Is God "Board Certified"?
Intervention Part II
An ad ran here on the Peninsula of Doom cable system a few nights ago – Monday, I believe. I think it came from The Drug Free America Foundation – if not then some other similar organization. The message was “Don’t wait till you hit bottom”.
Yes, I know they are talking about drug addicts – but they ALSO think that alcoholism and drug addiction are the same thing. So when DFA or whoever they are, is addressing drug addiction they are also telling alcoholics the same exact things. The point is, here is a message that is in direct conflict with what we know works for real alcoholics and it is being broadcast over mass media.
They believe that the solution to alcoholism might include not waiting to hit bottom. Hmm . . . could it be that they want you to come “in” while you can still pay? That would be better – considering the financial limitations of public assistance and insurance companies.
Here’s a bit of Bill W’s experience with “hitting bottom”: “Why all this insistence that every AA must hit bottom first? The answer is that few people will sincerely tried to practice the AA program unless they have hit bottom. For practicing AA’s remaining eleven steps means the adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking.” 12 Steps an
d 12 Traditions page 24
And “all this insistence” is quite accurate. There’s a lot of it in AA.
This “not waiting to hit bottom” idea, mind you, come from folks who USE the AA Fellowship as their own “free” aftercare program. Yet they do not believe or prescribe that same ideologies or procedures of that fellowship. Is any wonder that so many real alcoholics get nothing but confused and dead?
We are talking about people here who have NO IDEA what an alcoholic bottom is. They are thinking in terms of material loss, feelings of self pity and grief – calling these “hitting bottom“.
If you are a real alcoholic who has hit a real alcoholic bottom, and are reading this then you know that these things, as painful as they are – as horrific as they can be – can still only be considered a cakewalk when compared to the true alcoholic bottom that we experience before we turn our lives and wills over to God and recover. And if not then you are dead and unable to read this anyway.
Experience, the kind that is sometimes grim and oftentimes joyous, tells us that recovery is best left to the Pros. And the real Pros are other alcoholics who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of body and mind through a means that does NOT entail human intervention. It is about Divine intervention.
So what if the above mentioned ad or ads like it were wildly successful? Suppose thousands of alcoholics who would have others eventually had their last drink – the one that brings them to the abject bottom – the soul sickness, of the alcoholic bottom – were prevented from having that last drink?
They’ll never recover.
When we intervene with an alcoholic’s progression we intervene with his recovery. And he’s dead. The problem is that interventionists have a whole ‘nother definition of a “bottom” than we have.
Here’s a good description of a bottom in the Big Book: “ . . . . unable to imagine life either with alcohol or without it. Then he will
know loneliness such as few do. He will be at the jumping-off place. He will wish for the end.” (152:0)
How you ever been unable to imagine even living anymore AND been unable to imagine dying either? Honestly now. This isn’t one your Open Discussion meetings where bullshit flies like mosquitoes over a Georgia swamp in August.
Did that type of loneliness even come CLOSE to the imagery of the lonely guy sitting in a full Yankee Stadium? (Another silly-ass fellowship analogy with which non-alcoholics can easily identify.)
Or were you just without much socialization, friends and loved ones – who had abandoned you or became distant because you’re such an asshole?
Maybe you were just “sick and tired of being sick and tired”? SHIT. I wish i could have stopped drinking just because I was sick and tired of doing it. I was there for YEARS, man – and still I drank. That’s no incentive to stop for a real McCoy!
You think that either of these even approaches the loneliness and pain of an alcoholic at his bottom then you are truly blessed. Ignorant – but blessed. Let’s call it blissfully ignorant. Your solution is simple: Just put the plug in the jug. If that’s too difficult then get yourself holed up in a rehab somewhere to assist. You don’t need AA.
Recovery is best left to the Pros. And the Pros are other alcoholics who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of body and mind through a means that does NOT entail human intervention. It is about Divine intervention.
Believe me, God is not “Board Certified. ” And neither are “we“. “We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others.”
Peace,
Danny S
* And neither are “we“. “We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others.” We doan need no steenkeen certificate.
How to Kill A Real Alcoholc
Intervention
PART I
Ever seen them on TV? Ever had one? Amazing. Good entertainment. Do you realize that in the time it takes to plan and implement an “intervention” that an alcoholic could have competed all twelve step and recovered?
I kid you not.
- Bill Wilson did it in under two weeks
- Dr. Bob in under a month
- ALL of the early co-founders in under a month.
- Me? I’m a little slow – forty four days. A lot of unnecessary pain and suffering was had during that time, but none of us have done this perfectly. “We are not saints” and certainly not I.
I look at these people on the television and think, “Man I hope these aren’t real alcoholics.” I hope they are all just hard drinking drug abusers – because if they are not real alcoholics, then this sort of thing may work for them. But if they are the real McCoys – can kill them.
Interventions prevent an alcoholic from hitting bottom. That’s bad. FAMILY hit their bottom – not necessarily when the alkie hits his. And those “bottoms” are not the same. Families are miserable, hurt and tormented so they are going to force the issue. Implementing an intervention may be out of love – of course it is – but it’s also out of ignorance. The counseling that a family can receive as the result of an intervention may be good for them even if it is a poor substitute for the spiritual steps that they could take instead.
In AA, when the Big Book d
irections are followed, the whole family can benefit for the from SAME EXACT process. But that alkie may not have had his last drink – but hell or high water we are going see that he’s had it.
Non alcoholics cannot hit an alcoholic bottom. The lowest they can possibly get is dead. “Dead” is a break for the real alkie. If you aren’t one – you can never understand this. If you are not a real alkie what seems to be the worst kind of life – one of loss, poverty, self-pity and mental misery is a fucking cake walk to us real alkies.
We might feel bad for you when we hear of your hardships, your relationship difficulties, your financial problems – the children and spouses you’ve harmed – but we also then know that you have not known the true alcoholic bottom. An Alcoholic bottom is worse than these. It is a sickness of soul and spirit and it does not rely upon material and emotional losses to cut it’s wounds. It is powerfully, almost intelligently debilitating on it own, corrupting, imprisoning and torturing the spiritual of being that the simple tears of self-pity cannot touch.
There IS a bottom worse than death. It’s living in a place that can only be entered through the ages old iron gates of mental insanity – whereupon once entering, the afflicted must adapt and survive on terrain so treacherous that only a tiny percentage of those who enter ever find the way back. Even fewer ever live long or happily.
Anyone, alcoholic or not, can experience such soul sickness – but alcoholics for sure will. You want to help a hard drinker? Write a check and buy an “Intervention”. You want to help a real alcoholic? Bring him to God.
Peace,
Danny S
Intervention
Have you ever seen them on TV? Ever had one? Amazing. Good entertainment.
Board Registered Interventionists. Registered Addiction Specialists and Certified National Drug & Alcohol Interventionists. All very hoidy toidy and “official” sounding.
Do you realize that in half the time it takes to plan and implement an “INTERVENTION” that other alcoholics are completing ALL TWELVE STEPS and coming away fully recovered?
They never have to enter a treatment center – never have to move away from home and into a “sober” house for “protection” or even pay one red cent. They never have to lie on an application saying they are “homeless” so that the taxpayer has to foot the rehabilitation expenses either. (Did you know about THAT common scam?)
And this option is available to ALL – and will work any alcoholic who has the capacity for honesty. They don’t even have to be honest - most of them aren’t anyway – only have the capacity for honesty and be willing to go to any length.
Sometimes ANY LENGTH means telling the treatment center counselors to GO SCREW!
I kid you not.
Tomorrows article will tell you the TRUTH about “Pay For Service” interventions and why if you are are real alcoholic how the charlatans who run these “Pay for Service” business ventures, such as seen on cable TV channels – can kill you.
Peace,
Danny S
Intervention
Have you ever seen them on TV? Ever had one? Amazing. Good entertainment.
Board Registered Interventionists. Registered Addiction Specialists and Certified National Drug & Alcohol Interventionists. All very hoidy toidy and “official” sounding.
Do you realize that in half the time it takes to plan and implement an “INTERVENTION” that other alcoholics are completing ALL TWELVE STEPS and coming away fully recovered?
They never have to enter a treatment center – never have to move away from home and into a “sober” house for “protection” or even pay one red cent. They never have to lie on an application saying they are “homeless” so that the taxpayer has to foot the rehabilitation expenses either. (Did you know about THAT common scam?)
And this option is available to ALL – and will work any alcoholic who has the capacity for honesty. They don’t even have to be honest - most of them aren’t anyway – only have the capacity for honesty and be willing to go to any length.
Sometimes ANY LENGTH means telling the treatment center counselors to GO SCREW!
I kid you not.
Tomorrows article will tell you the TRUTH about “Pay For Service” interventions and why if you are are real alcoholic how the charlatans who run these “Pay for Service” business ventures, such as seen on cable TV channels – can kill you.
Peace,
Danny S
Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?
Danny is a born and bred New Yorker, (1957) who grew up in “da Bronx”, New York City and has lived most of his life in the borough of Queens. He now lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts with his wife Nancy and their two children, Danny Jr. and Kristen.
The Schwarzhoffs are a complete family unit enjoying emotional, mental and physical health and a harmonious lifestyle free from harmful stress. Both children are Honor Roll students in their schools, are socially active and well balanced in all areas of their lives. In July, 2011 the Schwarzhoffs celebrated their thirty second wedding anniversary.
He writes. He plays guitar. Danny was born May 7, 1957. His parents divorced when he was five and he is the product of an alcoholic family life visa vi his mother’s live-in boyfriend who was an alcoholic.Danny himself is an alcoholic. He refers to himself as a “Recovered alcoholic” – no longer suffering from the malady. He got sober for the first time in 1997 and then again in 1999. He has been sober since.He owns several popular and enduring blogs about alcoholism, meditation, recovery and the Twelve Step based solutions to life’s problems. For eight years standing, both Google and Yahoo have rated Danny as the number one, top rated “Recovered Alcoholic”.
He calls himself a “Real Live Recovered Alcoholic”; no longer suffering from the malady. Danny stopped drinking for the first time in 1997 and then again in 1999. He has been sober ever since. He has over thirty years experience with a special form of non-religious, spiritual meditation that he teaches and writes about in tandem with his unique style of carrying the Twelve Step message of recovery that emphasizes this unique meditation technique. He claim it is the missing link in Twelve Step Recovery and has devoted his life to delivering it to the world, beginning with the alcoholic.
Danny was first exposed to the meditation technique he prescribes when he was about five years old. It happened following a traumatic experience with his mother’s violent, alcoholic live-in boyfriend. In order to deal with the humiliation and resentment he experienced at the hands of this man Danny stumbled upon the technique – which he later recognized as meditation – in order to protect himself from the harms caused by that painful traumatic experience. He was able to dislocate his emotions much in the same way that the circus contortionist might dislocate a shoulder. Miraculously, when the experience was over he realized that he no longer hated the man for beating him.
Armed with his secret ‘gimmick’, life could never be quite the same. Then in his teen years he discontinued the mystic ‘dislocation’ practice and descended into the perverse world of active alcoholism, suffering mental and physical dysfunction for nearly two decades. Then in 1999 during a “white light” spiritual experience everything changed and he was able once again to ‘meditate’. He has never needed to look back. He continues to apply this method in all areas of life and has continued to enjoy mental, emotional and physical well-being as well as spiritual healthfulness. Now he teaches the technique to others principally through working with alcoholics who are attempting to go through the Twelve Step Recovery process.
Not only has Danny fully recovered from alcoholism and substance abuse but through this technique integrated into the Twelve Step process he has been able to overcome major depression, anxiety, smoking, onset type II diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, sugar addiction, colitis, hemorrhoids, and even erectile dysfunction. His doctors have un-prescribed virtually all of the prescriptions he has been given in the past decade including Lipitor, TriCore, and ADD medications like Adderall as well as the antidepressant drugs Effexor, Welbutrin and Lexapro.
He first began writing in the mid 70s when he landed a job as publicist and advertising director for a Bronx produce company. He wrote advertising copy and press releases for the company and directed all of their marketing and promotion until 1982. After several years as a Lobbyist in Washing DC serving the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association he left to start his own weekly tabloid newspaper where he was Editor-in Chief of “The Fruit & Vegetable Reporter.” He wrote most of the tabloids feature stories and much of the news copy. Danny has published articles in Grapevine, AA’s magazine for Alcoholics, and also in the Barnstable Patriot on Cape Cod.
The late 80s and 90s brought Danny to Wall Street in New York City when he became a stockbroker. One of his firms became the subject of the movie “Boiler Room” – a factoid which fuels much of his storytelling on the subject of alcoholism, spiritual dysfunction and substance abuse in the workplace. In the late 90s he moved to Cape Cod where he began writing, working with alcoholics, and breeding thoroughbred racing pigeons. He also began working for several rehab centers aiding addiction counselors with rehabilitating alcoholics and drug addicts.
Today Danny give regular public talks on alcoholism and recovery. He has conducted Twelve Step workshops at recovery conferences in Boston, New York and in Denmark as well as at Dartmouth College (UMASS).
Although frequently consulted by treatment facility administrators and those in the recovery business Danny does not affiliate with any treatment center or rehabs. He hasn’t got any recovery models to sell. He gives his meditation exercise away for free and only writes of his experience on the subject with one goal in mind. He wants to persuade others to try it and to experience an entire change of being and lifestyle through it. He is not an authority on any recovery methods or organizations, God, alcoholism or spirituality nor does he speak or write in representation of anyone but himself. He is not a member of any organized religion or cult and has no axe to grind. He does however express his experience and observations as a spiritually awakened and Recovered Alcoholic. He does not write as a form of “Twelve Step” work for Alcoholics Anonymous or as a form of therapy.
Biographic disclaimer: Sometimes the question of anonymity arises – along with the issue of whether or not Danny is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). If Danny were a member of AA, he would violate AAs traditions by saying so publicly. He would also be lying if he were a member and denied it. So in order to respect that organizations traditions he does not answer that question publicly. However, Danny does want his readers to know that AA has earned his respect and he approves of AAs Twelve Step Program. He also does not think that AA has a monopoly on recovery from alcoholism and that AA is not for everyone. He has attended AA meetings and has done extensive research into its history and Twelve Step Program and is an ardent practitioner of the Twelve Steps. He writes about some of these observations regarding AAs Program, Fellowship and history.
Danny Schwarzhoff is a recovered alcoholic and a writer by trade. He is not an authority on ANY recovery methods or organizations, God, alcoholism or spirituality nor does he speak or write in representation of anyone but himself. He is not a member of any organized religion or cult and has no axe to grind. He does however express his experience and observations based upon that experience as a RECOVERED alcoholic. He does not write as a form of “twelve step” work for Alcoholics Anonymous. Please see the FAQ for more information.
By Nancy Lee Schwarzhoff
Personal Note: I am so grateful to have gotten my husband back. We have been married now for almost twenty-seven years. He became someone I no longer recognized; certainly not the wonderful guy I fell in love with; who made me laugh, who held doors for me, who was truthful and honest; who was going to go out into the world and make a difference – who loved me and didn’t mind showing it. I lost that guy, during the years that he drank. To anyone who has an alcoholic spouse I truly hope you find what my husband has stumbled into. The joy and serenity that has come back is truly a second chance for both of us.
I hope we all enjoy his new book. (He swears he will start looking for a publisher soon!) On the too few occasions that he gives me a few pages to read I end up laughing and crying all on the same page. (I am sure he does that on purpose, knowing him like I do) Then again I went through much of it. So much he never let me know about. He kept so much inside of him. He became secretive and I wondered “How could I have been so mistaken about him?” I questioned whether he loved me at all and what I did to cause him to turn the way he seemed to be. We had no idea what was happening to him. To us.
Even though Dan has been writing his whole life, this is his first attempt at a real book. When he started it a little over a year ago, I knew in my heart that it was something he should do and have been as supportive (through my fears) as I could. I was shocked when suddenly he said he had over 200,000 words written! How he did that, I don’t know. I guess there is still much I don’t know about him as a RECOVERED alcoholic. I am sure he would have started it and given up in our old life. Things are still changing for us everyday.
Although it may or may not be a best seller; it may not conform what to some people think they already know about alcoholics, I will tell you that it is all true and amazing to me. Even his new found recovered friends are just the most amazing, larger than life wonderful people I have ever met in my life. Believe it or not, even the still sick ones he brings here to the house, still drunk!
Danny gets some pretty heavily criticism for being so outspoken. I must say, he does have a knack for cutting to the chase. This bothers some people, especially other un-recovered drunks – who do not even know him past his writings. But if they can deal with their own sensitivities, as I have learned, they will find my husband to be a loving and generous man with a passion for sobriety like none we can imagine. And it is only because of sobriety that it shows. Again.
I know Danny’s talk. He certainly does not walk his own talk a hundred percent. He is far from being a saint. Not on your life! But he does seem to have a skill for catching it before too much harm can come of it. And he helps an awful lot of people. I do admire that in him. But do not ever let him tell you that he walks the talk twenty-four hours a day.
There are second chances in life, happiness, and family. It is waiting for you, inside of you. I hope you find it.
- Love Always, Nancy
-
Archives
- August 2011 (1)
- September 2010 (1)
- August 2010 (1)
- April 2010 (1)
- March 2010 (2)
- February 2010 (1)
- January 2010 (5)
- December 2009 (1)
- October 2009 (1)
- September 2009 (1)
- August 2009 (2)
- July 2009 (1)
-
Categories
- 21043212
- 21043215
- 21043835
- 21044396
- 21045901
- 21046142
- 90 in 90
- AA Counselors
- AA Publishing
- Acceptance
- Addictions Counselors
- Addicts
- Agnostic
- Agnosticism
- Al-Anon
- Alcoholic Enema
- Alcoholic Mind
- Allergy
- Amends
- Anger
- Anonymity
- Applied Recoverology
- atheists
- Attraction not promotion
- Australia
- AWOL
- Balance
- Bedevilments
- Big Book Nazi
- Big Book Study
- Bill D
- Bill W Video
- BillW-Did he take the steps?
- Bottoms
- Bullshit Bingo
- Cape Cod
- Carl Jung
- Catholic Confession
- Character Defects
- Charles Manson
- Clancy I
- Cliff B
- code of AA
- Cogitive Dissonance
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
- Common Peril
- Courts
- Craig Ferguson
- Craving
- Cross Talking
- Delusion
- Denial
- Denmark
- Depression
- Disco Drunks
- Disease Concept
- Doctors Opinion
- Donald Trump
- Dr. Bob
- Dr. Drew
- Dr. Phil
- Drug is a Drug
- Drugs
- EasyDoes It
- Ebby T
- Emmet Fox
- Emotional Sobriety
- Experience Strength and Hope
- Experience Vs Opinion
- Fear
- Fear Prayer
- Fellowship
- Fellowship of the Spirit
- First Drink
- Fourth Dimension
- Germans
- Glum Lot
- God
- Good Samaritan
- Gosnold
- Gratitude
- GSO
- H.A.L.T.
- Happy Horseshit
- Hard Drinkers
- Higher Power
- Hitting Bottom
- Hooker
- How It Works
- http://beta.blogger.com/home
- Iceland
- Identification
- Immorality
- Imperious Urge
- Inc.
- Inner Child
- Insanity
- Internet AA
- Intervention
- Inventory
- James Frey
- Jimi Hendrix
- Joe McQ
- Joe Walsh
- Judgement
- Just Don't Drink
- Keep It Green
- Keep It Simple
- Light Bulb
- Lindsey Lohan
- Living Amneds
- Living Sober
- love
- Man in the Bed
- Medallions
- Meeting Dependency
- Meeting Makers Make It
- Meetings
- Mickey B
- Middle Of The Road Solutions
- Million Little Pieces
- Morality
- Motives
- Newcomer
- Obsession
- Old Timers
- Open Discussion Meetings
- Oprah
- Our description of the alcoholic
- Own Concept
- Oxford Group
- Ozzy
- Packing Into The Stream
- Page 449
- Pete Luger's
- Pink Cloud
- Playing God
- Plug In The Jug
- Pop-AA
- Potential Alcoholic
- Powerless
- primary purpose
- Promises
- Prospects
- Psychic Change
- Qualifying
- Rational Recovery
- Real Alcoholic
- Recovering vs Recovered
- Relapse
- Religion
- Resentment
- Resentment Prayer
- S
- Sanity Restored
- Sefl Pity
- Self Diagnosis
- Self help
- Self Will
- Self-centered
- Selfish Pprogram
- Selfishness
- Sex
- Sex Ideal
- Sharing
- Silkworth
- Singleness of Purpose
- Slips
- Slogans
- Sole Purpose
- Speaker Meetings
- Speaking
- Spiritual Awakening
- Spiritual Experience
- Spiritual Growth
- Spiritual Illness
- Spiritual Malady
- Spiritual Tools
- Sponsor
- Sponsorship
- Statstics
- Step Eight
- Step Eleven
- Step Five
- Step Four
- Step Nine
- Step One
- Step Seven
- Step Six
- Step Ten
- Step Three
- Step Two
- Step Unfinished Amends
- Stick With The Winners
- Still Recovering
- Struck Drunk
- Success Rates
- Suggestions
- Suicide
- Sunlight of the Spirit
- Surrender
- Temporary Sponsor
- The Sopranos
- Three Fold Disease
- To Wives
- tolerance
- Townes Hospital
- Tradition Eleven
- Tradition Three
- Traditions
- Treatment Centers
- Treatment Industry
- Triggers
- Twelve and Twelve
- Twelve Stepping
- Two Fold Disease
- UK
- Uncategorized
- Unfinished Amends
- Unmanageability
- Working With Others
- www.dannyschwarzhoff.net
- Yahoo Groups
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
