The Coleman Institute Blog
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Jun 20
June 4, 2020
Sobriety Slogans to Help You During COVID-19
As we all navigate the coronavirus pandemic, I thought it would be a good time to look at some of many slogans associated with Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 Step programs. Although they can sound kind of cheesy, each has an underlying message that can be helpful. (more…)
2
Jun 20
June 2, 2020
Finding Courage for Recovery During COVID-19
We all have to display an immense amount of courage and resilience to make it through the current pandemic. It’s a difficult and painful time in the history of the world. The COVID-19 pandemic is all over the media. It is natural to feel fearful and discouraged.
There is bad news everywhere we turn. Unemployment is rising fast. There is illness, death, and suffering throughout the world. We have no idea how things are going to turn out. There are conflicting messages being conveyed each and every day. We don’t know who to believe or what to think anymore. It can be astounding and frightening.
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May 20
May 28, 2020
PART 2: Choose Healthy Habits
All habits are behaviors that have been repeated enough times to become automatic. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, breaks habits into simple feedback loops composed of four steps: cue, craving, response, and reward. His four laws of behavior change are rules we can use to build new (hopefully better) habits. (more…)
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May 20
May 26, 2020
Alcohol Habit vs Addiction – How It Forms
Although author James Clear makes it, well, clear—that addiction is not just someone’s “bad habit”, I think it totally makes sense for people in recovery to utilize some of the concepts he captures in his best selling book, Atomic Habits.
Clear has taken the topic of habit creation, broken it down to bite-sized pieces, and gives discrete suggestions for any of us attempting to create a good habit or eliminate a bad one. (more…)
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May 20
May 25, 2020
Do This 1 Thing to Stay Off Opioids Forever
Using willpower to change a behavior means working hard to achieve something; Merriam Webster defines will power as “energetic determination.” If I need willpower to accomplish something, then I am attempting a task that I feel some level of conflict about doing. Like a part of you knows that you need or should do something, but another part of you feels resistance to doing it.
This holds true for someone who also has decided to stop using drugs, yet when the choice to use is no longer an option, resistance drops. However, perhaps the most important part of getting to this place of diminished resistance is creating an environment conducive to succeeding.
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