The Incomplete Skeptic Podcast

Look for the Good & You‘ll Find It

Sharing a memory from early recovery and the utilization of a lesson that I wondered about.  Would work in a difficult situation.

The Incomplete Skeptic: Look for the Good. Truth Without Compassion is Cruelty.

At the beginning and the end of life and everything in it, willingness is the key to being free. You can't bully yourself or anyone else into a better life. Love your shortcomings and they will become weaker and eventually become your best friend.

No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we have to burn it into the consciousness or Soul Of Surrender (SOS) that we can get well regardless of anyone or anything.

In God's Economy, nothing is wasted.

Do we ‘meet God to get ready‘ or do we ‘get ready to meet God‘?

Chicken & the Egg of "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" and "As above, so below."

 

What came first? The offense or the forgiveness?

 

I can forgive everything before it happens, but maybe both come into existence simultaneously and synchronistically.  Just food for thought.

Silver Lining

Jake Nowack, a local musician Jack of All Trades, Master of None,  heard my speech and created a song titled Silver Lining, about how the speech impacted him.  He included words from my speech at the end of the song.  My heart was touched that someone cared about my true worth.

NOT Business as Usual in Minneapolis Mayoral Race: The Honey Badger is in the Race!

The Libertarian Voice of America is taking aim at the Minneapolis Mayoral 2021 upcoming election, and Nate 'The Honey Badger' Atkins is their Candidate of Choice; the election is just two days away from the date of this posting.

America is watching, due to the compact on policing and upcoming changes. What happens here will impact policing nationwide.

Allow me to introduce Nate Atkins and his Spirit Animal, "The Honey Badger."

Here is his website: https://honeybadgerformayor.com/ and his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/honeybadgerformayor

During the interview, I found Nate to be grounded, intelligent, and willing to fearlessly address tough questions.

The Incomplete Skeptic is fond of interviewing the voice of the voiceless. I work to UNmarginalize the marginalized, no matter what they look like, what they believe, and even explore ideas that sound unbelievable to others. Like Sartre said, "Hell is other people." I'm trying to rid the consciousness of "Otherisms."

I hope you find the interview engaging, with some of the topics being the legalization of cannabis, police reform, and what to do with addicts/alcoholics that wind up in the criminal injustice system.

VOTE FOR REAL CHANGE! Vote for The Honey Badger!

Upon Awakening: Why Bother (being Grateful) if Life Sucks?

We can revolutionize everything with gratitude, choosing to be thankful for everything (not just the easy stuff).

It's akin to hearing someone say, for the first time, "I LOVE YOU."

Be the reason someone feels loved today.

If you give love, you'll always have love in your life.

Alcohol & Grace Have Common Ground

Separate fact from fiction.  Never believe a story that doesn't empower you.

Alcohol doesn’t discriminate. Nor does Grace.

The 12 Step Recovery Fellowship, a Fellowship of Equals, also doesn’t discriminate. The only difference between the 12-Step Fellowship and alcohol...is that alcohol doesn’t care. WE CARE.

It‘s not illegal to be crazy; it‘s only illegal to act crazy.

This is what I did to keep quiet, stay peaceful when I felt an impulse to blurt out some 'truth' or other.

The Three-Second Rule. Count to three after someone gets done speaking before I say anything. I can't tell you how many times I've had ZERO talk time as a result, but that is perfect. The Universe doesn't need me to get a Higher Message out there. The rocks themselves would cry out LOVE.

And then there's always the standby, "Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it mean.'

Truth without compassion is cruelty, right? "WELL, IT"S THE TRUTH" is something I've heard so many times in life. It seems like an excuse for being mean at the best, as in they don't know better. At worst, it's like gossip and pretending one's own shortcomings are better than someone else's shortcomings. Who said, "Let he who is without sin throw the first rock?"

Don't beat yourself up because you got caught being imperfect. Likewise don't judge others when they fall short of what you think or feel they should be. It's easy to get the dirt on someone. Be the one that catches their beauty, instead. Forcing solutions f's up our world more than almost anything.

Like Dolly Parton said, "Come down off of the cross, honey. Someone else needs the wood."

The Green Pill of Science & Religion; on Freeing Unity of Conscience and Heart

Crisis of faith and science evolves a new paradigm of peace.

The True North of Freedom rests in the willingness to question our convictions.

What kills you also makes you stronger.

Drinking Problems: To Intervene or NOT to Intervene? That is the Question.

When someone we love is drinking themselves into a living hell and might even die from drinking alcoholically (or accidentally), what can we do to help?

 

As to my perspective on this topic, take what you like and leave the rest. 

 

Alcoholism is a “family illness” which can, and most often does, cause serious emotional, psychological, and even physical effects on the family and friends of the alcoholic or problem drinker. It is a fact that more and more therapists, psychologists, social workers, and other health professionals are recommending Al-Anon as a crucial aid in recovery for those affected by the disease.

 

A disturbing estimation is that possibly as much as 15% of the US population could be considered “problem drinkers.” Within that group, there is another percentage that may, in fact, be clinical alcoholics. The good news is that we in Al-Anon don’t need to understand those differences nor the statistics; that’s best left for the professionals to decide.

 

All we need to understand are “The 3 C’s”, which are:

 

We didn’t Cause it – it is not our fault that the other person drinks; it is their private battle.

 

We can’t Control it – we have no power over the other person's desire to drink.

 

We can’t Cure it – it is an illness that cannot be cured through any known medical remedies.

 

If you can start to consider alcoholism the same way you consider other illnesses, such as diabetes, for example, it will become clear that you are powerless over it.

 

We would not consider ourselves responsible for the cause of someone who has been diagnosed with diabetes, nor would we believe we have the power to control their diabetes by will alone. Certainly, if science cannot create a cure for diabetes, we ourselves aren’t likely to be arrogant enough to imagine we will discover the vaccine…so why do we find ourselves taking a different perspective on alcoholism?

 

There are so many answers to that question, but some simple explanations can include; lack of understanding of the disease, being too afraid to admit there is a problem, embarrassment that friends and neighbors won’t understand, concerns that the “label” will cause you to become a social outcast…and the list goes on…

 

I lost a woman I loved very much to this dreadful disease.  She drank herself to death.  Her daughter found her dead in bed after a three-day binge.  One binge among hundreds of binges.  I brought her to the ER once, and she had a BAC of .47.  The doctor was shocked and said she should be dead and asked her if she was trying to kill herself through drinking.  She didn't answer, but she told me several times she wanted to take a couple of bottles of booze, go into the forest, and drink them both and die. 

 

I eventually left the relationship because she loved her addictions more than me.  That's no judgment.  We loved each other, and I loved her more than I loved myself.  I only loved God more than her.  It was the toughest years of my entire life.  It was my Dark Night of the Soul.

 

I did everything in my power to help but ultimately had to pull the parachute cord.  She was drowning and holding onto the bottle that was pulling her down (alcohol and depression don't mix well), I was holding on to her, and if I didn't let go, we would BOTH drown.

 

She was a wonderful woman and human being.  Her life meant a lot to me.  I refuse to let alcohol and her death define her meaning as a person.  Grief is Praise and I grieved deeper than life itself.  Thank God I had time with this wonderful human being.