Happy Birthday Robin Roberts

This Black Friday  I happened to  catch GMA.  I watched a musical vignette led off by Stevie Wonder singing his now iconic Happy Birthday song. As the music played images of exuberant loving fans including viewers, co-workers and several celebrities flashed signs and sang along with Stevie.  

I confess that I never watch Good Morning America and I know very little of Robin Roberts one of the co-hosts of the ABC show now on sabbatical for health reasons. What did strike me however as the music played was how the tears started to fill my eyes. The reflection of love these people have for Robin Roberts was transmuted across the screen and I instantly felt a connection to this beloved former athlete and TV personality in the faces of those that carry her close to their hearts. 

Authentic emotions are one of the gifts we humans can share with each other and for this human I felt it for Robin Roberts. 

Dick Tracy

Dick Tracy was a detective and like all good detectives, I mean really good detectives they solve mysteries. Some mysteries are tough to solve because there are few clues. Dick Tracy gave me this clue and I pass it on to you. The Butler did it.  

When Will This Ever End?

When will this ever end?  Have you ever asked yourself this question? Of course you have and the truth is that even when we think we are “in” something it’s changing nonetheless. We get so absorbed in the unpleasantness we don’t see we are moving toward a different outcome and creating a new beginning. 

Questions. Do You Have a Problem With Alcohol?

1. Is there a particular time in the day you prefer a drink? 

2. Do you drink alone?

3. Do you hide bottles when you are through with them?

4. How old were you when you first picked up?

5. Has your drinking interfered with your relationships at home/work?

6. Do you think you can stop anytime you want?

7. Do you need a drink when you’re in mixed company or in a group?

8. When everyone else has stopped drinking are you the last one to stop?

9. How do you feel before you pick up? Are you happy/sad/depressed?

10. How do you feel the next day after a day/night of alcohol and or drugs

11. Do you feel remorseful? 

12. If you had to stop could you?

13. What would have to happen for you to stop?

14. Do you think alcohol has had an adverse affect on your life?

15. Can you imagine a life without alcohol/drugs? 

See if you can answer these questions with rigorous honesty. Then ask yourself what has to happen next? 

CASAC Section II

The more I read and study about the certificated course in CASAC (Certified Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor) the more excited I become about becoming the best counselor on the East Coast. I make this unabashed claim because I know that I was born to do this. The experience of 23 years in AA, a degree in psychology, an outgoing personality and the fact that I am a sexagenarian will all lend themselves to being a value added asset to those afflicted with the dis-ease of alcoholism. 

Today I started the 2nd section of this course and it is considerable in length 85 versus 150 hours and I am up for the challenge. Bring it!

Capitulation Tuesday

Giving in to it. Today I just have to give in. Sit here and write and study be with my two cats and reflect how blessed I am not only to have survived the devastation outside but also to have lasted nigh on 62 years now. 

I hate to give in and I hate to say goodbye and that has helped as well as hindered me all my life. I don’t know why I am so persistent or relentless. I don’t think I inherited those traits from my father or mother maybe it was my paternal Grandfather but it makes life for me more like a human doing than a human being. Part of what marks my personality beside my sensitive nature is my enthusiasm. I think I was born with that and my environs gave fuel to the fire within me that still burns bright whether its in a spin room or when I walk about other humans and start extemporaneous conversations that have no script.  I love how deftly I can start confabs with strangers and how most respond to me. It’s curious how it works nearly every time. I think its intuition but the more sullen and serious people I love talking to them the most.  I lift their day and usually put a smile on their face as well and that gives me Actual Grace and its fun as well.  

So today in the aftermath on Capitulation Tuesday I sit and feel that it’s okay to give in to capitulate and not do anything. Tomorrow should arrive just in time for things to do.  

A Sexagenarian Plus 1

This is a great opportunity for a man of 61 years old to get more acquainted with himself and connect with others in a way that will resonate with people of any age and hopefully any walk of life, ethnicity or gender. When I became a sexagenarian it was probably the most significant emotional and spiritual event that I can recall because it gave me a vantage point that I had never considered because I live my life to the fullest yet only day to day. One of my major shortcomings is not having had a plan. I used to make goals but I think my accomplishments have come through osmosis as it were rather than a concerted conscious effort on my part.  

Also woven into my current working life and tenure, as a stepparent has been my life in recovery from alcohol and drugs for the past 23+ years. I have been fortunate in never having relapsed in that time. This experience I have been blogging about in what I call: My Life After AA for the past 3 years. These writings are my own experience and they have been reported to be a didactic source to my readers and quite frankly to me as well. This writing capability has extended itself into 13 blogs that I write on a regular basis. I of course am seeking to be discovered by some editor and maybe one day I will be. My writing is experiential in nature and I have been told that I am able to capture within my writing, emotion that normally would take pages. I just know that like my life, my writing is not scripted and it arrives nascent, or Faulkneresque as some have mused. 

I am determined to avoid the world of stagnation and despair that my 83-year-old father lives in.  My remaining years I hope will be characterized by the word that I have learned in my psychology studies and that is generativity. I have so much to offer succeeding generations merely by the life I have lived. Whether it be through my life passing through military college, a major weight loss of 75 pounds, a running career that included 17 marathons, life as an alcoholic and one in recovery for 23+ years. 

As long as I can take in a breath I will always be in learning mode. Whether it is in my chosen vocation of Finance, my exercise regimen of spinning, or writing in my blogs I am always gaining knowledge about people, places and things.  If I could describe my essence it would be a sponge. I am constantly taking new experiences and using my intuition to advance the lives of those in my nuclear and blended families and those that I interface with on a daily basis. 

My future studies will certainly include the field of addiction, as I will pull from the 23 years of personal sobriety. I can also lend my experience to arena of blended families and share the experiences I have had as a stepfather. There is not enough study in this field of endeavor and I will do what I can to foster more understanding of the non-nuclear family. 

Another area of interest for me lies in the burgeoning science of Cyber Psychology. Again having spent 17 years in the social networks of the World Wide Web and its ever-expanding intricacies is a fascinating area of psychology yet to be discovered.