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Old 03-25-2018, 01:19 PM
  # 154 (permalink)  
GerandTwine
Not The Way way, Just the way
 
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: US
Posts: 1,413
Originally Posted by StevenSlate View Post
Sorry, I know I'm probably going deeper into this than your question required. But basically (and I'm probably telling you nothing new because Trimpey has written some great stuff on this theme - I'm not sure where but I know I've read it) - some people grab onto all these other issues and ride the fence for the rest of their lives, never deciding to be done with reckless substance use once and for all. They want the trust back, they want all their depression and anxiety to go away, they want everything to be perfect or they're gonna go on some kind of bender. Our experience has been that when we've tried to help people with all these issues at our retreats, many used the issues as excuses to ride the fence. They might still do that, but we won't help legitimize it.

So, we just deal with helping them to understand "addiction", their freedom and power to choose, and the potential benefits of various substance use options (heavy/moderate/abstinent) - so they can deal with this one issue and move on. It was a big choice to leave the other stuff out, and if we start to get feedback that suggests we need it, we'll revisit that. So far, our retreat guests don't seem to miss it. They're loving this new text better then anything we've ever taught.
I can imagine how difficult it is to leave “happiness” in and leave all that other stuff out. If it were suggested to you that instead of starting to re-include that other stuff, you were to figure out a method of recovery that left even “happiness” out, do you think it would be possible?
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