The most respected people in the Gulags and the concentration camps were the people who told the truth, regardless of the consequences to themselves. Are we, as addicts, capable of evaluating and drawing conclusions about what is truth and what is not and how does the way an individual defines the truth for themselves impact on their own community ? Do we only tell the truth when it is convenient to us ? Do we look for convenience in our lives or meaning ? If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting the same results. The objective in recovery is to change. Changing myself means evaluating myself and my emotions truthfully.
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” ― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning .
I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I enjoyed the discussion.
This podcast was recorded as a series of lectures given to people in 12 step addiction recovery treatment. The purpose of these talks was to teach and motivate individuals to search for their own spiritual solution to their addiction.
Please feel free to contact me directly or go to our site for more information:
The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
"Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
Recovery is not a short term goal, nor is it quantifiable and it is a life long goal.
At some time in our lives we have been happy. Our active addiction results in our losing all of this : Paradise lost. Time has been lost,our active addiction has stolen from us. How do we “regain paradise”? How do we find our way out of the darkness? Fear of change is a natural human instinct, but how do we overcome this? How we respond is what differentiates the hero from the coward and that is what will assist us in maintaining our sobriety.
“The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.” – Cus D’Amato
“A belief may be comforting. Only through your own experience, however, does it become liberating”.- Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment.
I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I enjoyed the discussion.
This podcast was recorded as a series of lectures given to people in 12 step addiction recovery treatment. The purpose of these talks was to teach and motivate individuals to search for their own spiritual solution to their addiction.
Please feel free to contact me directly or go to our site for more information:
The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
"Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
In 1784, the philosopher, Immanuel Kant described enlightenment as “humankind’s emergence from its self-incurred immaturity”, its “lazy and cowardly” submission to the “dogmas and formulas” of religious or political authority.
Humans are innately emotional beings, made from what Kant referred to as the “crooked timber of humanity”, combined with which the way we understand the world around us changes over time.
Elements such as cognitive bias can evade our personal awareness and we can be convinced that we’re seeing clearly, and thinking rationally, when we’re not. We still embrace or reject evidence too easily, but civil contact with people of different perspectives can keep the resulting distortions within bounds. Our interpretation of reality, our reason and our intellect needs to be tested at times with the guidance of another which often takes courage.
I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I enjoyed the discussion.
This podcast was recorded as a series of lectures given to people in 12 step addiction recovery treatment. The purpose of these talks was to teach and motivate individuals to search for their own spiritual solution to their addiction.
Please feel free to contact me directly or go to our site for more information:
The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
"Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
Classic hallucinogens are thought to produce their perception-altering effects by acting on neural circuits in the brain that use the neurotransmitter serotonin (Passie, 2008; Nichols, 2004; Schindler, 2012; Lee, 2012). Specifically, some of their most prominent effects occur in the prefrontal cortex—an area involved in mood, cognition, and perception—as well as other regions important in regulating arousal and physiological responses to stress and panic.
What are the Short-Term Effects of Hallucinogens?
Ingesting hallucinogenic drugs can cause users to see images, hear sounds, and feel sensations that seem real but do not exist. Their effects typically begin within 20 to 90 minutes of ingestion and can last as long as 12 hours. Experiences are often unpredictable and may vary with the amount ingested and the user’s personality, mood, expectations, and surroundings. The effects of hallucinogens like LSD can be described as drug-induced psychosis—distortion or disorganization of a person’s capacity to recognize reality, think rationally, or communicate with others. Users refer to LSD and other hallucinogenic experiences as “trips” and to acute adverse or unpleasant experiences as “bad trips.” On some trips, users experience sensations that are enjoyable and mentally stimulating and that produce a sense of heightened understanding. Bad trips, however, include terrifying thoughts and nightmarish feelings of anxiety and despair that include fears of losing control, insanity, or death.
Like LSD and psilocybin, DMT produces its effects through acting on serotonin (5-HT) receptors in the brain (Strassman, 1996). Some research has suggested that DMT occurs naturally in the human brain in small quantities, leading to the hypothesis that the release of endogenous DMT may be involved in reports of alien abductions, spontaneous mystical experiences, and near-death experiences, but this remains controversial (Barker, 2012).
Specific short-term effects of LSD, psilocybin, peyote, DMT, and ayahuasca include:
LSD
• Increased blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature
• Dizziness and sleeplessness
• Loss of appetite, dry mouth,
and sweating
• Numbness, weakness, and tremors
• Impulsiveness and rapid emotional shifts that can range from fear to euphoria, with transitions so rapid that the user may seem to experience several emotions simultaneously.
Psilocybin (i.e. Mushrooms)
• Feelings of relaxation (similar
to effects of low doses of marijuana)
• Nervousness, paranoia, and
panic reactions
• Introspective/spiritual
experiences
• Misidentification of poisonous mushrooms resembling psilocybin could lead to unintentional, potentially fatal poisoning.
Peyote
• Increased body temperature and
heart rate
• Uncoordinated movements
(ataxia)
• Profound sweating
• Flushing.
DMT
• Increased heart rate
• Agitation
• Hallucinations frequently
involving radically altered environments as well as body and spatial
distortions.
Ayahuasca
• Increased blood pressure
• Severe vomiting (induced by the
tea)
• Profoundly altered state of
awareness and perceptions of otherworldly imagery
Long-Term Effects
One result of the repeated use of hallucinogens is the development of tolerance to these drugs. Studies show that LSD users develop a high degree of tolerance for the drug very quickly. This means they have to take increasingly larger amounts to get the same effects.
Research indicates that if a user
develops a tolerance to one drug in the hallucinogen class, he or she will also
have a tolerance for other drugs in the same class. For example, if someone has
developed a tolerance to LSD, they will also have a tolerance to psilocybin and
mescaline.
They will not, however, have a tolerance to drugs that affect other neurotransmitter systems, such as amphetamines and marijuana.
Tolerance to hallucinogens is not
permanent. If the person stops taking the drug for several days, the tolerance
will disappear.
Also, chronic users of hallucinogens typically do not experience any physical withdrawal symptoms when they stop using these drugs, unlike users who have become dependent on other drugs or alcohol.
Persistent Psychosis and Flashbacks
Two of the more serious long-term effects of using hallucinogenics are persistent psychosis and flashbacks, otherwise known as hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD). Many times these conditions will occur together. According to the NIDA, here are some of the specific long-term effects of hallucinogen use:
• Other visual disturbances (such as seeing halos or trails attached to moving objects).
These symptoms are sometimes mistaken for neurological disorders (such as a stroke or a brain tumour). Although rare, the occurrence of these conditions is as unpredictable as having a bad trip. Flashbacks and psychosis can happen to anyone, but research has shown that they are more often observed in patients with a history of psychological problems.
The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
"Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
