An addiction therapist’s mantra: remove your blinds. Owning the compulsions in our lives is Act One in a script for mending ourselves spiritually, emotionally and physically
BY MARY COOK, M.A., R.A.S. — Only a holistic approach can offer significant improvement, because we have been damaged and have damaged ourselves in all of these areas.
While not blaming [...]

Tags: anatomy of addiction, higher power, Mary Cook, recovery

1 Comment »

Zimbabwe’s modern Jews with ancient roots
Proving that the world is a much smaller place than we thought, and how interconnected we all are, DNA tests have confirmed that a tribe in Zimbabwe has Jewish roots. While the Lemba tribe shares many things in common with Jews (wearing skullcap head coverings, circumcision, avoidance of eating pork), [...]

1 Comment »

The reality show raises awareness of addiction by televising celebrities like Dennis Rodman, Tom Sizemore and Heidi Fleiss in treatment. Does it have lessons for addicts in America at large, or is it voyuerism?

BY DAVID RICKEY — One only has to watch the intake interviews for Celebrity Rehab, the reality show on the VH1 cable [...]

Tags: anatomy of addiction, Byron Katie, Caroline Myss, Celebrity Rehab Season 3, Celebrity seekers, Dennis Rodman, Dr. Drew, Heidi Fleiss, object constancy, Tom Sizemore

8 Comments »

Mawlid, birthday of Muhammad
This Friday Sunni Muslims across the world will celebrate Mawlid, the birthday of the prophet Muhammad.  Though the celebration is centuries old, historically Muslims were divided over the issue of permiting the holiday and how it should be celebrated (maybe it appeared too similar to that religious birthday among Christian neighbors: Christmas).  Festive [...]

2 Comments »

When people like Tiger Woods are treated for destructive behaviors, they often slip into new ones. An addiction specialist shares her spiritual insights into the causes and cures of addiction
GUEST COLUMN BY MARY COOK, M.A. — Addiction is death.
It is the death of dreams and hope, of the real self and self-esteem, of genuine relationships with [...]

3 Comments »

A ritual for Lent: make a daily list of what brings you joy, and what brings you closer to Spirit

No, we don’t mean our favorite song by the Psychedelic Furs, which was given a short second life a couple of years ago by the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore vehicle 50 First Dates.
But now that we brought [...]

2 Comments »

 
The new film, “Waiting for Armaggedon“, is an hour-long documentary examining how some US Evangelical Christians are awaiting the end-of-days. Their highest hopes are aligned with planetary destruction, a rapture of Christians up to heaven, pre-tribulation with the Anti-Christ’s one-world government, all before a millennial reign of Jesus [...]

2 Comments »

An addiction specialist dissects the anatomy of addictive behavior, and suggests a path for transformation

GUEST COLUMN: MARY COOK — In life it is inevitable that we become wounded in some way.  And this can take us onto a battlefield, where we try to feel powerful or just survive, and demean, deny, damage and destroy what [...]

1 Comment »

End of 2009 bash fest affects “pretentious prancer” Lady Gaga, rock ‘em sock ‘em Charlie, the Pope and even Kim Jon II
Fred Phelps not gaga over Gaga
According to Reverend Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, Lady Gaga has a “whore’s forehead” and is destined for Hell.  Are we to believe the “Reverend” [...]

4 Comments »

Brittany Murphy?! Yes, sweet and innocent and apparently-addicted Brittany Murphy
2009 just had its 2008 moment, in the sense of the loss of an ingenue who actually had talent, not just an external skin that God had smiled upon. Last year, it was Heath Ledger. In the days before the last Christmas of this decade: Brittany Murphy.
She [...]

1 Comment »

Agassi confesses he “hated tennis and took meth” and Dr. M reveals his demons while struggling to help addicts on Vancouver’s mean streets
CYNDI INGLE — Are you now, or have you ever been, in the realm of the “Hungry Ghosts”?  The Hungry Ghosts is one of the six realms in the Buddhist Wheel of Life [...]

2 Comments »

“We are flying by the seat of our collective, cosmic pants around a relatively insignificant sun, that is in turn hurtling through the provincial backwaters of a massive galaxy, anchored by a hellishly ravenous black hole.”

GUEST COLUMN: H. C. Hummel — I was raised on a grape ranch in Northern California during the 1950’s in [...]

6 Comments »

All Souls’ Day
Roman Catholics and Anglo-Catholics this week celebrate the “Commemoration of the Faithful Departed” or “All Souls’ Day” (November 2). Prayerful attention is paid to the souls of the departed going through a purification (or purging) of past sins in Purgatory. Popular in Mexico as El Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the [...]

2 Comments »

Burning Man, Michael Jackson’s Secret Tomb and Pfizer’s drug-find highlight our obsession with the Great Escape — out of sight, or out of our minds?
(Non-book) Burning censorship: An annual Labor Day weekend utopian community imposes “decency standards” —  self-image crackdown at Burning Man festival
Will Michael finally escape and Rest in Peace? The Jackson tomb is to remain a mystery [...]

No Comments »

SPIRITUAL SURF: Madonna’s illy habit; Out of the rat-race, into the Ashrams; Sex and the Saudis; Mother Teresa’s spiritual adviser in new pedophile scandal

Mother Teresa’s spiritual adviser, a San Francisco priest, defends himself against new sex charges: “I did all of this with the image of Christ crucified before me. I’ve never been closer to [...]

No Comments »

Michael Jackson and Princess Diana were confidantes. Each had sudden and suspicious deaths that put us in a state of shock and disbelief. Will Michael’s loom larger in the collective pop consciousness?

Diana, Princess of Wales, had one of the most famous funerals in living memory — and the memory of the ‘Peoples’ Princess’ was celebrated [...]

39 Comments »

A San Francisco-based independent film documents an ex-addict’s journey to his own soul’s code

GUEST COLUMN: DANNY KENNY — Some people are born Frank and some people learn to be Frank, but in the new film “May I be Frank” no one can ever really be Frank except, well, Frank. Earnest, characterized as someone with a [...]

4 Comments »

SPIRITUAL SURF: The true cost of temptation; Whole Foods’ CEO gives Obama food for thought; Hollywood seeks its own soul’s code through therapy and self-improvement

In Great Britain, the disaffected, heroin-addicted young men immortalized in Irvine Welsh’s seminal novel, Trainspotting, are now middle-aged. And, it emerged this week, they are dying before their time. (The Guardian)

The [...]

1 Comment »

Like most women, I’ve had food “issues” throughout my life — let’s dish!
BY CYNDI INGLE — One of my favorite photos from my carefree childhood shows me at four years of age doing a face plant into the white iced goodness of a delicious cake (pictured at right). This visual succulently sums up my relationship [...]

13 Comments »

Why do the depressed fail at relationships? Communication breakdown. A Stanford psychologist identifies 4 telltale signs
SOUL’S CODE —  A smattering of reports have linked suicides to people who are losing their homes, or reeling from steep losses in financial markets.
For most of us, depression won’t be a life-threatening issue — but it will threaten the [...]

9 Comments »