The Lifelong Quest for Sobriety…The Ultimate Hero’s Journey – Part 6

Guest Blogger and long-time Council friend, Bob W. presents Part 6 of a series dealing with Alcoholism and Addiction from a Mystical, Mythological Perspective, reflecting Bob’s scholarly work as a Ph.D. in mythological studies.

Joseph Campbell was a preeminent mythologist whose lifelong scholarship focused on the powerful messages inherent in stories from various societies, stories both fiction and true, from all the areas of the globe and all the ages of time. The representative power of “story” to convey belief systems and psychical messages can be found in many places, even in some far removed from the scholarship of the work of Campbell and others

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy has been tossed by a tornado into a strange, fantastical land from which she only wants to find her way back home. She is told that to do so, she must “follow the yellow brick road,” capture the Broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West, and take it to the Great Wizard of Oz who will provide the answer she seeks. She enlists the help of others, those similarly seeking something to which they aspire, and pursues this Journey. While it is beset with all kinds of terrors, she is successful in capturing the Broomstick, only to find that the Wizard is but a sham. In the aftermath of missteps with the Wizard, however, Glinda, the Good Witch, who originally told Dorothy to “follow the yellow brick road,” now tells her that getting home can be as easy as closing her eyes, clicking her ruby red heels, and imagining the journey home. But it was the Journey of the movie that Dorothy had to pursue first, with all its horrors, in order to develop the strength and the consciousness that ultimately allowed her to imagine her way home.

What another wonderful analogy for our own perilous journeys. While this story might seem a bit superficial to those of us suffering from the horrors of the diseases of addiction, it is embedded in our minds and hearts from its constant re-screenings since first produced in 1939. Dorothy trying to get home is a good analogy for all of us looking for and finding a life of sobriety and serenity, a place of peace just in our own hearts. The process to follow the yellow brick road, to face and conquer the demons however horrific, to be careful of the false shamans, and to realize in the end that, as a result of the journey and the conquests, home is just a place of serenity in our own hearts, is a spectacular revelation. For some, like me, the Broomstick of the Wicked Witch can be a symbol of our own Souls, a core element of ourselves which we must retrieve from the demons who stole it from us in another lifetime, in order to find our own “home.”

The idea of “home” being that place in our own hearts where, as a result of our journey of progress, we achieve a soulful life and a psychical joy, is very powerful. Over time, it becomes something we can only accept as being miraculous, the gift of a “power greater than ourselves,” which we have learned to embrace. We are now arriving at a place we might call a “Promised Land.”

Kids Camp at The Council-Summer 2017

Alcoholism and drug addiction in families are hard on children, especially over a long, hot summer. For children ages 7-12, Kids Camp at The Council offers a chance for kids to express feelings, gain support, and learn about recovery.

Kids Camp at The Council is three days of prevention, support, and recovery for children who love someone who drinks too much, abuses drugs, or may have done so in the past.  Through art, games, role-play, and meaningful activities, kids learn to Kids Campidentify and express feelings, develop self-care skills, and deepen communication with their family. Above all, kids learn they are not alone and that other children and families have similar experiences.

Parents, caregivers, and teen siblings join the children for portions of the program, including family education and support. All services are provided in a safe and confidential setting at The Council on Recovery’s campus.

Kids Camp at The Council helps parents and children open lines of communication and heal the hurt in their relationships. By learning about addiction in an age-appropriate way, kids gain valuable insight and understanding. The entire family learns new skills and is given the tools to recover.

It takes great courage to address the struggles and obstacles your family may be experiencing. Now is the time to show your children that family can prevail, healing is possible, and there is hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Three Kids Camps are scheduled for this Summer 2017 (space is limited, so apply early):

  • June 22-24, 2017
  • July 13-15, 2017
  • August 10-12, 2017

To learn more, read the Kids Camp Brochure, call 281.200.9299 or message us at children@councilonrecovery.org

8 Shocking Statistics About Underage Drinking

underage drinking usedWhether or not parents and educators want to admit it, underage drinking is rampant. Although the statistics are disturbing, it is imperative for parents to educate themselves on this pressing matter. Often, parents look toward outward signs such as grades, extracurricular activities, and other factors as reassurance their children are not partaking in alcohol in their free time. Yet recent facts show otherwise:

  • By the age of 15 approximately 33% of teens had at least one drink and by age of 18 the number jumps to 60%
  • Even though the legal drinking age is 21, individuals from the age of 12 to 20 account for 11% of all alcohol consumed in the U.S. and, more shocking, 90% is consumed through binge drinking
  • 3 million teens stated they indulged in binge drinking on five or more days and occasions over the past month
  • 8% of youth drove after consuming alcohol and 20% rode with a driver who had consumed alcohol
  • Teens who drink alcohol are more likely to experience issues at school, including failing grades and higher absence rates, and these teens may also abuse other drugs and experience memory problems
  • Excessive drinking is responsible for more than 4,300 deaths per year among underage drinkers
  • Alcohol use during the teenage years can interfere with normal adolescent brain development and can also contribute to grave consequences due to impaired judgment, such as sexual assaults, injuries, and death
  • Individuals who began drinking before the age of 15 are more apt to abuse alcohol or develop alcohol dependence later in life than those who abstained from drinking until the age of 21

Awareness and understanding of the causes of underage drinking is the first step in prevention. Warning signs of underage drinking include, but are not limited to: Changes in mood (i.e. anger, irritability), problems concentrating or remembering, changing of friend groups, rebelliousness, less interest in self-care or activities, and academic or behavioral issues in school. Through education, parents and teachers can gain knowledge, discuss this issue with their youth, and in turn possibly prevent underage drinking.

https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics

https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/UnderageDrinking/UnderageFact.htm

https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/underage-drinking.htm

The Lifelong Quest For Sobriety…The Ultimate Hero’s Journey – Part 5

Guest Blogger and long-time Council friend, Bob W. presents Part 5 of a series dealing with Alcoholism and Addiction from a Mystical, Mythological Perspective, reflecting Bob’s scholarly work as a Ph.D. in mythological studies.

In the movie, The Matrix, Morpheus, the leader of a rebel group, is trying to recruit a young neophyte, Neo, into joining him in a revolutionary plot to destroy the Matrix, a simulated system that has enslaved the human race.  Morpheus offers Neo a choice between taking one of two pills, a blue pill or a red pill.  He says:  “This is your last chance, Neo. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.  Remember:  all I’m offering is the truth.  Nothing more.”

This is wonderful analogy for the choice that those of us living in the fantasy of an addictive brain must do in our efforts to get and stay sober.  Do we accept the challenges of those standing by to help us, our sponsors, and take the red pill, or do we turn away, take the blue pill and stay in Neverland (where nothing is ever real) forever? The red pill takes us deep down into the labyrinthine passageways of our own brain, where pathologies of decades, simulated fire-breathing dragons and cruel prickly demons, may be lurking to derail our pursuit of Sobriety.

Neo takes the red pill and wakes up in a pool of gel, a pod where every enslaved member of the human race is locked in a comatose state. Being conscious of the Matrix now, he breaks free and begins the journey to understand the depths and terrors of the Matrix.

For us, this begins the process of taking inventory of our lives in the grasp of addictions, a journey into the depths and breadths of the horrific experiences we heaped on ourselves and countless others when our disease was running rampant.  This process of taking inventory is difficult, tedious to say the least, but we must be honest, rigorously honest, to make progress in freeing ourselves and our loved ones from the Matrix-like terrors of our addicted lives.

Lecture Series | The Family Hour Focuses on the Family System, April 8th, 10-11:00AM

The Family System is the topic of the next Family Hour, the popular new lecture series at The Council on Recovery, Saturday, April 8th at 10 AM. The lecture
will focus on how family systems are impacted by addiction and mental health issues. Participants are invited to discover what family systems are and how they survive through these issues.

The Family Hour, held on the second Saturday of each month, is a lecture and Q&A series that focuses on the disease of addiction and its inevitable impact on the entire family. Hosted by The Council’s Center for Recovering Families, the Family Hour is facilitated by the Center’s Clinical Director Lori Fiester, LCSW-S, MAC, CIP.

This community series is free and open to all families, loved ones, and members of our community who seek up-to-date, accurate information about addiction and related issues.  Registration is not required, but seats do fill quickly, so plan accordingly. Adult-themed.

For listing of upcoming Family Hour lectures at The Council, click here.

The Lifelong Quest For Sobriety…The Ultimate Hero’s Journey – Part 4

Guest Blogger and long-time Council friend, Bob W. presents Part 4 of a series dealing with Alcoholism and Addiction from a Mystical, Mythological Perspective, reflecting Bob’s scholarly work as a Ph.D. in mythological studies.

On the third day in the belly of the whale, Jonah finally surrendered.  He had traveled across the known world of the time trying to escape the mandate of his God,  that he travel to Nineveh and tend to its people. His flight was fraught with calamity, culminating with being devoured by a whale and suffering in its belly.  His surrender enabled his deliverance and the opportunity to engage his ministry.  Jonah’s experiences in the whale are not unlike the conflict with the multitudinous demons that we sufferers of the tragedies of addiction faced in the throes of our acting-out.  These demons took all forms and shapes and, in their capacity to enslave us, they seemed all powerful and eternal.

Like Jonah, we had been pursuing a distorted and fallacious life course. To get sober, to escape the demons, we had to surrender, to a higher power of our own choosing, in order to begin the ministerial work on our own Journey.  It is the work to pursue our very own Journey to Sobriety. As in the Hero’s Journey, we encounter guides and mentors, here in the form of sponsors, who introduce us to the processes of dealing with the terrors of our past.  In essence, the Journey is one to recognize the totality of our disease in all its aspects, the steps of admission, acceptance, and surrender.

In the Arthurian Legends, the Knights of the Round Table all pursued their own journeys, to find the Holy Grail, the gift of spiritual enlightenment.  They encountered tragedies and demons along the way, not unlike those we faced in our addicted lives and in the process of working to unravel the pathologies of those lives.  In recovery, the help of guides, sponsors, to show us the way, is tantamount.  These women and men embraced the process of working with us as a means to help themselves.  They are not unlike the Fisher King in the Arthurian Legends, who was charged with keeping the Grail safe, in a secret castle.  The Fisher King was also suffering a long festering wound that could only be ameliorated by the progress of the Knights seeking the Grail.  He is like our sponsors who achieve some relief from their own maladies in the process of helping others.

In every way, this Journey of ours, now begun in earnest, pursuing a life and process of Recovery, is like the Journeys of countless heroes in Mythology, in mythological stories that attend all of human society in every form and every culture, throughout history and around the globe.  We really are now pursuing a heroic quest…