So I was a working alcoholic for a long time before I got sober. In my 20s, I did lots of sketchy things – I was stoned at work every day at all my jobs (that was actually well into my 30s), I drank on the job occasionally at one place, I passed out pills… Continue reading Working for the Weekend
In one of my support groups, there are some brilliant and wise people having moments of pure genius. In the best meeting I’ve ever been to, a shining star said something that moved us all. To paraphrase, she said that we, as recovering addicts and alcoholics, have qualities that the post-COVID world will desperately need.… Continue reading Why the Post-COVID World Needs Addicts
The Overstory by Richard Powers is one of my favorite books. I’m borrowing a metaphor borrowed by the book. Say the planet is a body. The plants and trees and algae are the lungs, breathing for us all the time. The oceans and rivers and all the bodies of water are the circulatory system, keeping… Continue reading Humanity’s Big Fix
It’s everyone’s favorite – flow. Video gamers know it. People who are super-into their craft know it. Athletes know it. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi did the research and thinking that defined the condition, and described it as a state that “occur[s] if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to… Continue reading Addiction and Flow
