Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions

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Sell me phones and food and prejudice, low cost and low values, low-frequency thinking. We are in a cult by default. We just can’t see it because its boundaries lie beyond our horizons.” As I write this review I am 600 days sober (I didn't know the exact number before starting this review. It just worked out well.) The unmanageability at its heart means that there is a beast in me. It is in me still. I live in negotiation with a shadow side that has to be respected. There is a wound. I believe that this is more than a characteristic of addiction. I think it is a part of being human, to carry a wound, a flaw and again, paradoxically, it is only by accepting it that we can progress.”

Addiction is when natural biological imperatives, like the need for food, sex, relaxation or status, become prioritised to the point of destructiveness. It is exacerbated by a culture that understandably exploits this mechanic as it's a damn good way to sell Mars bars and Toyotas.” This book has that raw authenticity and truth that I love about the podcast. His openness to new ideas and to self-growth. This book takes Alcoholics Anonymous' twelve-step program (something I'd not heard of before starting this book) and adds Russell Brands honest, comedic twist to it. His writing is sometimes magically whimsical and sometimes dark and gritty. He shares some of his own experiences with the twelve-step program and puts it into new wording. You don't have to be dealing with a specific addiction to get things from this book. There's a lot in here, all fascinating and thoughtful and anyone interested in self-growth or who may be feeling anxious or dissatisfied with life would benefit from giving this a try. With a rare mix of honesty, humor, and compassion, comedian and movie star Russell Brand mines his own wild story and shares the advice and wisdom he has gained through his fourteen years of recovery.” — InRecovery Magazine Russell Brand also notes how strange it is that we would ever choose resentment, given it causes us nothing but harm. Furthermore, resentment allows us to place ourselves on the high road, despite knowing the extent of our own past transgressions. This pushes people away, and rightfully so. To feign superiority when we know the error of our ways stands directly in the way of the authenticity that would otherwise bring us closer to people.With a rare mix of honesty, humor, and compassion, comedian and movie star Russell Brand mines his own wild story and shares the advice and wisdom he has gained through his 14 years of recovery. Brand speaks to those suffering along the full spectrum of addiction - from drugs, alcohol, caffeine, and sugar addictions to addictions to work, stress, bad relationships, digital media, and fame. Brand understands that addiction can take many shapes and sizes and how the process of staying clean, sane, and unhooked is a daily activity. He believes that the question is not "why are you addicted?" but "what pain is your addiction masking? Why are you running - into the wrong job, the wrong life, the wrong person's arms?" When you start to eat, drink, wank, spend, obsess, you have lost connection to the great power within you and others. The power around all things. There is something speaking to you and you don’t understand it because you don’t speak its language - so you try to palm it off with porn but it’s your spirit and it craves connection. This is definitely a more accessible guide to the 12 steps than the "Big Blue Book". It is also a lot less patronising and gives better examples. This kind of self help book is needed and I am glad it exists. I am also glad of my own sobriety and although I don't follow all the steps some of them are just part of being a decent human being.

Russell has a firm grasp on the 12 steps, a relatable life story and an outlook on life I enjoy hearing. The condition in extreme is identifiable but the less obvious version of addiction is still painful and arguably worse because we simply adapt to living in pain.” The other message Russell preaches/talks of is that he was probably more of a mess than most people do. If it could work for him, I can work for anyone. One thing that does not probably help this book is that Russell is naturally a funny man, but he is talking about a very serious subject where humour works against it. Thought adding a load of F-bombs does not make things funnier or relatable.Service work provides more than self-awareness. It also helps us by allowing us a simple method of spiritual upkeep. According to Russell Brand—and indeed to many mentors in recovery programs—every piece of advice he offers someone else reminds him that he must take this advice as well. We cannot tell others to maintain spiritual principles when we still put them aside in favor of earthly pursuits. The hypocrisy would be too much to abide. Wow. A few months ago my mum told me about this podcast she had started listening to called 'Under the Skin' created and hosted by Russell Brand. I was intrigued by the things she told me about it and so started listening and was captivated by the guests he had on, the topics they discussed and the incredibly honest and vulnerable way he shared parts of his own story. Fast forward a few months and from listening to his podcast I learnt about Russell Brand's newest book Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions. With a rare mix of honesty, humor, and compassion, comedian and movie star Russell Brand mines his own wild story and shares the advice and wisdom he has gained through his fourteen years of recovery. Brand speaks to those suffering along the full spectrum of addiction—from drugs, alcohol, caffeine, and sugar addictions to addictions to work, stress, bad relationships, digital media, and fame. Brand understands that addiction can take many shapes and sizes and how the process of staying clean, sane, and unhooked is a daily activity. He believes that the question is not “Why are you addicted?” but "What pain is your addiction masking? Why are you running—into the wrong job, the wrong life, the wrong person’s arms?" The concept of twelve-step programs began in the early 20th century United States as a way to help alcoholics recover and rehabilitate, but it’s been widely applied to treatment of a number of addictions since then.

If we all feel we are alone then how alone are we? If we all feel worthless then who is the currency of our worth being measured against?” There is no better lesson to be learnt than by someone who has lived it. And with that in mind, Russell Brand is a man to listen to. Carefully. Beneath the performance he talks sense. A lot of it.” — Stylist (UK) To restate this relationship between the external and internal, our behaviors stem from our beliefs. Addiction represents the abandonment of those beliefs, or perhaps the failure to see them realized in the first place. We achieve recovery by reclaiming those beliefs, and bringing them to the surface through our actions. He goes through the 12 step program created by the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. He gives his interpretation of each one and also how he has tried to follow each step. He mentions other addicts and how they have helped him as well as how he has tried to help others. He does this in an often amusing yet thought provoking way. As a writer, Russell is amongst the best on his field. Bear in mind that Russell Brand speaks of more than self-forgiveness here. To “amend” something simply means to change it. In that sense, our self-amends actually began in Step 1, even if we didn’t know it at the time. And while we never truly stop growing as long as we continue our spiritual journey, Step 9 will be the final push we need before we can begin to focus primarily on maintenance.but other than that I was really really impressed with how this managed to communicate that it’s OK and it’s Human to make mistakes, to give in to the monkey mind, to choose the wrong ‘program’ to solve our darkest, deepest woes - it’s human to suffer in this way. Addiction is really the result of reaching for something external that already exists internally — but exists in a place that’s either unknown or inaccessible. You may sometimes hear people in anonymous meetings declare their pity for non-addicts who do not benefit from the teachings of a recovery program. This rubs some AA and NA members the wrong way, coming across as arrogant and judgmental. Yet in his writing, Russell Brand makes a very similar point while explaining it in terms that make quite a bit of sense.