Addiction Recovery Blog | Daniel J Callahan, MSW

Progress not Perfection; The Results!

by Daniel 3 January 2010

“When the perfect order prevails, the world is like a home shared by all. Leaders are capable and virtuous. Everyone loves and respects their own parents and children as well as the parents and children of others. The old are cared for, adults have jobs, children are nourished and educated. There is a means of [...]

Powerless

by Daniel 3 January 2010

I have switched over during the years from reading my prayer and meditation books to the online–email versions. This is today’s Reflections tract, I wanted to share it with you! We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 21 It is no coincidence that the [...]

“The Wink” …The power of coincidence to change our destiny! Jo Latino

by Daniel 3 January 2010

Through a chain of events… that at the time were not very pleasant… my husband and I found ourselves sitting in a young attorney’s office. I mean who in their right mind calls an attorney unless you are facing legal problems? I thought I had “randomly” picked Joe’s name out of hundreds of attorneys in [...]

Progress not Perfection

by Daniel 2 January 2010

Since no one is perfect, it follows that all great deeds have been accomplished out of imperfection. Yet they were accomplished, somehow, all the same.” – Lois McMaster Bujold This marks my thirtieth year in the pursuit of happiness, recovery. As I reflect back at the highs and lows I am amazed at how I [...]

The Sky is the Limit!

by Daniel 1 January 2010

“Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose.” Lance Armstrong This is your time, this is your day, take advantage. Spend time today to reflect [...]

No Name Yet

by Daniel 31 December 2009

My friend Dennis has had a real challenge in life. He is an extremely intelligent and talented young man. Yet addiction and his mental health challenges got in the way of his productivity and life. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately he ended up in prison before he ended up in the cemetery. His parents are two [...]

Chance to Start Over

by Daniel 31 December 2009

I was chasing my dreams with every drink that went down… But I never got past the edge of my bed… Till I finally gave up the fight, sweet surrender gave me back my Life! –Sonia Lee Yesterday I received a wonderful gift from Sonia Lee. Sonia is a recovered folk musician/artist in Nashville Tennessee. [...]

From our Friend in Recovery, Hope Guest!

by Daniel 30 December 2009

Throughout our lives, leading up to our active addiction, we chose to wallow in all of the negativism that our lives held; worshiping our own self pity. Today, if we truly desire recovery, we must choose to rejoice in the positives, regardless of how loud the negatives are sounding to us. Insanity is doing the [...]

Hope

by Daniel 30 December 2009

“Hope is a light diet, but very stimulating.” – Honoré de Balzac Faith, hope, and love. The three emotional needs we all have. Without these needs being met, dysfunction abounds. For those of us that choose alcohol or other mind altering drugs to fill this gap, real life recovery is the answer. Positive meaningful recovery [...]

Happiness

by Daniel 29 December 2009

“Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.” – Storm Jameson If I could sum up happiness in one sentence I would go with Storm’s definition. Happiness is not a byproduct of things, although when we are deprived we repel happiness. Happiness is [...]

Respond vs React

by Daniel 28 December 2009

“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” – George Horace Lorimer Life is worth enjoying every minute of every day. Of course that does not mean that we will not face adversity. In fact quite the opposite. We will be confronted with challenges however [...]