Non 12 step- Addiction Recovery is Freedom From Addiction
Non 12-step addiction recovery means freedom. It means hope. It means possibility. It means that you no longer need to stay in the same cycle of sadness, despair, hopelessness, confusion. It means that the dark nights pass with greater ease and grace rather than become a habitual way of life. It means that you find joy-real sustainable joy. And most importantly, you begin to remember why you are here. You remember that your life has meaning and purpose.
Non 12-step addiction recovery means you are no longer trapped in the triangle of disempowerment; where you are always stuck in the roles of victim, perpetrator and rescuer. You begin to realize that you no longer need to live in a limited belief system where there must be a good guy and a bad guy. You stop believing that you are the victim of your circumstance, color, genetics, race, socioeconomic conditioning andaddiction. You know that you are not locked into a fate you cannot change.
Non 12-step addiction recovery means that you no longer need to be defined by your past. What happened to you yesterday no longer needs to determine who you are today. You are not permanently branded or scarred by the father who abandoned you, or the husband who betrayed you, or the fact that you grew up poor or rich. Of course these factors have helped you grow and learn about yourself and brought you one step closer to waking up and finding meaning, purpose and passion in your life, but your past is not your identity.
A great example of this is Dean, the Founder of The Sanctuary at Sedona. He was in treatment many times with other addicts, many of whom are now dead. When he reconnects with those who did remain clean and sober, he is always amazed that they are still talking about the same story. They still identify with this past story, except they are now “recovering” addicts. The majority of their focus, attention and energy are in maintaining this identity. Dean rarely talks about his past addiction, unless he is using his experience as a teaching story to help others. He no longer identifies with this story. Rather, he spends his days thinking about different things and creating new stories, like writer, teacher, energy healer and traveler. He already knows the “addict” story and it was a great teacher, but it is too limiting, and in fact, too boring to stay stuck there.
This is your Hero’s Journey. The Hero stops, turns and with great courage, faces their own shadows, demons and all that stalks them. We all love the Hero’s tale. We love the person who has faced adversity again and again and continues to get back up, with passion and purpose, even in the face of defeat. The Hero is the alchemist of their own life. Able to take the most painful and tragic of events and turn them into her greatest source of strength and wisdom. In our experience at The Sanctuary at Sedona, there are no greater Heroes than people who are able to Radically Transform, heal and recover from addictions. These people have amazing strength, perseverance and profound sensitivity and have so many gifts to offer to themselves and the world.