The Way Out Podcast

This week we’re continuing our series on the 12 Steps and turning our focus squarely on Step 8. Step 8 is simple; make a list of folks we wronged and become willing to make it right – but for many of us spiritual work, even if it’s simple, just ain’t easy. The reality is; when emotions like fear, anger, resentment, and righteous indignation get stirred up when we think of some of these individuals that have made our list, things get real complicated, right quick. We’ll walk through what Step 8 consists of, our purpose in working it, how we work this Step, and what we can expect when we’ve completed our Step 8 work. We even tackle the hotly and often debated issue of whether we should or shouldn’t put our own names on that Step 8 list. Plus, we’ll share feedback from the Sober & Serious community and take your calls, so Listen Up. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support

This week The Way Out Podcast is going Sugar-Free with Mike Collins – Founder of SugarAddiction.com and chairman of Food Addiction Institute. Mike is in long-term recovery from addiction and alcoholism; 34 years long and 30 of those years have been free from both caffeine and sugar. Mike shares why eliminating sugar and caffeine was a part of his journey and we discover how much both of these substances have in common with drugs and alcohol. Spoiler alert; our relationships to sugar, caffeine, and even food can and indeed may mirror our relationships to drugs and alcohol in active addiction. I implore you to bring honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness along with you as you take this episode in, and truly allow yourself to discover and uncover your own relationship with these substances. I can attest that I cannot deny that I still am guilty of slamming my dopamine receptors with caffeine all morning and sugar in the afternoon – and there’s a likely a reckoning coming my way sooner rather than later. My di

This week we’ve got a very special interview with Jacob Jones, the Author of Recovered and a person in long term recovery from addiction. Jacob shared his story, which is the inspiration behind his book, with my fellow co-host Jason and you’ll be immediately drawn to Jacob’s disarming candor and unabashed authenticity as he shares his battle with opiate addiction and subsequent recovery and what motivated him to put pen to paper to share his journey to recovery – that he may help someone else who is struggling with or cares about some who is struggling with the addiction and abuse of substances. Jacob’s story has it all, and you won’t regret a minute of it, so Listen Up. Get Jacob's Book Here! www.TheSustainedLife.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support

This week we’re continuing our series on the 12 Steps with a seriously righteous breakdown of the 7th Step. Simple in it’s phraseology, the 7th Step represents a crucial “First” in our working of the 12 Steps. It’s the first time we’re making an ask of our higher power we connected with in Steps 2 & 3 and utilized in 4, 5, and 6. Step 7 centers around a key and fundamental element of all 12 Steps, indeed, around spiritual development as a whole – Humility. This virtue gets a bad wrap in this day and age, largely because it’s often confused with thinking less of ourselves when in reality humility in practice really means thinking of our selves LESS. We’ll illuminate why Step 7 is so vital, what working this step looks like in practice, and what we can expect after working this crucial Step. Plus, we share feedback from the Sober & Serious community, take your calls, and share an email from one of our loyal listeners, so Listen Up.  Step 7 Literature we discussed: What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip

This week we’re taking a moment to celebrate our 150th episode of The Way Out Podcast. We reflect on why this amazing project got started, what continues to drive and inspire us, and what we we’re seeking to accomplish when we bring you powerful recovery stories and recovery power topics in a weekly downloadable format. The simple truth is we’re simply a couple of folks in long term recovery who love to talk recovery and help others to find and enhance their own recovery in the process. We do this because we genuinely like it, and we super like helping others find their own Way Out of addiction and alcoholism, because you deserve the days you have left in this planet filled with the peace, love, and joy that can only come from an examined, purposeful, and spiritual way of life. Plus, Jason takes time to share a recovery related experience we can all learn a whole lot from so Listen Up. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way

This week we’re stepping away from our series on the 12 Steps to bring you a refreshingly different perspective on Recovery through a truly compelling interview with JF Benoist, Author of “Addicted to the Monkey Mind – Change the Programming That Sabotages Your Life”. JF and I explore what the “Monkey Mind” is, why so many of us reside in this state of mind as often as we do; and how we can transform our minds and bodies in unison to a persistent state of awareness, what Benoist calls the “Observing Mind”. We highlight parallels to 12-Step recovery and call out some key departures along the way. This interview will indeed enlighten and engage you, perhaps in a way that you’ve never experienced, until now. Listen Up.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support

This week we’re continuing our series on the 12 Steps by breaking down the often overlooked Step 6. Step 6 is in part a preparation Step, and because we addicts and alcoholics are a stubborn lot, a quite necessary one at that. We must prepare before we can take transformative actions. The balance of this Step is all about the spiritual practice of acceptance and humility. This episode will prepare you to take this Step by bringing clarity to what Step 6 is, why we do it, how we work it in practice, and what we can expect after we take this vital Step. Plus we share feedback from the Sober and Serious community and take your calls. Listen Up.  Sixth Step Prayer: Dear God, I am ready for Your help In removing from me the defects of character Which I now realize are an obstacle to my recovery.Help me to continue being honest with myself & Guide me toward spiritual & mental health. 6th STEP:  God help me become willing to let go of all the things to which I still cling. Help me to be ready to let youremov

We’re talking all about perhaps the most feared Step of all 12 we work in 12-Step recovery. Nary a soul that has ever been in existence has had an overwhelming desire and willingness to reveal not only our past transgressions and wrongs, but quite literally the worst of themselves to their higher power, themselves and another human being. Many of us have gone to great lengths to tuck our darker selves far far away so we didn’t have to look at it and so others wouldn’t see it. Step 5 is a spiritual housecleaning; allowing us to rejoin humanity in a way we’ve never been able to prior to working this vital step. You’ll walk out of this episode with a clear and deeper understanding of what Step 5 is, the purpose of working this step, and what we can expect during and after we work this all important step. Plus we share feedback from the sober and serious community and take your calls, so Listen Up!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.

This week we have two firsts in the History of The Way Out Podcast. Co-host Jason did his first ever solo interview with first time guest Casey Ryan. Casey relates her journey to long term recovery with an easy transparency and brings forth an near endless supply of spiritual truth & recovery wisdom along the way. Casey grew up torn between two worlds, leaving her doubting her own self-worth before finding herself in the throws of alcoholism and addiction. Her story will have you alternately relating, laughing, and ultimately leaving you inspired to take more meaningfully positive risks in your own recovery journey. I just have to say, this quite likely isn’t the last your gonna hear from this absolute dynamo of a woman on this podcast. Now without further ado, here’s Jason’s interview with Casey Ryan. Listen Up. Casey Ryan Life & Recovery Coaching: https://ryanlifecoaching.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-wa

This week we’re continuing our series on the 12 Steps. We’re taking on perhaps the most feared, conceivably the most misunderstood, and quite likely the most practically useful Step of the 12 that make up the 12 Step Recovery Program. We’ll discuss in simple terms what the purpose of Step 4 is, how to work this crucial step, and what you can expect after completing this all-important self-inventory process. Plus, we share feedback from the Sober and Serious community and take your calls. Listen Up. Reach out to Andrew:  AndrewBuzzkill  - Instagram ajaxbuzkill - Snapchat Step 4 Worksheet: https://12step.org/docs/Step4_Inventory.pdf --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support

This week we’re continuing our series on the 12 Steps with our focus turning squarely to Step 3. Step 3 is the point in the 12 Steps in which we make a fateful decision that will be quickly followed by a series of actions specifically designed and purpose intended to produce a profound change that brings about our recovery from addiction and alcoholism. However we arrive at the decision, whether through introspective analysis on our past way of living or because we’ve seen others work the Steps and Recover – or both; the decision itself remains the same for all. Are we going to keep on living the old way, relying on our finite selves?  Or are we going to try something new and start living according to a power greater; perhaps an infinite power to aid us in our transformation from sick and addicted to recovered and free. We’ll discuss in much greater detail why this step is so crucial to lasting and meaningful recovery, how to work this step and what Step 3 looked like for each of us. Plus we share feedba

We have a recovery story for the ages to share with you this week. From a wicked bad childhood riddled with abuse and abject abandonment to a binge drinking young man with a penchant for Grand Theft Auto, Timothy quite literally endured jails, institutions, and after one alcohol fueled nightmare wished for death due to the grave and eternal consequences that resulted. At it’s core, this story teaches us that redemption is possible no matter how far down the scale we have gone, and that each and every one of us has a greater calling and purpose - if we’re open and willing to receive it. Without further ado, I give you Timothy’s story in complete and uninterrupted fashion. Listen Up. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support

This week we’ve got an incredible interview on tap for you with Arlina – host and founder of the ODAAT Chat Podcast and the brains behind SoberLifeSchool.com. Arlina is a 12 Step recovery powerhouse and her incredible Recovery journey is nothing short of pure inspiration. Arlina’s story is a case study in why we don’t have to use or drink for decades to be a certified Alcoholic or Addict and a model for what long term recovery can look like. Listen Up.   Listen to the ODAAT Chat Here: www.odaatchat.com Find the Sober Life School here: www.soberlifeschool.com Find the 5 Minute Journal here: https://amzn.to/2WspSpB  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support

This week is all about Step 2 as we continue our series on the 12 Steps. We break down in practical terms what Step 2 means and how to work what can seem to be an impossibly abstract spiritual concept. Plus we share feedback from the sober and serious community and take your calls. Listen Up. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support

This week we’re beginning our series on the 12 Steps. We begin, naturally, with Step One which reads “We Admitted We Were Powerless Over Alcohol, that our Lives Had Become Unmanageable”. Critical to overcoming any problem is recognizing & accepting there is a problem in the first place. Step one at it’s very core, is a surrender to our powerlessness and the unmanageability that manifests in our lives as a result. We’ll unpack the key elements of understanding what Step One means, what causes our powerlessness and unmanageability, and practical ways we can work Step One in our own recoveries. Plus we share feedback from the Sober & Serious Community and take your calls. Listen Up. Step One Worksheet: https://www.12step.org/docs/Step1_WS.pdf --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support

This week we’re discussing action -  the chief activator of Recovery and the gifts that come to us as a result of the activities we carry out in our programs of recovery and on a daily basis. Action is more important that desire, willingness, and knowledge combined. The truth is, willingness is extremely helpful but not required to recover. The reality is knowledge is beneficial, but not necessary in order to achieve recovery. Right action is the central ingredient in attaining meaningful and continuous recovery. We can’t think our way into right living. We must act our way into right thinking. That’s the central truth of the solution to our core problem – we must continue to carry out the actions in order to attain and sustain a spiritual experience sufficient enough to arrest our disease – or if you will our spiritual malady. We discuss in clear terms why action is so critical, what actions activate recovery, as well as the daily actions necessary to maintain our spiritual fitness and as a result our r

This week we’re examining a rarely explored and often overlooked aspect of a whole and complete recovery. Vulnerability, and our ability to embrace this in our own lives, is at the foundation of our ability to be willing to do the necessary work, take the necessary steps, in order to truly recover from our disease of addiction and/or alcoholism. To the extent we can recognize, acknowledge, and indeed embrace the most broken parts of ourselves and then show them to the world so that we may tap into a until then untapped resources of community and spirituality, is the extent that we will recover completely. When we walk through the fear, backed by our newly found community and spiritual power, we come to know a new freedom and a new happiness as Bill W. wrote. So we invite you to talk a walk with us, right now, as we examine and explore how embracing vulnerability could very well be the key that unlocks your recovery. Plus we share feedback from the Sober and Serious community and take your calls. Listen up. Cl

This week we’re peeling the curtain back on the act of Asking for Help. Asking for help in life and especially in Recovery can be one of the difficult tasks we perform. As difficult as it may be for us; the reality is that this simple act has the power to transform our relationships and enhance our recoveries and lives as a result. We reveal why asking for help is SO difficult; and there are concrete and universal reasons this is so; as well as why asking for help is so vital to a meaningful and lasting recovery. I hope you can bear with some goofy audio courtesy of the buffer monsters invading the Zoom connection as well as my tortured vocals due to an ambitious chest cold I’m enduring – you’ll be rewarded with some serious spiritual gems. Plus we share feedback from the Sober & Serious community AND take your calls. Listen Up. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support

This week we’re discussing a fundamental and root characteristic and phenomenon of addiction. Perhaps the distinguishing feature of addiction is the cycle that manifests itself universally in the alcoholic or addict, and is the defining experience of a undeniably hijacked brain. We discuss our own experiences around the cycle of addiction, explain each phase of the cycle, and how we broke that cycle in order to achieve enduring and meaningful recovery. Plus we share feedback from the Sober & Serious community and take your calls. Listen Up.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support

This week we’re bringing you a powerhouse discussion on Family in Recovery thanks to two absolute dynamos whom have dedicated their lives to families in Recovery. Pam and Shelly are disrupting the classic paradigm of how families deal with and recover from addiction and alcoholism in a fundamental and phenomenal way. Embracing all pathways to recovery from a family perspective to achieve the ultimate goal of breaking the cycle of addiction and achieving whole family recovery. They wonderfully detail the role each family member has in breaking this often deathly cycle, and the role each family member can fill in moving the entire family to Recovery. Plus we share feedback from the sober and serious community and take your calls. Listen Up. Resources mentioned on this episode: https://familyrecoveryconference.com/ https://pamlanhart.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-way-out-podcast/support