The Incomplete Skeptic Podcast

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. 

Why Does Sobering Up Seem So Hard to So Many People?

Discipline & F.E.A.R.:  False Evidence Appearing Real.  Illusion & Reality.  As the following suggests, Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.  I don't know if this is 100% true, but IF I have turned my will and my life over to the care of God, how can anything but what's 'real' be in my life?  A peace that surpasses ALL understanding, and 'there is One that has ALL Power...is both the beginning and the end.  Take what you like and leave the rest.  I was just throwing out some random ideas here that might require some of your patience to bear with.  Thanks for tuning in.

Listening to Know Thyself

Everything we experience has a Hidden Gem to be grateful for, which is usually hiding in plain sight. Ask the questions that scare you the most, but ask with a sense of peace and purpose that can't be given to you or taken from you.

Rumi said there is a sacred place (a field) between what's right and wrong. Let's meet there and fall in love with all aspects of our lives.

 

Thanks for listening.

NEVER GET INTO A PISSIN' CONTEST WITH A SKUNK

The purpose of living is in great part to find out who we are, and then to be who we are. ee cummings poetry has been a great influence in my life. My favorite poem by ee is 'Since Feeling is First', which set my life upon a True North and revolutionized my heart and mind, binding them as One Energy.

Here are

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.”

It is none of my business what others think of me. It Is None of My Business What I Think of Me. My only business is what God thinks of me.

Darryl Schoon Shines a Light in Darkness in this Interview for The Incomplete Skeptic, History, Hypnotic Corruption in High Places

Namaste, Viewers, and Listeners.  Welcome to The Incomplete Skeptic.  

The objective of The Incomplete Skeptic program is to give Voice to the Voiceless, hope to the hopeless, and to bring humanity back into focus to the Marginalized.  You have not found my Channel and interviews by accident.

My guest today is Darryl Schoon, Author, Healer, Speaker, and most importantly, Divine Synchronicity Specialist (sure, there's no such designation...until NOW).  :-)

Just so you know, a few controversial topics are broached in this interview, and we might drop a few off-color words.

IMO Darryl Schoon is one of the most enthralling souls I've encountered in my 6-decades of living on Earth School. I have several of his books and can say he understands what it means to do time in The Big House and make it a Higher Learning experience.  Read his book, titled, Light Shining in a Dark Place (the prison years).  I eagerly await his upcoming book, "Docking At The Mothership / Notes On Going Home".  More to come on that in a future interview.

During this interview, note how difficult paths prove that pain under love's pressure of grace turns coal into diamonds.  I believe the Holy Spirit is using everyone's life to uplift others.  After all, that's why we are all here on Earth School. Humorously, Darryl is 'seriously' a thinker so far outside of the box, that he doesn't even have a box to think outside of.

I hope you, my listeners, will glean his sheen, for as Darryl said, “Luck is love shining on your path.” I've listened to many of his interviews with Jeffrey Mishlove on New Thinking Allowed whose work I've followed for years, even when it was just Thinking Allowed. Jeffery's show was one of the few I loved while in prison.  I think that program helped my brain NOT shrivel from boredom. Indeed, we are more than our mugshot.  

Once picked up, his book riveted attention. It is a hope-filled journal told penned by an expert writer and storyteller.  His ideas are poetic.  His life is an illustration of the proverb that uniquely reflects, what kills a part of us, only makes us stronger.

I most recently heard Darryl interviewed by Regina Meredith on Open Minds, a GAIA show.  Regina is a brilliant Interviewer.  It is so cool to see interviewers give us ex-cons their time to hear our message, and not kick us to the curb.

The greater focus of my interview with Darryl on The Incomplete Skeptic is his book, "Light in a Dark Place: The Prison Years", which is to explore its origins and inspirations.

Years ago, Darryl had a moment of Higher Clarity about the future demise of our national and global economy and wrote about it in: 'The Day of the Vulture'. He covers ground on that book, and it was a big part of what got him noticed in the World of Finance. He posits that there is a connection between the current economic stressors and the evolution of humanity, and called the market crash which not enough people paid attention to.  Here is an old link about it, but is still up and running for historical value:  Survivethecrisis.com

Here's Darryl Schoon's website: http://www.drschoon.com/

Here's his YouTube 'ShoonWorks' channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwKT3Fb0E4ND0-4zYPOLr8Q

The Incomplete Skeptic's PSA: We're Only As Sick As Our Secrets (Transparency and Policing)

Everything is about balance & respect, both on a personal level and a social level.  But especially when constitutional & civil rights are involved, we have to be diligent and offer transparency.  IMO, TRUST in GOD means that in God's Economy and my free will to surrender; it means that it is imp[ossible to be off of one's spiritual path, no matter what anyone says or does.  

Peace is an inside job.  No peace, no justice.  

With justice, we need Peace Attractors (Officers of the Peace), NOT law enforcement.  Police should be like Aikido experts, where the force rendered against them is redirected and the only harm done happens because of the energy expended by the aggressor.  This should be the Peace Officer's duty on the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual levels.  

Craig O.

Welcome to the Incomplete Skeptic, Sober Wise Guy series. I interview “Old Timers” in Sobriety/Recovery, that is to say, people who are 30-years or more ‘clean & sober'.

To some extent in recovery, Old Timers are somewhat marginalized by (what I call) The EGO Police. People assume folks in long-term recovery don’t need positive reinforcement, or that they have big egos that need to be reined in and should be summarily dismissed as less important than Newcomers to recovery.

Newcomers are indeed the lifeblood of the body of The Program, but Old Timers are the metaphorical backbone. God (as we understand God) is the TRUE Spirit of Recovery and is the One that has All Power. "It's a WE PROGRAM" means to me:  WE~God, You, and Me. 

The objective of SWG is to share Experience, Strength, and Hope with the still-suffering addict or alcoholic, and to inform the public about what the recovered life looks like.  

My guest today is Craig Ost. I hope you enjoy today's topic matter. The Sober Wise Guy Show appreciates your Likes and Subscriptions!

The Incomplete Skeptic: Guest RODNEY NORMAN, Comedian, Philosopher, All Around Nice Guy

I was honored to interview a truly compassionate soul, Rodney Norman.  The shortest distance between the heart and the mind is a paradoxical sense of humor. Rodney Norman treasures the memory of his grandfather by sharing comedic wisdom in this ancestral venue.

The first time I saw one of Rodney's videos on Facebook, I thought someone captured a homeless inebriant who was humorously caught in the midst of a classic, dismal drunken failure to illuminate the world with wisdom. I used to be a drunk, so it felt familiar. Long run-on sentences might be my lingering damage of being a drunk, who knows.

I'm sober and have been for a long while, I'm grateful to report, and I enjoy Rodney's philosophical approach to the acquisition of serenity.  

 

Here is Rodney's Website: https://www.rodneynorman.com/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/rodneydnorman42

YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/c/RodneyNormancomedian

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rodneydnorman/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodney-norman-46b75684/

 

The Three Second Rule: Use It so you don't 'Lose It' (over something stupid).

We all say something we regret from time to time, but some people justify it by saying something ridiculous, like, "Well, it's the TRUTH! You can't handle the TRUTH!" Geez, talk about wallowing in condescension.

For me, this works better: Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it mean. This takes discipline.

Pick your battles. How important is it?

Truth without compassion is cruelty.

Never get into a pissin' contest with a skunk.

Meek is Greek for 'Power Under Control.' Before speaking, I usually utilize The Three Second Rule. It has saved me more times than I can count.

It's All in Your Head. It's Mind over Matter. A Disease of Perception? Thinking Problems or Drinking Problems?

It's All in Your Head; Mind Over Matter.  Perception & Thinking Problems.  We internalize stories. The stories we tell ourselves have the power to help, heal, or hurt us.  Don't harbor thoughts that you wouldn't want to create as your future.  Decisions determine destiny.  I'm sharing several stories I've heard from speakers or friends that have positively impacted me through the years.  Some are serious, some are humorous, but all have a theme that signals the value of delimiting potential.  I hope you enjoy these stories.