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Private Practice, Training & Consulting Firm
Board
Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist
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RECOVERY EQUALS LIFE FOR SOME OF US
Our recovery
means our life when we finally surrender to the truth of our addictions.
If you have questioned your relationship with
alcohol or any other addictive substance including prescription drugs, food, sex, relationship OR love addiction, please
know you are not alone in your fear, anger and self-loathing. These feelings are normal and common if you are experiencing
a controlling, inappropriate relationship with any of the above drugs.
Recognizing yourself here, in these statements
may indicate your possible qualification for a walk down this path. Please know there is a process that has proven to be successful
in finding relief from this mental obsession and physical addiction. There is a freedom waiting to been seen if and when
you choose to ask for it.
Please read the following example of the form of compassion and understanding
that awaits you if you find yourself alone, questioning what the next step may be.
Recovery and freedom from addiction
is as unique a process as each individual who seeks help. No two people embrace the journey alike and in that spirit of truth
the miracle of recovery awaits each of us when we dare to ask for help.
Dear Donna,
I hear you. And from
the responses to your message, so do many others. Do you see a pattern here? How wonderful you have admitted that alcohol
can be a disease for some people.
You may even be one of those, looking for another alternative to aa for all the
reasons you find you do not associate with the program. I understand. The classic aa answer is to continue trying different
meetings until you find the message you want or need to hear. Every aa meeting is as different as each of its attendees.
I found the miracle of acceptance and peace as a sober woman by going to a woman’s step study where the women were
intelligent, thoughtful, successful ,balanced and alcoholic, all dealing with their sobriety with grace, the best they could,
one hour at a time. I wanted what they had and got it just by showing up and being around them. This is where the secrete
comes in. Asking for what you want and expecting to get it! You can have it all, you just have to ask for it and listen for
the answer.
Perhaps you really don’t want to stop drinking yet. If it brings you pain and self hatred ask to be relieved
of its insanity. Know you are loved and worth caring for. Every one of these messages, in their own way is asking you to
care for yourself. In the program we say keep coming back because if you do we will care for you until you can care for yourself.
I too am here for you and will envision you free of this mental obsession and physical addiction. We all deserve to be
balanced and free to be who we really are.
Eve Bernshaw
Transitions Counseling/Consulting
858-344-1229
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FROM AA WEBSITE
Is A.A. For You?
Twelve questions
only you can answer
Copyright © 1973 by A.A. World Services, Inc.
IS A.A. FOR YOU?
Only you can decide
whether you want to give A.A.a try —
whether you think it can help you.
We who are in A.A. came because we
finally gave up trying to control our drinking. We still hated to admit that we could never drink safely. Then we heard from
other A.A. members that we were sick. (We thought so for years!) We found out that many people suffered from the same feelings
of guilt and loneliness and hopelessness that we did. We found out that we had these feelings because we had the disease of
alcoholism.
We decided to try and face up to what alcohol had done to us. Here are some of the questions we tried to
answer honestly. If we answered YES to four or more questions, we were in deep trouble with our drinking. See how you do.
Remember, there is no disgrace in facing up to the fact that you have a problem.
Answer YES or NO to the following
questions.
1 - Have you ever decided to stop drinking for a week or so, but only lasted for a couple of days?
Most
of us in A.A. made all kinds of promises to ourselves and to our families. We could not keep them. Then we came to A.A. A.A.
said: "Just try not to drink today." (If you do not drink today, you cannot get drunk today.)
Yes No
2 - Do you
wish people would mind their own business about your drinking-- stop telling you what to do?
In A.A. we do not tell anyone
to do anything. We just talk about our own drinking, the trouble we got into, and how we stopped. We will be glad to help
you, if you want us to.
Yes No
3 - Have you ever switched from one kind of drink to another in the hope that this
would keep you from getting drunk?
We tried all kinds of ways. We made our drinks weak. Or just drank beer. Or we did not
drink cocktails. Or only drank on weekends. You name it, we tried it. But if we drank anything with alcohol in it, we usually
got drunk eventually.
Yes No
4 - Have you had to have an eye-opener upon awakening during the past year?
Do you
need a drink to get started, or to stop shaking? This is a pretty sure sign that you are not drinking "socially."
Yes No
5
- Do you envy people who can drink without getting into trouble?
At one time or another, most of us have wondered why we
were not like most people, who really can take it or leave it.
Yes No
6 - Have you had problems connected with drinking
during the past year?
Be honest! Doctors say that if you have a problem with alcohol and keep on drinking, it will get
worse -- never better. Eventually, you will die, or end up in an institution for the rest of your life. The only hope is to
stop drinking.
Yes No
7 - Has your drinking caused trouble at home?
Before we came into A.A., most of us said
that it was the people or problems at home that made us drink. We could not see that our drinking just made everything worse.
It never solved problems anywhere or anytime.
Yes No
8 - Do you ever try to get "extra" drinks at a party because
you do not get enough?
Most of us used to have a "few" before we started out if we thought it was going to be that kind
of party. And if drinks were not served fast enough, we would go some place else to get more.
Yes No
9 - Do you
tell yourself you can stop drinking any time you want to, even though you keep getting drunk when you don't mean to?
Many
of us kidded ourselves into thinking that we drank because we wanted to. After we came into A.A., we found out that once we
started to drink, we couldn't stop.
Yes No
10 - Have you missed days of work or school because of drinking?
Many
of us admit now that we "called in sick" lots of times when the truth was that we were hung-over or on a drunk.
Yes No
11
- Do you have "blackouts"?
A "blackout" is when we have been drinking hours or days which we cannot remember. When we came
to A.A., we found out that this is a pretty sure sign of alcoholic drinking.
Yes No
12 - Have you ever felt that
your life would be better if you did not drink?
Many of us started to drink because drinking made life seem better, at
least for a while. By the time we got into A.A., we felt trapped. We were drinking to live and living to drink. We were sick
and tired of being sick and tired.
Yes No
Did you answer YES four or more times? If so, you
are probably in trouble with alcohol. Why do we say this? Because thousands of people in A.A. have said so for many years.
They found out the truth about themselves — the hard way.
But again, only you can decide whether you think A.A. is
for you. Try to keep an open mind on the subject. If the answer is YES, we will be glad to show you how we stopped drinking
ourselves. Just call. A.A. does not promise to solve your life's problems.
But we can show you how we are learning
to live without drinking "one day at a time." We stay away from that "first drink." If there is no first one, there cannot
be a tenth one. And when we got rid of alcohol, we found that life became much more manageable.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS©
is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common
problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.
The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions.
A.A. is not allied
with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses
nor opposes any causes.
Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
Copyright
© by The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.;
reprinted with permission
Addiction and Recovery
Addiction
Recovery – Substance Abuse/ addictive behaviors support and consultancy for individuals and families in crisis.
A confidential inquiry call is encouraged to those who currently suffer in their addiction and/or those family members
who question what they can do for a loved one who is suffering with the disease of addiction.
All issues of addiction
/ and addiction recovery referrals.
Depression and Anxiety
Referral support available to all those
who suffer with
the disease of depression and those family members who
question what they can do for their love one.
Learn
Self-Hypnosis tools for all issues of fear.
See article: Are you afraid of change?
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To arrange a time for a confidential phone session | Transitions Mail list for future classes and/or programs request
for information form below. |
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TRANSITIONS, as a private practice, training and consulting firm, has a primary focus of teaching
individuals a unique decision-making technique called TheTransitionProcessTM. Please note the teaching of & support given
in facilitating this process should not be construed in any manner, as psychotherapy, and TTP author & facilitator, Eve K.
Bernshaw is a AIP Board Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and is not a licensed psychotherapist.
Copyright C 1997-2009
E.K.Bernshaw All Rights Reserved
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