Blog Articles
Additional resources written by our PCS therapists.
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Codependency Course Correction
Series Three: Blog Forty-Five Codependency is a nebulous term utilized to address relational dysfunction rooted in current and past trauma. Like addiction there is not a one description that fits all codependent behavior. Terry Kellogg once said “you scratch an addict and you find a codependent”. This unhealthy dynamic is… -
Spirituality
Series Three: Blog Forty-Four “Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try— No Hell below us— Above us only Sky— You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one”—- John Lennon Spirituality is… -
The Shame that Binds You
Series Three: Blog Forty-three I recently visited relatives who live in a small farm community in the Midwest. I was privileged to be invited to a small community coffee. The town’s population was 40. Everyone was pretty much related to each other. It was held in a nondescript farm office…. -
The Art of Quieting Your Mind When Distracted
Series Three: Blog Forty-two The journey in addiction recovery teaches that healing is not a one and done experience. Effectively, we apply the wisdom gained from early experiences in recovery and use it to rebuild healthy behavior and intimacy in relationships. Along the way it is easy to become distracted… -
Embrace the Mess
Recently, my family was together to celebrate my youngest daughter’s graduation. My two adult children, who flew in from out of state with my oldest son’s girlfriend, three teenagers, my wife and I, piled into the house for four days stuffed full of family fun. I had visions of laughter,… -
Mindfulness on a Monday
Like many of you, I traveled to work today using the Interstate system, bright and early, my coffee in hand. As I entered onto the I-10, I sighed at the usual sight of bumper-to-bumper traffic. The much-dreaded rush hour greeted us all with open arms, as if it had jokes… -
Working with What is Real in Relationships
Series Three: Blog Thirty-Nine “Power comes from being centered and clear. This is where answers, insights, and lessons will come to the surface of awareness.” Relationships can be fickle. The more you open your heart and invite someone to be close, the greater likelihood you might encounter conflict that could… -
What Makes a Community Gel
Series Three: Blog Forty I recently finished reading a fascinating book entitled The Life of Hidden Trees by Peter Wohlleben. He spent considerable time discussing the growth and development of the beech tree. He shared that the beech like many other trees thrive in community with other beech trees. Apparently,… -
Codependency and Abandonment
Series Three: Blog Thirty-nine One of the great fears that exists in relationship life is that of abandonment. It is scary to become emotionally naked to someone. Many people never achieve deep vulnerability to their partner or anyone else for that matter. There is an underlying fear that if you… -
Yesterday’s Guilt
Series Three: Blog Thirty-Seven “Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt.”- Plautus Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night swimming in yesterday’s guilt. Things that I have done that hurt others years ago and have forgotten. Now, I remember them as… -
The Sacred Fire Within
Series Three: Blog Thirty-Six It has been nearly 26 years since Muhammad Ali stepped back into the spotlight to ignite the Olympic cauldron with fire during the opening ceremony in the midst of battling Parkinson’s disease. The lighting of the Olympic cauldron fire motivated and united people around the world… -
The Way of the Windigo
Series Three: Blog Thirty-Five The Windigo is a legendary monster of the Anishinaabe native American people. It is the villain of a tale told on freezing nights in the North woods. As the legend is told, during cold freezing nights you can feel the Windigo monster lurking behind you as… -
Simple Surrender
Series Three: Blog 36 We live sophisticated lives. People multitask and move about with jet speed. When things don’t go as planned we obsess about fixing what is broken. The amazing world of technology has helped to fix many things. We call people around the world on our cell phones…. -
The Explanation Not the Excuse
In our PCS Intensive process, I’ve yet to work with someone suffering from an addiction who has not experienced some essence of trauma, whether that be overt, obvious traumatic experiences, or the other, the covert, one-thousand-paper-cut-style traumas. And so to unlock the door to full-course healing we, as therapists, have… -
Aging
Hayes & Roadin – 2003 developed four factors as a measure to understand the aging process. They are: Chronological Age – The number of years that have elapsed since birth. Time may be considered as a simple number of many events and experiences. Biological Age – A person’s age in… -
Having Difficult Conversations with People You Love
Series Three: Blog Thirty-Four Recovery is messy. Having a conversation with someone you love about relationalexperiences that you have hurt is difficult. This challenge includes everyrelationship but is particularly difficult when the harm and hurt involves betrayaland broken trust. Much has been written regarding broken trust. In the world ofaddiction… -
Congruence: The Hard Work of Recovery
Series Three: Blog Thirty-Three It is my experience as a recovering addict and professional who has treatedaddiction for 28 years, congruent living is difficult. Everyone is inconsistent,hypocritical and incongruent in some area of their life. Addicts in recovery struggleto be consistent with word and action. They clash with saying one… -
Live Broken Open
Series Three: Blog Thirty-two “Deep love, deep healing come with a deep emotional price. Those who pay are enriched in the deepest way”- Anonymous I listened to a friend who was overwhelmed with humiliation. I spoke with another friend who triggered anxiety, anger and frustration. I heard from another friend… -
Masturbation and the Sex Addict
Series Three: Blog Thirty-One Masturbation is a healthy sexual experience shrouded with a cloak of shame. People make wisecracks about it. Religious institutions demonize it. Young kids have been terrorized for doing it. Children are told by their mothers or fathers “not touch yourself down there!” You would think we… -
Resilience – Self-Care – Intention and the ’S
We all know about self-care, and resilience has become a word I seem to hear around every corner these days. The horse is the true definition of resilience. They have evolved from small pig-like, three toed creatures into the majestic strong animals I have the pleasure to work with every…
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