A New Chapter In Your Life
You are a walking miracle. As you put into action the three steps to recovery outlined in this book, you are activating the miracle-maker part of yourself.
Once your dependency is cured, can you stay clean and sober forever? Yes. Will you? The answer to that has a lot to do with your character and willpower. Can someone who has ingested strychnine and been cured drink it again? Yes, but given all the negative consequences of doing so, would they?
I said this earlier, but it is well worth repeating: You cannot be a casual drinker or user once you have recovered. All you have to do is use alcohol or addictive drugs again and you will reactivate your dependency. I have never heard of one person who has been able to remain a "moderate drinker" or "moderate drug user" once he or she has once been dependent on alcohol or addictive drugs. Even after the underlying causes that led to your addiction have been eliminated, addictive substances have inherently addictive properties, particularly for you since you have a history of chemical dependency. As many times as you use them, you will become dependent on them.
A Vibrant Reunion
As I was finishing the last few pages of this book, we had our first reunion at Passages for our graduates. They came from all over the United States and from a few other countries. As I greeted them, hugged them, shook their hands, laughed, and talked with them, I thought how wonderful it would be if you could be here to see them and hear them, to look into their eyes and see the joy and happiness that literally flowed from them. Nearly all of the people I have written about in this book were there. They looked like poster people for ads in health and fitness magazines.
They were all so eager to share their stories, their successes, and their accomplishments, including the hurdles they had overcome and the challenges they had faced and used as stepping-stones to gain more strength and understanding. They were brimming over with enthusiasm. It was as if our own children had returned home, which indeed they had.
The greatest feeling was that of love. We all truly love each other. Many of them cried with joy at being reunited with the people who had helped free them from the affliction of their terrible dependencies. Even the men cried. The most common statement I heard from them was "It is just like you and the treatment team said it would be." Everyone at Passages, even those of us who expected it, were amazed at the level of vibrancy in the air.
That vibrancy is what I want for you. I want you to achieve that feeling of great accomplishment, that feeling of joy that comes from knowing you will never again be held in the grip of dependency, that you are forever free.
I know how badly you want to return to a life of health and well-being, free of dependency. I wish I could meet you, talk with you, shake your hand, look into your eyes, and communicate the love I feel for you. We are spiritual beings sharing this magical, wondrous moment on planet Earth. We are fellow human beings. I wish I could be there with you to guide you every step of the way, lending you encouragement and reminding you when you are faced with a challenge that the challenge is only in your life to help you become strong and enduring…
I offer this transformational information in the hope that it will translate itself into the power to carry you through to the success that awaits you. I want to thank you for reading this book. You are a pure, virtuous, spiritual being. You deserve love, you deserve happiness, you deserve success, you deserve all good things, and most of all, you deserve to be forever free of dependency. As the Chinese sages are wont to say, may you mount to the skies of success as though on the wings of six dragons!
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