The Long and Rewarding Path to Recovery: A Conversation with Christopher Dines

I am so thrilled to be presenting this interview with my dear friend and Wf1 Truthteller, Christopher Dines. Christopher is the co-author of the book The Kindness Habit, which is a warm, compassionate, and open dialogue between him, Dr. Barbara Mariposa, and an anonymous fellow traveler on the road to recovery from addiction.

This book provided me with so many a-ha moments about the pain and grief at the root of our addictive behaviors, and how healing is all about creating space for acceptance, being able to ask for help, and connecting to our own deep authenticity in the face of grief. If you haven’t read this book already, I encourage you to pick it up! Whether you’ve struggled with addiction or not, The Kindness Habit is all about placing addiction in the wider context of the human condition and looking at the deep pain that keeps us from offering ourselves compassion.

Christopher is a mindfulness teacher and author of six books, as well as a blogger for The Huffington Post UK. He has led workshops at events such as the Recovery Evolution Festival in the United Kingdom, and he also runs Mindfulness Burnout Prevention (MBP) courses for businesses and organizations. For more information about his work, be sure to check him out at christopherdines.com.

5:00 How Christopher hit bottom with his addiction and set out on the path of finding his authentic self

9:50 The process of recovery and getting to the root of our suppressed grief

12:15 The inspiration behind The Kindness Habit

16:30 Defining the destructive patterns associated with addiction

18:35 How addiction gets brushed under the carpet by denial and numbing

19:35 Secrecy and toxic shame, and how saying “I have a problem” can help us move past them

24:45 Self-acceptance and compassion for the human shadow

26:40 The neurological aspect of healing addiction

30:45 Self-responsibility and the willingness to ask for help