Spirit Recovery Medicine Bag

Book excerpt: Feeling limited by circumstances, substances, or behaviors often leads to the simple, yet profound question, "Is this all there is?" This question is an opportunity to rediscover one's truth and live life more fully and authentically. Spirit Recovery Medicine Bag offers readers a path to finding their personal answer to this question in an engaging two-part format. In Part One, readers will join Lee McCormick as he reflects on his personal journey of recovery and transformation—a journey that initiated him into a life of helping others recover their own sense of self and purpose. Part Two is a medicine bag of healing practices designed to guide readers in developing self-awareness and awakening their sense of power-specifically the power of choice rooted in personal values and commitment to living those values. Covering a variety of topics addressing spirituality, awareness, and consciousness, the authors pose questions for reflection and self-investigation along the way. Spirit Recovery Medicine Bag is not a negation of Twelve-Step recovery, but a tool for expanding awareness and increasing involvement regardless of the path one is walking. In Twelve-Step language, it builds on Step 12's direction to practice these principles in all one's affairs. The authors believe that the inner journey to one's truth and the creative expression of that truth make for a good definition of spirituality, and they offer readers a very real message of the possibility of living "happy, joyous, and free" through spirit recovery.