The self-help arena is massive and usually new age in nature, yet the path to truth starts with a desire for the truth about ourselves. What makes us who we are? Growing up, I was introduced to Jesus and the Holy Bible, it was a part of my life in some measure, and I’m very grateful for this. I’m not sure how much of my personality and values come from those early introductions to the Christian faith, yet I believe it helped me grow a conscience. Besides a testimony about myself, I want to write about how group counseling can help a person grow, and how the literature of Al-Anon, AA, and other twelve step programs can help us gain insight into why we feel the way we do, why we behave or think the way we do. I don’t think we understand how much alcoholism and drugs affect our lives, how deeply it shapes our perception about ourselves and others. Much of how we interact and deal with others is based on what was lacking in our families and growing up. Many times, we are stunted and unable...
Writing about writing is like a maze within the Squidoo. Once upon a time... Way back in the winter of 2013, I started the journey of writing online; this seems like yesterday, yet that was 13 years ago nearly. Interestingly, I started out as a citizen journalist on an up and coming revenue sharing platform called All Voices. That included me of course, yet there wasn’t much revenue sharing coming my way. Maybe, I earned around .50 cents, never reaching the payment threshold. I soon realized after many afternoons of mowing lawns for my small lawn care business, that my hopes and dreams probably wouldn’t be realized through this particular platform. I didn’t stop there though. Proceeding on, in an online world without the Z Generation magnification that came later around 2020, I found Squidoo and HubPages. I proceeded to write heartfelt pieces that helped me realize my writing acumen was lacking something fierce (even worse than now). Still, I carried on. The next stage of development I...