In today's episode I share messages from five listeners who have contacted to basically say this same thing: Help! I Keep On Relapsing. You will learn a lot from their transparency about the struggle to stay clean and sober without a slip or relapse every 3 months or without findind a new "acceptable" addiction as their comforterg

BOGSAT is the acronym for a Bunch of Guys Sitting Around a Table. This bunch of guys are typically just killing time, having a cigarette or a cup of coffee, checking messages or playing a game on their phone. So it's not a group meeting. It 's a casual, unproductive time with no real focus. In this episode we look at BOGSAT and how we can change it to BOGGAT a Bunch of Guys Growing Around a Table.

Today we are doing another walkabout in Change Park. This time we'll walk on The Game is On Trail. Are you someone who felt that as your family tried to change you it was time to manipulate them to enable you? So as Peter Chenge said "People don't resist change. They resist being changed!" If that's you then this episode is for you.

In today's episode we look at feedback from guys in various stages in recovery. They share their thoughts on where they are going, how did they get there, etc. A key quote we conclude with is by Iyanla Vanzant "Planning is the only way to keep yourself on track. Plan your moments to be joyous. Plan your days to be filled with peace. Plan your life to be an experience of growth. When you know where you are going, the universe will clear a path for you."

Today's episode is a walkabout in Change Park on the Can You See I've Changed Trail. This trail takes us on the difficult, often messy, part of recovery when we have changed but our friends and family don't see it. They don't believe what we're saying. Maybe we've changed, but their still the same. The first quote we'll find on this trail is by Canadian writer Robin Sharma "Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end."

A Japanese proverb that goes back to Samurai warrior time is "After victory, tighten your helmet cord." This emphasizes that we may have won a battle but that doesn't mean the war is over. In this episode we look at seven ways that we can utilize this proverb as a guide for us in recovery. As stated by Kambei Shimada in Akira Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai," "When you think you're safe is precisely when you're the most vulnerable.

Today's episode is a walkabout though I'm Free Park. Are you truly free from addiction? Can you even visualize being free? Friedrich Nietzsche Said "Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves." Enjoy this walkabout as we look and these questions and so much more.

I want to thank my friend Matthew Toth for his insight into the importance of self forgiveness in recovery. Here's a list of 7 points that Matt views as vital as you walk the path of self forgiveness. You can learn more about Matt by searching him on Facebook. He posts often about his walk in recovery and calls ir ODAATwithMatt.