I am
embarrassed to admit I was a little reluctant to begin reading John Flaherty’s
new book, ."Addiction Unplugged"” Yes, he generously provided me with a copy,
and I knew I could not, not read it!
I was expecting another quasi-academic treatise into
the therapy and practice of addiction treatment and to be quite honest due to
recent experience, I had had my fill of those. How wrong can you be?
Instead, by reading"Addiction Unplugged" I have
undergone an amazing, experiential journey into change. My change…..the book
brings the reader face to face with critical life issues and then provides
solutions to overcome the challenges. It does that by means of hypnotic languaging patterns and some other powerful
tools taken from NLP as well as the remarkable power of Hawaiian, Ho’pono’
pono. This roughly translates to “make it right”. John uses the Hawaiian
technique as a hugely potent re-framing tool which makes the book itself
a near miraculous healing strategy. He does this by inviting the reader to
examine distressing events of the past. This
is not an invitation to wallow in the painful emotions that surface. Instead,
we acknowledge the uncomfortable trigger
with a simple “thank-you”. This stills the turmoil and brings peace to the
event. The occurrence is no longer a drama and we do not need to spend hours
processing the feelings that bubble to the surface. What happened, happened.!
It was part of the developmental journey
we call life. We are now ready for the next step, which is acceptance and the
learning that goes with it. “I am sorry, please forgive me.” We are really
detaching from all blame and judgement. We dealt with the events as best we
could. We had no resources to behave differently, but now we do, “thank you”.
Personally, I found this to be hugely powerful when it came to reviewing
certain happenings in my own life, not least of all was my own “rehab” journey.
In 2011 I was invited to join a new rehabilitation project that was being launched in a breathtaking location on the tropical island of Koh Samui I was asked to join the team, not as an addiction counselor , which I am not,but as a meridian energy technique specialist to
aid the treatment process as it helped the clients to make their way back to
sobriety. I can only say how disappointed I was to witness the dysfunction
inherent in the “Center” itself which was sadly also reflected in the amount of
relapse experienced when people returned
to the environment they called home.
During my stay there, I witnessed and participated in a drama fully worthy of
Greek tragedy . I was present and witnessed the public sacking of the clinical
director during a staff meeting that had been stage managed for that very
purpose. I felt like Judas when the new director came over and hugged me after
the meeting in an effort to elicit my unwilling support.
Events quickly unraveled. The new director was
deeply committed to a 12 step approach and my fate was quickly sealed when I
made an impassioned plea that it was essential the residents came to recognize their power and not their frailty. I wish I had this book then, because I could have waved it in the faces of those
who sought to control by fear and instead demonstrate that to heal those who craved
to break free from addiction, could do
so from a place where they could see
that they were never separated from the source of their own power which would unfailingly provide them with the strength to
find their own healing. This message comes over strongly, well done John for
bringing it for all of us to see!
"Addiction Unplugged" is an essential read for everybody addict or non-addict, therapist or
non-therapist. I urge you all to beg, borrow or steal a copy and let it assist
you on your own journey, because by doing this You cannot Not create a better experience of life, you know!
Alister Bredee D.HH, DCN MD (Alternativa Medicina)
Koh Samui,
Thailand.
May 18th 2014
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