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Book Reviews continued... the beating stops. Will one stay when one is gone, can one live without the other. Does it matter. It does. I have to believe in something. It is holding me together.” Side plots of love and friendship fill the pages, but the question of how one stays sober after being so severely addicted to drugs and alcohol is the central point of interest. Frey is unwilling to surrender to a power greater than himself. He is, however, quite willing to admit who he is and what he’s done wrong. He continues to remind himself, “I am an alcoholic and I am a drug addict and I am a criminal.” His challenge is not in knowing his weakness nor taking responsibility for those people he’s hurt in the self-obsession of drug use. However, he is determined to stay sober without believing in a higher power and says his decision has “nothing to do with God or Twelve of anything other than twelve beats of my heart. Yes or no. It is a simple decision.” That it could be a simple decision is the subject of much controversy. Nearly 900 reviews posted on Amazon since the book was published in 2003, many surrounding the debate on whether or not someone can recover without relying on a higher power. While it is generally accepted that very few addicts can find permanent recovery without the twelve step program, and while this book may certainly upset those in the recovery community, there are those who tell a different tale. Recovery for Frey begins to take shape when his brother gives him a copy of the ancient Taoist text, Tao Te Ching. Though distrustful of religion or anything resembling spirituality, he gives the book a shot. In it he find wholeness and an awareness of the existing perfection in the world. He writes, “This little book feeds me. It feeds me food I didn’t know existed, feeds me food I wanted to taste, and have never tasted before, food that will nourish me and keep me full and keep me alive. I read it and it feeds me. It lets me see what my life is in simple terms, it simply is what it is, and I can deal with my life on those terms. It is not complicated unless I make it so. It is not difficult unless I allow it to be. A second is not more than a second, a minute no more than a minute, a day no more than a day. They pass. All things and all time will pass. Don’t force or fear, don’t control or lose control. Don’t fight and don’t stop fighting. Embrace and endure. If you embrace, you will endure.” Though Frey rejects the 12-step approach in lieu of the Tao, spiritual seekers may question whether there’s a conflict at all between the two teachings. Could it be that the more one looks at these teachings in general terms, the more one sees their unity—that they all present the common ideals of acceptance, non-resistance, and surrender to the flow of life Frey quotes from the Tao throughout the book. “If you want to be whole, you must first be partial. If you want to be straight, you must first be crooked. If you want to be full, first become empty. If you want to be reborn, you must first die.” Apparently what he found worked for him. Frey is said to still be sober 10 years later. A Million Little Pieces succeeds in conveying the powerful emotions of failure, fury and longing. It is about self-destruction, the frailty of being human, and how sometimes falling apart is just what we need to put our lives back together. Though this may not be a good book for someone newly sober as a result of working a 12-step program, I recommend it to anyone looking for a powerful story of human triumph. If you would like to read more about or order this book click here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0307276902/ centerpointer-20/103-3656485-3609455 12 MINDCHATTER December 2005
Announcements: The Amazing 5-Day Transformation for those who don’t have the time to wait for Tremendous change! Austin’s Omega Institute site for Spring retreat The dates for Centerpointes spring retreat, at The Omega Institute at the Crossings in Austin, Texas, are April 9-15, 2006. If you have a big issue you’d like to resolve, if you’re in a transition period in your life and you just can’t seem to complete it, or if you just want to take things to a higher level—one where you understand more completely how you’re creating your life—please, do yourself a favor and come spend a week with me at The Omega Institute. I promise that you’ll have an incredible experience you’ll never forget. I tell people they’ll receive six months of growth in just 5 days at these retreats, but they keep improving every time, and people now tell me they’re received much more than that. I tailor each retreat to the needs of the specific people who attend (which means YOU). My goal is to help you see the ways you may be unconsciously and unintentionally creating your internal and external reality, and how easy it actually is to consciously and intentionally create the life you want, both inside and out. This is your chance to make a big change, and to work with me personally. So visit this URL for more information: www.centerpointe.com/retreats And, I guarantee results! Here’s the guarantee: Attend the entire retreat. If by the end of the retreat you don’t think it was the most incredible growth experience you’ve ever had, just see me before you leave, and I’ll refund your tuition. You do not need to be a program participant to attend (though most people who attend are). (And if you’re not a program participant, why the heck aren’t you Quit procrastinating and join.) Visit this URL for more information: www.centerpointe.com/retreats Or, you can call retreat coordinator Katie Sparks at 503-906-6027 to learn more about Centerpointe’s retreats. “As I watched and listened during my experience, I sensed throughout that I was safe and that I could go deeper and deeper because of the love and confidence and strength I felt around me. Without that, I probably could not have released, what I believe to have been major life time blockages. Although I have been able to create so much happiness in my life, I was always aware that something was blocked and I did not have a clue how to access it. Something very big happened to me and I am still processing it.” —Dori MINDCHATTER December 2005 13
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