When you hear from people who have been in recovery for decades you remember just how fortunate we are in today’s modern world.
Not only is there much more support now in the form of recovery centers and therapists, there’s also an abundance of help thanks to 21st Century technology.
It used to be that even if you went in a bookshop there would not be one self-help book. Now it is floor to ceiling of recovery books.
As well, we can at the push of a small button on the little device most of us carry 24/7 in a pocket, discover a wealth of helpful videos on YouTube. There are so many it’s a real gift of our modern world.
We could have listed a thousand videos that are helpful, but to start with here are six first-class recovery videos that immediately come to mind.
“The power of vulnerability” – Brené Brown
Professor, lecturer and author Brené Brown’s TED Talks video’s huge popularity even took her by surprise. Perhaps its success is because she had to make herself vulnerable in it to talk about the topic of… vulnerability.
She asks how can we cultivate the compassion, courage and connection that’s needed to embrace our imperfections, to realize that we are enough, that we are worthy of belonging, love and joy? She talks about how some have the courage to be imperfect.
“‘Courage’ is from the Latin word cor meaning heart,” she says. “The original definition was to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.”
“The best explanation of addiction I’ve ever heard” – Dr Gabor Maté
In this video, renowned addiction expert, speaker and author Dr Gabor Maté explains: “Addiction is not a choice that anybody makes. It’s not a moral failure, it’s not an ethical lapse, it’s not a weakness of character.
“It’s not a failure of will, which is how our society depicts addiction. Nor is it an inherited brain disease. Actually it is a response to human suffering – and all those people I worked with had been severely traumatized as children.”
“5 lessons to live by” – Dr Wayne Dyer
Internationally renowned self-development author and speaker, Dr Wayne Dyer motivated and helped millions of people around the world during his lifetime.
This video outlines Wayne Dyer’s five principles to live life by. These are:
1. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
2. There are no justified resentments.
3. What you think is what you become.
4. Be open to everything and attached to nothing.
5. Don’t die with your music still inside you.
“Letting go, letting God” – Sandy B
For many people struggling with or in recovery from alcohol addiction, the AA Speakers on YouTube are a tremendous help. That is especially now during this COVID-19 era of isolation and lockdowns.
Sandy B is one the best speakers of all. He mixes up years of successful recovery wisdom with his fascinating stories and a great sense of humor.
In this one he talks about letting go. That is, that if we continue to try and control everything, we are only going to cause more struggles – and we will never get to know our true selves.
“Until we let go there is no room for the true nature of us to come out because we are not centered on our true nature, we’re centered on our ego and our selfishness,” he says. “So we have no idea of who we really are.
“We have no idea of what the core of us is. We just know what we have told ourselves that we are and then we believed it.”
“Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong” – Johann Hari
Writer and journalist Johann Hari begins this massively popular TED Talks video by saying that one of his earliest memories was trying to wake up a relative but not being able to do so. Then when he became older he realized there was lots of addiction in his family…
He started to look into why people get addicted. What really causes addiction?
He also wondered why society treats addicts as it does – and asked if there was a better way. As he researched this on a 30,000 mile journey around the world he made several insightful realizations.
“The opposite of addiction is not sobriety,” he says. “The opposite of addiction is human connection.”
“We want to make people extraordinary” – Dr David Nesenoff
Tikvah Lake CEO and a counselor for 30 years Dr David Nesenoff speaks in this 2020 video about what in his vast experience is the very best recovery treatment.
“There’s a crisis: you didn’t just have a bad day – you’ve had a bad decade,” he says. “You ask: ‘what am I supposed to do now?’
“I’ll cut right to it: you have to have one-on-one therapy and many times a day. That’s what you’re looking for as the only thing that will change behavior.
“It’s very difficult to change human behavior. So that’s what it’s going to take to change it – one-on-one personalized therapy every single day, multiple times a day.
“That’s what’s going to change your life or the life of your loved one.”
We have great experience of helping people with all types of mental health illness. This takes place confidentially in our luxury mansion nestled in a beautiful tranquil natural setting right beside our stunning lake.
Contact our expert team today to discover how we can help you or someone you love.
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