Nobody goes to drug and alcohol rehab to be told how great they are. People go the change their lives. Poeple go to rid themselves of behaviors that are destroying their life as well as those around them. To really change your life you must relentlessly pursue the truth and reality. This requires a little thicker skin and a lot more candor. A lot more than is normal in day to day life.

In a less intense situation that drug addiction treatment, the degree of openess and candor neccesary in rehab, may not be required or may not even be helpful. What I mean is if someone is learning to play the guitar, it is more than acceptable to just stress the positive changes. It is fine to say practicing 4 or 5 nights a week is good. Reversing a severe addiction is much more difficult. It also requires a lot more “ruthless” honesty. You may be making excellent progress and any changes should and must be celebrated. However, don’t let progress blind you from candidly examining all of you present behavior pattens. Put them under a microscope. Ask others around you for critique on anything that may lead you down the wrong path. Addiction is a condition of rationalizing dangerous behavior with statements and justifications. “This is the very last time!” “I’ve worked so hard, I deserve a break.”

One way to insure total candor to yourself is to use the newspaper headline technique. Imagine your present behavior, thought pattern, or plans, as headlines on the front page of any large newspaper. If it were on the paper would you change anything about your behavior? You can’t rationalize on the front page news. It is there for everyone to see in blinding detail. Living your life like it was front page news, is a surefire way to make absolutely sure it never is front page news. Put more candor in your drug rehab experience. You and those around you will reap the benefits.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 20th, 2006 at 1:24 pm and is filed under Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.