5 Principles For Recovery

1. Commitment to integrity. ”telling the truth about yourself is the most concrete, active step

you can take in the process of finding real love.” Greg Baer.

2. Commitment to affirming worth, and showing genuine compassion. Compassion, from latin,

compati ‘suffer with.’ Compassion is a desire to remove the suffering from another person. (Not

to be confused with codependency.) Understanding, “we must look deeply in order to see and

understand the needs, aspirations and suffering of the ones we love.” Thich Nhat Hanh, teachings

on Love. Conscious effort to validate the good in others and show appreciation for the value

they have.

3. Commitment to growth. Ideal growth happens together. Encourage, help, inspire, and desire

growth in others. Simultaneously develop yourself, not by bringing others down, but seek

knowledge with application untto understanding for personal growth. Big me + little you = no

growth. Little me + big you = no growth. You = Me = growth.

4. Commitment to Agency. Being free from addiction will increase agency. Addiction takes

away our ability to choose and restricts freedom in life. Do not blame others, instead take

responsibility for our actions.

5. Commitment to trusting your instincts and own intuitive responses. Meditation and increased

self-awareness will increase the application of the first 4 principles. Learning to be at peace and

how to tune into that channel will generate more understanding of others and less fear of

rejection. These principles and concepts are taken and adapted from a course provided by Dr.

Keven Skinner in a 6 week class on Intimacy. “Kevin Skinner, Ph.D., LMFT, CSATC.” Addo

Recovery. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 June 2016.