When you lift your arm, you are doing so voluntarily and controlling the movement. When your heart beats, that is controlled involuntarily by your nervous system. When you are stressed, your heart may race faster and your blood pressure may increase. As a professional working through your addiction, finding a way to have more control…
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When you are addicted to drugs or alcohol, it affects your entire family. As a healthcare worker, first responder, lawyer, pilot, or other professional, you are understandably concerned about your relationships with co-workers, employees, and managers. However, your family members are the ones most deeply impacted by your addiction. Who needs intensive family therapy? Those…
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Random drug and alcohol testing is a requirement for many safety-sensitive professions. Pilots and other transportation professionals must be tested regularly to ensure they are fit for duty. When professionals are in treatment for a drug or alcohol addiction, random testing can also help reinforce their progress in recovery. Professional laboratory monitoring helps ensure testing…
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As the pandemic continues and there’s still so much prolonged uncertainty about our futures, many of us will begin to experience stress and significant mental health concerns. There are millions of people who are already suffering from psychiatric and mental health conditions, even prior to the pandemic. Those pre-existing conditions do put those individuals at…
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The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” Joseph Campbell There is a certain kind of gift to being committed to practicing a true and authentic self. Too often we metaphorically, hold our breaths, remaining uptight and compliant with the expectations and wants of others. We study what it means to be a…
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“The kingdom of heaven is inside and outside of you.” The Gospel of Thomas Much of what we call life’s journey occurs within oneself. We tend to experience life through a lens of perception, meaning and discrimination. Not discrimination in the most common use of the word, more of increased awareness of differences and nuances in the…
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John Lennon once wrote in his song Beautiful Boy, “Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans.” There is so much today to distract us from focusing on what is happening in the moment and most likely more worthy of our attention. Sometimes we unintentionally distract ourselves when life presents…
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Haruki Murakami, a best selling author in Japan once wrote a book entitled, What I talk about when I talk about running. While describing his experience of running he spoke about feeling body aches and pain, and wondered if he would be able to stand this pain to finish his run. He noticed that the…
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In the 1994 Oscar award winning movie, Forrest Gump, a powerful scene depicted Jenny, a long-time friend and romantic interest of Forrest. They were walking together and came upon an old dilapidated small house. Jenny stopped in her tracks, stared, creating a long silent moment in the movie, then began to throw her shoes, then rocks…
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Mahatma Ghandi was the leader of the anti-imperialist movement in India and South Africa in the early 20th century, which lead to their successful independence in 1947. His signature process of non-violent protests were a significant part of an overall strategy towards independence from England and the British Empire. Ghandi refused to accept the status…
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