These days many of us are having a hard time finding hope. Some of us are overwhelmed by serious personal problems. Others of us live with a foreboding sense of an uncertain future for ourselves and our children. Looming climate change, increasing inequity between rich and poor, and massive dysfunction in our government all add| The Phoenix Spirit
Not my typical morning ruminations, but this morning I woke up wondering about people in cars in ditches. Here’s the context: I'm on a trans-continental road trip with my 22-year-old son, destination Los Angeles. We opted for the southern route versus the Rockies to avoid Bad Winter Weather, and somewhere around Faribault, MN we encountered| The Phoenix Spirit
I’m a person in long-term recovery from addiction. What that means to me, is that I haven’t picked up an alcoholic drink or drug since October 1981. I know to some of you that seems like eons. But to me, it still feels like yesterday. The pain of the end of my use was so| The Phoenix Spirit
All my life I've felt there's something terribly wrong with me--something I can't put into words, something that makes me different from everybody else. People say, "Sheila, you are a good person" but I know they don't really like me. Sometimes I really hate myself. I know you'll think this is stupid. For the longest| The Phoenix Spirit
We know we can’t save anyone from their pain and suffering. We know trying to rescue or change someone in the throes of addiction drains us to the point of depletion; it becomes a never-ending cycle of feeling hopeless and helpless. We desperately want to maintain hope and feel guilty if we give up. The| The Phoenix Spirit
Fear stalks our world, brazen and shameless. I expect fear to occasionally sneak in and out of alleys, but to see it parade through public streets as though a welcome visitor is…..frightening! There are public and private fears; they embolden each other. Like bullies on the playground, they compete for space and power. Who will| The Phoenix Spirit
It was the last day of a graduate class I was teaching on the Spirituality of the Twelve Steps. I asked the class what was most striking to them from the lectures and conversations we'd had. As though she had been given the question earlier, a woman immediately shot her hand up. "I learned again and| The Phoenix Spirit
The 12 steps are a spiritual program developed through Bill W and others’ experiences of being in the grip of alcoholism.| The Phoenix Spirit
Recovery is one of the most painful yet transformative processes a person can go through. More often than not, the depths of despair is our catalyst for change: when the weight of being is more painful that the prospect of becoming. Like Rumi says, it is from the bough of our hearts that we find| The Phoenix Spirit