The blog seems like a better fit to express this issue. For anyone who has encouraged the recovering addict/alcoholic in their marijuana use, I suggest scrolling to the top of the page, and reading those big red and yellow words: it says SOBER Recovery. A pro-marijuana claptrap argument doesn't change that fact.

On both extremes of any issue, you get irrationality, bias and distortion of the truth. It's just the way it is. When one asserts a point about something, it is most credible...

November 2007. A random weekday.

-Wake up at eightish. Shower.
-Thinking about getting procrastinated artwork finished.
-Driving to school. Thinking about the long walk and finding a parking spot.
-Arrive in studio around 9.
-Working on painting, in a good mood - looking forward to getting home and creating a defined reality that will be "good" this time.
-Driving home at 12:30, stopping at sandwich place on the way.
-Flopping...

Something I have been mulling over recently is that when things are going rather smoothly, I expect more, and more, and more. I get greedy.

Then, I enter an emotional wipeout like the Wide World of Sports skier. I'm at the bottom of the hill, and it takes a little while to get back to the top.

The times that are good are the times to be the most mindful. When things are not good, it can be easier to recognize, "hey, there's something seriously wrong with my thinking...

While in the Mahayanan Buddhist tradition, Zen practice involves focus on meditation. This is so because Buddha reached Nirvana (enlightenment) by meditating.

The main principles of Buddhism, such as the Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths, seem to work hand in hand with recovery. Because, in my opinion, true recovery is going well beyond staying clean. It is mindfulness, every day. This should not be approached with a mindset of perfection, though- this is why it is called Buddhist...

Surrender: it's always been a word I associated with weakness. "Surrender is losing." It has also been a word that I associated with tickertape catchphrases and self-help literature.

Wisdom about recovery terminology comes with time, and usually sober time. I am finally beginning to grasp the idea of surrender. Ultimately, surrender is accepting and being with reality. Accepting reality is growing.

Many people I know who use and don't use have a problem with...