Elias Snyder is having a day. Maybe it's going to be a good day, maybe a not-so good day, but he's having a day! It is, of course, his day to live, and to love, and to bare himself honestly with the world. Eli shares his very new, and his very critical lessons on recovery, the non-negotiable dynamic of change, and finding the truth abottom of our dysfunction.

Essential for Eli is being in nature and writing, awhile loving and accepting himself before the world can accept him as his true and honest self. It's about exercising the good kind of control, and creating the life-balance that keep us alive. A deep and sharing conversation about doing the work, and a unique insight into the dynamic of romance, how using the word 'love' can be manipulative.

How do earn back the trust of all those who are trying to believe in us, how do we exit a co-dependent relationship, how do we give all that we need to in order to get something real back from the world. How do we get to the point of being ready to finally participate in true change.

And so now, the opposite of addiction is connection...connecting with ourselves, with humanity, and with the opportunity to survive free of those behaviors determined to kill us. Lastly, it's the uncertainty, the life-saving power of family, and an exploration into the void.

Look for my books on Amazon, my memoir LIES BETWEEN US, and the addict book:
Daddy, Why Were You A Drug Addict?: Winning the War Amid My Angel and Devil Within
by Roger Ray Bird
ISBN 979-8218286651
Available on Amazon for $11

Roger's social directory: HERE

Anthony Signorelli, aka Tony, endured the poor mental health of his wife, until her death due to cancer. With two young daughters at home the challenge was beyond the ability to function. Tony shares his story of trying to support and help his wife during this horrific experience, while running a business and keeping the household together.

Tony also share his experience of being adopted at birth, and his findings of the commonalities concerning adoption along the way. He speaks of the natural fear of being abandoned, the fear of being left alone, the pain of having early life dreams squashed, and the feeling of never being able to live up.

The risk of suicide plagued Tony's house, and we discuss how much of this chaos began to create another void. Roger shares his own experiences with his mother and her poor mental health, Roger's struggle with depression, writing into grief, and the much larger theme of finding and living with truth.

A vibrant conversation arises about acceptance, forgiveness, grace, allowance, and truth. Tony and Roger are both writers, and they have clearly spent thousands of hours by themselves figuring shit out. The net result of this episode is one of vulnerability, sharing, learning, and growing. The nuggets and valuable takeaways are many.

The book:
Daddy, Why Were You A Drug Addict?: Winning the War Amid My Angel and Devil Within
by Roger Ray Bird
ISBN 979-8218286651
Available on Amazon for $11

Roger's social directory: HERE

This topic here feels way too big to even address, dang, it’s huge. Earlier this week I planned a half-hearted attempt to do something about it, but then stopped. With the subject looming overhead, I tried to just move on with my daily activities, you know, staying busy and trying not to think about it. Alas I could not escape, I had no choice.

A few days ago I started to do something about it, I began planning a public event in Madison for this week, planning it for today actually, for Thursday April 4th.

Lining up a few different critical tasks, I prepared for a Facebook-publicized event pronouncement, but then something shifted, and I convinced myself no, no, I had to stop. I couldn’t, it was too big, and perhaps the chore was also too dirty-ego-centric to follow through on, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I paused, I didn’t do anything resembling renting space, or arranging food for invitees, or the like. Still, the gosh-darn notion consumed me. So, as lame as my attempt may turn out to be, here I will try to explain. If you’re too busy with other tasks, just click on the attachment below and you can listen to me tell the tale instead of taking time to read about it.

Leading with intention makes for a better life, that is if not coming unglued when unexpected results follow.

Time, and change.

Time, certainly a fascinating topic. Is time more about math, or is it rather the accumulation of wonder, hope, hard work, and a little bit of mysticism?

Speaking of time, how long does a decade feel? 10 years, is that a long time? How much change occurs in our individual realities across such span? Are we different today than we were a decade ago? How much have we grown, learned, and evolved in 10 years?

Do our undesirable actions, behaviors, and addictions bubble up time and again as we journey, so to dispel that we have learned anything at all? Or can we say with objective show-me-like truthfulness that indeed we have mastered those habits that once domineered us?

10 years sounds like a long-ass-time. Try to imagine where you’ll be, how will you look, who will you be with, what will you be doing, and not doing, will you be happy, or disgruntled? It’s a long…ass…time.

Hell, five years almost feels like forever. Three years, well, that’s also almost unimaginable. Even a single turn of one new calendar creates question. Frankly, I do not know all that will occur in the next 12 months, both those things intended, awhile the variables flying in from left field. I can barely imagine the final result.

How much control do we actually have over the outcome? Is the freewill to steer our own ship an illusion as some claims say? Is our destination predetermined, and despite all attempts, can we legitimately become someone new, someone different, someone better?

Of course change occurs. Change is one of two life certainties, we have no choice. Change, surely change happens. The other one is death and that’s it. That’s all there is to be sure of in life, those two things: Change, and death.

So ok, we do change our lives don’t we, or maybe is it that life changes us? Regardless, day by day we metamorphosize into a brand new us, forever different than who we were yesterday, we have no choice. By default, we become different hour by hour, day by day, year by year, and certainly, decade by decade.

The book:
Daddy, Why Were You A Drug Addict?: Winning the War Amid My Angel and Devil Within
by Roger Ray Bird
ISBN 979-8218286651
Available on Amazon for $11

Roger's social directory: HERE