Thought for the Week

Timothy D. Stein, MFT, CSAT

March 13, 2017

You can play an amazing bass line but if it does not mesh with the musical conversation, it is no more than musical masturbation.

No matter how amazing we are, if we act alone we are limited.  There is a reason most soloists have accompaniment.  However, having others around us is not necessarily a recipe for success.  If my part, no matter how intricate or well executed, does not fit with the parts of others, it detracts from the whole and lessens the value of my contribution.  This is true in music as well as in recovery.  If what I am doing in recovery, regardless of how successful I think it is, does not take my relationship and my partner’s experience into consideration, I am narcissistically hampering the healing of my relationship and family as a whole.

When have I focused on my recovery work without consideration for its impact on others?  When have I focused on others and ignored my recovery?  What gifts await me as I work on and improve my recovery within the context of my relationship and family?