Thursday 19 November 2015

CACCF Presents Nick Rigma with the Roly Gatin Award.


Nick Rigma long time Board Member with the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Fedeartion was presented with the Roly Gatin Award. Nick and I had a great time at this year's CCSA Issues of Substance Conference in Montreal #Addiction Matters #Recovery Matters

How Emotions Affect Your Body


Thursday 29 October 2015

52 Proven Stress Reducers



52 Proven Stress Reducers
Get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning. Extra time helps make mishaps less stressful.
Prepare for the morning the evening before. Set the breakfast table. Make lunches. Put out the clothes you plan to wear.
Don’t rely on your memory. Write down appointment times, such as when to pick up the laundry, when library books are due. (“The palest ink is better than the most retentive memory.”—Chinese Proverb)
Do nothing you have to lie about later.
Make copies of all keys. Bury a house key in a secret spot in the garden. Carry a duplicate car key in your wallet, apart from your key ring.
Practice preventive maintenance. Your car, appliances, home, and relationships will be less likely to break down “at the worst possible moment.”
Be prepared to wait. A paperback book or MP3 player can make waiting in a post office line almost pleasant.
Procrastination is stressful. Whatever you want to do tomorrow, do today; whatever you want to do today, do it now.
Plan ahead. Don’t let the gas tank get below one-quarter full. Keep emergency supplies of home staples. Don’t wait until you’re down to your last bus token or postage stamp to buy more.
Don’t put up with something that doesn’t work right. If your alarm clock, wallet, shoe laces, windshield wipers— whatever—are a constant aggravation, get them fixed or buy new ones.
Allow 15 minutes of extra time to get to appointments. Plan to arrive at an airport at least one hour before domestic departures.
Eliminate (or restrict) the amount of caffeine in your diet.
Set up contingency plans, “just in case.” (“If we get split up in the shopping centre, let’s meet here.”)
Relax your standards. The world will not end if the grass doesn’t get mowed this    weekend.
Use Pollyanna-Power! For every one thing that goes wrong, there are probably 10 or 50 or 100 blessings. Count ’em!
Be clear before you act. Ask questions. Take a few moments to repeat back instructions given to you.  Don’t fall prey to the old “the hurrieder I go, the behinder I get” idea.
Say “No” to extra projects, invitations, and social activities you don’t have time or energy for. This takes practice, self-respect, and a belief that everyone, every day, needs quiet time to relax and to be alone.
Turn off or unplug your phone. Take a long bath, meditate, sleep, or read without interruption. Drum up the courage to temporarily disconnect. (The possibility of there being a terrible emergency in the next hour or so is almost nil.)
Turn “needs” into preferences. Our basic physical needs are food, water, and keeping warm. Everything else is a preference. Don’t get attached to preferences.
Simplify, simplify, simplify.
Make friends with non-worriers. The behavior of chronic worrywarts is contagious.
Take frequent stretch breaks when you’re sitting a lot.
If you can’t find quiet at home, wear earplugs.
Get enough sleep. Set your alarm for bedtime.
Organize! A place for everything and everything in its place. Losing things is stressful.
       Monitor your body for stress signs. If your stomach muscles are knotted and your       breathing is shallow, relax your muscles and take some deep, slow breaths.
       Write down your thoughts and feelings. It can help you clarify ideas and give you                         a renewed perspective.
       Do this yoga exercise when you need to relax: Inhale through your nose to the count         of eight. Pucker your lips and exhale slowly to the count of 16. Concentrate on the long    sighing sound and feel the tension dissolve. Repeat 10 times.
      Visualize success before any experience you fear. Take time to go over every part of the event in your mind. Imagine how great you will look, and how well you will present yourself.
      Take your mind off the task for a while. If the stress of a deadline gets in the way of                                 doing a job, use diversion. You will focus better when you return to it.
      Talk out your problems with a friend. It helps to relieve confusion.
      Avoid people and places that don’t fit your personal needs and desires. 
If you dislike politics, don’t spend time with politically excited people.
      Learn to live one day at a time.
      Do something you really enjoy every day.
      Add an ounce of love to everything you do.
      Take a bath or shower to relieve tension.
      Do a favor for someone every day.
      Focus on understanding rather than on being understood, on loving rather than on being loved.
      Look good to feel better.
      Take more time between tasks to relax. Schedule a realistic day.
      Be flexible. Some things are not worth perfection.
      Stop negative self-talk: “I’m too old.” Make it positive: “I’ve learned from life.”
      Change your pace on weekends. If your week was slow, be active. If you felt nothing was    accomplished during the week, do a weekend project.
Pay attention to the details in front of you. “Worry about the pennies, and the dollars      will take care of themselves.”
Do one thing at a time. When you are working on one thing, don’t think about everything else you have to do.
Allow time every day for privacy, quiet, and thought.
Do unpleasant tasks early and enjoy the rest of the day.
Delegate responsibility to capable people.
Take lunch breaks. Get away from your work in body and in mind.
Count to 1,000 (not 10), before you say something that could make matters worse.
Forgive people and events. Accept that we live in an imperfect world.
Have an optimistic view of the world. Most people do the best they can.

Friday 4 September 2015

Owning Our Energy....

Owning Our Energy
Learn to keep your energy inside.
—Women, Sex, and Addiction
Charlotte Davis Kasl, Ph.D.
For many reasons, we may have mastered the art of giving away our energy. We may have learned it when we were young because the feelings we had were too overwhelming to feel, and we did not know how to process them.
Much of our obsessing, our intense focus on others, is done to facilitate this “out-of-body” experience we call codependency.
We obsess, we babble, we become anxious. We try to control, caretake, and fuss over others. Our energy spills out of us on to whomever.
Our energy is our energy. Our feelings, thoughts, issues, love, sexuality; our mental, physical, spiritual, sexual, creative, and emotional energy is ours.
We can learn to have healthy boundaries—healthy parameters—around ourselves and our energy. We can learn to keep our energy within ourselves and deal with our issues.
If we are trying to escape from our body, if our energy is spilling out of us in unhealthy ways, we can ask ourselves what is going on, what is hurting us, what we are avoiding, what we need to face, what we need to deal with.
Then, we can do that. We can come back home to live—in ourselves.
Today, I will keep my energy in my body. I will stay focused and within my boundaries. God, help me let go of my need to escape myself. Help me face my issues so I am comfortable living in my body.

Quoted from the book Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie.

Thursday 27 August 2015

Don't let first year be a $20,000 party!...

Welcome Back to School: How to Stay Sober in College 

By Zachary Siegel 08/26/15
“I felt that as a StepUP student I was not only safe and secure, but that I had an identity of which I could be proud and people respected [me] around campus.”
College Partying Students


“Recovery comes first, because if I can’t maintain that, I won’t stand a chance at this whole college thing,” said Julian M., a young and sober freshman who is a member of the Collegiate Recovery Program (CRP) at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. 
“My first semester at U of M is coming to a close and I am really proud of my accomplishments. I made connections with professors, went to office hours, and took my studies seriously,” he said. 
The main thing that I would like to see is an attitude of respect towards recovery and perhaps some level of awareness that students can explore recovery.
READ THE ARTICLE HERE.... 

Monday 24 August 2015

Great 'App' for meditating....check it out HEADSPACE



Just by signing up you've taken the first step towards a life of less stress, more sleep and better focus. We'll be popping in now and again to help make sure you're getting the most from Headspace Take10: your 10 x 10-minute sessions of gently and expertly guided meditation.

Getting started

To begin with we recommend that you try one session a day. Start by setting aside a little time when you'll be undisturbed. Just 10 minutes. The time it takes to get dressed, have a coffee, or change your shirt (if you spilled the coffee. Too bad.)
Start Take10 Now

Sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest difference

As well as your Take10 sessions, your free trial also includes access to these super handy tools and features:
Track your progress
Keep an eye on how many days you've done, how often you meditate and how many rewards you've earnt.
The Buddy System
Give a little and get a little back. Helping you and a friend encourage each other in your meditation.
Our free app
Access your Headspace sessions anywhere, anytime. Download today.

Join our Community

Find out how other Headspacers are getting on, and share your experiences together:

Need a little help?

Visit our FAQs area for everything you need to know to get started.
Have you taken your 10 minutes yet?
Start Take10 Now