Listen Up

Do you ever feel like your brain is on constant state of cruise control; never allowing you to pull over for a bathroom break, so to speak?

Well, if that is the case, you just aren't alone.

Virtually every addict in early (and sometimes with seasoned) recovery has an overactive, and often negatively influenced brain.

The hard part is knowing how to calm it down enough to let ANYTHING worthwhile, and potentially crucial to your recovery process in...

So, if you are someone who struggles with this problem (i.e. not listening at recovery meetings, inability to sit more than 5 minutes at a time, constant need for some kind of external stimulation, even if it means chattering incessantly to avoid the quiet, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Additionally, there is something you can DO to help it.

And that, in fact, is the ACT of listening more than you speak- a TALL order for anyone, let alone a newly sober alcoholic or addict.

The good news about this is that when you think about the fact that you can CHOOSE to listen and that you aren't TRAPPED in a corner having to listen, then you actually regain the power to make listening a positive trait for you, rather than something you are dreading, for fear that someone will say something you don't want to hear.

Making the CHOICE to listen from a place of 'adulthood,' rather than from a place of victimization can actually make the world of difference.

The more you listen, the more you won't want to speak, and it will also REALLY help quite your brain.

Today's Challenge: Find the person you LEASE like to listen to and start there. After you listen -without interrupting-for at least five minutes, write down at least one thing you learned by listening.

You will be surprised with the results...