Addiction recovery requires a serious commitment, yet that doesn't mean it has to be a bleak, never-ending struggle. Recovering takes us through many difficult steps of discipline, humility, and self-realization, says Kevin Griffin .In doing so, many of us forget that we are capable and deserving of basic happiness. With Recovering Joy, Kevin Griffin fills in what is often the missing piece in addiction recovery programs--how to regain our ability to live happier lives.
Recovering Joy offers a deeply insightful look at how we can cultivate positive mind states within the challenging context of addiction. Through reflections, self-inquiry, and mindfulness practices, Griffin reveals how we can better act in accordance with our core values, cultivate healthy and satisfying relationships, renew our sense of playfulness, and find the unexpected joys in the journey of recovery.Buddhism & the Twelve Steps: HIGHER POWER is a gift for those who struggle with the Twelve Step program's focus on the need to surrender to a Higher Power. Taking a radical departure from traditional views of God, Western or Eastern, author Kevin Griffin neither accepts Christian beliefs in a Supreme Being nor Buddhist non-theism, but rather forges a refreshing, sensible, and accessible Middle Way. Griffin shows how the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha, can be understood as a Higher Power. Karma, mindfulness, impermanence, and the Eightfold Path itself are revealed as powerful forces that can be accessed through meditation and inquiry.
Drawing from his own experiences with substance abuse, rehabilitation, and recovery, Griffin looks at the various ways that meditation and spiritual practices helped deepen his experience of sobriety. His personal story of addiction is not only raw, honest and engrossing, but guides readers to an inquiry of their own spirituality. In doing so, he poses profound questions, including:
- How can I understand God from a Buddhist perspective?
- How can I turn my will and my life over as a Buddhist?
- How can this idea of God remove my shortcomings?
- How do I learn this God's will?