eClubSoda is a personal development group meeting that I used to run for individuals wanting to replace unhealthy habits/addictions with practices that truly satisfy their adult needs. eClubSoda is very effective when used alone or in conjunction with a twelve-step program or psychotherapy. I began this group with Dr. Bill McKenzie, a gynecologist and addictionologist, with whom I used to share office space. eClubSoda continued until Bill's death, when I chose to suspend it temporarily.

After a few years passed, I felt that life was calling for me to provide this personal development opportunity again...with a few very significant changes, based on our culture today. I continue to facilitate the meeting, but it is now held DAILY on a teleconference call line. eClubSoda is a very affordable opportunity to have consistent support and direction in establishing new, life-enhancing practices. It also provides an opportunity for people from all over the world to attend and it will promise complete anonymity for those not yet comfortable with sharing their lives. Loving support, effective practices, safe listening, and new ideas will be provided on a daily basis for an hour in the afternoon...5:30PM-6:45PM Eastern. Our vision is eventually to have the conference line open twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, so that whenever an urge to revert back to old behavior may arise, someone will be there to help the participants remember what it is they truly need and desire.

When I was wrestling with my own addictions, I felt so hopeless and alone. I "knew" I was worse than everyone else in the universe. I didn't know what to do. Perhaps others could find their way to a healthy life, but I felt I was different and it would be impossible for me. Several people I hardly knew told me I could lean on them, and that someday others would temporarily lean on me. Now with several decades of continuous sobriety, I understand that time has arrived...the time for me to offer my life as support for all of those individuals who might be traveling toward their true purpose in life.

We cover a variety of topics, using real life situations to demonstrate the principles I have noted as very effective through my personal and professional life. For example, if someone's hunger is manifesting itself as overeating, we explore the hunger and find a way truly to sate it. If one's thirst appears to be for alcohol, we help them discover what might truly be satisfying. If one is exercising to excess, we will see what their body is truly trying to move them toward. If sex is their "drug" of choice, we help them identify what kind of connection their heart truly desires. Whatever the addictive habit may be, we first help identify what the mind, body or soul is trying to communicate, and then help establish new habits that support these true adult needs. It has been my experience that to focus on the habit itself does nothing but to perpetuate it.

In other words, the focus is on what life is calling upon for each one of us to identify, what to do with it once we have this knowledge, and eventually, how to contribute what we have learned back into our community.

There is no roll call and members are welcome to attend for five minutes a day or an hour per month or whatever works for their life. The only requirement for membership is a one-year commitment, as the nature of addiction constantly tells us we no longer have a problem. I have observed that it takes at the very least one year to get any kind of firm foundation constructed. But if there is a place to go when temptation strikes, and one continues to check in, success will eventually be theirs.

I have often let my terror as a child keep me from doing what I truly wanted to do in my adult years. Instead I would try to meet my true need in a "safer" way. The artificial response to the call of our soul can come disguised in many different forms. In the past, I have tried, over the course of my life, alcohol, sugar, shopping, working, organizing, bridge, tennis...you name it, as the list could go on and on. I actually think I could even become "addicted" to washing windows! I am now on very intimate terms with this fear, and I believe it is present in every person trying desperately to turn away from one addiction and toward a healthier lifestyle. I now see my fear with new eyes...I see it as my road to compassion and true understanding. Several times in my life, instead of being paralyzed by my fear, I have approached it with curiosity and identified its place in my true heart's desire...and the results have always been extraordinary. This process is one of many that we will cover throughout our time together.

eClubSoda membership also makes a wonderful gift for someone considering, or terrified of, giving up his or her addictive habits. Most often this comes from not knowing where the help is, or if it is possible, or where the most effective help might be. Membership in eClubSoda can truly be a gift of life and possibility. I do not believe an individual has to hit bottom or lose everything to find a better way to connect with life. I know all things are possible. Sometimes we just have to move an answer into their vision with love.

If you feel that eClubSoda would be a fit for you or someone in your family, please let me know as soon as possible. You can either mail the attached membership form back to me, or email me for further information at eClubSoda@aol.com. Please feel free to join anytime you or a loved one might be in need.