Unadulterated Truth is Necessary for Healing

It's that time of year when the weather starts to turn warm, and prisoners shed their coats and hats to walk around in shorts and t-shirts. The temperature isn't yet 60F, but that doesn't stop anyone.  The sun is shining, the yard is open...it's a good time to be outside. Yet, some prisoners aren't outside. They're inside playing cards or dominoes. And some are meeting in the school building for an addiction recovery group called Breaking the Chains.  I facilitate this addiction recovery group, and on sunny, warmer days, it's a little tough to keep my heart in the group. I'd rather be outside enjoying the sun. But then I remind myself that the forty-some other prisoners could be out enjoying the sun, too. These guys are committed to the process, and that helps me keep my heart in it, too.  Two of the most important elements of Breaking the Chains is our emphasis on getting to the root of each person's addiction, and making a commitment to deal only with the truth. Simply stopping an addiction almost always results in the problem showing up somewhere else in a person's life. Drinking and drugging become sex and gambling addictions, for example. Unless, of course, the pain, trauma, or other root of addiction is confronted and healed. This process requires a radical commitment to truth, too. Telling just some of the truth can start someone on the path of recovery, but true recovery, the kind that helps you turn your life around and thrive, requires cold, hard truth.  That's the funny thing about healing of any kind, including healing from addiction--only the truth can set you free. Justifications, blame-shifting, and minimizing only lead to more bondage. These things keep you stuck in the pain instead of freeing you to leave the past in the past in the past and discover your purpose and reach your potential.  I know some of the guys in group are there because they want to impress the parole board. That's okay. I hope they pick up something along the way that helps them find their path to freedom. The rest, though, they're making the hard choices. They are doing the work of letting go of old thinking and habit patterns and forging a new path free from the shackles of the past.  It's incredibly powerful and encouraging to hear these guys incorporating what we talk about in class into their everyday lives. It's also empowering to hear them tell stories of sharing their insights with their families. It's humbling to know that I'm a part of changing family trauma patterns in any way. It helps, just a little bit, heal the pain I carry from the trauma I've caused.  Now, THAT'S the truth!