Stories
Explore our blog for insights and stories focused on mindfulness and recovery.
Blog insights
Explore stories and insights for the Recovery Dharma Raleigh community.
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Dealing with Change
Initial Fears: Taking the first step in recovery was difficult. All I had was the prospect of losing the one horrible coping tool I had developed. I was considering getting rid of the only thing I knew that would make my problems lessen for a little while. In reality, alcohol and drugs were making every…
Stability
What does stability mean to you? To me, it’s an on-going process where I try to deprogram myself from the habits I build up over years of dependence on alcohol and drugs. I’ve only been in recovery for 5 years, and I slowly had to realize this wasn’t a sprint towards some end-goal, but a…
Community
A lot of us were alone in our addiction. Isolation was a way to hide the full scope of our use, to reduce the perceived stigma so that loved ones and others close to us wouldn’t notice. I have very bad anxiety, and being around people is stressful for me. When I was drinking and…
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Sanga Member Testimony – K
When I was in kindergarten I was repeatedly sexually abused by a relative of a my next-door neighbor. I remember leaving the house on several occasions to return home late at night. The abuse was not violent, so I did not understand that anything “bad” had happened to me until I was much older. My…
Leave yourself alone!
Zen teacher Barry Magid describes the practice of just sitting. Imagine sitting down in front of a mirror. Your face automatically appears. There is no effort required; the mirror is doing all the work. You can’t do it right or wrong. The Zen Buddhist practice of “just sitting” is like that. When we sit, our mind automatically…
Stress/Anxiety
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another”. – William James My drinking and drug use was pinned to how stressed or anxious I was. I felt it would lessen the affect it had on me or carry me away to a land of don’t give a fuck at…
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Craving
Conditioned by contact, feeling arises. Conditioned by feeling, craving arises. Conditioned by craving, grasping arises. Conditioned by grasping, becoming arises. This cycle can apply to all of our struggles in recovery and with unwise actions in general. We are constantly surrounded by the media and people who glorify our problem substances. It’s part of our…
