Alcohol Abuse Effects

Writen by Kevin Stith

What starts as an occasional drink with friends can soon turn into an addiction, casting the alcohol addict in serious trouble. At this stage, the addict’s day could often begin and end with alcohol and soon he could turn moody or violent, overreacting to issues and situations.

In the initial stage of alcoholism, alcohol is often a stimulant to get over depression over job status, plummeting self esteem, or a perceived sliding relationship with a significant other. Weeks turn into months, and the urge to drink increases. One effect is breaking out in sweat accompanied by shaking or nausea if there is no alcohol available. If one tries drugs to anchor oneself to some reality, the problem can compound. It can seem to the addict that nothing helps.

The breaking point sometimes comes when one is diagnosed with symptoms of liver cirrhosis. Cirrhosis of the liver is caused by continual alcohol consumption and when combined with chronic hepatitis C infection, is lethal and responsible for liver cancer. This is a major worry in the U.S. and other developed countries.

It should be seen as a blaring warning sign to cut down on alcohol and to go in for a rehabilitation program. Younger sufferers have a better chance of recovery than older ones, but the damage is serious no matter how old one is. Increasing alcohol abuse is often the basis of attention deficit disorder, depression, and other mental ailments.

The other short term effects of alcohol abuse are: loss of inhibitions and physical co-ordination, blurred vision, loss of balance and slurred speech, fatal road accidents, domestic violence, even assaults. Large amounts of alcohol in a single go can result in coma and vomiting. Sometimes vomiting when unconscious causes death by asphyxiation or suffocation.

The miseries of alcohol abuse far outnumber the pleasures and lead to serious health problems such as cancer, pancreatitis, high blood pressure, miscarriage, heart failure or stroke, alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and even suicidal instincts. One must take responsibility for one’s own drinking, rather than justify the behavior. Alcoholics often blame their alcohol-caused problems on exterior realities such as other alcoholics, the dating scene, sexual preferences, education, employment, financial matters or partying.

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Anger Isn’t Spiritual - How to Hide It Fast!

Writen by Annett Tate

The readers of this article can probably be divided into two main groups.

Those who resonate with the title of this article and want to know how to hide and overcome such a shameful and primitive (uncivilised) emotion as anger.

And those who are angry at me for even suggesting that it should be repressed.

Bear with me for another moment, because just as the emotion of anger isn’t what it seems, neither is this article.

A few days ago my own rage burst forth at the total lack of professionalism and common courtesy of a professional organisation I joined. They had cashed my payment immediately, but kept me waiting for the activated membership service for 10 weeks! Despite numerous calls and an email, the only indication that they had received and accepted my application was the fact that my bank balance was reduced.

When my patience wore thin, I left a ’slightly’ less sugary monologue on their ever present answer phone. A few days later, I checked their website and was almost more furious to find that they had posted my details without even letting me know. I felt they owed me a bit of a human touch, maybe an apology. After all, they were supposed to be the ones controlling the professional standards of therapists who deal with the emotional and physical well-being of others.

How could they be so rude! Instead of being happy that the deed was finally done, there was a nasty, angry little voice inside me - raving and ranting and jumping up and down like good old Rumpelstilzken in the fairy tale.

For a few minutes I swam the angry tide, furiously paddling and thrashing inside, my inner dialogue dizzily drawing smaller and smaller circles. Then, I thought I’d better walk the talk, do as I preach in my seminars and figure out how this experience can help me make some personality progress.

Here’s the method I use:

First, I take a little inventory of what’s happening inside and notice whether my reaction is in proportion to the event. Are my emotions driving me forward to learn and make positive changes or are they dragging me into some dark dungeon where I wallow in my own self-pity until someone or something rescues me?

Most of the time, when thoughts go round and round in circles, it is perfectly clear that they are not of the empowering, energising kind - so, the next step is to ask myself exactly which buttons this event has pushed.

What did it remind me of? What previous experience (sometimes from way back when) is it like? And exactly what does it feel like inside? I take my thoughts away from the event itself and focus on the physical sensations it’s causing inside me.
Then, I make the conscious decision to transform and let go of this particular kind of energy.

Sometimes, it’s as easy as concentrating on the fiery sensation the anger has caused and allowing it to cool and disperse. At other times, I need to play a few tricks on my mind to distract myself from my thoughts.

What’s important is that I remind myself that the choice of wallowing or soaring is always mine. I can learn and move on or I can follow the downward spiral until I’ve hit the bottom and finally got the message.

Next time someone or something really pushes your anger button, what will you choose? A new vision that lets you see the bigger picture of your own internal life, or just a blinding rage? If you go inside, you can emerge calmer, more positive, and lighter. Anger is a heavy load to carry. Isn’t it great to know that the choice to let go of it is yours?

Annett Tate helps people transcend their anger through her “Subtle Energy” seminars and coaching. Her website is a treasure trove of information on stress management, relaxation, meditation, self-hypnosis, and much more.

http://www.stress2bliss.com

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Forgiveness: Cleaning Out the Filing Cabinet

Writen by Denise Boggs

No matter who you are or how long you have been a Christian, you will still have times when you get hurt and offended. As a Christian, the goal is to learn how to deal with hurts properly. Learning to respond instead of reacting is the key. If you have been hurt in the same way before, then it will be easier to take on the offense and react. The reaction will be based on a combination of the present hurt and the past hurts as well. If you have learned to forgive when hurtful things happen instead of being offended, you will be able to respond correctly. Forgiveness therefore, must become a way of life in order to be able to respond in a Christ-like manner no matter what the situation is.

The problem is that your soul has a filing cabinet where past hurts and offenses are stored that have not been dealt with properly. This is why when someone does something that hurts you; you will suddenly remember how many times they have done the same thing before.

The only way to be free from past hurts is to forgive. Ask the Lord to help you forgive. Forgiveness is releasing the person who hurt you, and releasing your right to hold the offense against them any longer. Forgiveness is not saying that what they did was not wrong; forgiveness is releasing them to God. You will not be free from the pain caused by the offense until you release the offender. Once you forgive them, your filing cabinet will be cleaned out and you can begin to deal with hurts on a daily basis instead of letting things pile up.

“Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Eph 4:32

Forgiveness is releasing our right to demand payment for sins against us by surrendering to God and letting Him be the judge and jury.

When someone has sinned against us and we are hurt, the automatic response is to be offended. If we allow ourselves to be offended, then we build a prison and hold the person in this prison until they pay what they owe. This is unforgiveness. If we stay offended, we will turn next and betray the one who offended us. In Mathew 24:10-12, Jesus warns us of the progression of being offended:

- Offended
- Betrayal
- Hatred
- False prophet (speaking against the person who hurt you)
- Love toward the person waxes cold

Forgive each other as God has forgiven you. (Eph. 4:32)

We must forgive 70 x 7meaning forgive again, and again, and again.

The moment we feel frustration or anger, we need to confess it immediately so it does not get lodged in our hearts.

Sometimes, people think they have forgiven; and they may have even prayed a prayer of forgiveness, but it still did not happen in their heart. We often do not really know if we have truly forgiven because the resentment has been buried for a long time.

Resentments get buried in the heart several ways:

- when we are small children and do not know how to forgive

- when we do not recognize our anger (we learn to turn off emotions and just cope)

- when we refuse to forgive

To discover buried resentments in your own heart:

- Start by asking the Lord to help you remember a time you were hurt and instead of dealing with it, you stuffed it.
-When you think of that person or persons, does your heart leap up in love toward them?
-Do you want fellowship with them?
-Do you rehearse speeches you want to say to them if you have the opportunity?
-Do you want to get even?

Are you still angry?
The Bible says to be angry and sin not. Anger is usually suppressed. To forgive someone, you must let the anger come to the surface and live long enough to feel it (this is how you own it). If you have been hurt but fail to own the anger, you have only forgiven on the surface. The anger keeps the pain buried, and therefore forgiveness is not completed.

- You do not necessarily need to feel like forgiving.

- We choose to forgive out of obedience to the Lord.

- We ask the Lord for His power to enable us to forgive.

Are there any signs in your life that indicate that you may be harboring unforgiveness toward someone?

Go to livingwatersministry.com for the rest of the article and more on forgiveness.

For daily devotional
http://www.livingwatersministry.com.html

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