Thursday

July 31, 2014

 

Life on Life's Terms

Magnets

The next day Julie, a young woman who had relapsed and dropped out of treatment years earlier, called to get my opinion on magnets.

"I'm drawn to them," I said, "but they can be polarizing."   Not even a chuckle from her.

"I'm serious, what do you think about magnets?" she asked.  Before I could answer, she said, "Thanks to brain scanning technology we know where to put them.  I think they're going to replace counseling, AA, rehabs, and medications.  No offense."

Her explanation of how the magnets worked sounded like junk science, wrapped in a gross distortion of Eastern philosophy. 

"Do you remember your theory that wine from locally grown grapes would cure your addiction the way honey from local hives was supposed to cure allergies?  I think the magnets will be even less effective."

"Magnets and grapes are completely different," she said.

"They're different paths to the same dead end."

 

Today I will beware of taking a different path to the same dead end.

 

Life on Life's Terms (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose

Freebie

This week's freebie is the Kindle version of Home Groupies, is available at  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S.


To read Kindle books on a PC or Mac, you can download a free app at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311

 

 

Upcoming

Burnout: Clinical, Ethical, & Supervisory Issues
September 12, 2014 at Greenbriar-New Kensington
9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m
$30 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training

This three hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board
• CRCs  by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification # 11938191652 and 11938191653 (one hour Ethics portion)
• Counselors by NAADAC #477 and NBCC #6352
• EAPs by the Employee Assistance Certification Commission
• Social Workers by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.

Other Blogs

 AArdvarks, a daily messages blog about a group of young people in recovery can be found at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/6736856

 

Smart Bears, Angry Rats

Somes   150 Years from now

"If the world is as bleak as you paint it to be," my daughter asked, "then why does Sonya seem sorta happy?"

"She believes in 'somes'."

"Sums?"

             "Somes. Somebody, somewhere, working on something better. When your grandmother was a little girl, cancer was a death sentence.  She was diagnosed at forty-five lived another thirty-five more years. Why?  Somebody, somewhere, working on something came up with better cancer treatment."

"Wasn't it somebody working on something in a lab that caused the whole world to collapse in your story?  In fact, wasn't he working on a cure for cancer?"

"Yep.  You can focus on bitter ironies, or you can have hope.  Sonya has hope."

 

Today I will have some hope, and hope in the somes. 

  

Smart Bears, Angry Rats (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose