Mindful of Being: Grounded

          It was the summer of 2012, and the research data collection was complete, synthesized findings revealed some interesting things, and the submitted work was finally approved. That was the previous year, 2011. Doc’s work was accepted, approved, and a doctorate in Addiction Psychology awarded. Now it was time to face the music and learn – firsthand – from the true masters of addiction, about remitting addiction disorders. Seasoned in his own recovery a dozen plus years, from alcohol use disorder, a rapidly growing opioid overdosing epidemic was about to test his indominable spirit, while administering his ARMOR Program and learning from the best.

In one of his self-help groups, a gentleman of similar age became a regular. Leo was comfortable sharing about his sobriety and having given up his drinking of alcohol. He was being a little disingenuous though, in order to feel a part of the group. Eventually, he decided maybe he ought to actually attempt sobriety for real. Having never done so previously, he was completely unaware of what was ahead, the potentially lethal withdrawal symptoms. Leo thought he was merely sick with a flu-bug, which had intensified to the point of him visiting the Emergency Room. Experiencing a sort of panic attack, he knew to get professional help.

“Do you drink alcohol Mr. S.?” Comfortable with his newfound sobriety, he let them know he had just quit. “Well, Mr. S., you are experiencing severe alcohol related withdrawals and need to be admitted immediately.” Once admitted, he reached out to Doc and managed to assign him as his caregiver, his lifestyle coach, addictions’ doctor, chief operations officer, and protocol designer. Today, Leo is doing most excellent, retired from both imbibing alcohol and work-related stressors. The journey with Leo comes to mind because of a recent article sent in for discussion by our News Editor Bill. It concerned an often-discussed topic during our gatherings, mindfulness. Doc claims that a person will not engage in an addiction’s lapse or relapse, so long as they are in a mindful state of remission. It is also described as, what he calls a type of cognitive functioning: “present-tense-thinking” as opposed to “past-tense” or “future-tense-thinking”. In other words, a lapse or relapse can only take root in our memories and ruminations of previous experiences (past-tense-thinking) or in our imagined projections and/or expectations of perceived outcomes (future-tense-thinking). Essentially, bringing oneself into the present moment is how we become grounded and avoid a lapse or relapse.  

So, having journeyed down memory lane with Leo, is everyone about to slip back into a lapse? Leo isn’t along for this past-tense-thinking, and he will more than likely die sober, free from the governance of his addiction. Or maybe something bad will happen further down the trail. Who knows, something extraordinary may also be in store for Leo. Point is, we have now engaged future-tense dialogue and are all at risk for lapsing back into old unhealthy dysfunctional behaviors. So please, name five things you can see, right this very minute, one being these words. How about four things you can currently feel, like your butt in that chair and feet on the ground, the temperature around you, and what your hands are touching? Let’s go to three things you can, at this very moment, hear in your environment. Did you identify three? Go now to two things you can smell. And lastly, what can you taste currently? … poof, you’ve been granted the magic dust of mindfulness! A version of this wonderful oversimplification, which will work on the spot, was presented by Abraham Gutman, The Philadelphia Inquirer Oct 25, 2022.   

If you’re interested in reading more about the actual mindfulness meditation exercises Leo learned during his ARMOR Program training, they are available in our ARMOR Journal: Addiction Remission Model of Recovery. This news post will hopefully give rise to a mindfulness arena, within our website; so, please let us know of any of your own personally developed or learned strategies and exercises practiced improving your continued mindful focus. Your contributions to the network benefits all involved. How do you get grounded? Thank you very much!