Many years ago, I came across a sensational author and leader by the name of Stephen Covey. You may be familiar with his works on “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People“ or even “Principle Centered Leadership“. As a common thread throughout Stevens Works is the notion of getting in and staying aligned. As part of this approach to living Steven talks about an “inside out approach”. This is what this blog is looking to address. As people of recovery we should strive to become as well as we possibly can become. Wellness is like an insurance policy against relapse. Like any bank account, the more deposits we make the more we have to draw from. So often I will talk to you about the four dimensions of who we are. We are made up of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual domains. When we talk about becoming well to shield against relapse and strengthening Our personal recovery we must discuss these for dimensions. The focus of Stevens inside-out approach is to start with self. To take that a little deeper he is suggesting that we start with the most inside part of self. For us to become well and maintain that wellness to help ensure lifelong Recovery we need to be constantly examining our paradigms, our character and our motives. I believe this is best achieved when we look at the for dimensions, as previously stated. When we become willing to take a subjective review with an objective mentality we can fully examine our paradigms, our character and our motives as it relates to the four dimensions of who we are. It is the most necessary and courageous thing we will do in our journey toward full recovery.
Having sufficiently set the table with the above information, the reason for today’s blog title is to make sure we get the order of our process correctly. In our active addiction and prior to our commitment to recovery, we lived according to outside – in. We were externally controlled to have an internal reaction or response. We had no consistency in our life. If we were consistent in any manner, it was in our downward spiral. We had to learn how to recover based on who we Not who or what we know. It has been my experience, that there is far too much unpredictability outside of me. If something is unpredictable the likelihood of controlling it is not very high. The one area I do have a say so is the internal position I take towards those things. That can be very predictable and therefore controlled. When I take that approach to my life Things seem to be more balanced. That is white wellness is all about. The best way to achieve this is to approach my recovery as inside-out. When I start with the most inner part of me and move out from there the world around me makes more sense. I hope this helps. I hope you find yourself living your life inside-out. Please consider supporting our recovery movement.
Robert Pardon
Robert is the Recovery Guy. Getting clean and sober on April 25, 1986 has given me the insight and practical skill set to not only stay sober, but to also re-invent myself to the person I always wanted to become. Showing others how to do this is my life goal.
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