Copyright 2017 Version 1 The Core Suffering and Dilemma of the Nine in Recovery You see the Type Nine—the peacemaker, the easy-going, self-effacing type—sitting at an AA meeting, initially withdrawn and distant, but with a little time clean and sober, a sort of likable, relaxed, I-won’t-bother-you-character, emerges. Gentle, kind, unobtrusive. Not quick to speak, and not wanting attention. Quiet. [...]

Copyright 2017 Version 1 The Healthy Type Nine Marty, a lanky Type Nine addiction’s counselor, glides across the room, his presence so seamlessly interwoven and in-flow with the texture, depth, and the psychological energy of the space you hardly see him. He’s beside you, he’s in you, he flows past you, a graceful chameleonic wave blending and unifying with [...]

Protective Mechanism of the Eight: I’m in Charge—You Will Not Mess With Me The Eight defends himself against being rejected or hurt by instinctively creating a protective barrier around him, actually, an impenetrable shell which he mistakes as ‘power.’ He exudes an intense force-field that unwittingly says, “Touch this force field without welcome and all hell could break lose.” [...]

The Doorway Home: The Path of Surrender At AA meetings he begins to hear the broken stories of other men, men who have sat where he sits, who have learned one primary lesson: Recovering from addiction is never a solo journey. Never. Ever. It’s a team journey. (Gurdjieff’s words, in In Search of the Miraculous, ring loud and clear [...]

Copyright 2015, Version 1.0 The Heart and Soul of Type Eight   When men enter Mercy House rehab they meet Dominic, a tall, broad-shouldered, kick-your-ass-swaggering, confidant-as-God, pony-tailed Dominican. An addiction’s counselor with eighteen years clean from heroin, his fierce intensity and street-smart-bust-your-balls-courage greet you like a head-high fastball on the inside corner of the plate. Instantly you are brought to [...]

Suggestions to the Type Seven Become aware of your emotional habit—gluttony—and begin to disidentify with it. Gluttony is the drive to fill up your emptiness—the hungry heart of the Seven—with stuff, like the stuff of food, or material objects, or sex, or whatever appears as the object of pleasure. It could be spiritual experiences, adventures, travel, shopping, gambling, ceaselessly, [...]

Type Seven in Addiction—Life at Level 6 & 7                                        When the Type Seven is caught in addiction, mired in the prison of Level 6 and 7 of the Levels, he is like an adrenaline-drugged humming bird, darting from experience to [...]

The ENTHUSIAST—The Excitable, Variety-Seeking Type Copyright 2014 by Michael Naylor, CCPC, LADC, CCS, M.Ed/Version 1.0 “Happiness comes from Inner Peace…nowhere else!” Dalai Lama ____________________________________________________ The Healthy Seven I watch Peter, a true type Seven, walk into the basement of St. Jude’s Church where other members of AA are arriving, sitting, talking, being. Effervescence and exuberance radiate from his face, [...]

The Healthy Three The healthy Three is a radiant motivator of others, encouraging them with skill and faith to do their best, to see their capacities, to shine as they are capable of shining. Effortlessly, and with grace, they support others, championing them to celebrate the talents they’ve been given; encouraging them to develop them, maximize them, and share [...]

The Healthy Five Terry, a Type Five Investigator extraordinaire, walks through the back door of the 8 AM, Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, a gangly softness to his movements. A well-navigated precision to each step, he quietly moves through the rag-tag Oregon crowd, a blend of all-ages, genders and backgrounds—street drunk to scientist to lawyer—thrown together on this precious sobriety life-raft. [...]

The Healthy One John, a Type One, is a delight when he’s healthy. Light-hearted, kind, reasonable, fair, wise, discerning, Jon Stewart-funny (of The Daily Show) and self-effacing, he can laugh at his tendencies to be a perfectionist, and to take himself way too seriously. Although he has an eye on what he could improve in you, he holds it [...]

Core Relapse Wound—I Do Not Deserve nor need Love, you do! When the Two enters recovery he is driven by the heart-breaking feeling that he has lost contact with all love, that he lives in a love-empty world, and that he himself is utterly beyond being loved. This is his core fear and what drives all his desperate attempts [...]

Healthy Two Martin came into addiction recovery twenty-four years ago, and it shows. Sitting at an AA meeting, his angular face and body embody stillness, grace, strength and gentleness. One hears the moment he speaks, a depth of compassion and kindness towards the men in the room struggling to be sober. He has been to the bottom, resurrected through [...]

Suggestions to the Type Four 1. Begin to notice how you unconsciously confirm your feelings of being a rejected outsider. Because you feel flawed and insignificant you look for your environment to confirm these feelings. For instance, you’re at an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting and you’re certain that everyone there thinks you are weird and different, and unlike them. You [...]

The Ongoing Shocks of Recovery—Embracing the Shadow Recovery for the Four truly begins when he sees he has erroneously imagined himself being  sensitive, compassionate, and emotionally honest while under the influence of his addiction—when his real behavior has been self-absorbed, hateful, and self-centered (Level 6 and 7 behavior). As he stays clean and sober, he witnesses the countless unconscious [...]

Protective Mechanism of the Four: Hiding Out in My Imagination & Intensity The Type Four protects himself and his shame-filled heart (“I’m a nobody…I have no significance”) by withdrawing into his imagination, avoiding real contact with life which he anticipates will cause him more shame. He creates an ‘imaginary’ character to live through —a Fantasy Self—and fantasizes himself doing [...]

The Individualist, – The Sensitive, Introspective Type The Healthy Four Thomas came into recovery eight years ago. He was a 30-year-old-heroin addict and alcoholic and homeless, not a penny to his name. Raised in foster homes, and living on the street since age sixteen, this intelligent, creative, big-hearted Type Four represents the stuff of real miracles: the capacity to [...]

What it Mean to Become Conscious When an individual is living at level 5 or below they are living in a state of unconsciousness. (This doesn’t mean they don’t have times during their day when they are more conscious and present.) What does being “conscious” of oneself mean? If an individual is conscious they are able to objectively observe [...]

When the Lights Go Out  When individuals drop to Level 7 and below, they are fully leaving the track of reality, in fact, you could say they are off the rails, having lost contact with objective reality. Here they act out the distorted versions of their innate gifts and become destructive to themselves and others. Desperate to the core, [...]

Going on Automatic Pilot At the Average levels of development (Levels 4 to 6), when an emotional trigger is touched by another or by a stressful circumstance, the individual frequently blames and judges the external source for the suffering they are experiencing (As in…”It’s your fault I feel so badly. If it weren’t for you I’d be having a [...]

The Levels of Development are a map and guide to greater Presence. Let’s take a closer look. Awake, Present, and Alive When we are functioning in the Healthy Levels we are flexible, spontaneous, joyful, open-minded, heart-felt, compassionate, understanding of others and self, and more often objective in our interpretation of reality. We are often able to call upon courage, [...]

Anyone in 12 Step recovery knows about the Levels of Development from their daily life. It’s as simple as this: on good days I’m clear headed, serene, not emotionally reactive, less self-absorbed, can relax and do my best work, and am less distracted. In essence, I am more present to what is happening inside me and outside me, and [...]