Tuesday
October 14, 2014

Life on Life's Terms

Another reason to be grateful

I was sitting in my living room with my children the next night.

"Here goes nothing," I said as I powered up my laptop.  It worked fine.

"Why wouldn't it work?" my daughter asked.  I told her about problems I'd had with the computer and my conversation with Jason The IT Guru.

"I'm glad he knows what he's doing, because I was baffled," I said.

"Hmm, maybe the computer fixed itself to make Jason look good," my son said.  "Maybe the machines want you to trust this Jason guy so they can use him as a pawn in their little game."

"Brat Boy has a point," my daughter said.  She turned to him and asked, "How do we know Jason's not part of the plan?  Pretend to be a pawn while calling the shots."

As I worked on my laptop, my children spun dark and funny conspiracy theories that made me laugh out loud.

Today I will be grateful for people who know what they're doing.  

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

Upcoming  Trainings

Five MISA Groups (and pointers on running them)
October 15, 2014 at Kerr Presbyterian Church in Verona
9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m
$50 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training

This five hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board
• Nurses by the PSNA #101-1-O-14
• 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.

To register, please visit our website greenbriartraining.com or send an email to: kmontrose@greenbriar.net

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/7169517-manage-don-t-banish

RPG

Down to the ladder

Roger, a thin, balding, white male in his late forties introduced himself next.  "I'm divorced, a convicted felon, and $190,000 in debt.  I'm barred for life from working in the financial sector.  My kids hate me and so does my ex-wife.  They were really unhappy to find out I was spending the kids' college money on my ex-girlfriend.  My ex-girlfriend was really unhappy to find out I had a wife and three kids.  My boss was really, really, unhappy to find out I was embezzling money from work to replace what I took from the kids.  To top it all off, I love cocaine.  That $190K?  Probably $150,000 went up my nose.   And this isn't my first go around.  I put together two years after my first rehab, and seven years after my second.  This time I'm in so deep, I don't see how I'll ever get out. What words of wisdom do you have for me?" he asked with a sneer in his voice.

I said, "Picture a ladder on the side of a building at the bottom of a hill.  Walking to the building may be easier than climbing the ladder, but they're both done one step at a time."

"Easy for you to say, you don't have to climb the ladder.  Each step is going to be uphill."

"I didn't say anything about them being easy, I just said they had to be taken one at a time."

A downhill run and a steep climb are both accomplished one step at a time.

RPG: Relapse Prevention Group © 2014 by Ken Montrose