National Geographic is not always about lions, tigers and bears In case you didn’t realize it, this year the National Geographic Society is celebrating 125 years of exploration and come this October they will celebrate the 125th anniversary of the publication of their first monthly magazine. Depending on your age you may be familiar with the magazine....Read More

Official portrait of United States Director of National Drug Policy Gil Kerlikowske. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Science-driven drug policy reform released on April 24, 2013 This Wednesday, Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the National Drug Control Policy, was joined at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine by Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug...Read More

Jeffrey C Friedman I read this morning that Casey Johnson, heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, died alone in her Los Angeles apartment after a well-publicized life of drugs and partying. I feel sad to hear yet another story of a celebrity who succumbs to addiction after cycling in and out of a series...Read More

What Are You Grateful For? As the New Year approaches I find myself thinking of how different my life is after 22 years of sobriety. Today I am grateful, not just for the countless gifts I have received but also for the life lessons that brought me to Alcoholics Anonymous. At one of the first...Read More

The patients at Cottonwood de Tucson built a labyrinth recently on a Sunday afternoon. The weather was beautiful and the group was excited to get out-of-doors and play a while in the desert. From a pile of rocks and a design drawn in the dirt, they pieced together a seven-circuit labyrinth that measures 21′ in...Read More

A recent article in the New York Times, It’s the Holidays. How About Just One?, (Jim Atkinson, December 8, 2008) caught our attention. The author, an alcoholic with 16 years of sobriety, describes the cultural discourse that supports and encourages the over-use of alcohol at most events during the holidays. The readers, in this case...Read More

“In this poor body, composed of one hundred bones and nine openings, is something called spirit, a flimsy curtain swept this way and that by the slightest breeze. It is spirit, such as it is, which led me to write. . .” Basho Basho was a traveling poet and student of Zen meditation. He is...Read More

Keep life simple. These words echo throughout the recovery community. Paradoxically, when asked to contribute “simply” to a blog my mind went blank: I can address the theory and current research related to “keep life simple” but I have not been able to write a short blog using the advice. How can I possibly write...Read More

Mind & Body As I work with people everyday who are trying so desperately to find a balance between the mind and body, I realize that everything has a cost. The question remains, how much are you willing to pay? What are you paying for? Is there a payment plan for balance? Is there a...Read More

I was reading an article writen by Marsha Rosenbaum and Jennifer Kern titled “Whether It’s Drugs, Or Sex, Abstinence Only Education Simply Doesn’t Work“. I believe the article makes some good points about the need for prevention education based on science rather than “scare tactics” or morality. What the article is alluding to is “Harm...Read More