five people were wounded and 27 arrested after the incident.</p>

Two killed in biker gang war started over Starbucks

  TWO men have been killed and a number wounded in a turf war between two California biker gangs that began over who got to hang out at Star...

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Claus Mogensen 45 years old is a chronic drug addict who lives in Arhus,Denmark.

<p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; background-color: #ffffff;"><div class="panel-pane pane-views pane-stories-media panel-slideshow" style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; clear: both; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; margin: 0px;"><div class="pane-content" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-top-color: #8d8d8d;"><div class="view view-stories-media view-id-stories_media view-display-id-default view-dom-id-1" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="view-content" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div id="views_slideshow_thumbnailhover_main_stories_media-default" class="views_slideshow_thumbnailhover_main views_slideshow_main viewsSlideshowThumbnailHover-processed" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div id="views_slideshow_thumbnailhover_teaser_section_stories_media-default" class="views_slideshow_thumbnailhover_teaser_section views_slideshow_teaser_section" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; position: relative; width: 620px; height: 596px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div id="views_slideshow_thumbnailhover_div_stories_media-default_4" class="views_slideshow_thumbnailhover_slide views_slideshow_slide views-row-5 views_slideshow_thumbnailhover_hidden views-row-odd" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; display: block; position: absolute; z-index: 10; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 620px; height: 560px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="views-field-field-image-fid" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="views-content-field-image-fid" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><a class="imagecache imagecache-large_610x456_scaled imagecache-linked imagecache-large_610x456_scaled_linked" href="http://www.demotix.com/photo/898947/life-chronic-drug-addict-denmark" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: underline; color: #384680; display: block; height: 456px; line-height: 456px; font-weight: bold; background-color: #333333; text-align: center; min-width: 610px; padding: 5px;"><img alt="" class="imagecache imagecache-large_610x456_scaled" height="406" src="http://www.demotix.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/large_610x456_scaled/photos/898947.jpg" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: middle; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" width="610" /></a></div></div><div class="views-field-field-video-thumbnail-fid" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"></div><div class="views-field-body" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; float: left; width: 360px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="views-content-body" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><p style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; word-spacing: 0.125em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">Clause takes a nap at his room to cool down his system.</p></div></div><div class="views-field-nid" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; float: left; width: 360px; font-weight: bold; padding: 0px;"><div class="views-content-nid" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">ID: 898947</div></div><div class="views-field-field-meta-date-value" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; float: left; width: 360px; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="views-field-nid" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; float: left; width: 360px; font-weight: bold; padding: 0px;"><div class="views-content-nid" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="item-list" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><ul style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; 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outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; position: absolute; top: 476px; right: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="views-content-view-node" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><span style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" title="View image tags, dimensions and download options"><a href="http://www.demotix.com/photo/898947/life-chronic-drug-addict-denmark" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none; color: #384680; text-indent: -1000px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; display: block; height: 26px; width: 107px; background-image: url(http://www.demotix.com/sites/all/themes/clean_demotix/images/more-info-button.gif); background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">More Info</a></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="panel-pane pane-content-field pane-context-field-teaser panel-story-teaser" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-top-color: #8d8d8d;"><div class="pane-content" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="field field-type-text field-field-teaser" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="field-items" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="field-item odd" style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; word-spacing: 0.125em; padding: 0px;">Waking up every day with a craving for a substance which has not only destroyed your life but has also taken away your brother,everyone's trust in you, and puts you in the<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />same categories as the lowest members of society,ever wondered what is it like?<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />Claus Mogensen 45 years old is a chronic drug addict who lives in Arhus,Denmark.He is noticeably shaking and restless as he sits down on the mattress in the<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />small, dirty living room.The surroundings seem to lack everything, as if all the valuables and appliances that once sat in this small, deteriorating room has been used to barter for<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />more drugs.Claus goes to his empty fridge and removes three small bottles of Methadone dosage prescribed by his doctor which he has to take everyday.<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />Methadone is a narcotic pain reliever, similar to Morphine. It reduces withdrawal symptoms in people addicted to heroin or other narcotic drugs without causing the "high"<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />associated with the drug addiction.Clauses older brother was on heroin and died six years ago due to overdose. "That shocked the sense out of me,but i haven`t been able to stop using it"says Claus.<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />I remember smoking tobacco when i was 14 and was given cigarettes by my friend.During lunch hour at school we used to sneak out to smoke. I continued smoking until i was 18 years old then I started using Marijuana."I did not feel high i wondered why people smoke it" he says.<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />I smoked it because my friends used it,peer pressure you could call it. His school grades started dropping down because he lost concentration in class due to excess of marijuana.He then dropped out of school and never continued with his secondary education.At the age of 19, during a new year party there were people taking cocaine and some of my friends talked me into trying some.I remember feeling so warm and secure.At this point Claus would do just a little bit of it at a time to make the feeling and the supply last as long as possible.I started out doing it only on the weekends.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; word-spacing: 0.125em; padding: 0px;">Then it wasn’t long afterwards, he started buying for his own. Soon he was doing it every weekend. It became the main focus of all his activities.I liked traveling a lot and everywhere I went with my friends we wanted to have cocaine.It made the experience a lot more fun and enjoyable.Other friends we met really appreciated us having some really good stuff and it made me feel like I was important and gave me a powerful sense of control.<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />He takes a one minute nap while seated at a chair during the conversation and immediately wakes up and apologizes.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; word-spacing: 0.125em; padding: 0px;">He used cocaine for some years before his taste in drugs turned to heroin.At the age of 24 he became addicted to it.On the 6th December 1989 he was admitted at a psychiatric<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />hospital for mental disorder because of excessive usage of heroin. "I dont know what happened but i became dependant on it and i kept using more" he says.<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />Claus has been in and out of the psychiatric hospital for many years.The treatment did not only work on his mental health but also his love life,in 2004 while at the hospital he fell in love with 55 years Lene who was also undergoing treatment on mental disorder at the time. They both fell for each other and have been together for six years now. "I used to feel rejected and lonely but after meeting her ,it made me feel appreciated and loved despite the fact that i have my addiction,"he says.<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />Both live apart and don`t have kids.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; word-spacing: 0.125em; padding: 0px;">He admits that he cannot perform any job without a dose of Cocaine fuelling his system and that does not come cheaply since one dose of the kill-me-slowly powder costs<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />DKK180. “Drugs have definitely become part of my body system and I cannot do without. I don’t even fear the police or dread contracting diseases any more,” he says.<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />In February this year Denmark opened its first clinic equipped to distribute free heroin under medical supervision to people heavily addicted to the drug.The clinic is set to serve<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />only 120 of some 300 hard-core heroin addicts.The objective is not to cure heroin addicts, but to help those who are not satisfied by Methadone by providing them with clean<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />heroin, allowing them to avoid disease and the temptation of criminal acts to obtain the drug.<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />Clause is one of the beneficiaries.He receives his doses everyday and he prefers methadone to injecting himself but still he sniffs cocaine. He receives DKK 13,000 per month<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />from the government for his upkeep which mostly he uses to buy cocaine. Each cocaine addict needs roughly DKK 300 a day to satisfy his or her crave. This amounts to DKK 109,500 Thousand per year to spent on cocaine alone.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; word-spacing: 0.125em; padding: 0px;">According to the 2009 report on the drug situation in Denmark prepared by the National Board of Health, the Danish “Focal Point”,there are an estimated 13,000 intravenous drug users in Denmark.It also states that In 2008, more than half (61%) of the young population aged between 18 and 24 years was admitted to treatment for cannabis use as their primary drug, whereas 17%, 6% and 2%, respectively, of the young population were admitted to treatment for use of amphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy as their primary drug. Globally, United Nation Office On Drug and Crime estimates that between 155 and 250 million people, or 3.5% to 5.7% of the population aged 15-64, had used illicit substances at least once in the previous year. Cannabis users comprise the largest number of illicit drug users(129-190 million people). Amphetamine-type stimulants are the second most commonly used illicit drugs, followed by opiates and cocaine. However, in terms of harm associated with use, opiates(Heroin, Morphine)<br style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />would be ranked at the top.</p></div></div></div></div></div></span></p>

Claus Mogensen 45 years old is a chronic drug addict who lives in Arhus,Denmark.

Clause takes a nap at his room to cool down his system. ID: 898947     More Info Waking up every day with a craving for a substance which ha...

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Deadly Drug Overdose Leads to Pill-Pushing Doctor

<p> </p><p>Montgomery County doctor and his son surrendered to police Thursday morning after investigators discovered that they were supplying known drug addicts with large supplies of narcotics, according to authorities. At least one person died of an overdose on Dr. Richard Ruth's drugs, police say. Ruth, of Souderton, was performing insincere medical exams for drug seekers and then providing them with prescription drugs that often ended up being sold in large quantities on the street, police say. Ruth has been running this drug operation for years, authorities say. The lengthy police investigation into Ruth's alleged crimes was called "Operation Pill Pusher." "We know that this community has been plagued by prescription drug abuse and overdoses and this was the go-to guy in the community," said District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman. Ruth’s son, Michael Ruth, was his medical assistant. "For them to come in and say he’s unlawfully doing things is just an atrocity," a teary-eyed Michael told NBC Philadelphia’s Denise Nakano. Michael also faces charges in the drug scheme that involved charging patients for the narcotic prescriptions and insurance companies for the bogus office visits, police say. Police were tipped off to Dr. Ruth’s drug dealing scheme when sources told them last September that they were able to obtain large amounts of oxycodone from the doctor. In addition to providing drugs to people who dealt them on the street, Dr. Ruth ignored pleas from family members of the drug-addicted patients who asked him to stop prescribing drugs like Percocet and Oxycodone, police say. Dr. Ruth was charged with more than 40 counts of fraud, knowingly prescribing to drug addicts, prescription fraud, and conspiracy, among others. His son Michael was charged with similar crimes.</p>

Deadly Drug Overdose Leads to Pill-Pushing Doctor

  Montgomery County doctor and his son surrendered to police Thursday morning after investigators discovered that they were supplying known ...

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Is it possible to effectively treat addiction without addressing the spiritual aspects of the problem

<p><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; background-color: #ffffff;"><div class="singlesubtitle" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px !important; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The public struggles of celebrities like the late Amy Winehouse reveal how insensitive our society has become to drug and alcohol abuse. But the problem is real, says therapist LaTonya Mason Summers, and we need to reject the ugly trend of laughing at its destructive effects.</div><div id="attachment_17095" class="wp-caption alignright" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 7px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 24px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; float: right; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; width: 360px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-17095" height="255" src="http://www.urbanfaith.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Winehouse-reflection350x255.gif" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 640px; float: left; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" width="350" /><p class="wp-caption-text" style="background-image: none; background-attachment: scroll; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #666666; margin-top: 0px !important; margin-right: 10px !important; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px; float: left; font-weight: bold; width: 340px; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; padding: 5px; border: 0px initial initial;">LOST SOUL: Amy Winehouse in London on July 23, 2009, exactly two years before her death. (Photo by Shaun Curry/Newscom.)</p></div><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">This week, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/coroner-amy-winehouse-died-too-much-alcohol-123334324.html" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: #666666; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" target="_blank">Amy Winehouse’s official cause of death</a> was finally announced, three months after the singer was discovered dead in her London home on July 23. After initial autopsy results came back inconclusive, the coroner determined that Winehouse died from consuming an extreme amount of alcohol. According to test results, the 27-year-old singer’s blood alcohol level was five times the drunk-driving limit. Her doctor said the troubled star had resumed drinking in the days prior to her death, after a short-lived period of sobriety.</p><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Besides being a talented artist, Winehouse was emblematic of the numerous celebrities today whose public battles with substance abuse are regularly in the headlines. By the end of her life, Winehouse’s struggles had stretched to the point of becoming fodder for jokes and riddles (“Q: What was Amy Winehouse’s biggest hit? A: Her last one!”). Sadly, our society has grown so accustom to addiction that we now laugh it off. But for those in its grips, it’s no joke.</p><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">We asked LaTonya Mason Summers, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based mental health therapist, to comment on the realities of drug and alcohol addiction and what we can do to help those affected by it.</p><h2 style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: none; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">UrbanFaith: After Amy Winehouse’s death, the Huffington Post featured a commentary by Rabbi Shais Taub which asked the question, “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shais-taub/amy-winehouse-death_b_908050.html" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: #666666; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" target="_blank">Was the World Powerless to Stop Amy Winehouse?</a>” In other words, are there addictions so strong and pervasive that they’re beyond human understanding and control? How would you answer that?</strong></h2><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"></strong><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">LaTonya Mason Summers:</strong> The word choice is interesting here, and I agree: the “world” was powerless to stop Amy Winehouse. But it was the “world” that fueled Winehouse’s addictions. Not “world” in the sense of the “earth,” but “world” as defined by Winehouse’s frame of reference — the background, culture, and lifestyle out of which she lived. Addictions are strong, pervasive and hard to understand and control, but it’s even more difficult when one tries to stop addiction by their own strength and understanding. It is reported that Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning. Drug and alcohol abuse is a byproduct of something far deeper. Oftentimes, it’s a symptom of low self-esteem, unresolved trauma and abuse, rejection and abandonment, and mostly fear. We do a great disservice to addicted persons when we focus on their addictions and ignore the underlying problems.</p><h2 style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: none; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">We see so many celebrity drug and alcohol addicts today that our culture has almost grown cold and callous to it. For instance, before her death there was a website devoted solely to the question of “<a href="http://www.whenwillamywinehousedie.com/" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: #666666; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" target="_blank">When will Amy Winehouse die?</a>” We see celebrities such as Winehouse, Lindsay Lohan, Whitney Houston, and Charlie Sheen, and we make jokes about them. How does this affect our culture’s understanding of addiction?</strong></h2><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"></strong>When we have a culture entertained by reality TV shows, court and crime TV, and sensationalized Web broadcasting — not to mention today’s popular music — we can’t help but have a desensitized society. We are no longer afraid of or empathetic toward anyone or anything because we’ve been there and done that through TV and the media. So, why wouldn’t we have a “When will Amy Winehouse Die?” website?</p><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Unfortunately, we live in a society that “dumbs down” addictions but tacitly gives a “thumbs up” to its portrayals. Remember when there used to be cautionary documentaries on drugs and alcohol, and on people who struggled with them? Now, we have reality shows that glorify dysfunctional behavior. No wonder we are ignorant. Understanding addictions is no longer newsworthy.</p><h2 style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: none; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">How do you counsel a person with a serious drug addiction? Where do you begin, and what kinds of things should family and friends understand as they’re trying to help that person?</strong></h2><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"></strong>I used to set up and run treatment programs for adolescent and adult substance abusers. I absolutely loved that line of work, but it was emotionally tough. After 11 years of doing it, I stepped away to work solely with mentally ill people. The public sees addicted persons as weak people who lack self-control and deserve every consequence they face. But can you imagine the level of shame, guilt, frustration, and hopelessness that those substance abusers felt by the time they got to me? Imagine having failed everyone, including yourself, family, friends, employers, and the legal system — not to mention God. I always started treatment by instilling hope and restoring the addicted person’s sense of worth. It was much easier to establish rapport, trust, and motivation that way.</p><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">God forbid I say this, but oftentimes the families were more sick than the addicts. In fact, family members would wind up on my couch before the addict would. Family work is important in substance-abuse treatment, because the family members can make recovery hard. They help too much. Their helping sometimes hurts the addict. When my patients had toxic families, I’d send my patient to a treatment program in another city or state so they could get better.</p><h2 style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: none; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Over the summer, former NBA star <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/jalen-rose-gets-20-days-jail-drunk-driving-160144351.html" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: #666666; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" target="_blank">Jalen Rose was sentenced to 20 days in jail</a> for drunk driving. Some wondered if the treatment was overly harsh because he was a black celebrity, since others have gotten off easier. Do you think jail time is an effective way to steer people clear of destructive behavior involving alcohol and drugs?</strong></h2><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"></strong>In my experience working in the court system as an advocate for my clients, the courts made it worse. The punishment given rarely fit the crime. The probation officers were inconsistent. The judges sent mixed messages by punishing minor crimes with maximum sentences and vice versa. Jail time is punitive, and punishment does not work when the drug or alcohol use is secondary to something else. Addicts don’t mind punishment because they typically feel useless and worthless anyway. That kind of punishment affirms what they believe about themselves. However, I am not saying they should not suffer consequences for drunk driving, drug use, etc. I am saying that offering them rehab while they’re incarcerated might yield greater results.</p><h2 style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: none; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">What kinds of miracles have you seen in your work with people battling addictions?</strong></h2><div id="attachment_17103" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 7px; margin-right: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; float: left; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; width: 160px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-17103" height="200" src="http://www.urbanfaith.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/LaTonya-Mason150x200.gif" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 640px; float: left; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" width="150" /><p class="wp-caption-text" style="background-image: none; background-attachment: scroll; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #666666; margin-top: 0px !important; margin-right: 10px !important; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px; float: left; font-weight: bold; width: 140px; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; padding: 5px; border: 0px initial initial;">LaTonya Mason Summers</p></div><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Goodness, the stories I can tell. I’ve had a hand in imparting into the lives of addicted persons who are now pastors, business owners, and even addictions counselors. I had a 15-year-old girl whose parents brought her to me as a last resort. She had refused other counselors, and I assumed she would do the same with me. After I asked her parents to leave, the girl opened up to me like a book. (It wasn’t because of anything special that I said to her, but other professionals simply had failed to remove the parents.) The girl was a cocaine user and held me by her confidentiality rights, so I could not tell her parents. We made a pact that if she stopped using I would keep her secret. I cannot tell you the anxiety I had for weeks thinking something would go wrong. I collaborated with her physician to drug test her weekly to ensure the girl’s abstinence. After three months, her parents called thanking me for my help. The girl had returned to a healthy weight, her appetite had been restored, and her mood had improved. Today (four years later) she is a successful college student studying psychology.</p><h2 style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: none; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Among the celebrity success stories that stand out are Robert Downey Jr.’s eventual victory over substance abuse. It only came after several stints in jail and a long, public battle. What kinds of things contribute to a successful road to recovery, and when do you know that someone is legitimately recovered?</strong></h2><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">My biggest weapon is instilling hope. I do this by challenging the addicted person’s mentality and perspective. I am a cognitive behaviorist, which means I help change the way people think. I do not know what works, as I have often thrown up my hands on clients who later recovered. Then I have lost clients whom I thought had arrived. All I really know is, pray hard in each session. I ask for God’s help. I ask Him to give me the words to say, and I hold on to<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2050:1-7&version=NIV" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: #666666; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" target="_blank">Isaiah 50:1-7</a>, believing I am called as a therapist.</p><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">I honestly don’t know when a person is legitimately recovered, as I believe it’s a lifelong process. Like those of us who are not addicted, we have our own lifelong battles — we try to stop lying, cheating, stealing, yelling, cursing, overeating — everyone has a Goliath they must face. And can any of us say we’ll ever arrive in this world? From my perspective, messing up is just as much part of the recovery process as getting it right is. And, if you get it right all the time, how do you know you’re recovered?</p><h2 style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: none; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Is it possible to effectively treat addiction without addressing the spiritual aspects of the problem? </strong></h2><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"></strong>Absolutely not! I’ve had to learn how to minister without saying “God” and “Jesus,” so that I can reach everyone. However, I know how to make others want what I have. I was mentored by a man who told me, “I may not be able to make a horse drink the water, but I should be able to make him thirsty.” And that’s the approach I take in therapy. I see myself as sowing seeds, believing someone will come behind me and water them, and eventually increase will come.</p><p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 28px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Addiction is spiritual. I believe an addict’s zealousness can be indicative of the great calling on his life. He just needs to move that zealousness away from destructive behavior to purposeful, life-giving behavior.</p></span></p>

Is it possible to effectively treat addiction without addressing the spiritual aspects of the problem

The public struggles of celebrities like the late Amy Winehouse reveal how insensitive our society has become to drug and alcohol abuse. But...

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