We resist the very things that will help us
Learning right living isn’t always easy. Often we resist the very things that will help us live the very life that we long for. It has been our experience that gratitude is directly related to happiness.
We have an exercise we do which requires the individual to write a list of everything they are grateful for. After the list is completed we send each person out to find a small rock in nature. When everyone returns with their rock we explain that this rock will now represent everything they have to be grateful for.
Hold your Gratitude Rock in your hand and think about the people and things that you have in your life right now which you are grateful for. Think about the incredible experiences you’ve had as a result of having these special people and possessions in your life. When you do this on a consistent basis and start to associate the power of this experience and the feeling of gratitude with your Gratitude Rock, you are creating a very formidable base from which everything else will grow.
Now whenever you touch your Gratitude Rock, you will start to experience the same magnificent feeling of gratitude immediately and you will be reminded of all the wonderful things that you already have in your life. The people you love. The good times you’ve had with them. Whenever you find yourself overwhelmed by life’s daily stresses, all you need to do is to grab your Gratitude Rock and you will feel this positive energy and put yourself in the right state of mind immediately.
One young man, who was full of self doubt and lack of motivation decided to resist the lesson. He thought it was silly, he balked at the exercise thinking he was too cool for such a thing.
Habilitat Sails the Hokulea
This time we got to sail along while Captain Blankenfeld did a training session with new crew of the Hokulea. Thanks to the nice folks at the Polynesian Voyaging Society for all their Aloha! Give us a call when you are ready for our volunteers. What a great experience for all!
Up coming Habilitat car wash
October 24, 2009
Kailua United Methodist Church
1110 Kailua Rd
Kailua, HI 96734
The Therapeutic Community (TC)
The therapeutic community (TC) for the treatment of drug abuse and addiction has existed for about 40 years. In general, TCs are drug-free residential settings that use a hierarchical model with treatment stages that reflect increased levels of personal and social responsibility. Peer influence, mediated through a variety of group processes, is used to help individuals learn and assimilate social norms and develop more effective social skills.
TCs differ from other treatment approaches principally in their use of the community, comprising treatment staff and those in recovery, as key agents of change. This approach is often referred to as "community as method." TC members interact in structured and unstructured ways to influence attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors associated with drug use.
Many individuals admitted to TCs have a history of social functioning, education/vocational skills, and positive community and family ties that have been eroded by their substance abuse. For them, recovery involves rehabilitation — relearning or re-establishing healthy functioning, skills, and values as well as regaining physical and emotional health. Other TC residents have never acquired functional life-styles. For these people, the TC is usually their first exposure to orderly living. Recovery for them involves habilitation — learning for the first time the behavioral skills, attitudes, and values associated with socialized living.
In addition to the importance of the community as a primary agent of change, a second fundamental TC principle is "self-help." Self-help implies that the individuals in treatment are the main contributors to the change process. "Mutual self-help" means that individuals also assume partial responsibility for the recovery of their peers — an important aspect of an individual’s own treatment.
