Lives of the Sober - The Expanding Center Circle

"Getting into gratitude is the treatment for sobriety fatigue." What do the 3 Circles look like when practiced over time? 25+ years into sobriety, do the circles look the same as when you started? Do they change? Do they expand? In this episode, I interview an individual who has been clean and sober since 1989. He shares his Circle Plan as it was in early recovery, and how his circle plan has developed over the last three decades. Turns out that as one gains experience in sobriety, one can also gain awareness of yet more and more avenues for compulsivity and unmanageability to show up. Today’s guest has gone far beyond stopping drinking and smoking. He has labored to address his relationship to sex and pornography, to food(especially to sugar), and to rage. At the same time he has left behind multiple compulsive relationships, he has developed many more healthy relationships with real people, with sober communities, with a higher power, with mentors, and ultimately with his own inner self. We talk about the 12 Steps and other support groups. We talk about daily practices that support sobriety. We talk about a non-religious approach to spirituality. We talk about how long term sobriety requires constant active engagement. There’s no room for passivity; we have to be growing in awareness of our own selves, growing in connection with others, and growing in the role we take in our communities. Maybe we don’t do it perfectly - in fact, we most likely don’t - but if we persist in actively showing up, there is always room for healing and growth. This podcast relies on the partnership of listeners - especially with dollars! Please visit www.patreon.com/outercircle to learn how to partner with the vision of this show! Rhys Pasimio can be found through www.patreon.com/outercircle and on instagram at @newpattrencounseling and is always happy to dialogue with listeners bringing honest questions! If you would like to contact my guest today, send me a message and I will pass your info along to him. #recovery #recoverywork #sobriety #sobrietyfatigue #soberwayoflife #livesofthesober #longtermsobriety #addiction #sexaddiction #foodaddiction #12steps #aa #spirituality #3x5program #processaddiction #community #mindfulness #mentalhealth #dualdiagnosis #sexandloveaddiction #addictionrecovery #mentalhealth #counseling #therapy #outercircleinnerstillness