Thought for the Week

Timothy D. Stein, MFT, CSAT

July 4, 2016

Rigorous (not brutal) honesty

“There is always a way to be honest without being brutal.” –Arthur Dodrin

Rigorous honesty is important. Brutal honesty is less important. Brutal honesty vomits the details of what has happened or what we did without taking the listener’s experience of hearing it into account.  Rigorous honesty does not keep secrets but does not dump unhelpful details onto another person without their request.  It is essential that recovering addicts lean on and trust their recovery community to help them find rigorous (not brutal) honesty.

When have I been brutally honest?  What have been the consequences of brutal honesty?  What gifts await me as I practice rigorous honesty?