Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery

Thom’s Nutshell:

"Live this moment as if you chose it.

Might as well. And maybe you did."

Give yourself permission to doubt. Give yourself permission to disagree. Give yourself permission to decide. Add more self!

Reflecting on the emotional sobriety of Viktor Frankl and Christopher Reeve, and having the courage to credit your own point of view. In emotional sobriety we find the “positive opportunism” of paying attention to what Is, instead of what Isn’t.

Our music is provided by the great southern artist Jefferson Ross. Learn more about Jefferson at jeffersonross.com

Visit our website:

www.emotionalsobriety.info

Follow us on social media:

Instagram: thomrutledge2

Joe C. Twitter: @Rebellion_Dogs

Learn more about Joe C., Secular AA and Rebellion Dogs here:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com 

 

Friendly Circle Berlin workshops: https://friendlycircleberlin.org/events

 

Allen’s book, 12 Essential Insights for Emotional Sobriety: https://www.amazon.com/12-Essential-Insights-Emotional-Sobriety/dp/1955415129/

 

Join Allen & Thom at our Thursday night, 7pm PST Zoom meeting on Emotional Sobriety and the Steps (login information below): 

https://zoom.us/j/330149513

Password: 375986

 

For our ongoing workshop video series on Emotional Sobriety and the 12 Steps, visit our YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHEM2-kqLkfp3I4c0jy-X-g

 

Also, please join our “Emotional Sobriety and Recovery” FB Group at the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/120450976662519

We’d love to stay in touch in between meetings.

 

We appreciate feedback! Contact Patrick, our producer, at [email protected] for any questions or comments.

Thom’s Nutshell:

“So much energy we spend wishing things to be different.There are always better uses of our time.”

Anxiety is consistent, persistent and disciplined. It wakes up first and works out every morning. To change we must be at least as disciplined. Joe C. talks about the many ways (often with the help of community) we medicate this condition. Allen digs into our relationship with Self, highlighting what we call the “intimate self,” in our navigation of anxiety. This all takes work!

Learn more about Joe C., Secular AA and Rebellion Dogs here:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com 

Our music is provided by the great southern artist Jefferson Ross. Learn more about Jefferson at jeffersonross.com

Visit our website:

www.emotionalsobriety.info

Follow us on social media:

Instagram: thomrutledge2

Joe C. Twitter: @Rebellion_Dogs

 

Friendly Circle Berlin workshops: https://friendlycircleberlin.org/events

 

Allen’s book, 12 Essential Insights for Emotional Sobriety: https://www.amazon.com/12-Essential-Insights-Emotional-Sobriety/dp/1955415129/

 

Join Allen & Thom at our Thursday night, 7pm PST Zoom meeting on Emotional Sobriety and the Steps (login information below): 

https://zoom.us/j/330149513

Password: 375986

 

For our ongoing workshop video series on Emotional Sobriety and the 12 Steps, visit our YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHEM2-kqLkfp3I4c0jy-X-g

 

Also, please join our “Emotional Sobriety and Recovery” FB Group at the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/120450976662519

We’d love to stay in touch in between meetings.

 

We appreciate feedback! Contact Patrick, our producer, at [email protected] for any questions or comments.

Chapters

(00:00:07) - Emotional Sobriety
(00:03:13) - The Rock is the Thing
(00:08:02) - The Importance of Emotional Sobriety
(00:11:35) - Joe and What They Talk About in Recovery
(00:13:55) - The Fear of Being Nothing
(00:17:22) - Brandon on Codependence and the Intimate Self
(00:23:50) - Living on an Airplane
(00:28:10) - Having Reached a Spiritual Awakening

Thom’s Nutshell:

“When you want something, do you begin with a commitment to make it happen or a list of reasons that it probably won't?"

The mighty Carol Carter joins us again from the front of a different kind of recovery: triage from a flood which devastated her home. In our pursuit of emotional sobriety, integrity matters most. In adjusting our expectations to meet the moment, we can also “change our source of self-esteem”, to put us into congruency with our value system.

Learn more about Jenny, the trauma-informed Certified Professional Organizer helping Carol sort through her belongings in the flood’s aftermath: https://www.sweetgrassorganizing.com . Anyone with a trauma related connection to clutter can find a resource to help.

Our music is provided by the great southern artist Jefferson Ross. Learn more about Jefferson at jeffersonross.com

Visit our website:

www.emotionalsobriety.info

Follow us on social media:

Instagram: thomrutledge2

Joe C. Twitter: @Rebellion_Dogs

Learn more about Joe C., Secular AA and Rebellion Dogs here:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com 

 

Friendly Circle Berlin workshops: https://friendlycircleberlin.org/events

 

Allen’s book, 12 Essential Insights for Emotional Sobriety: https://www.amazon.com/12-Essential-Insights-Emotional-Sobriety/dp/1955415129/

 

Join Allen & Thom at our Thursday night, 7pm PST Zoom meeting on Emotional Sobriety and the Steps (login information below): 

https://zoom.us/j/330149513

Password: 375986

 

For our ongoing workshop video series on Emotional Sobriety and the 12 Steps, visit our YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHEM2-kqLkfp3I4c0jy-X-g

 

Also, please join our “Emotional Sobriety and Recovery” FB Group at the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/120450976662519

We’d love to stay in touch in between meetings.

 

We appreciate feedback! Contact Patrick, our producer, at [email protected] for any questions or comments.

Chapters

(00:00:07) - Emotional Sobriety (Week 9)
(00:01:21) - Rainbow Dance
(00:02:16) - In the Elevator With Tom
(00:06:21) - Tom Everett on Writing While Recovering
(00:10:52) - I Got the Most Heartrending Call From My Friend Writing His
(00:12:41) - Tom, What Is Integrity?
(00:18:36) - How To Deal With a Hurt Person's Letter
(00:23:29) - In the Elevator With a Trauma Victim
(00:28:10) - Sometimes I Just Say What I Need to Say
(00:28:56) - Carol in the Woods With the Flood

Thom’s Nutshell:

“Life is a wonderful blessing, with many great disappointments. Can you see disappointment as a gift?”

In emotional sobriety, we attempt to believe that we are here to learn from whatever we are given, which Thom calls “positive opportunism.” How can we use what disappoints us to become a better person? How can we use it to be productive? Acting “as if” this was the plan all along can help us through.  If we appreciate the true nature of things, we’re free from expectations about how they’re “supposed to” be.

Our music is provided by the great southern artist Jefferson Ross. Learn more about Jefferson at jeffersonross.com

Visit our website:

www.emotionalsobriety.info

Follow us on social media:

Instagram: thomrutledge2

Joe C. Twitter: @Rebellion_Dogs

Learn more about Joe C., Secular AA and Rebellion Dogs here:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com 

 

Friendly Circle Berlin workshops: https://friendlycircleberlin.org/events

 

Allen’s book, 12 Essential Insights for Emotional Sobriety: https://www.amazon.com/12-Essential-Insights-Emotional-Sobriety/dp/1955415129/

 

Join Allen & Thom at our Thursday night, 7pm PST Zoom meeting on Emotional Sobriety and the Steps (login information below): 

https://zoom.us/j/330149513

Password: 375986

 

For our ongoing workshop video series on Emotional Sobriety and the 12 Steps, visit our YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHEM2-kqLkfp3I4c0jy-X-g

 

Also, please join our “Emotional Sobriety and Recovery” FB Group at the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/120450976662519

We’d love to stay in touch in between meetings.

 

We appreciate feedback! Contact Patrick, our producer, at [email protected] for any questions or comments.

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Coming soon: Sobriety for Superman
(00:01:01) - Enjoying the Feedback From Our Podcast
(00:01:41) - Tom's nutshell for the week: Life is a Wonderful Blessing with
(00:03:21) - Nothing in the Universe Happens By Mistake
(00:08:53) - Exploring Emotional Sobriety
(00:12:43) - Acceptance of Realities
(00:17:36) - The Reef: How to Love Your Wife
(00:23:10) - Lessons from Working With a Sick Brain
(00:26:09) - Does Anyone Really Hate Himself?
(00:26:38) - Tom on Disappointments
(00:31:49) - Tom Cruise in '
(00:32:18) - Jefferson Ross

Thom’s Nutshell:

One of emotional sobriety's greatest challenges is for us to understand and accept our contribution to our own distress without becoming distracted by self-condemnation.

Shame and humility are not the same thing. One of the first levels of self-acceptance is an utter refusal to be in an adversarial relationship with ourselves. When we take ownership over our own existence, there’s nowhere left to hide. In this episode, Allen and Thom touch on the notion of writing an apology letter to our bodies for the way we’ve disregarded them - a practice that will further our journey towards wholeness.

Behind anger is pain. If we keep yelling about what’s bothering us, behind the rage are usually tears. In dealing with anger, we continue trying to live in the space between a stimulus and a response, which widens as we continue to practice emotional sobriety and maintain alignment with reality.

Our music is provided by the great southern artist Jefferson Ross. Learn more about Jefferson at jeffersonross.com

Visit our website:

www.emotionalsobriety.info

Follow us on social media:

Instagram: thomrutledge2

Joe C. Twitter: @Rebellion_Dogs

Learn more about Joe C., Secular AA and Rebellion Dogs here:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com  

Friendly Circle Berlin workshops: https://friendlycircleberlin.org/events

 

Allen’s book, 12 Essential Insights for Emotional Sobriety: https://www.amazon.com/12-Essential-Insights-Emotional-Sobriety/dp/1955415129/

Join Allen & Thom at our Thursday night, 7pm PST Zoom meeting on Emotional Sobriety and the Steps (login information below): 

https://zoom.us/j/330149513

Password: 375986

 

For our ongoing workshop video series on Emotional Sobriety and the 12 Steps, visit our YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHEM2-kqLkfp3I4c0jy-X-g

 

Also, please join our “Emotional Sobriety and Recovery” FB Group at the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/120450976662519

We’d love to stay in touch in between meetings.

 

We appreciate feedback! Contact Patrick, our producer, at [email protected] for any questions or comments.

Chapters

(00:00:07) - Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
(00:03:31) - Responsibility for One's Life
(00:09:59) - Tom Brokaw on His Own Body
(00:13:47) - Separation and the Authentic Me
(00:14:01) - Angry Feelings and Emotional Sobriety
(00:17:18) - The Anger of Alcoholics
(00:21:31) - The Anger of Relationships
(00:26:01) - Alan on Being a Codependent