We decide how we want to live and we decide what we want from our lives. But that's only possible once we've made a conscious commitment to stop being human piñatas -- stop being victims -- and truly take responsibility for our lives.

No matter how bad it gets, no matter what mistakes you've made in the past, and no matter how old you are, you can overcome anything, become successful, and lead a respectable, healthy life. I say this because I overcame my battles with addiction, a battle that raged for more than 22 years.

Many people refer to a single point of awakening at which recovery and transformation begin. It may be a near-death experience, a rite of passage, or even a poignant word from a friend that makes us pause and re-evaluate.

Let's think of our loved one's continued recovery by imagining a pie, and let's cut that pie into six healthy slices. Here is a list of what I believe represents each slice and the road to a clean and sober, all-encompassing lifestyle.

So, are all addictions created equal? In my opinion; yes, if one continues down the path of destruction not only toward themselves but the family and friends around them.

Today the "latchkey kid" has progressed to the "cyberspace kid," with movies playing in the car, a game box or texting -- anything to occupy them.

Communication is an art all to itself. Most of the time we are prepared for what's coming and engage accordingly. But it's a whole new verbal ball game when we communicate (or try to) with the alcoholic/addict.

Judgmental behavior is one rung below rescuing or enabling. The person that stands in judgment of another can insulate themselves from physical involvement.

It's the same one that every child of an addict has: we're in love with a person who is incapable of being in a healthy, adult relationship with us.

You and your family and/or friends will be welcoming home your loved one from their recovery program. All the hard work that everyone has put into this new lifestyle will be for naught if there is no recovery plan.

In this series of blogs I will discuss concepts that can help the family member or friend find new communication tools when relating to their loved one; the alcoholic/addict.

I have compiled what I call The Pyramid of Change; 6 phases of the alcoholic/addict from the beginnings of irresponsible behavior to full blown wreckage.

This false self is also sometimes seen as the "idealized self" or the self through which we operate because our true self just somewhere along the line (usually quite young) felt too weak, inadequate or overwhelmed to function and gain approval in the situation in which it finds itself.

In August 1979, I took my last drink. It was about four o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, the hot sun streaming through the windows of my little carria...

GARRISON, N.Y. -- It was shortly after 8 a.m. on a sun-drenched July day in this idyllic hamlet 50 miles north of Manhattan, and a hulk of a man named...

Nearly everyone has had a taste of what it would be like to have an addiction--eating a second (and third) piece of cake, staying out until 4 a.m. dri...