Author: Steve Barnard

Why porn addiction, like drug &alcohol addiction, is a brain disease. I recently joined Reddit to participate in the numerous communities related to addiction and recovery. My first impression was, gosh, there are sooooo many people suffering either from addiction disorders or as family and friends of someone who is. My second impression was, holy […]

To discover the right answer, one must first ask the right question. I recently watched a Ted Talk where the infamous investigative journalist Johann Hari shared his research into drug and alcohol addiction, along with his own personal history of substance use and his journey to recovery. The Ted Talk, titled “Everything you think you […]

Winning the War on the Inside. I once heard a story told by a Native American Indian at a 12-step meeting. I was moved by the story for its stark resonance with how I’ve felt my entire life – that there’s a great and terrible battle raging inside of me, and I’m not always on […]

Three Keys for Successful Resolutions Around New Years but also throughout the year, and with the best of intentions, people create resolutions to make desired changes in their lives.  Unfortunately, many fail (research shows as many as 88% fail to keep their resolutions), become discouraged, make excuses for why they didn’t or couldn’t, and surrender […]

The Essence of Change – a poem by Portia Nelson This brilliant poem by Portia Nelson has long been used in the context of 12-step programs to model the process of recovery. At the heart of the message is the reality that recovery is an active and ongoing responsibility of the person in recovery; countless […]

Words can be positive or negative, helpful or hurtful. Either way, they matter; it matters what you say, both to others and to yourself. Your life narrative is an internalized story you’ve constructed based upon experiences, how those experiences occurred to you, and the specific words you selected to describe the events, both while and […]

As this is my first post, I’ll use this opportunity to summarize what I’m trying to impact with Narratives Coaching. I have a huge passion for helping people break free of negative thinking and move past stigmatizations, whether socially- or self-imposed, preventing them from moving forward and achieving their dreams. Experiences from your past can […]