Steps on the Road to Recovery

Steps On the Road to Recovery for 31 Aug 98 to 6 Sep 98.

Published Last Week. A daily hint published each day since June 1996. This is past my second year anniversary since starting this site. Page Down for the next days that are added a day at a time. I have moved to http://recoverybydiscovery.com and this daily page is now here at https://www.recoverybydiscovery.com/daily.htm . I would appreciate any feedback, questions and suggestions that you have.

What I am going through now is the DSM-III-R Desk Reference a "disorder" at a time and commenting on the spiritual and recovery aspects. The DSM is what the American Psychiatric Association uses to label symptoms to facilitate communication in their community. Unfortunately, the labeling from the DSM can shut down communication with those seeking temporary assistance and spread the stigmas of mental illness. The DSM can also bring some comfort by telling some that others have had the same experience. I am adding additional comfort by pointing to some ways to start getting out of the "disorders". I am not writing about cures. I am writing about how the cure process works over time. Instantaneous cures can be as traumatic as the original event that generated the disorder or illness. Instantaneous cures do not do us any good when we get the same disorder back since we have not changed the thought system that caused the disorder in the first place.

31 Aug 98

As promised, I am taking another break from the "disorders" of the DSM.

At the conference last week, I met a good friend. His meditation was to take

a good walk and he felt good. That was the perfect meditation for him, where

he felt good. That is feeling the Good, the God within us. For others it is sitting

still and getting to where their mind is still enough to feel good. It does not

matter if you feel good when you are cooking up something good in your

kitchen or you feel good when you are loving someone you love.

You are not angry when you are getting what you want. When you are

not angry you are feeling Good, and feeling God. So there are things we

can do and not do that give us doorways to our feeling good.

Sometimes it is changing our mind on how we see things that brings on

the feeling good. Just learning that we are all doing the best we can with

what we are conscious of helps me to feel good. Just learning that we

are not conscious of the terrors, fears, and concerns that drive us to do

and say irrational things helps me to feel good and have empathy for all

of us. There are over five billion of us wounded puppies here on this

wounded planet. Helping heal our wounds and planet feels good.

1 September 1998

First a link for today. http://www.ivanhoe.com. There you will find a

concentration on medical breakthroughs. This can be a good focus to see

the medical how the system evolution is going and your attention can help

make more happen.

Now, back to what may be behind the DSM "disorders". Today is

"297.10 Delusional (Paranoid) Disorder" day. First there are ordinary

delusions that last that are not true. The problem with this is that they may

be true, or if the delusion lasts long enough it becomes a prayer that happens.

When the hallucinations are not enough for a schizophrenia label, then they

get this label. When they are slight, they are what many of us experience.

We are all deluded to some extent by our conscious and unconscious beliefs

and fears.

There are several types of delusions given. First there is the delusion that

someone of higher status loves us. This one is really funny. Someone of higher

status does love us, God. Sometimes we mistake this as coming from someone

else. Then there is the grandiose delusion that we have "inflated" worth. This

is also funny. How can a child of the lord most high have anything but worth.

Sometimes we confuse our worth with things of the earth. We are all grandiose.

Then there is the delusion that their partner is unfaithful. This delusion is also

true in that their fear has to do with themselves. Perhaps they have an unfaithful

sub personality. Their challenge is to integrate their sub personality. Then there

is the persecutory delusion. This is where we think someone we are close to

is being persecuted. There is someone being persecuted. Themselves by their

sub personality. Other than unspecified the last delusion is somatic where we

think we have a disorder we do not have. Again, we can create the disorder

over time with this fear. So, why would we treat this as a delusion? Who does

not worry some? Who does not have some fears like this? This one is really

common. Any managed care medical team that could solve this one would be

rich fast. We have some clues since when depression is in remission there is

less use of doctors and hospitals to check on non existant disorders. As I

wrote before, there is an excellent program that last several weeks to show

women how to get out of their depression. Of course there are other alternatives

and this program could be adapted to men. The same generic spiritual hints here

can assist in starting the spiritual recovery process from any form of disability.

How much that ends up helping at the physical level depends on the time left

and how much needs to be cleared.

2 September 1998

Now we have some more refinements of the labels. "298.80 Brief Reactive

Psychosis" where you do not qualify for the schizophrenia label, but have similar

symptoms. Another similar cases are "295.40 Schizophreniform Disorder & 295.70

Schizoaffective Disorder". Schizoaffective is of some interest since it includes some

symptoms of manic and depression. Why say any more than I have already said about

schizophrenia and manic and depression.

Now we get interesting with "297.30 Induced Psychotic Disorder (Shared

Paranoid Disorder" where the second person has taken on the same fears. Boy

do we have a lot of this at the lower levels! :)) We have many of us trying to hook

others into their terrors of things in this world. This is the one the doctors fear,

getting hooked into a level of fearful energy that they can not clear in themselves.

That is why they can not show others how to find their ways to peace. Since I

have been there and know the ways home I have that advantage over doctors that

have not been there and found their ways home.

3 September 1998

The last category in psychotic disorders is "298.90 Psychotic Disorders Not

Otherwise Specified (Atypical Psychosis)". Again the catch all category for

symptoms that do not meet the criteria of any of the other official labels. An

example is only hearing one voice consistently. Of course, when that one voice

is the Holy Spirit or equivalent, you do not end up in their clutches. That is

because that one voice is all about leading a good life. The problems, challenges,

are when the voices you hear are ones on the way to your good life. They call

it psychosis when we are still angry, and have not yet chosen to learn better ways.

So, my recommendation is not to tell anyone, including doctors, that do not have

a spiritual understanding and empathy for the challenge you are going through.

Better to find a teacher of spirit that can assist you in discovering your one voice.

Expressing anger honestly until the truths transform the anger into love is a

good process. Unfortunately doing so in some hospitals where doctors express

their anger and fears by restraining you with drugs and physically does not get

them or you to loving. We have to find safe enough people to express our anger

to so that we can find our loving behind our wounds. Tomorrow I am writing about

a book called Radical Honesty, where this is an exception to the author's

recommendation.

4 September 1998

Radical Honesty, How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth by Brad

Blanton, Ph.D. This book is on how to recover from moralism [judgmentalism] by telling

what you are angry about until you have transformed your anger into appreciation. A

great book to read, but to be cautious of using his ways sometimes. Like most things in

life, it depends on the circumstances. Finding better ways than telling the truth is in order

when you or others are in harms way. The truth is that tigers can be dangerous when

their toes are stepped on. Sometimes it is wiser to find where the tigers do not live. Live

and let live makes more practical sense than telling the truth, sometimes. Proving that you

can tell the truth no matter what would be an ego's game. Learning how to let wisdom

come through is the game of the lord most high within.

I added this book to my recommended references.

5 September 1998

Now on back to the "disorders" of the DSM, "Mood Disorders".

The first part is the more enjoyable part, Manic. At least I have fonder memories of the

manic symptoms, than the depression symptoms. What is going to follow is an extensive

set of symptoms that are coded in detail by the DSM and decoded by my comments.

They define a manic episode by combinations of the following symptoms that I will

comment on. The first is "A distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated,

expansive, or irritable mood." I find it interesting that if you have normally been elevated,

expansive, or irritable, you would not qualify. These symptoms are a good description of

many famous people. So they thought that you had a disorder, only if you were not

normally like this. Someone may be shifting into their famous phase and they are sent to a

doctor to be prevented from experiencing their new level. There is a bias in human

systems to maintain the status quo. Now on to some more specific symptoms.

One symptom is "inflated self esteem or grandiosity", at least in the eyes of the person

doing the diagnosis. I would suggest that it is inflated self esteem or grandiosity to do

a diagnosis. What is more in order is an open minded exploration of the accuracy of

what the explorer thinks and the "client" thinks. From my perspective it is not possible to

have inflated self esteem. We are carriers of the lord most high within. We are children

of the most high. The only mistake we make from time to time is not allowing that

everyone else is also. We may have mistaken ideas that our esteem is based on what we

do or who we know. These are only mistaken ideas. Our exteem is safe. We are all

grandios. Grand Dios. Grand Gods. And since we are all gods, that makes us all

ordinary.

6 September 1998

The next symptom to consider is "decreased need for sleep". Their definition is feeling rested

after 3 hours of sleep. Thomas Edison would probably made their criteria. We can indeed need

less sleep when we are fully turnned on by our mission, like Thomas. Again, they define this as

a problem when it is a decreased need. This does not take into account the waking up process

that spiritual paths can engender. This does not take into account the ones among us that were

always high energy. The bottom line is that manic is from spiritual energy and the first thing that

energy does is start clearning out the junk. Most judge the junk and thereby end up with more

junk. There is a better way. That is to just let this energy clear out the junk. It is the same with

all of us. We all have some junk. We all can just let the junk go.

I Foster Discovery and Recovery,

Michael Foster, M. A.

"Learn HOW to recovery by discovering the blocks you need to remove and the actions you need to take and what you need to let go of as your blocks to your blessings."

From my book in process, The Spiritual Cookbook (Generic Recipes for a Better Life)

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I started my daily page, because it is useful for me to look for some recovery tip or secret each day for my spiritual growth. we and I only need one secret to work on and let it work on me each day. They are secrets because they are usually the opposite of what the majority of society teaches. They must be secret because they are not commonly used. A friend of mine once said "Common Sense is not much in Common.". Now that I have grandchildren I am also writing for them. I would have really liked for my grandparents to have passed on what they learned.

I am including Sunday as it is my formal day of learning the lord most high's secrets. If you would like ask questions, or contribute some of your wisdom, or want to make some comments or want to vote for which day to put on my tip of the month page or tell your success stories, click Michael Foster, M. A.

14 August 98