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Soul sings every little thing gonna be alright

It’s amazing how if you open your mind and allow your spirit to expand your soul speaks.

I have woke up for the last week, maybe two, singing Bob Marley’s, “Every little thing gonna be alright.” It’s amazing how if you open your mind and allow your spirit to expand your soul speaks.

I have a lot of pretty intense things going on in my world. I’ve always been a pretty good stuffer. Stuff it, keep your head down and plow through. Alcohol was extremely effective in achieving this level of stuffing.

That strategy can get you through, but eventually, you will hit a wall.

What I had not realized until writing this morning is, I have stopped watching my regular smut tv and started listening to inspiring and uplifting books. I started running again. I started organizing my office and writing like crazy.

These at one time were things I would have to be intentional about and have an end goal. Listening to a book because I want to learn something specific; running because I’m training for a race or trying to hit my weekly miles; organizing my office because – it’s out of control. I had no end game this time.

My soul took over.

I have a couple of close family members currently going through cancer treatment. One of them a second bout with lung cancer. I have experienced a bit of a betrayal in the last week. And a few other emotionally charged events.

It was a wild epiphany to know just as I had used alcohol to medicate stress in the past; my subconscious has these auto-pilot coping strategies that hi-jack my life and keep me healthy. I have replaced a habit that would compound the problem with habits that continue to move me forward.

I have used many of these activities as ways to get through pain before but never have I been so oblivious to the process. It’s cool on one hand, and kind of a heads up that I’m not as present as I try to be.

When you’re going through a storm how do you cope?
Is your coping strategy helping or hurting you?
What needs to change?

Just because you struggle with alcohol (or any other vice), it doesn’t make you alcoholic (or addict). Sometimes we just need to create new coping strategies and practice them enough to replace a harmful habit.

I’m always available for a chat to discuss how together you can learn to LetGo2TakeCharge

Click here to schedule a time to talk.

Practice being still instead of using alcohol

be still Practice being still was a hard lesson for me to learn. From as far back as I can remember life was a rush. Rush to school, rush to play, rush to work, rush to promote, rush to fall in love. I even rushed to motherhood. Practice being still can help avoid alcohol misuse that can lead to abuse and beyond.

Imagine a bike speeding along. Going as fast as it can and it hits a rock – disaster, right? That’s the equivalent to going through life as fast as you can. Only when I hit the rock, it seemed to happen in slow motion over the course of a few years. While trying to keep the momentum, I was making one bad decision after another. When I finally skidded to a halt, I was battered, beaten, and nearly broken.

Can you see the manic circle this creates?

When you are in a state of rush and trying to keep your head above water, it’s not unlikely you look for some relief. Alcohol gave me that quiet time I not only craved, but in my 30’s so badly needed. Only when you set your life up to go fast and hard, it becomes a habit, and it doesn’t feel normal to do differently. Can you see the manic circle this creates?

Stillness can be a laughable and a hella scary proposition. We all know what thoughts seem to haunt us, and it’s not the ones that remind us of our brilliance, beauty, and acts of kindness in the world.

I want to offer you a couple of tips to start practicing stillness in your life. Especially, if you’re thoughts are spinning out, and you are using alcohol to quiet the chaos.

Tips to start a practice of stillness and reduce the need for alcohol:

Start with just 2-5 mins.
Shut all influences from the outside world down.
Create a short mantra to repeat to yourself when ugliness comes for a visit. Something like – This is my quiet time to soothe and heal. Don’t fight the ugly win it over with beauty and grace.
Don’t make a bunch of rules.
Don’t expect anything from it – just gift yourself the moment.

It will take practice, and chances are this is just a step in a system of solutions for you. But it’s a good way to create momentary peace and enjoy a bit of calm.

If you would like to work together on creating a strategy overcoming your struggle click here to schedule a time to talk.

Quit Drinking Alcohol New Year Resolution?

Is quit drinking alcohol your New Year resolution?

The end of the old and the beginning of the new is upon us. There is typically no better time to start fresh and resolve to quit drinking alcohol. So, what’s it going to be?

Have you heard the saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions?” Well, I hadn’t. I had no idea the roads I have been paving with New Year ‘good intentions’ had a predetermined destination point. I just figured I was paving the great spaghetti freeways of a vast metropolitan city. A land of great waste…or not. I’m not one for harboring on what can be viewed as a failure. I reflect, learn, and keep it moving – perhaps not on paved roads leading to…

I then stopped my ill attempt at making resolutions altogether. Somehow that felt like I was wasting – opportunity. Reflect, learn and keep it moving. Seriously, nothing feels more inviting than a blank canvas to create. A brand spanking new year, baby!

So, what have you decided? Will you pave a road to hell with good intention? Or make a resolution or two that have a delicious draw to them? I realize this post may put you on the spot. Especially, if you have never learned to go deep and incite your inner-wisdom. Maybe, you’ve never been asked, “Who do you want to be?” and then enticed with follow-up questions that allow you to access your subconscious mind – soul, spirit, truth, source, God.

If quit drinking alcohol is on your mind, I don’t want anyone paving roads to hell with good intentions. Instead, think about who you want to be from the inside-out. Start with naming 5 characteristics you would like commonly referred to when asked about you – funny, loving, committed, loyal, productive, ambitious, kind, think along the inner-person of who you are. Don’t settle for the obvious – think more expansive! Focus on the heart of you.

Who do you want to be?

Where do you need to do better?

What will you do to be more of who you want to be?

Make a New Year resolution to give the inner-you more time and attention to make the most of the coming year. I know to quit drinking alcohol is not easy, but you can do it. I did!

PS I’m always available for a free “first-timers” 30 min. chat. Just click on the “Schedule a Consultation” tab and we can talk about how to set you on the right path.

Cheers my friend!
Teresa Rodden

“Just because you struggle with alcohol – doesn’t make you alcoholic.”

I’m Not Who I Was

Reset. I’m Not Who I was

If we are lucky we will get to a place in our life when we re-evaluate, reset, and begin again. Yep. I said lucky. And I’m sticking to it.

This time with more intention, clearer vision, and less accepting of life irritants.

I find it’s here we start to assimilate all that has been.

And even though we are a composite of every life experience, painful event, moment of victory, how we move forward determines who we become.

When you think back on where you’ve been – try not to wince. I still have dark memories that I feel would be better left in the dark locked spaces of my mind. But they serve a purpose if we can get past the pain. Look at them for insight rather than to shame ourselves. It’s done. No going backward. I believe if it surfaces it’s to gift you, not to harm you. Look at it straight on…at first. Then all around it. Who was I? What was I thinking? How have I changed? Would I do that now? If so, how would I do it differently? What can I extract from this event to help my light shine even brighter?

It may take a few rounds to get to a place where you feel safe enough to observe the flashback. Maybe you have been hit with a storm of them. Keep calm. You are being served wisdom from the soul. Keep breathing and take notes and when you feel safe in who you are today, ask questions.

We are not what we have done or who we were. We are becoming.

– Teresa Rodden, Certified Life Coach

Alcoholics Anonymous, church, me and you

I have a little rebel, maybe a lot, in me. I live a sober life. I am a Christian. I don’t attend AA meetings. I don’t attend church. Yet, I have appreciation for both. Especially, if they keep you healthy and dare I say, happy – joyful most definitely. I have been told I’m not a Christian, if I don’t go to church. And I have been told I will get drunk, if I don’t go to meetings. To which I say, there are no guarantees, if I do or don’t do either of the above. Actually, what I know for sure is, if I go against my inherent grain, my soul, my spirit, my beliefs (which I challenge from time to time), I will more than likely end up drunk, bitter, and resentful.

Peace is my guide and love is my direction.

I was born with an independent soul that is connected to all living things. Peace is my guide and love is my direction. That’s truth for me. I have found I’m at greater risk when I fall under someone else’s spell in the way of their belief, truth, or way of living. If they, people of the church or program, fall out of step, are not rigorously honest, bend the rules, have shades of truth, areas of gray, seem disingenuous, yet are the first to talk program or preach the word in righteous tone, the whole promise crumbles, program or religion.

…sometimes I stand alone.

I found the way for me to be healthy and at peace, is to be willing to do my own work, and sometimes stand alone. I study the word and talk to Jesus in my way, commune with the Father through nature, and be in the body of Christ through fellowship, in a less formal manner. I began my relationship with Christ unwittingly as a child, abandoned Him for most of my life, and it was He I returned to when I was lost and nearly broken. I began living my life many years ago, not as an alcoholic, but as a woman who digs deep, faces her fears, keeps no secrets, stop telling lies to herself. I am a woman who lives in forward motion, always growing. I got sober in the rooms of alcoholics anonymous, but I chose my sobriety over the rooms of AA, many years ago.