b' Source: Ted Talks Voices of RecoveryMessages from those on the front linesWhat Ive tried to do nowis to say to the addicts in my lifeI love you, whether youare using or youre not. I love you, whatever state youre in, and if you need me, Ill come and sit with you because I love you and I dont want you to be alone, or to feel alone. And I think the core of that messageyoure not alone, we love youhas to be at every level of how we respond to addicts socially, politically and individually . Because the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection.Johann Hari, author, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs Alcohol in Latin is spiritus, and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison. The helpful formula therefore is: spiritus contra spiritum. Carl Jung, in a letter to Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill W. Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the light, even though for the moment you do not see.Bill Wilson When we move beyond the mind we have, we discover that kindness is the only strength there is. And in fact, kindness is the only nondelusional response to everythingYou want to get to a placewhere youre really anchored in that truth, that kindness is the only strength there isOnce thats the thing you work at and if thats part of your intentionality, you will discoverthat [it] is in fact true that theres strength in that kindness. Then you explore how everything is and, you know, is delusional. Every other response is delusional. Our rage, our anger, our annoyance, our impatience; and then you catch yourself and you say, thats right. Kindness is the only thing that isnt delusional.Father Greg Boyle, founder, Homeboy IndustriesSource: House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy If we are still clinging to something that we will not let go, we must sincerely ask God to help us to be willing to let even that go, too. We cannot divide our lives into compartments and keep some for ourselves. We must give all the compartments to God. We must say: My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad.Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Twenty-Four Hours a Day For thinking simply about addiction, that means listening carefully to alcoholics and drug addicts talk about what they actually experienceListening to people talk about their experiences in recovering from addiction, about which Id learned nothing in all my excellent academic education, I began to understand what addiction was. Richard S. Sandor, M.D., Thinking Simply About Addiction SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 WWW.CITYGATENETWORK.ORG 13'