Undercover: Our Secret Obsessions is a novel sharing one example of consequences brought about by being bullied and scapegoated by classmates during one’s formative years. Protagonist Vandy Blake comes to experience herself as unworthy of many meaningful life experiences, not … Continue reading
Valerie Belew
If you want to work with addicts you must understand and accept the concept of very slow change. First of all, few of them want to change initially, and those who do are easily distracted. They may be very motivated … Continue reading
The naive assumption that controlled substances such as heroin, crack or meth are more difficult to put down is false. Legal substances are by far the more difficult to kick. Years of service as an addiction specialist have allowed me … Continue reading
Music has always touched my spirit as nothing else can. Frequently I fall in love with lyricists I’ve never actually met face to face, as nothing is more intimate than soul spilled on paper through the musical verse. This morning … Continue reading
Addiction carries a curse. This morning I was greatly saddened by seeing a photo of my brother and his wife at their second home in Port St. Joe, Florida. Jim and I will probably never be close again, if we … Continue reading
In the Biblical creation story, Adam and Eve were said to be “naked and not ashamed.” According to Christian tradition, shame over being nude did not occur until after the couple disobeyed God. Likewise, we feel no shame when we … Continue reading
Last year I earned $33,000 annually working on a job I had grown to hate. It wasn’t a high income by any stretch of the imagination, nor the most money I had ever earned, but it was certainly more than … Continue reading
Have you discovered that you often become angry over things you should ignore or lump into a tidy little folder labeled live and let live? Why do we personalize statements and comments made by others that aren’t actually about us … Continue reading
I received word while out of town yesterday, that Samantha Ryann Bates, my great niece, was on her way. Whatever else I had planned for the afternoon went on hold as I made the two hour pilgrimage from Millidgeville, Georgia … Continue reading
If you take the letters used to spell denial, D-E-N-I-A-L, you can form the sentence “Don’t even no I am lying,” using the letters that form the word denial as the first letter of each word in the sentence. The … Continue reading