{"id":18651,"date":"2018-10-01T01:10:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T06:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=19240"},"modified":"2018-10-01T10:47:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T15:47:13","slug":"the-sober-pagan-book-review-of-hopeful-healing-essays-on-managing-recovery-and-surviving-addiction-by-mackenzie-phillips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2018\/10\/01\/the-sober-pagan-book-review-of-hopeful-healing-essays-on-managing-recovery-and-surviving-addiction-by-mackenzie-phillips\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sober Pagan Book Review of Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction by Mackenzie Phillips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book Review of Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction<\/u> by Mackenzie Phillips<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The last column I wrote was titled \u201cWhat\u2019s in your toolbox?<\/a>\u201d, which was posted August, 2018. I missed posting an article last month due to my father\u2019s illness and subsequent death. Believe me, during the stress of the past several months, I have had more than one occasion to open up my toolbox and review all the tools I have in there. In some cases, I polished them off and updated them. Others I just cherished like the old friends that they are. And I added a few new ones because it seems like there\u2019s always another tool to be tried. I once heard that AA meetings are like recovery hardware stores when it comes to finding healing tools to help you become healthy and whole. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, there are other place to find tools and books are one of those places. I have a large collection of recovery books \u2013 AA-approved and otherwise. Recently, the editor of PaganPagesOrg, Jennifer Sacasa-Wright, sent me Mackenzie Phillip\u2019s latest book, Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction<\/a><\/u>, published by Atria Paperbacks, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a wonderful little book. I don\u2019t know if you know who Mackenzie Phillips is \u2013 she\u2019s five months older than me so we are contemporaries \u2013 but knowing who she is really doesn\u2019t matter as far as the contents of this book is concerned. You\u2019ll find out enough about her so that you know <\/i>that she knows <\/i>what she\u2019s talking about when it comes to using drugs and trying to get sober and eventually achieving that serenity. If you want to know more about her life, there\u2019s an autobiography with all the titillating tidbits that everyone tweets about called High On Arrival: A Memoir<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

. And of course, there\u2019s always Google. But Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction<\/a><\/u> is just that \u2013 eleven short missives on how to get through the worst part of recovery \u2013 which, really is all of it. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Each chapter is set up the same way. There is the title of the chapter and a quote from an outside source that defines the chapter. Then she has a story about her own use or maybe someone she knows \u2013 someone in her past life or someone she has counseled in her practice. She is very discrete in her disclosures but you always get the message \u2013 the strength, the hope, the experience. At the end of each chapter there is a section called \u201cIt Works If You Work It\u201d. It\u2019s the \u201cworkbook\u201d section of the book \u2013 where you get your paper and pen and answer questions about what you just read and apply it to your own recovery. In this way, she makes this slender book into a living act of hope and healing. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the things she wrote about really hit home in a large way. When she wrote about \u201cre-creating history\u201d (page 5) that rang so true, even though I didn\u2019t have a family history of shooting heroin \u2013 but I have a family history of alcohol use and abuse \u2013 so the idea of \u201cit being so normal\u201d (page 5) definitely rang true. I grew up with the martinis that my parents always drank when Daddy came home from work and the beers that were consumed at every family picnic. The hangovers that were explained as Grampa\u2019s morning \u201cgrumpiness\u201d. You had to stay out of his way, ya know? This was normal. <\/i>And I thought that all <\/i>mommies drank red wine when they made dinner! So naturally, I re-created this reality when I grew up. Not with red wine but with beer and marijuana. I remember my little son handing me a rolling paper so I could roll a joint first thing in the morning! For my doobie with my coffee! That helpful little guy! That was a wake-up call right there.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another thing that I could really identify with when she wrote that getting high felt great (page 17). It does <\/i>feel great \u2013 that\u2019s why we do it. There\u2019s no <\/i>other reason any addict or alcoholic uses \u2013 and that\u2019s whatever your drug of choice may be \u2013 and I\u2019m including food and gambling and sex and working out with this \u2013 getting high feels like a million bucks when you do it. It\u2019s the other <\/i>part of using that sucks \u2013 the hangover, especially \u2013 but also the empty bank account and the broken promises and whatever problems are caused by your actions. And even a so-called good <\/i>addiction \u2013 like working out \u2013 can have adverse outcomes. There is use \u2013 there is abuse \u2013 and there is dependence. The question is \u2013 where does your <\/i>relationship with your substance of choice lead you? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A lot of what she writes about is the same stuff you will hear about at any AA\/NA meeting or rehab group or therapy session. Mindfulness \u2013 trusting yourself and others \u2013 acceptance \u2013 surrender \u2013 forgiveness of others and of yourself \u2013 taking responsibility and consequences. On pages 83 and 84, she has a 5-point plan, which I read to be a pre-Twelve-Step plan of action \u2013 points 1 and 2 are about thinking about changing your addictive ways and point 3 is preparation for change. Point 4 is action \u2013 when you go to AA\/NA, check in at rehab, see a therapist, tell all your friends that you\u2019re getting sober. Point 5 is maintenance. She writes, \u201cThis is when the real work begins.\u201d (page 84) She doesn\u2019t say that this is when you go through the Twelve Steps of whatever group with which you have chosen to affiliate yourself. But this is what she means: \u201cThe possibility of relapse is always real, but this is also the stage in which you arm yourself with a set of skills that will make you less likely to slide back into places that you\u2019re determined to leave behind.\u201d (page 84)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the best chapters in the entire book is near the end. It\u2019s about abuse and denial. She writes:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the hardcore truth: you can smash the pipe, put the plug in the jug, break the tip off the needle, but if you<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

don\u2019t address the deeper issues, you\u2019re not going to be able to get whole or become a healthy part of the world <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

around you. Trauma, maltreatment, or abuse, whatever you choose to call it, is a huge, deeper issue that comes<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

up a lot when we look at addiction. Not talking about trauma and its relationship to substance use would be like<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

avoiding the larger-than-normal elephant in the room. Childhood trauma and its aftermath is something that <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

needs to be spoken of and brought out in the open. This is also true of adult trauma, which is often not spoken of<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

or reported.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/i>(page 123)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I totally agree with this \u2013 not only is it true in my own life, I can attest to this, having sat and listened to many other people \u2013 at AA and NA meetings, in rehab sessions, and in domestic violence groups. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She talks about trauma in scientific and compassionate ways. How we carry trauma with us for \u201cthe rest of our lives\u201d. (page 129) The \u201cbefore-trauma you\u201d and the \u201cafter-trauma you\u201d. (page 129) For those of us who have experienced multiple traumas and different kinds of traumas, this kind of demarcation makes sense \u2013 like looking at pictures in a photo album. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Phillips also writes that trauma \u201ctakes up residence not only in your mind but also in your body.\u201d (page 129) Trauma victims experience \u201cheadaches; pain in your joints; stomach issues; weight issues; feelings of exhaustion, anxiety, and depression.\u201d (page 129-30) How many of us have had these symptoms? I know that I took opiates for years for some of these! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The one thing she doesn\u2019t talk about in this book is spirituality. The closest she comes to it is talking about hope. And she writes that \u201chumor and laughter are just other faces of hope\u201d (page 143) and to remember that \u201chope is the thing with wings\u201d. (page 145) Other than that, she never mentions a word <\/i>about anything spiritual whatsoever. <\/i> This, honestly, is one of the book\u2019s strengths. This book has the ability to appeal to anyone <\/i>struggling with substance abuse regardless <\/i>of religion or spiritual beliefs or lack thereof. For wiccans and pagans looking to read a book on sobriety that doesn\u2019t cram God-talk down their throats, Mackenzie Phillips offers a really nice alternative to so many of the recovery books that are currently on the shelves of our libraries and bookstores. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

All in all, I have to say that this is an outstanding little book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in recovery. In fact, I have a good friend to whom I plan to give it to the next time I see her! I know she will read it and pass it on to another woman in recovery. I hope it goes far! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Until next month \u2013 it works if you work it! Brightest Blessings!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

References<\/u><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Phillips, Mackenzie. Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction<\/a><\/u>. NY: Atria Paperbacks, 2017. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

***<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Polly MacDavid<\/b>\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan and she is solitary.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>She blogs at\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>silverapplequeen.wordpress.com<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Review of Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction by Mackenzie Phillips The last column I wrote was titled \u201cWhat\u2019s in your toolbox?\u201d, which was posted August, 2018. I missed posting an article last month due to my father\u2019s illness and subsequent death. Believe me, during the stress of the past several months, I have had more than one occasion to open up my toolbox and review all the tools I have in there. In some cases, I polished them off and updated them. Others I just cherished like the old friends that they are. And I added a few new ones because it seems like there\u2019s always another tool to be tried. I once heard that AA meetings are like recovery hardware stores when it comes to finding healing tools to help you become healthy and whole. Of course, there are other place to find tools and books are one of those places. I have a large collection of recovery books \u2013 AA-approved and otherwise. Recently, the editor of PaganPagesOrg, Jennifer Sacasa-Wright, sent me Mackenzie Phillip\u2019s latest book, Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction, published by Atria Paperbacks, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. This is a wonderful little book. I don\u2019t know if you know who Mackenzie Phillips is \u2013 she\u2019s five months older than me so we are contemporaries \u2013 but knowing who she is really doesn\u2019t matter as far as the contents of this book is concerned. You\u2019ll find out enough about her so that you know that she knows what she\u2019s talking about when it comes to using drugs and trying to get sober and eventually achieving that serenity. If you want to know more about her life, there\u2019s an autobiography with all the titillating tidbits that everyone tweets about called High On Arrival: A Memoir . And of course, there\u2019s always Google. But Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction is just that \u2013 eleven short missives on how to get through the worst part of recovery \u2013 which, really is all of it. Each chapter is set up the same way. There is the title of the chapter and a quote from an outside source that defines the chapter. Then she has a story about her own use or maybe someone she knows \u2013 someone in her past life or someone she has counseled in her practice. She is very discrete in her disclosures but you always get the message \u2013 the strength, the hope, the experience. At the end of each chapter there is a section called \u201cIt Works If You Work It\u201d. It\u2019s the \u201cworkbook\u201d section of the book \u2013 where you get your paper and pen and answer questions about what you just read and apply it to your own recovery. In this way, she makes this slender book into a living act of hope and healing. Some of the things she wrote about really hit home in a large way. When she wrote about \u201cre-creating history\u201d (page 5) that rang so true, even though I didn\u2019t have a family history of shooting heroin \u2013 but I have a family history of alcohol use and abuse \u2013 so the idea of \u201cit being so normal\u201d (page 5) definitely rang true. I grew up with the martinis that my parents always drank when Daddy came home from work and the beers that were consumed at every family picnic. The hangovers that were explained as Grampa\u2019s morning \u201cgrumpiness\u201d. You had to stay out of his way, ya know? This was normal. And I thought that all mommies drank red wine when they made dinner! So naturally, I re-created this reality when I grew up. Not with red wine but with beer and marijuana. I remember my little son handing me a rolling paper so I could roll a joint first thing in the morning! For my doobie with my coffee! That helpful little guy! That was a wake-up call right there. Another thing that I could really identify with when she wrote that getting high felt great (page 17). It does feel great \u2013 that\u2019s why we do it. There\u2019s no other reason any addict or alcoholic uses \u2013 and that\u2019s whatever your drug of choice may be \u2013 and I\u2019m including food and gambling and sex and working out with this \u2013 getting high feels like a million bucks when you do it. It\u2019s the other part of using that sucks \u2013 the hangover, especially \u2013 but also the empty bank account and the broken promises and whatever problems are caused by your actions. And even a so-called good addiction \u2013 like working out \u2013 can have adverse outcomes. There is use \u2013 there is abuse \u2013 and there is dependence. The question is \u2013 where does your relationship with your substance of choice lead you? A lot of what she writes about is the same stuff you will hear about at any AA\/NA meeting or rehab group or therapy session. Mindfulness \u2013 trusting yourself and others \u2013 acceptance \u2013 surrender \u2013 forgiveness of others and of yourself \u2013 taking responsibility and consequences. On pages 83 and 84, she has a 5-point plan, which I read to be a pre-Twelve-Step plan of action \u2013 points 1 and 2 are about thinking about changing your addictive ways and point 3 is preparation for change. Point 4 is action \u2013 when you go to AA\/NA, check in at rehab, see a therapist, tell all your friends that you\u2019re getting sober. Point 5 is maintenance. She writes, \u201cThis is when the real work begins.\u201d (page 84) She doesn\u2019t say that this is when you go through the Twelve Steps of whatever group with which you have chosen to affiliate yourself. But this is what she means: \u201cThe possibility of relapse is always real, but this is also the stage in which you arm yourself with a set of skills that will make you less likely to slide back into places that you\u2019re determined to leave behind.\u201d (page 84) One of the best chapters in the entire book is near the end. It\u2019s about abuse and denial. She writes: Here\u2019s the hardcore truth: you can smash the pipe, put the plug in the jug, break the tip off the needle, but if you don\u2019t address the deeper issues, you\u2019re not going to be able to get whole or become a healthy part of the world around you. Trauma, maltreatment, or abuse, whatever you choose to call it, is a huge, deeper issue that comes up a lot when we look at addiction. Not talking about trauma and its relationship to substance use would be like avoiding the larger-than-normal elephant in the room. Childhood trauma and its aftermath is something that needs to be spoken of and brought out in the open. This is also true of adult trauma, which is often not spoken of or reported. (page 123) I totally agree with this \u2013 not only is it true in my own life, I can attest to this, having sat and listened to many other people \u2013 at AA and NA meetings, in rehab sessions, and in domestic violence groups. She talks about trauma in scientific and compassionate ways. How we carry trauma with us for \u201cthe rest of our lives\u201d. (page 129) The \u201cbefore-trauma you\u201d and the \u201cafter-trauma you\u201d. (page 129) For those of us who have experienced multiple traumas and different kinds of traumas, this kind of demarcation makes sense \u2013 like looking at pictures in a photo album. Phillips also writes that trauma \u201ctakes up residence not only in your mind but also in your body.\u201d (page 129) Trauma victims experience \u201cheadaches; pain in your joints; stomach issues; weight issues; feelings of exhaustion, anxiety, and depression.\u201d (page 129-30) How many of us have had these symptoms? I know that I took opiates for years for some of these! The one thing she doesn\u2019t talk about in this book is spirituality. The closest she comes to it is talking about hope. And she writes that \u201chumor and laughter are just other faces of hope\u201d (page 143) and to remember that \u201chope is the thing with wings\u201d. (page 145) Other than that, she never mentions a word about anything spiritual whatsoever. This, honestly, is one of the book\u2019s strengths. This book has the ability to appeal to anyone struggling with substance abuse regardless of religion or spiritual beliefs or lack thereof. For wiccans and pagans looking to read a book on sobriety that doesn\u2019t cram God-talk down their throats, Mackenzie Phillips offers a really nice alternative to so many of the recovery books that are currently on the shelves of our libraries and bookstores. All in all, I have to say that this is an outstanding little book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in recovery. In fact, I have a good friend to whom I plan to give it to the next time I see her! I know she will read it and pass it on to another woman in recovery. I hope it goes far! Until next month \u2013 it works if you work it! Brightest Blessings! References Phillips, Mackenzie. Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction. NY: Atria Paperbacks, 2017. Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction *** About the Author: Polly MacDavid\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic. Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan and she is solitary. She blogs at\u00a0silverapplequeen.wordpress.com. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}