The Recovery Process as John Sees It

The Recovery Process as John Sees It

Submitted to Oparh.com - August 19, 2008

There are as many ways in overcoming addictions, as there are addicts. There are five stages associated with any recovery method.

STAGE 1 - Willingness:
Without willingness no true recovery can ever take place. Anyone can stop drinking, drugging, overeating, gambling or sex for a week, month or even a year. Without the willingness to stay stopped, some day, some way the need to escape will come and the addiction will provide the path. Until I am willing to let go and let God lead me, I need go no further than here.

STAGE 2 - Letting Go
The secret is pray. I pray with feelings. I accomplish this by first getting quiet. Any method will work. Then I focus inside where my God lives. Then I humbly ask Him for direction. Then let go and think about it no more. I asked God for help and trust in Him do His part.

STAGE 3 - A New Direction:
Now I focus on the new direction. The new path is not in a program, is not in a book or even in a church. The new direction comes from within. I ask myself:
What is it that I really want?
Am I to do the work to feel better?
The concept is, one, I am willing to do the work necessary for change and two that I am the only one that can make change happen. I have, with Gods help, the power to create my own destiny.

STAGE 4 - Finding The Power:
I know that there is a power and that power is God.
One of the exercises I use is staring into a mirror, make eye-to-eye contact, and look deep within. Then ask, “Who is in there?” I can feel the spirit presence inside me. The spirit me has contact with God in a way that I physically do not. Making contact with the spirit ME is so important to lasting recovery from addiction. This is where my recovery actually takes place, on the inside, not the outside. If I want to get and stay clean and sober I needed to uncover just who I really am and what I really want out of this life’s experience.
Once I have made the contact and listened for that still small voice that speaks from within, I not longer practice “condemnation prior to investigation”. I am open to all possibilities and trust that the spirit ME will always seek the right path if I am quiet enough to listen.

STAGE 5 - Just Do It:
The secret in this stage is JUST DO IT. Do it now. What do I have to loose. It is just between God and me anyway. No one will judge, and no one will benefit unless I take that leap of faith and step inside, into my own recovery.

WHAT AM I WAITING FOR?