mindingmybiz

This blog is my shared process in working towards integrating self-awareness with all other aspects of life, while on my way to becoming more authentic and whole.

Archive for the category “personal healing”

23 Apr 2024

Empirical Spirituality: Two Things

I ventured outside “the church” about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I spent almost 20 years of adulthood in the church.

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Leaving the fold started with the ending of my marriage. In retrospect, it could have been said that through my divorce, my ex-husband got the church, and I got the world and the freedom to explore who I was, what I believed, and more importantly how I wanted to live my life and why (not just because the Bible or Jesus says so). This forced me to develop critical thinking and self-reflective skills which emphasized emotional intelligence from the inside-out. This was akin to an overdue internal reset, while raising young children.

Deconstructing my spiritual worldview, which was embedded in fear, gradually ensued.

A persistent fear of an omnipotent evil force ruling the world and my private thoughts was slowly investigated, along with a subtle but persistent fear of abandonment by a more loving but less powerful and erratically intervening God as punishment or mere consequence for not conforming my thinking, believing, and behaving to a set-standard.

Keep in mind – this has been about a 10-year journey, not a rapid and haphazard endeavor. As far as I can tell, this will be a lifelong journey, with different seasons and excursions throughout.

You see, the missing component in my spiritual worldview became apparent – a clear sense of what it meant to be me, according to me.

A slow and careful deconstruction involved my sense of self, which was also, guess what – feared as wholly untrustworthy. That belief had to be closely examined, with support of many trusted others.

The presumption that I was consensually conforming to this worldview from a place of being loved was something I could not grasp. It felt rigidly incoherent. I could not grasp this any longer, nor could I dismiss that I could not grasp it either. So, I tapped out.

Who was I? What did I believe in when it came to relating to the ineffable? How could I even embark on that when I couldn’t fully allow myself to express what was within, what I thought, felt, valued, and why? It all felt backwards. How could I relate to the transcendent when I didn’t know how to relate to the immanent? I often couldn’t clearly define what I felt, thought, and valued for myself. Why? Because I feared and/or disavowed all of that “fleshly” material for the transcendent. Again. Something felt amiss.

Looking back, the only thing I brought with me when I left the church was a curious, searching mindset out to answer something I couldn’t clearly articulate yet. What was I even searching for? I couldn’t have told you.

What I was searching for was a clearer sense of a self – both as a unique individual and as a non-unique human being. How could I truly love or be loved without a clearly sensed self, first? Love involves freely sharing something of the self.

Codependent (vacillating between being overly independent or overly dependent vs. interdependent), fear and shame-based conformity was all I knew. I conflated that with love and faith.

As I moved beyond the confines of the church, I took this one premise for deductive reasoning: God is love.

That’s it.

But what in the actual eff, is love? An apropos question following a divorce, don’t you think?

How do you define, characterize, and identify something that has felt so forsaken, foreign yet natural, innate yet elusive, for much of your life? Another premise was running in the back of my mind and that was this: Whatever I thought I knew about God and love was wrong. I need to start over. Burn the dead trees and see what comes up.

Reflecting on lived experiences, lots of therapy, lots of studying about attachment theory, different spiritual worldviews, along with some inductive reasoning formed by a developing reflective self or put simply: a self, an autonomous self, has helped point to something a lot less foggy.

I decided I needed to explore the world and myself, outside of the codependent relationship I had with religion, within the Evangelical Christian worldview.

As much as possible, I wanted to explore my own spirituality; empirically, autonomously, honestly, and authentically. When I say “spirituality”, I’m referring to how I relate to that which is immaterial and ineffable.

For the first time, I felt a newfound and yet terrifying sense of freedom to explore who I was outside of a belief system that defined my identity and values, the nature of reality, and God, for me. I was now able to discover and develop a more empirical spirituality and identity vs. a theoretical one, for myself.

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It was like I was an eager student/scientist when it came to existential angst and humanistic questions that I was now free to ask, test, and not have to immediately settle with answers I had already been given.

This felt both liberating and terrifying. What if I got it all wrong? What if I can’t figure this out on my own? What if, what if, what if?

My divorce provided a sense of “evidence” that what I had believed, how I had perceived myself, God, reality, and life…was missing that foundational piece: A clearer sense of a me. Again – as a unique individual and as a non-unique human being.

Along with my own observations without the fear of hell and the devil overshadowing everything. This was truly the biggest test of faith or of trust in God I had ever taken: leaving the church. It felt like I was leaving “home”. Leaving “Kansas”.

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Prayer (or self-talk) with open, honest, and emotionally raw relating did not cease. If anything, it increased. It reminds me of the Psalms of David. He had no “book of Psalms”. He didn’t know he was writing what would someday be used as a hymnal or considered sacred Scripture call “the Psalms”. He was just pouring out his naked heart and soul to God (or himself), uncensored.

This is what I did not leave behind when I left the church. God (which I also define as “Reality” or simply “what is”) cannot be boxed into a church, an idea, a belief, or a label. This is what I refer to as empirical spirituality. I used my ability to observe honestly; internally and externally.

Leaving the church actually helped me become more of an honest observer of life, of myself, and of the hardest age-old questions that still are unanswered. Like why is there so much unjust suffering in this world? A devil, spiritual warfare, and a loving and powerful God who is at war in unseen dimensions does not sufficiently answer that, even if it may be so. Nobody can conclusively prove or verify this, nor can anybody conclusively disconfirm and disprove it either, just like the existence of a Creator God or the non-existence of a Creator God. It is an unanswered question I’ve learned to live with, honestly. It will probably remain as such.

This is how living in faith feels to me; learning to be at peace with uncertainty.

I have read, listened to, worshipped with, visited, conversed with, and digested enough of a diverse plethora of perspectives on religion, theology, epistemology, religious and secular historicity, and psychology to say this:

At the end of the day, I don’t know what the actual facts are about so many things, in the least – what I’ve not borne witness to (like the resurrection or a man named Jesus). Yet, I can say this: only two things really matter.

But first, I have to say this from being such a devout “believer” prior to venturing outside of the church:

What specifically doesn’t matter most is what you (or I) say you (or I) believe in or don’t believe in, when it comes to religious faith, or spirituality, or epistemology.

You can label yourself a Christian, Atheist, Agnostic, Ex-Evangelical, Born-Again, Progressive, Spiritual-but-not-religious, Jew, New Ager, Hippie, Rationalist, Non-Dualist, Buddhist, or Muslim for all I care.

These labels mean very little.

What matters most is how you show up in life, especially in relationships. And this includes the relationship with your very own self, for that replicates in your relationships with others. For example, if you’ve got low tolerance for your own emotions, you’ll probably have a low tolerance for other people’s emotions.

So, what are the characteristics you embody while relating to others?

Simply put: How do you behave towards others?

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How do you treat your family, partner, friends, exes, co-parents, ex-friends, co-workers, subordinates, bosses, neighbors, enemies, other people’s kids, people you’ve heard gossiped about, the have’s, the have-nots, acquaintances, people who are not like you, people you disagree with, or people you interact with online?

Of course, the way you relate to others varies immensely depending on context and many variables. There isn’t just one description, there’s complexity.

But in general, consider the people you interact with most – what characterizes how you show up? Or, do you avoid getting close to people?

How do you try to repair the inevitable mishaps in ongoing relationships?

How do you treat people who don’t interact with you regularly? Do you treat them better than those you interact with regularly? Or do you treat them a lot worse? WHY?

That is what matters most to me. It’s what I ask myself constantly.

How much do you care about how you treat people? Your label and beliefs mean very little compared to this.

Secondly: Are you growing?

How are you changing? One thing is constant and unchangeable in life: change itself. While change is inevitable, personal growth is not.

So, are you growing? And, how would you know? What is used to measure this change, merely your own opinion of yourself while you live a relatively isolated life? Ha! That’s a funny one! Especially if you have no record or documentation to track your inner life, your internal dialogue: your thought and emotional life. If you’ve not shared or expressed your inner life over a period of time to anyone, even yourself, i.e. a journal – how can you know any of this with confidence? Don’t fool yourself! Are you relying solely on memory? That is another thing that constantly changes. The story you tell yourself about the past. Your memory might be misleading you without you knowing it. Memory is very limited and bias, depending on mood and cognitive capacity, especially as you age in adulthood.

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Don’t get me wrong, you’re definitely a major source of information, but you cannot be the only source with zero accountability or reference checks, so to speak. Who else would be able to answer this, in addition to yourself?

Consider thinking in terms of blocks of several months or years. How have your relationships changed? How has using your time and money changed? How has your perspectives changed?

Are you growing? And how do you know?

Is the only thing that is changing in life, the calendar and the ticking clock?

For me, to answer these questions with more clarity, I had to step outside of the church or a systematic worldview that I conformed to without a clear sense of self. I felt the pull to develop a spirituality that was more empirical. More authentic. More real and meaningful to me. This involved taking detailed notes, journaling in-depth, recording vulnerable discussions within myself/to God, and at times this involved sharing these with another trusted person.

I’ve found that for me, God represents a focus on reality and relationships, including the relationship with oneself, and fosters growth in how I connect with myself and others. In essence, God is reality: that which is or simply exists, empirically rather than theoretically.

The labels, beliefs, canonized books, and whatever interpretations come from ancient, canonized literature all matter little in comparison to those two things. At least, for me.

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And one thing is perhaps the icing on the cake: Spiritual community. Authentic spiritual community. Where can I turn to for this? I think I can now turn back to the church. Perhaps, I am more ready to integrate community because I can find enough solidarity within any community as long as those two things have plenty of sunlight, soil, and water for there to be deep growth with others despite differences in mere labels.

Relationships and growth. They go hand in hand, together.

Let’s see what this will bring forth. I am looking forward to this next chapter and in contributing in a meaningful and authentic way. And community that can help foster those two things (which go hand in hand) is good enough for me!

At the end of the day, I will grow…come what may.

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Posted in Christianity, deconstruction, existentialism, personal growth, personal healing, Progressive Christianity, spirituality, Uncategorized, Wisdom and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
29 May 2023

Enneagram and Non Duality (Advaita) Musings

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The Enneagram is a useful tool which can assist in doing the “highest activity the separate-self can engage in”.

The Enneagram assists by organizing complex and seemingly random human experiences and behaviors into basic patterns or basic flow.  The Enneagram does this by reducing human experiences i.e. behaviors, thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions down to their most basic common denominators:  Basic desires and fears, and key motivations.  A solid Enneagram study can reveal what consistently drives thoughts and feelings which lead to behaviors and choices, in a coherent manner.  

Infinite Consciousness (aka. God) becomes or incarnates as a finite human body-mind to experience the marriage of divinity and matter.  Aka a human being.  What humans often do irrespective of race, class, gender or any other demographic distinction however, is forget who they truly are and misidentify as only the finite body-mind.  The experience of waking up to what’s beyond the finite mind-body within, and integrating this essential truth into all of life is what maturity is about, to me.  The process of growing into or integrating the infinite with the finite and recognizing they are not two separate entities, but One – is a journey I believe is unique to humans. 

Think of two people running in a 3-legged-race. They need to learn how to harmonize their steps and coordinate as one, or they will not get far, fast. Their journey will be frustrated with incoordination and an inefficient use of energy and rhythm. This is where the Enneagram becomes exceedingly useful, when you understand its potential along with accurately typing yourself, it accelerates unf**king yourself. It helps coordinate the infinite and finite movements in feeling more graceful and efficient versus effortful and strident in your energy flow or movements. This manifestation is experienced first inwardly, then will inevitably manifest outwardly. This is a lifelong unfoldment of integration – to experience more alignment and ease in being while experiencing the full spectrum of human-ing.

We are all God or Infinite Consciousness, incarnate. The vehicle or conduit of infinite consciousness is the finite mind-body. The ego state is when the finite mind-body mistakes its very own activity or role as a separate identity or self or entity. It wrongly believes it is separate from Infinite Consciousness or God and must therefore gain or avoid something, in order to be whole.

How does a separate-self go about doing this? The Enneagram distills this down to 9 basic patterns or constructs, each with 9 levels of development.

The finite mind-body has its place and role. As it grows in recognition and remembrance of its inherent and essential incarnate nature aka Essence, and integrates or is overarched by this recognition, wholeness will increasingly manifest and unveil itself.

Suffering occurs when the inverse order takes places. In other words, when the separate-self superimposes itself above all else, and conflates role and activity (thoughts, feelings, sensations) with its essential nature or identity. Another way I’ve said this is making the footnotes, the Title or Header.

Accept the invitation by the Enneagram to “know thyself”, well, including but beyond the ego. It is indeed as Rupert Spira says, “the highest activity the separate self can engage in”.

Posted in existentialism, mental health, Non Duality, personal growth, personal healing, spirituality, Uncategorized, Wisdom and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
13 Nov 2022

You, Me, and We

It is right and not wrong for me to have, to possess; an autonomous, differentiated, individual sense of self.

It is in fact, essential.

I need an “I” to relate to a “thou” (whether this is a Higher Power and/or another human being) to become a part of a securely and healthy functioning “we”.

It is also true, that I need a “we” that is supportive, “I”- affirming, flexible, and stable or secure, to develop an integrated and whole sense of an “I” in all its richness and complexity. In other words, I need the “we” to be a safe enough place where I won’t worry about losing or jeopardizing our “us” when the formation of my “I” overtly or covertly differentiates from the “you”, in our “we”. And if I (or you) do worry, it can be openly talked about and worked through in the “I” space and the “we” space. It doesn’t become the proverbial elephant in the room that eventually eats the rug it’s being impossibly swept under due to deprivation.

When I experience being me, and you experience being you, and we can honor and affirm one another without denial or diminishment of one another’s differences, this is beautiful intimacy that generously supports You, Me, and We.

This “we” can include a couple, a friendship, a workplace relationship, a family, a neighborhood, a community, and a world of all these worlds of we’s.

When there is a breakdown in the You, the Me, and therefore our We; instead of interdependency, codependency is found in all its cunning and baffling forms.

To mind our “You, and Me, and We” business is essential, courageous, breathtaking, and rewarding work. I believe we are inherently wired to flourish and thrive in this work, together. After all, it is a lot of work.

But let’s also leave room for humor and work, along the path of humanlightenment.

Posted in codependency, intimate relationships, personal growth, personal healing, recovery, Recovery, Uncategorized, Wisdom and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
26 Sep 2022

On Addiction

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There are many ideas and images we hold in our minds when it comes to addiction.  Some of them are more Hollywood, simple, and basic and some are more comprehensive and complex.  There are a lot of caricatures of “addicts” that portray a very negative and misleading idea on what addiction is and isn’t. Very seldom do those caricatures do any justice to what addiction entails. So sometimes a deeper dive into the mysterious nature of addiction is helpful. That’s what I’m doing in this post.

Even though addiction seems to be a hotly debated topic, most people would agree that it’s a formidable force that’s cunning and shrewd.  And in its wake; kills, steals, and destroys one’s quality of life, relationships, and even one’s very own sense of Selfhood. This is often done in secrecy and isolation, until it cannot be contained there any longer. This can often be an invitation out of hell, albeit an abrupt and harsh one, that can at first feel like total defeat. 

I’ve found that most people don’t want to be labeled by another as an addict. That’s tantamount to name-calling. If they identify themselves as an addict, that’s different. And sometimes identifying what addiction is, who has it and who doesn’t, can be chanted to a sneering beat of: “I know you are, but what am I”.

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I believe that addiction is fundamentally a spiritual condition of disconnection; from one’s very own self, others, and to the ever-increasing uneasy parts of reality we would rather just make disappear.  Its symptoms are deception (first to self, then others), discord, and disruption from receiving life-giving force or energy.  This is why I believe addiction is fundamentally spiritual in nature: it’s initially invisible to merely physical metrics but will manifest its occupancy in the physical domain in only a matter of time.  Just wait.  Once it’s successfully enticed you and occupies your mind, body, and soul it won’t just stop there.  It’s far too ravenous.  Addiction is characterized by a spiritual energy which has an unsatiable hunger that doesn’t discriminate. It’s often been said that addiction is an equal opportunity destroyer. 

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Addiction is far more inclusive than any of the most inclusive anti-bigot activists out there.  Truly, all are welcome. It doesn’t give a shit about how smart, stupid, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, conservative, liberal, socially privileged, marginalized, religious, non-religious, gay, straight, one gendered or non-binary gendered, physically or mentally abled, disabled, single, divorced, married, remarried, polyamorous, vaccinated, non-vaccinated, Black, White, Yellow, Red, Brown, Multi-racial, Bi-racial, young, or old, etc. etc. etc., you are.  If you’re alive, it will accept you with open arms.  It will take you in and devotedly take you down and not only that, but it will want to take down your loved ones as well.  The more you love them and the more they love you, the more it will want their mind, body, and soul too.  Addiction is a family contagion because family is often whom you love and care about the most.

And, when addiction has fraternized and colonized your mind, body, and soul without a good enough fight and push-back surrender to a Higher Power greater than itself by the one it occupies, you will remain under its control and governance.

This is all so easily disguised and therefore denied until the destruction is far more replete and obvious and stretches beyond the spiritual domain and manifests into the physical domain.  Although, it’s admittedly baffling to witness people still denying its presence even when it’s so thoroughly manifest in the relational and physical domain.

This is a very cunning, formidable, and relentless thing. Dis-ease.  Call it whatever you want or don’t call it anything other than addiction.  It doesn’t matter what you label it or name it.  And if you deny it, all the better, for “it”. 

What I’m experiencing, little by little, is that the more spiritually perceptive, discerning, keen, awake, and surrendered you are; the sooner addiction can be arrested.

I believe that being human, makes you higher risk and more susceptible to addiction, although there are varying degrees of protection and varying degrees of affliction on an individual basis.  Some may disagree because addiction or dependency/withdrawal symptoms can be replicated in lab animals.  While I believe that animals are also spiritual beings, for some reason they are naturally less vulnerable to addiction unless they are being manipulated by people. Naturally they seem less susceptible, and I think it’s because they don’t appear to morally judge themselves or others, and therefore don’t struggle with the human affliction of shame and pride.  Of course, to argue for or against that theory is insignificant. I can’t talk to rats or get into their consciousness. But I digress…

The point is: to win this battle and live in the solution is found in something that is pretty counter-intuitive to human survival.  It’s quite the uncomfortable human paradox. 

The solution is found in surrender. 

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Not to the addiction of course, but to a Power greater than it, and greater than you, whatever you name or call that Power doesn’t matter. I once heard someone refer to this Power as “Not Me“. What matters most is that you can see or even slightly believe, that this Power could truly set you free and do for you what you cannot do for yourself, but which you believe you “should” be able to do. And by all means, if you can do this for yourself and you truly do not need a Higher Power than yourself to do this, then I reckon you are not dealing with addiction. Not everything that’s hard to quit is an addiction, that could merely be a bad habit. There’s a difference.

The way I’m finding it works is this: This Higher Power will not go against my minimally cooperative, ideally enthusiastically given, consent. That is how surrender differs from compliance. Surrender to a Higher Power, not comply. This involves trust and desire, even if it’s very very small at first. It can grow, but you can’t grow something out of nothing. You need something to start with. This is the parable of the mustard seed (see Matthew 13:31-32). This is the solution. It is simple, but not easy. Not at all. But like most things, surrendering becomes easier with practice, one day at a time, and not always in a row.  

With this concept of addiction, it doesn’t matter what the chains are tied to.  It could be to a substance, a behavior, a person, or a belief system.  It’s usually to something impermanent, and what isn’t impermanent?

I’ve also observed that the more abstract in nature that the chains are tied to is, the more disguised its occupancy can be, and often more socially acceptable because it’s simply more common by that very disguisable fact. But do not be deceived.  The proof is in the pudding, and that pudding often is spiritual in nature and in how much or how little you’re surrendered to a Higher Power that gives you freedom and not chains.  Surrendering to addiction as your higher power gives you shame upon shame, or even harder to detect; pride upon pride, until you are leveled with reality.

As human beings, we are vulnerable, meaning we are surrendered beings. We are not the most Powerful beings or forces of nature in the universe or even on earth. It’s hard to remember especially when we’re so far removed from being intimately connected with nature. But the fact remains: there are powers and forces greater than us, so know your place and that surrender is unavoidable.

So, what are you surrendered to, and how is that working out for you?

If you scoff at the idea that you are addicted to anything, consider this before your dismissal: The addiction you might have may be revealed with a confrontation of losing something specific, against your will, that others live without and are OK without it. If you had to give this up and learn to be better off with its absence or at minimum, its non-guaranteed presence in your life, would you be, OK? Just something to consider.

Nonetheless…for all of us it’s good to reflect on and choose your surrender, wisely.

Iguazu Falls – the world’s largest waterfall. from
Posted in Addiction, codependency, personal growth, personal healing, recovery, Recovery, Uncategorized, Wisdom and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
21 Feb 2022

On Morality & Love

There’s a story of a man named Simeon in the Bible (see Luke 2:25-35) who was described as being “righteous and devout”.

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What does it mean exactly, to be righteous and devout? I’ve got my personal stereotypes and caricatures that portray someone who is “holy”, meaning a bit emotionally cold or stoic, conditionally approachable, not very down-to-earth or relatable, probably intelligent, sophisticated, and rather arrogant. That’s the best description of the image I find that initially emerges into conscious awareness.

Well according to how Jesus answered a teacher of the law, the highest form of morality can be boiled down to love (see Mark 12:29-31). Sequentially and specifically; loving God with your whole inner and integrated being. And then Jesus adds an addendum that seems inseparable to the first command (and that’s much easier to measure) – ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

So, I think it’s safe to presume that being righteous and devout means loving an external, metaphysical, ethereal, abstract Being with YOUR whole internal, metaphysical, ethereal, abstract being – measured by an empirically validated and evidenced way – how you treat “your neighbor” as well as yourself.

It’s so simple that we don’t buy it and we often find ourselves adding on a multitude of “morality measurements” with countless other morality clauses than what Jesus added. Just love your neighbors as yourself, that’s hard enough. And your “neighbor” is something else to contemplate in the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, which I won’t go into in this post.

So, the question I’m pondering here is this: How is mental health and development, factored into this command – to love so integratively in a way that it manifests with congruency with other people?

By all appearances and experiences of mine thus far I’m quite sure of this: being loving is not an inborn human trait. Being loving isn’t innately and independently present in human infants. I’ve given birth to and am raising 3 human souls, and I’ve watched them closely.

Now to be clear— being IN NEED of love, at birth and onward is inborn and innate. And when you form a secure attachment and nurture and protect your babies they coo, smile, and affectionately bond with you right back. It’s a beautiful circle of love. But it didn’t begin with the baby first loving me. It started with a baby who needed to be loved and cared for, FIRST.

The nature of the intimate dyad of human caregiving determines (although not exclusively) a great deal in how “loving” a person will eventually be, influenced by how much they themselves felt loved, or more specifically – securely attached.

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“Loving” is not to be confused with merely how “nice”, “polite”, socially acceptable, or virtuous they appear in public. This is about way more than mere etiquette. Rather, it’s far more about how much they’ll be able to enjoy consensual and reciprocal vulnerability, authenticity, and work through the inevitable interpersonal conflicts with a selected few. In other words: healthy interpersonal relationships.

In an ideal world, humans would produce loving human beings – generation after generation. It doesn’t take much to see that we don’t live in an ideal world. Far from it.

So if children grow without enough of this kind of emotional secure attachment created within their earliest and formative interpersonal relationships, how can we expect them to give what they don’t have? For so many who didn’t, are we screwed? No. There is a path of healing and inner recovery. God is sensitively attuned to the broken-hearted, who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Just meditate on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5.

I believe humans are biologically wired to be moral creatures. When we are immoral, we suffer and often find ways to escape or find relief from suffering. To be clear again: We are innately moral creatures which means our biology is wired for thriving when we’re morally strong. And I hope I’ve made it clear enough by now that when I say “moral” I mean we’re biologically created to be loved and loving – this is how we’re morally biologically wired – for love, aka to need to give and receive secure emotional attachments. Possessing a familiarity of attachment styles in both childhood and adulthood is helpful to understanding where I’m coming from. Hopefully if you’re making a living within the mental health field or personal development arena, you’re more than a little familiar with the scientific literature on attachment styles and neurobiology. Hopefully.

I digress. Getting back to morality and love…

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

So, to those who perceive themselves as morally righteous, and therefore loving as described above – What is your detailed and coherent, autobiographical narrative that’s made sense of your adulthood in light of your childhood?

In all transparency, this is somewhat of a trick question. I’ve heard people saying they grew up with love and support from their parents, yet these same people are often times some of the quickest to criticize or judge others and are also some of the most emotionally cold or shallow people I know. To be sure, they are often very “nice”, “polite”, socially acceptable, and fluent in practicing social graces/etiquette. Yet, there seems to be a gaping hole, a sense of wtf-ness that’s hard to explain and even harder to convince them of.

Now of course, I could very well be totally off myself here. But the disjointed feeling I get in this wtf-ness experience is because I hear they consider themselves as lucky for growing up the way they did, and therefore they don’t “morally” struggle much. Yet at the same time, I observe that they find it very difficult, unvaluable, and unnecessary (if they even notice) to be emotionally vulnerable, authentic, and show capacity to work through interpersonal conflicts with their loved ones. It’s a head-scratcher for me.

This is the best I can come up with to try and explain the dissonance between morality and love, profoundly the kind of love from God, that pours out interpersonally. Unless you experience it yourself with God, it’s hard to explain to others.

There was a woman who was described in Luke 7:37 as “a woman in that town who lived a sinful life”. She wept on Jesus’ feet (portrays her as probably crawling on the floor in approaching and being next to Jesus) kissed his feet, then wiped his feet with her hair, and poured perfume from an alabaster jar.

To be loved and to love.

I think she gets it.

Intuitively.

Without explanation.

Her story might help shed light on this gaping hole for those who need an explanation. Jesus saw that Simon the Pharisee didn’t get it either.

“Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

Luke 7:44-47

How well you understand the love of God for yourself has much to do with how much you’ve experienced forgiveness from God. And if in your own self-estimation, you don’t have much to be forgiven for, you’ll find it hard to love others who do.

It boils down to compassion. If you don’t have much need for compassion from others, you won’t feel much compassion for others either.

If you’ve never felt much need for love from others, you likely won’t feel much love for others.

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Posted in Christianity, emotional health, mental health, morality, personal growth, personal healing, recovery, Recovery, spirituality, Wisdom and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
01 Dec 2020
1 Comment

An Open Letter to the 12-Step Literature Approvers…

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I’m trying to work through the 12-Steps and keep bumping up against what appears as dogma with the Disease Model of addiction. I’m reading Al-Anon approved literature as well as material written by other addiction experts like Gabor Mate and Jamie Marich and am feeling more and more disjointed.

I’ve been personally impacted by a loved one’s addiction and have entered into recovery myself. In 12-Step recovery I’ve been urged to study alcoholism and the disease of addiction. I’ve been studying this subject for years as I’ve been in relationships with people who’ve either been addicted themselves or been impacted by a loved one’s addiction, or both actually. I’m finding myself feeling confused and disjointed, unless I strictly read Al-Anon approved literature! I’m trying to integrate 12-Step approved literature with non-approved addiction literature and am forming my own understanding with as honest and open-minded of an attitude that the Al-Anon program promotes, probably mixed with some of my own defects of character, in process too.

This is my take on addiction thus far coming from someone who finds this subject matter so relevant to her personal life. It’s become an area of passion and vested interest due to my family relationships being touched by addiction. Although I’m not an addiction professional, I represent a voice that’s been deeply impacted by this subject. I’m forming my understanding from a conglomerate of reading from addiction professionals inside and outside of the 12-Step model. It also comes from my lived-experience of going through a loved-one’s relapse into hell. So for whatever it’s worth, I offer my personal reflections from this vantage point. I’m still making sense of my own lived-experience as well as studying the topic of addiction from a variety of sources as I work through the 12-Steps. In other words it’s still slowly brewing, like me. If this benefits someone who has or is going through their own experience of this, I’m grateful.

So without further ado this is my evolving summation on a very complex subject that touches millions of lives every day.

To the Unnamed 12-Step Literature Approvers


I’ve read addiction and codependency literature, outside of your approval. And this is what I’d like to share as a newcomer member of Al-Anon, who also feels deep gratitude for the service of Al-Anon Fellowship. What have we learned about addiction since the 1930’s when A.A. first formed? That it’s complex. And a coherent narrative of addiction in layman’s terms could be that it’s not merely a chronic disease. Consider this narrative that’s backed by addiction and trauma research, and please integrate your approval for literature that offers more. Perhaps something along the lines of this…

Addiction manifests in its burgeoning stage as an unconscious adaptive survival trait in the presence of feeling overwhelming distress, coupled with the absence of a close and secure relationship to an attachment figure like Mom, Dad, or another caregiver.

Notice the Theme, it’s a Duet: Presence + Absence

A presence of Distressing Emotional Experience (based in past and/or present) PLUS an Absence of a Safe enough or secure relationship.

These overwhelming feelings may not even register on the level of conscious awareness until it over-reaches maximum capacity. Until then, the response to overwhelm is constructing and maintaining a thick wall of emotional armor. Any unprocessed feelings from the past accumulate while current feelings which bare any striking resemblance to the past also gets heaped onto the pile. This occurs all while the Absence part of the equation remains – Absence of a Safe Enough or Secure Relationship.

The Absence is a void. A hole consisting of profound disconnection and isolation. A substance or “filler” which acts as a substitute, is reached for in an attempt to fill that void. The momentary relief from pain, and fleeting sensations of pleasure string you along while making increasing demands that you sacrifice more to get more. The constant pursuit and chasing the carrot-on-a-stick can never deliver what you’re pursuing. Freedom from suffering. As this phenomenon takes root like a seemingly innocuous weed, the human’s soul becomes a host for a parasitic-type entity of whatever addictive filler hooks you.

12-Step Fellowships offer a beautiful solution to the Absence part of the equation. The absence of intimate connection which is a fundamental, hardwired, basic human need – creates a void. Filling that void with non-human substances is often a way to cope and while enabling dependency on emotional vulnerability armor. The core issue is an aversion to emotional vulnerability within relationships. When a substance or sabotaging behavior mitigates this aversion despite negative consequences and disturbances in other areas of life, you’ve got the active mechanism of addiction at hand.

So why do relapses occur even after dramatic changes in lifestyle going from using or drinking, to being clean and sober, occur? Well, the other part of the equation needs to be looked at, the presence of distressing experiences especially pertaining to the past which haven’t been processed and integrated.

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What came first, the chicken or the egg?

The etiology of addiction is hotly debated among experts, addicts themselves, and those who love them. What came first, the chicken or the egg? The addiction or the unresolved trauma? They both feed off one another, so does it really matter? Not in order to reduce harm and initially get clean and sober. But to stay clean and sober, heal from the aftermath, and truly make living amends – I believe this is relevant.

It’s my developing opinion based from what I’ve learned from various schools of thought and my own experience, that unresolved childhood trauma provides fertile soil for addiction to take root. Along with family history, social conditioning, lifestyle habits, and genetic factors. I don’t hold to the belief that addiction is merely a disease. This belief is antiquated now that so much multidisciplinary scientific inquiry and findings regarding addiction and the plight of human suffering, have been shared.

The strictly disease-based model that posits addiction and/or alcoholism as a disease, is sometimes a helpful simplification for such a complex phenomenon like addiction. Yet further down the road of recovery after encountering relapse, it’s a harmful over-simplification which can create a false sense of security. I believe it inadvertently creates barriers to healing the roots of addiction when these roots prove to be deeper than what first appeared. The disease-model of addiction can inadvertently bypass critical trauma recovery, which can weaken relapse prevention.

Growing up in family subcultures which are reinforced outside the home by the broader culture, enabling self-ignorance, self-neglect, and/or self-abuse in response to distress – creates ripe conditions for addiction. And relapse. An innocent ignorance or a blatant indifference towards healing trauma in response to addiction recovery, furtively enables the practice of emotional self-neglect which often leads to physical self-abuse/harm through drug/alcohol abuse. When this is tacitly considered “normal” within recovery programs, you’ll find that necessary, deeper recovery is stilted, versus the addiction.

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I realize my take on addiction and its development doesn’t exclude many people, including myself. Addiction development is quite inclusive and many will be counted as vulnerable towards investing in its empty promises when you have a permissive culture of enabling trauma denial.

Addiction is a very human struggle. It accounts for the struggle of being human in dehumanizing cultures and environments. In my opinion, relegating it as strictly a “disease” seems ignorant. Much has been learned about the nature of addiction and I wish recovery programs would honor this progress. It would help those suffering from addiction and those who love them.

Spiritual principles make room for progression, because you keep an honest and open minded attitude. How can the spirit of 12-Step fellowship principles include the latest findings of addiction without losing it’s unity?Is there room for a different ideology beyond addiction and alcoholism as a disease? Well, even if dogma doesn’t make room for it, my own understanding of the 12-Step spiritual principles, do.

This goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway – these ideas are a representation of my own evolving perspective. Take what serves you, leave the rest.

And with that, I pass. Thank you for reading.

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Posted in Addiction, emotional health, mental health, personal growth, personal healing, Recovery, Uncategorized and tagged , , ,
23 Nov 2020

The Gift of Rejection

I did it again. Practice makes progress in being, me

I felt our collective discomfort but didn’t sell out
In that trance-like, shape-shifting blurring into “not really me”, me

As usual
I wasn’t paid by your approval
I was paid however, by my own

As anticipated, failed approval-seeking came my way
I now know what I didn’t, so I don’t despair
The fear of rejection subsides
So my authentic self doesn’t need to hide

I know in the absence of your approval, is mine
But when I reject my authenticity
I taste it in my gut
I taste it in my soul
And it always leaves a hole

Damn, the anxiety I once felt when falling in that hole
It left such disparity in my soul
In that disparity I found MY soul
But it never truly left me, it was only but an illusion
The absence of your validation doesn’t cause such an ego contusion
Where once forsaken energy can flow, that which truly satisfies me whole





Posted in codependency, emotional health, personal growth, personal healing, poetry, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
21 Nov 2020

Whose Shit Is This?

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Is it mine?
Or is it yours?

Long entangled strings from old baggage seem to follow,
like a shadow.

The longer you’ve traveled this earth, the more you collect.
In it can be treasures or and, rotten waste.

Open up your baggage! Its damn flowing train is getting too long!
It’s now a tripping hazard for you and for me!

I wish it were as easy as the Baggage Claim at the airport. 
Travelers recognize their own or can check the name tag. 
But this baggage isn’t so easily claimed!
It’s mistakenly claimed as mine when it’s really yours!

Back and forth the disclaimed and misclaimed baggage gets passionately tossed between us. 
Like a hot potato.
Scorched are the hands who hold on too long.

Not all of this will burn.
There are unclaimed treasures inside too.
There’s been a spill from the unfinished business of your past.
It has contaminated everything.

When you indiscriminately throw away your past, it comes back.
Boomerang.
Give and it will be given back?
Karmic energy?

Reclaim the abandoned energy within and between you.
This will be a joint success, a joint failure, or a joint holding pattern; awaiting clearance.
You cannot abandon this energy force, without consequence.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

I repeat…

The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

So…
Whose shit is this?
It’s ours.

Your past, my past
Your beliefs, my beliefs
Your experiences, my experiences
Your pain, my pain
Your dreams, my dreams
Your grief, my grief
Your fears, my fears
Your victories, my victories
Your strengths, my strengths
Your weaknesses, my weaknesses

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It all goes into one bag.
Like different threads, weaved into a tapestry.

Joint ownership.  Joint consequences.  Joint time limit.

One bag
One tapestry
Many threads
Our threads

We work to carry it together and move on,
Or we toss it back and forth together
And, remain firmly stuck in a holding pattern; awaiting clearance…
someday. Who knows when?

Meanwhile, time passes by.
Time – non-renewable resource.
Time.  No returns, refunds, or exchanges.

Whose shit is this?
Ours.
Whose treasure is this?
Ours.

*This is a poem about coupleshit coupleship.

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Posted in couples, intimate relationships, personal growth, personal healing, poetry, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
27 Aug 2020

“Freedom from Ego-Illusion” Take #40

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Here I am again. Learning the lesson that my ego is so defended against, but doesn’t understand it’s in her best interest to truly learn that I am more powerful than she believes.

I have the power to learn and grow; emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. That power isn’t dependent on anyone else.

My ability to learn and grow as I go, does not depend on externals beyond my control – this is good news, it’s freeing news. I am free from depending on my partner, children, ex, economy, the weather, my family of origin, the personal choices of others, etc. in order to learn and grow. Am I impacted by these externals? Absolutely. This doesn’t foolishly deny the reality of interconnectedness and interdependence, it collaborates with it.

Opps, I did it again. I’ve fallen asleep to the illusion that I cannot learn important life lessons and grow, unless another is doing “xyz”.

I passionately want to learn and grow as much as I can in this lifetime. A common illusion I often zombie out to is this illusion of dependence within the context of learning and growing that purports: “In order for you to learn and grow, your partner needs to be learning and growing with you, and in similar fashion.”

Bullshit. It’s an egoic fallacy that justifies so much fear of people, places, and things I can’t control – and therefore, try even harder to control.

It was once true, in childhood. And sometimes I admit, I doze off and fall asleep and stumble through life as an adult, forgetting that I am one. Emotional pain is a jarring alarm clock. It’s adult O’clock. This is a discerning reminder that is wrapped in self-compassion, not judgment. Self-awareness at such a keen level requires an above average, adult level of consciousness and self-compassion. So the mere fact that I am aware of this and owning it means, I’m kicking ass again.

I’m up now. This is the lesson being taught through pain:

I am independent and free to grow, learn from mistakes and courageously do my inner work, and release the insane expectation that I can “get” anyone else to do this for themselves (and me). This is messy work because my ego will put up a huge fight because she believes my survival is at stake. This is why my gentle reassurance, and truly sustainable loyalty to her is so important. She fears being left without the support and loyalty of others because she’s lived through that. So, she needs to know how powerful my own loyalty to her, is.

This is where my loyalty can shine – in showing up for myself as a powerful resource and stop compulsively outsourcing my loyalty to others in hopes that they will be loyal in return. Huge waste of energy and time. Huge.

There are tremendous rewards when I wake up to my own presence, that includes both pain and joy. It is freeing. I may will need to come back to this reminder time and time again. It’s sage wisdom that often flows shortly after an egoic break-down. The aftershock of being swept up by my ego’s “good intentions” leads to breakdowns, yet also make room for breakthroughs.

I’ve been known to say “Don’t let shit go to waste, it makes for great fertilizer.” I’m using my shit to grow independent of others. You are free to do the same, my friend. That is way better news than depending on others to change, so I can grow.

Until next time, keep learning, growing, falling down, and getting back up. And remember, you are free to be loyal to your own growth path, independent of anyone else doing so or not for themselves.

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05 Aug 2020

Seedling of Power – Enneagram Type 6

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There’s a seedling of power within me.  It’s sprouting.

I’m waking up to the subconscious belief I’ve been loyal to for so long as though this was a survival-dependent strategy:

“It’s safer to be weak and unsure, doubtful, and shielded from my inner power.”

The deeply entrenched belief that claims the best source of validation is external, the most reliable feedback is the feedback from others that accentuate my imperfections, that any feedback will do as long as it will protect me from encountering my inner authority and power. Because that is a dangerous place.

For various reason, I somehow internalized early experiences in my formative years which developed into an anxious either covertly or overtly, dependent personality. This personality which is perceptively explained by Enneagram Type 6, is driven by a belief that it’s safer to project my power or any other “threatening” aspects of myself, onto others.

In certain contexts, this strategy had another layer: a callous. I didn’t want people to see how I struggle to fear my own power and even hid this from myself, unwittingly. Some people exploit vulnerability instead of provide protection and guidance, depending on their own internal structures. Sometimes I can’t tell if others will be a “protector” or a “perpetrator”. So when in ambivalence, the best defense is a good offense. This counter move against vulnerability and the fear of being exploited has sometimes made me feel “powerful” or at least, protected. It’s armor. But this armor is not the kind of power that’s sprouting within me.

The kind of power that’s sprouting within is a sense of inner awakeness to my inner world. It’s a very subtle form of awareness sprouting from my internal validation that doesn’t first depend on external validation. This sense of inner trust to what I’m awake to within, is often paradoxical yet hidden in plain sight. It connects me to inner wisdom that trusts myself enough to take risks, and learn valuable lessons from mistakes and regrets. That external validation is important and yet not primary, but supplemental to my own validation. If I don’t get it when I’m looking for it from another, I’m OK. No need to panic or get pissed off and go to combat to get it from a specific source. Nor do I need to shape-shift and contort myself to receive validation that will always miss the mark if I’m shape-shifting in order to receive it.

This conscious awakeness can rest in the faith that there’s plenty of space for seemingly polarizing “truths” to coexist, in harmony. So when I don’t receive external validation, there is no need to worry. That’s where faith fills the void, that there’s enough space for a variety of perceptions, including mine. This kind of faith requires a boldness because it may go against the current of polarization. Yet if this faith isn’t boldly embraced a fallout can occur within me, a split which can be expressed in my relationship with others, and with my worldview because that faith is the bridge. It can be that significant and also play out on a collective macro level, for better or worse.

Who can hold this kind of space where it’s safe to coexist between opposites? An Ennea-type 6 who is awake and has reconciled with their own inner power and authority. This takes tremendous courage and inner reconciliation. Breaking out of that cage of “smallness” requires inner “bigness” which goes against the flow of “safety in smallness”.

I fear my power. I fear my confidence. What if it’s wrong? What if I mess up? What if I get hurt? What if I hurt others? Power can do all sorts of unpredictable things that hurt people.

And…

so can abandoned power.

Owned power has the potential to also help set people free from their chains of “what if’s” that focus exclusively on catastrophic endings.”

What if…

you were to own your inner power and live alive and awake in it?

Posted in codependency, emotional health, mental health, personal growth, personal healing, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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