Shows / Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholic's Anonymous, wrote in 1952, "If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we will find at the root some unhealthy dependence and its consequent demand." Wilson suggested that if we could identify and continually surrender these unrealistic and unrecognizable demands, that we may then be able to accomplish what he imagined to be recovery's next frontier - something he called emotional sobriety. Flash forward 70 years, and join psychotherapists and…
Episodes
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
To Be Human Is to Be Impacted
Roger Andes returns after a period of recovery to talk with Thom and Patrick about forming a new relationship with our life’s challenges, including awareness…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Gratitude, Humility, and Awe
Joe C. brings an existential framework to the discussion, which dredges up Patrick’s recent brushes with mortality and Allen’s titanic wrestling with the loss…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
For the Newcomers
Acceptance of what is sets us on the road to change. While acceptance of powerlessness over alcohol, our dependencies, or lack of emotional sobriety can feel…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Uncertainty and Emotional Sobriety
Waiting for the other shoe to drop truly puts our ability to regulate to the test, as it reminds us how little we control, and how much of our strength derives…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Filing with the Complaint Department
In filing our claims with reality’s “complaint department,” we discover new ways of getting in touch with our disturbances, big and small, in order to free…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Newfound Responsibility
Joe C. and the crew discuss their emerging conception of living responsibly with emotional sobriety. Ultimately, this depends greatly on our connection with…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Emotions Are (Part Of) the Solution
A quick one this week. Allen, Thom, and Patrick discuss holding onto ourselves when our relationships are in distress, fear of losing loved ones, and…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Guidance vs. Advice
Offering help to those in need without losing ourselves is the order of the day. Before giving advice, “knock on the door” first. Never proceed without a…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Re-Solving
Joe C. returns to kick things off with a reading from Gabor Maté’s “The Myth of Normal.” Allen and Thom return to our ongoing discussion about recovery from…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
The Regret Reduction Program
Allen and Thom return to familiar emotional sobriety territory of living in the pauses and managing our reactions to fears both real and imagined, which this…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Emotional Sobriety and Love
Returning to our definition of a more mature love, challenging not the concept of “self” entirely, but an expanding our sense of self to include others…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Seeing More, Seeing Further
Picking up the discussion from last week, in crafting our emotionally sober foundation and cultivating our awareness, what do we need to be aware of to fully…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Awareness is the Foundation
Our awareness is what we use to make contact with the world. The quality of that contact will determine how well we can cope with or adapt to any situation…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Surviving Fire
Patrick and Allen deal with their own fears and resentments surrounding the Los Angeles wildfires. Patrick welcomes to the pod Los Angeles residents Josh S…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Post-Traumatic Gains
Why are some people surpassingly resilient in sobriety, not only restoring to their wellness conditions pre-alcoholism and pre-trauma, but emerging even better…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
2024 in Review
Responsibility creates empowerment. Closing this year of the podcast as we look ahead to 2025, Allen, Thom, and Patrick consider the evolution of the concept…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Lucky Attachments
A quick one, before Christmas - Thom and Patrick talk about their sideways shuffle towards emotional sobriety, accepting the things they cannot change and…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Any Port in a Storm
Allen, Joe, and Patrick continue their ongoing discussion of the holiday season, encountering new challenges and opportunities to hold onto themselves while…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Early Holiday Observations with Joe C.
Thom, Patrick and Joe bring to the conversation their individual anticipations and dreads of the Thanksgiving holiday to come. The emotional sobriety…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Acorn to Oak Tree with Herb K.
Four of us take stock of our personal arcs towards greater emotional sobriety. Happiness, as Herb Kaighan frames it, isn’t a product of the work we do. It’s a…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot
Going into yet another fraught American Presidential election, Allen, Thom, and Patrick discuss their fears and feelings of debt and responsibility to their…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
How's Your Practice?
Friend of the pod Howard Malitz of Seasons of Recovery talks about an extreme test of emotional sobriety on a recent road trip. Thom gives us an update on his…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Emotional Sobriety as “Democratic Pluralism”
Joe C., Allen, and Thom welcome author William Schaberg (Bill), author of 30 Things: Practical Advice for Living Well to discuss recovery and emotional…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Acknowledging & Accepting Another Perspective
Joe C., Allen, and Thom read from William Schaberg’s 30 Things: Practical Advice for Living Well to further explore the dismantling of “shoulds.” Our…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Expanding the Zone of Comfort
The fellas discuss the role of anger in emotional sobriety. We also read a thoughtful email from one of our Australian listers, about holding onto ourselves in…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
In Pardoning, We Are Pardoned
On the journey towards forgiving others, we can’t bypass our grief. Thom, Patrick, and Tom Potash discuss both processing and letting go of grievance, focusing…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
He Doth Protest Too Much (Missive from ICSAA)!
Allen Berger and Joe Chisholm check in from this year’s ICSAA conference in Orlando, Florida, to relay an anecdote from one of the speakers: “we aren’t all…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
So Worth Living
Allen, Thom, and Patrick read from the AA Grapevine again and reflect on the story of someone in recovery from addiction who suffered traumatic brain injury…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Grip Lightly
No matter our level of certainty about anything, emotional sobriety advises holding the truth in our hands but gripping it lightly. We find “rolling with the…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Challenging Core Beliefs
Our sagely Joe Chisholm returns for heartfelt conversation about the negative self-concepts that can undermine our recoveries. Experiences which are imprinted…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
When We Need Outside Help
Howard Malitz returns to the pod to read and discuss another AA Grapevine article, which deals with the role of therapy, medication, and other mental health…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Accepting the Road Ahead with Dr. Shawn Horn
Author, psychologist and TEDx speaker Dr. Shawn Horn rejoins us to discuss her upcoming project about adults with ADHD, with particular focus on our nervous…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Stay Connected & Add More Self
Joe C. rejoins Allen and Thom this week, to discuss looking beyond what a person is saying to focus on what they’re experiencing. Modeling emotional sobriety…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Balancing on the Relational Beam
Allen, Thom, and Patrick discuss the challenge and opportunity in conducting their relationships in a manner appropriate to those relationships. We circle back…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Beating the Questionnaire
Allen, Thom, and Patrick bring their AA Grapevine series to a close and talk "doomscrolling," rehab, and first steps. This week’s “Emotional Sobriety”…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Hurtling Towards Serenity
Joe C. and Thom join Patrick before Allen pops in to discuss our second to last AA Grapevine reading series on Emotional Sobriety. This week’s Emotional…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Life Goes On
Carol Carter drops by to help us read the latest in Emotional Sobriety from the AA Grapevine - the first article in our series that has some objectionable…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Get Quiet, and Listen
Earnie Larsen once said, “Your program cannot take you further than your definition of recovery.” Take a moment and answer the following question: What is your…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Connection/Hope/Identity/Meaning/Empowement
Joe C. brings the CHIME recovery model from a recent workshop into our eternally unfolding discussion of what it means to be emotionally sober. Even when we’re…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Never Judge Your Earlier Self by What You Know Today
Thom and Patrick discuss the latest emotional sobriety-centric AA Grapevine article and talk work, God, and acceptance. Next week, Joe C. returns to the pod…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Spiritual GPS
Allen, Thom, and Patrick delve into the latest Emotional Sobriety-centric AA Grapevine article. We discuss rock bottoms, taking action, and the role of prayer…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Any Way You Slice It (Cheerio to London!)
Allen and Patrick record face-to-face during some downtime from the three-day Recovery Reimagined event in London to discuss bringing Emotional Sobriety to…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Make Plans, Don’t Plan the Results!
Allen, Thom, and Patrick revisit the principle of staying sober for one more day, even when it would make more sense to get loaded. We also spend some time on…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
So Worth It
Allen, Thom, and Patrick read another emotional sobriety anecdote from the AA Grapevine and discuss early sobriety, sponsors, and attempting to live better…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Courage to Change
Thom and Patrick discuss a friend whose wife and baby are in the hospital this weekend in dire straits, as well as Patrick’s recent elective surgery and Tom’s…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Dream Come True
Allen mines some lessons from a death in the family and Thom reflects on an inspiring recent phase of good health as we land on our latest Grapevine article…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Party Guy
The Grapevine story Carol, Allen, Thom, and Patrick get into this week has to do with a longtime AA member fielding some annoying criticism from a Fellow and…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Getting the Help
Carol Carter joins the pod again (and will be returning next week!) to discuss depth and stages of recovery, culling from a recent Emotional Sobriety-focused…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Unity = Love
This week we discuss the “peaceful leveling” that occurs in fellowship, how with greater emotional sobriety our alienating differences can melt away. When we…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
"The Experiment" with Sara Stromberg
Allen, Thom, and Patrick welcome Sara Stromberg, a many years recovering student of Gestalt therapy who discusses her sobriety and sponsorship of women over…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Passing It On
Allen, Thom, and Patrick reflect on small simple actions, our claiming of experiences rather than allowing them to claim us, which allow us to better cope with…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Está Bien
Howard Malitz returns to the pod to chat with Patrick and Thom about the deeper levels of recovery he discovered in the course of trying to find peace at work…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
"Fear of Economic Insecurity Will Leave Us"
Joe C. and surprise drop-in guest Howard Malitz discuss the next Grapevine Emotional Sobriety article and go into an intimate discussion of the financial…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Little Surrenders
Joe C. returns to take a plunge with us into our next Grapevine story about opportunities for emotional sobriety showing up in countless small ways in our…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
It All Adds Up
Allen, Thom, Herb K., and Patrick delve further into the AA Grapevine detailing inspirational stories of recovery and emotional sobriety. One particular story…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Tending Our Gardens
For the first of several upcoming episodes with rotating guests unpacking an Emotional Sobriety-themed AA Grapevine issue, Thom and Allen discuss a story about…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Our Way of Life with Herb K.
Longtime collaborator of Allen's Herb K. returns to the pod. In light of a recent enlargement of his spiritual life, Herb discusses Steps 10-12 of the 12…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
To Crush and Not Be Crushed
Looking ahead to a year ripe with possibilities for bringing the best possible attitude to our trials and tribulations. Next week we’ll be joined by Herb K. to…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Moving Beyond Our Challenging Year
As we head into another year of the podcast, Carol Carter, Thom, Allen, and Patrick reflect on a painful but also incredibly constructive 2023. Carol’s…
- Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Happy Happy, Joy Joy
Allen and Thom answer some of your Facebook questions and investigate how we can bring the best possible attitude towards a notoriously stressful time of year…