“EMOTIONAL SOBRIETY”
“Life is not a private affair. A story and its lessons are only made useful if shared.” -Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior
The self-awareness and self-development journey started in 1973 when the new boss and I were walking in a new, two-piece, aluminum can plant…Coors Container Company, Golden, Colorado. While we were walking, the new boss recommended work on my personal stress. Having recently left a 12-year career in the Army and making the transition to civilian life, I agreed. Thus began 50 + years of self-awareness and self-development work… $85,000, seminars, workshops, ZOOM meetings, learning to meditate, conferences, books and more books, distractions, education, degrees, investment of time, searching for the next issue to tackle, et al. In 2025, an obvious “mind chatter” question has been, “Has the development and awareness journey been worthwhile?” Today’s answer: “NO.” Simply a trail of distraction. Why? The process has been outer development and has involved no childhood, parental impact, Little John, inner work; and the stress has remained.
The inner awareness trek began with the work of Ken Wilber, Terry Patten, Adam Leonard, and Marco Morelli (Integral Life Practice: A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening) and the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza (Get Over the Habit of Being Yourself; Evolve Your Brain; and Becoming Supernatural), six months of energy psychology ZOOM coaching, reading many books, and most recently reading Dr. Aimie Apigian’s The Biology of Trauma: How the Body Holds Fear, Pain, and Overwhelm, and How to Heal It, and Dr. Tian Dayton’s Emotional Sobriety: From Relationship Trauma to Resilience and Balance.
A lingering question has been whether it would make sense to enlist the services of a therapist and begin to be with and feel emotions. Dr. Aimie Apigian offered that the medical (physical body) and psychological-psychiatric (mental-emotional) professions had done a reasonable job in their respective professions; however, there was still a great deal of work to be done with human biological systems. And the more I learned about the human biological systems and the need for emotional sobriety, the personal issues with stress, neuropathy, and high cholesterol triggered inspiration to a new, “feels good” goal: To arrive at 102 years old absent issues with stress, neuropathy (feet and fingers), balance, high cholesterol, and statins; coupled with peace-of-mind (continued daily meditation with music) and connections and purpose created on a foundation of compassion. Simply a trek that links outer self-awareness and development to inner self- awareness and development. A glaring need: passionate intent, 100% responsibility (life happens because of me, not to me.), face everything, fear nothing, optimistic outlook, process perspective, and action plans…
