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Recovery teaches us, and sometimes forces us to trust.  We learn to trust others. We learn to trust ourselves.  We learn to trust an ongoing process of renewal.  We give ourselves over to uncertainty, free fall and the care of a Higher Power. Trust is active, not passive.  It emboldens us to speak up, to take a stand, to make decisions, and to move forward into a future we can neither foresee nor control. It prompts us to take one leap of faith after another.  There’s no one more important to trust than yourself. How can we learn to trust ourselves and practice the principle of trust, when that hasn't been our experience of ourselves, relationships or the world?

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Merriam Webster defines responsiveness like this: reacting in a desired or positive way; quick to respond. We all probably think about speed when we think about responsiveness, too, but how many of us take the time to make sure our responses are positive? That we are responding in a timely and reliable way? Responsiveness is more than just a way to communicate.  It becomes a way of being with ourselves, with others and with the world. 

In this episode Jackie talks about how commitment plays a role in our recovery as well as in our relationships.  When we make a commitment, we are saying that we will do all we can to make it happen.  There are factors that get in the way of us keeping our commitments.  As we work to deepen our recovery, our ability to make commitments becomes an important part of our recovery.  How we commit to ourselves and to others is a deciding factor in our success.  

There is no courage without risk. When we act courageously, we put ourselves on the line for a greater good and make ourselves vulnerable to loss.  In recovery, our approach to risk changes completely.  We learn to consider our risks instead of following our impulses. We consult our inner observer, then consciously choose which risks to take. One day at a time, we become both more courageous and more discerning. 

We all know the importance of telling the truth.  Generally, we have been told how important honesty is from a young age.  It is usually stated in a direct, simple way that makes it seem like being honest is easy. We aren’t always told how to live an honest life or that it is harder than it sounds. In this episode, Jackie talks about how to practice living a life of honesty and why it is such an important principle in recovery.

In this episode, Jackie assembles her fellow female colleagues at Healing Paths for a book club.  They are talking about the book Burnout: the secret to unlocking the stress cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski.  This will be a 3 part series talking about each of the three sections of the book and how it is important information and applicable if you are a woman or if you know a woman.  

 

Before we began recovery, many of us had little experience of being part of a healthy family, of fitting into a functional community, or of living in a climate of trust. Often, from a very young age, we were denied the opportunity to bond with other people. These experiences carry with us into our adult relationships and cause us to close off or isolate.  The process of opening and bonding is a powerful step in our healing journey.  

In this episode, Jackie talks about the important role that responsibility plays in recovery and in our personal healing journey.  In recovery, we stop hiding from ourselves.  We understand the importance of examining our life, and we accept responsibility for everything in it.  We realize that a deeply painful past does not let u off the hook.  Nothing lets us off the hook.  We are always responsible for what we do and what we decide and the impact that has. 

Across world religions and throughout the history of human experience with the Divine, we find certain universally recognized strategies to nourishing spirituality.  While each person experience is unique, there are ways of approaching life that maximize our availability to spiritual presence. In this episode Jackie talks about some of the things we can do to increase our spiritual practice and to connect to something Higher around us.  Perhaps the real challenge in life is learning to love and to let.  

Each of us has the capacity to pay attention to our senses, emotions, impulses, thoughts, and actions.  We also have the capacity to observe the world around us: its beauty, its danger, its design. When we make an internal commitment to reality, we naturally want to become more aware.  Change can come about dramatically by paying attention and having the awareness of what goes on inside and outside us.