Soulshine

Sometimes in recovery we may directly or indirectly hit on an area where another recovering person, or even a friend, is in denial about slipping back into old addictive patterns of behavior. This person may react angrily or push us away through silence because we have hit on a wounded part of them that they are not yet ready to acknowledge, much less face. And they have fallen back into an old pattern of emotionally-medicating it away that they don't want challenged. if we experience anger or resentment from them, it's important for us to not take it personally. When the air is charged with unhealed emotions, it's best for us to back off, allow that person to return to a place of peace and to give them space and time to clearly process what we said to them.  This is how that person is often able to break through their denial. It's very typical for a person to emotionally react negatively to what we say when we have hit on an area where they are trapped i...

“You saved Richard Callahan’s life. You can’t live it for him.” Helen Pryor, American Dreams There’s an episode of the TV series American Dreams where Jack Pryor is attending a reunion with his Navy buddies. It’s late 1963. It’s been 20 years since these men served together during World War II. One of the guys who shows-up for the reunion is Richard Callahan. Jack saved Richard’s life during the war. But, since that time, Richard hadn’t done much with his life. We learn that Richard is an alcoholic, divorced twice and he’s been unable to keep a job for very long. During the episode, he actually looks like a dead man walking, like a zombie. Richard feels guilty to be alive. Jack had two buddies injured in the same attack and he had to make a choice about who to save. The other man had insisted that he was OK and had told Jack to go help Richard. He died while Jack was saving Richard. Richard is portrayed as a man who has never felt like his life was worth living fr...