NEGES O OBAITH

Sut gallwn ni ddweud ffarwel wrth un flwyddyn a chroesawu un arall sydd eto i ddechrau? I nifer, mae’r ateb yn syml, gyda hwyl sy’n ymylu ar hedoniaeth. Mae’r wythnos fwy neu lai rhwng Nadolig a’r Flwyddyn Newydd yn aml yn troi yn un parti hir. Ar gyfer y rhai sy’n gallu delio â chyfnod hir o yfed a dal i weithio ym mis Ionawr, gallwn ddymuno lwc dda i chi; mae cyflawni camp fel yna’n dasg anghyffredin iawn yn wir, oherwydd mae nifer eraill fydd yn cael eu gorchfygu gan dymor yr ŵyl a’r yfed y mae’n ei gynnig. Mae’r addewid arwynebol aml o amser da, ewyllys da a hapusrwydd yn aml yn syrthio o dan bwysau tymor y partïon i wirioneddau llai cyfforddus. Gall siom, unigrwydd a dicter hir-dymor hefyd atalnodi ‘amser hapusaf y flwyddyn’ ac mae digonedd o alcohol wrth law i leddfu’r poenau hyn ac, mewn llawer achos, eu gwaethygu. Felly, beth yw’r dull gorau o ymchwilio i’ch teimladau am y tymor a’r Flwyddyn Newydd? Mae’n bosibl mai drwy edrych yn ôl dros yr amseroedd lle’r ydyn ni’n byw, tra bod eraill yn ceisio negyddu pwy a beth ydyn nhw mewn alcohol, dim ond i ddiweddu’n cael eu goresgyn a’u niweidio ganddo, y gallwn ni weld yr ‘amseroedd da’ fel yr hyn ydyn nhw. Bob yn hyn a hyn, mae gwirionedd yn dod i’r amlwg sy’n chwalu’r propaganda sy’n ein hamgylchynu fel bwled a daeth un i’r amlwg ychydig cyn y Nadolig gan Sefydliad Iechyd y Byd. Ym mis Rhagfyr, cytunodd 193 aelod-wladwriaethau’r WHO yn unfrydol fod: "Defnydd niweidiol o alcohol yn bwysau iechyd difrifol a’i fod yn effeithio ar bron i bob unigolyn yn rhyngwladol.” Cyhoeddwyd hwn tra hefyd yn datgelu bod y cyffur yn lladd rhyw 2.5 miliwn o bobl dros y byd i gyd bob blwyddyn gyda 300,000 o’r rhain yn blant a phobl ifanc. Darllenwch hwn eto: 2.5 miliwn. Mae’n holocost cudd, anweladwy, trosedd yn erbyn dynoliaeth sy’n cael ei normaleiddio a’i drin fel busnes fel arfer; fel ffrwydradau tir. Mae’n siŵr bod pwynt wedi’i gyrraedd dros y byd i gyd gyda pherthynas dyn gyda’r ddiod feddwol na all gynnal ei hun pan fydd mwyafrif llywodraethau’r byd yn sôn am beryglon alcohol, mae’n rhaid ei bod yn amser i’r cyfoethocaf o’r llywodraethau hyn ddechrau wynebu’r anghenfil y maen nhw wedi’i greu? Tra bod lleiafswm y polisïau prisiau gwannaf wedi’u cyflwyno’n dawel gan ein llywodraeth, ni all unrhyw un fod â llawer o ffydd go iawn y byddan nhw’n cymryd camau difrifol i adfer rhywfaint o ddoethineb i ddeddfau trwyddedu Prydain. Nid yw’r ffaith bod ein meistri etholedig yn gwasanaethu’r rhai sy’n cyfrannu fwyaf at gronfeydd partïon gwleidyddol, prin yn syniad dadleuol, mae’n hysbys a phrin yn gyfrinach. Mae hyn yn golygu bod yn rhaid cael newid ystyrlon, fel mae wedi bod erioed, a hynny oddi wrth y cyhoedd. Mae’r fasnach ddiod wedi denu mwyafrif Prydain yn gyfrwys neu’n ddibynnol neu wedi cyfaddawdu, ond mae un ddemograffeg lle mae’n rhaid i ni osod ein gobaith, pobl ifanc. Mae’r defnydd o alcohol yn gostwng ymhlith pobl ifanc. Yn ddiweddar, roedd Alcohol Concern yn cyhoeddi ystadegau’n dangos bod y defnydd o alcohol ymhlith pobl ifanc 16-24 oed yn gostwng a bod llwyr ymataliad ar gynnydd, tuedd nad sy’n berthnasol i’r amseroedd anodd economaidd presennol ond un a ddechreuodd bron i ddegawd yn ôl. Er y gall alcoholiaeth achosi llawer o dristwch dros gyfnod y gwyliau, a gall achosi gofleidio’r byd yn waedlyd, mae’n glir bod rhywbeth wedi newid yn dawel, yn raddol ac yn anesboniadwy. I ble bydd hyn yn arwain y flwyddyn nesaf neu’r ddegawd nesaf? Beth all hyn wneud o’n cymdeithas? Pwy all ddod i’r blaen i ddangos i ni eu mawredd? Pwy fel arall fyddai wedi’i golli i ddibyniaeth? Bydd yn rhaid i ni aros i weld. Mae llawer i feddwl amdano'r Nadolig a’r Flwyddyn Newydd hon a llawer i obeithio amdano yn y misoedd i ddod. Rhaid i ni gofio am alcohol a dioddefwyr dibyniaeth a gwneud cyfraniadau bychan, graddol, ond bob amser hanfodol i fyd dynol mwy caredig a diogel yn 2013.

Message of hope for 2013

How do we say farewell to one year and welcome another yet to start? To many the answer is simple, with a merriment bordering on hedonism, the week or so between Christmas and New Year often turns into one long party. For those who can handle such a prolonged bout of boozing and still function in January, we wish you good luck; to pull off such a feat is rare indeed, for there are many others who will be defeated by the festive season and the drinking it offers. The often superficial promise of good times, intimacy, good will and joy give way under the pressure of the party season to less comfortable truths. Disappointment, loneliness and long simmering resentments can also punctuate the 'happiest time of the year' and alcohol is on hand in vast quantities to medicate these hurts and in many cases to exacerbate them. So what is the best way to explore how we feel about the season and the New Year? Possibly with a sense of reflection on the times in which we live, while others are trying to negate who and what they are in alcohol, only to wind up being defeated and harmed by it, we can see the 'good times' for what they really are. Once every so often a truth comes to light that punctures the propaganda that surrounds us like a bullet, and one was supplied just before Christmas by the World Health Organisation. In December the WHO's 193 member states agreed unanimously that: "The harmful use of alcohol is a serious health burden, and it affects virtually all individuals on an international scale." They announced this whilst also revealing that the drug kills some 2.5 million people worldwide every year, of which 300,000 are children and young people. Read that again: 2.5 Million. It is a hidden, invisible holocaust, a crime against humanity that is normalised and naturalised and treated as business as usual; like land mines. A point surely has been reached globally with mankind's relationship with intoxicants that cannot sustain itself, when most of the world's governments speak out about the dangers of alcohol it must be time for the wealthiest of those governments to start to take on the monster they have created? Whilst the most diluted of minimum pricing policies have been gingerly introduced by our government, one can scarcely have any real faith that they will take serious action to restore some sanity to Britain's licensing laws. That our elected masters serve those who donate the most to their parties’ funds is hardly a controversial idea; it is well known and barely secret. That means that meaningful change, as it always had done, must come from the public. The majority of Britain has been skillfully seduced, addicted or compromised by the drinks trade, but there is one demographic where we must place our hope, young people. Alcohol consumption is falling amongst young people, Alcohol Concern published statistics recently showing that amongst 16-24 year olds consumption of alcohol is going down and abstinence is on the increase, a trend that is not related to the current economic tough times, but one that began nearly a decade ago. Whilst alcoholism might cause much misery over the holiday period, and might cut a bloody swathe across the globe, it is clear that something quietly, gradually and inexplicably appears to have changed. Where will this lead in the next year or the next decade? What might this make of our society? Who may come to the fore to show us their greatness and majesty, who otherwise would have been lost to addiction? We shall have to wait and see. There is much to reflect on this Christmas and New Year, and much to hope for in the months to come, we must remember alcohol and addiction's victims and make our own small, piecemeal, gradual but always essential contributions to a kinder, saner more human world in 2013.

Can we celebrate? Not yet....

Do we celebrate? Not yet.... This week, in curious synchrony, the government wavered on the regulation of two out of control industries in Britain, the newspaper industry and the drinks industry. The former of the two, whilst rotten to the core, has yet to prevent itself as a major public health hazard, the latter, statistics show, certainly is. Part of the art of politics is giving the appearance of action, and in relation to the alcohol trade, David Cameron has excelled. He has imposed a minimum pricing of 45p per unit on alcoholic drinks, evidently having been shown evidence-based research that shows a clear causal link between cut price alcohol and crime. The fact that this is an initiative from the Home Office makes the government's concerns all the clearer, the cost of disorder in our towns and cities is huge, and many people have been denied the right to enjoy public places of an evening, as they have become drunken battlefields, all in the name of brewery profits. When the matter was left in the hands of former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, the minister acted less like a man charged with the nation's well-being and more like a front man for corporate interests. He announced that he was not interested in regulation, but in working with the drinks industry to find an answer. In effect, he proposed self-regulation for an out of control industry, sound familiar? Self-regulation, as we all know is a code for 'let them do what they want and when there is a real problem, refer to an obscure industry code', but clearly in the eyes of the PM, determined to cut public spending, something further had to be done. The eye watering sums that the public purse now has to pay to police Britain's alcohol problem, and the crippling effect on the NHS, not to mention the countless cases of personal misery and the estimated 20,000 death toll every year seems to have prompted Cameron to partially act. The word partially is used here because one statistic the Prime Minister and Home Secretary would have been given whilst deliberating on this issue, again drawn from evidence-based research, is the recommended minimum price of 65p per unit, which campaigners and researchers all argue would make a considerable dent in the crime and death rates caused by drinking. This is not to say that the 45p minimum pricing is unwelcome, all moves towards a sensible and more humane way of dealing with alcohol have to start somewhere, but the question of where it goes from here is pertinent. Minimum pricing can either stay at the rather modest 45p while drinks companies find a way to undermine it or challenge it in the courts, and it might be the temptation of ministers eventually to kick the legislation into the long grass and for a future government to quietly dismantle it. If the people whose lives have been ruined by cut price booze, who's communities are unrecognisable, or who are simple just tired of indirectly subsidizing vast multinational enterprises by paying for the clean-up job after the profits of drinking have been privatised and the costs have been socialised, if these people continue to doggedly demand change, we may make it to 65p yet. Here's a final question: Why do drinks manufacturers and retailers object to minimum pricing? Won't this put up profits? Petrol companies and utilities continually rub their hands with glee when the minimum commodity price for fuel inches up every year. Drink is not like any other product, even though this issue is skirted over, it is highly addictive, and whilst this or next year’s profits for brewers and distillers might be unaffected, the steady disincentive over time to drink excessively, will eventually lead to less excessive drinkers, where the lion’s share of alcohol profits come from. The problem drinker is the mark in this particular game and the drinks industry knows it, we have scored a paper thin victory this week towards protecting that drinker, but don't be fooled, this is just the beginning of a long journey, not in any sense a destination.

Addiction, corruption and a necrophile nation

When the great psychoanalyst and voice of 20th Century humanism Erich Fromm coined the term necrophile, it had a very different meaning than that which is associated with it today. Fromm was talking about a malaise that existed in the human character, the desire to replace that which was living with that which was dead. This obsession that can be seen all around us, from the environment and the way we consume to the economy, and to our personal and emotional lives deep within. Few better examples of this can be seen than in the manner in which British parliamentarians have this week tripped over themselves to facilitate corporate greed and to expose an entire generation to new and powerfully addictive forms of high street gambling. We, as a nation are being governed by a parliamentary class that is putting the needs of the material, or as Fromm would have argued, the dead, over the needs of the living. In the UK today there are, so latest figures suggest, half a million people addicted to gambling. The prevailing orthodoxy from both political parties is that the profusion of book makers using the new super addictive fixed odds betting terminals is the result of consumer choice, a magical term that can take any noxious trade and give it an air of respectability; the logic, if followed to its conclusion, is that any nation not based on such laudable principals of market democracy is in some way less free. In order for this shaky argument to hold water the idea that gambling is addictive needs to be quietly dropped, as with smoking, the corporate power behind gambling know full well that for many punters, choice is but a memory. We are constantly told that any limitations placed on socially toxic enterprises such as book makers will result in waves of job losses, but the economic reality is actually quite different. With book makers sucking thousands of pounds out of deprived areas on a daily basis, with little or no real economic or social value being added back to the community, it is excessive gambling that impoverishes the community. Imagine the money wasted in book makers, feeding the addiction and suffering of a gambling addict, actually spent on goods and services on the high street. Our parliamentarians have long been lobbied by gambling industries of one type or another, be they in the City of London or at Newmarket Races, but now the scale of addiction in society demands that there is some kind of leash placed on these most secretive of vested interests. If parliamentary democracy in Britain is to truly revive itself from its currently tarnished state, the necrophile mentality and the power of lobbying and money must be countered, however the Department of Culture, Media and Sport have recommended precisely the opposite. In an act of breath taking irresponsibility, it has recommended lifting the cap on the number of FOBT machines in any one bookmakers, allowing an unlimited number to be deployed. Parliament is due to adjudicate on this matter in the next few weeks, and seems likely to repeat its tired old mantra of individual choice, instead of taking responsibility for the great crisis of addiction that consumes the very citizens it proclaims to represent and protect.

Jimmy Savile

JIMMY SAVILE Dychmygwch hyn: y diwrnod y datgelwyd y sgandal am y cannoedd o droseddau a gyflawnwyd gan Jimmy Savile yn erbyn plant ac na chafwyd eu herlyn na’u cosbi, bod papur newydd yn cyhoeddi’r pennawd canlynol: "Unigryw! Dyn yr oedd pawb yn amau’n gryf ei fod yn baedoffeil, er mawr syndod, yn baedoffeil." Er mawr sarhad i Stryd y Fflyd, ni chyhoeddwyd unrhyw bennawd o’r fath, ond gallai fod yn un o’r datganiadau mwyaf diffuant a allai fod wedi ymddangos yn y sgandal mwyaf gofidus hwn. Mae cymaint sy’n drallodus am yr achos hwn fel ei bod yn anodd gwybod lle i ddechrau, ond gallai archwiliad sydyn o’r ffeithiau helpu i ganolbwyntio’r meddyliau. Adeg ei farwolaeth, anfarwolwyd Syr Jimmy gan y wasg, roedd yr union y math o berson ecsentrig, hawddgar y mae’r cyfryngau tabloid Prydeinig wrth eu bodd yn eu dathlu, ei waith dros elusennau a’i ymgyrchoedd llai hysbys, ac erbyn hyn eironig tywyll ar ran gwedduster cyhoeddus yn yr 1970au a’r 1980au gyda Mary Whitehouse yn creu person o onestrwydd syml. Ac eto …. ac eto ni thwyllwyd neb go iawn, neu do fe? Cyflwynodd Jimmy Savile bôs anodd i gymdeithas, ydyn ni’n aflonyddu ar unrhyw ddyn mewn oed, sengl sydd ag awydd bod yn garedig i blant a gwireddu eu gobeithion? Ydyn ni’n bwrw sen am ddyn sy’n ymweld â phlant sâl mewn ysbyty, sy’n ymwelydd aml â hosbisau a chartrefi gofal, i bob golwg er mwyn gwedduster dynol? Os gwnawn hyn, ydy hyn yn cymryd cam arall i lawr y ffordd i’r math o hysteria sy’n gweld pob dyn mewn oed fel rhywun amheus? Mae dull syml ac effeithlon o sgwario’r cylch hwn ac mae’n strategaeth fyddai’n chwyldroi bron pob maes o amddiffyn plant, o gyflwynwyr amheus Top of the Pops i yfed dan oed. Y strategaeth hon yw didwylledd a gonestrwydd llawn a chyflawn ar draws ein cymdeithas am y pethau sy’n creu mwyaf o gywilydd i ni. Mae’n amlwg bod troseddau Jimmy Savile yn hysbys i nifer mawr o bobl. Roedd y rhai oedd yn cadw ei weithredoedd yn gudd, y rhai oedd yn anwybyddu ei ddioddefwyr, y rhai oedd yn cael eu cyfaddawdu gan y sosiopath ystrywgar, roedd digon o wybodaeth go iawn i’w restio a’i garcharu degawdau’n ôl. Ni weithredwyd ar hyn oherwydd bod cam-drin plant yn rhywiol yr adeg honno, ac i ryw raddau yn dal i fod, yr eliffant mawr pinc yn yr ystafell na allwn ddioddef ei gydnabod. Yr unig bryd y byddwn yn ei drafod yw ar adegau o argyfwng aciwt. Yn Stafell Fyw Caerdydd, gwyddom bopeth am yr eliffantod pinc hyn - alcohol, cyffuriau, gamblo neu ddibyniaethau eraill. Mae’n ymddangos bod paralel aciwt rhwng y modd yr ydyn ni’n delio â’r peth dychrynllyd o gam-drin plant a’r modd rydyn ni’n trafod dibyniaeth mewn cymdeithas, mae ein synnwyr cywilydd yn cau allan unrhyw drafodaeth. Mae’r amser wedi dod i bob un ohonom, dioddefwyr, câr, gwylwyr, hwyluswyr damweiniol a hyd yn oed cyflawnwyr sydd am geisio atal gwneud, i fod yn onest a siarad. Roedd Jimmy Savile yn gweithredu’n rhydd nid oherwydd, fel mae rhai wedi’i awgrymu, ei fod yn bwerus ac yn ddylanwadol ond oherwydd ein bod mor ofnus, nid ohono ef, ond o gydnabod bodolaeth camdriniaeth yn ein cymdeithas. Rydyn ni’n dal i fod yn rhy ofnus o gydnabod yn agored yr hyn mae pawb yn wybod yn breifat, fel gyda cham-drin, bod dibyniaeth yn rhemp ym mhobman o’n cwmpas, mewn siop drwyddedu, casinos, tafarndai, mewn aleau cefn, archfarchnadoedd ac ar-lein. Bydd y ddau ddrygioni hyn yn bresennol bob dydd, pa mor galed bynnag y byddwn yn ceisio eu hanwybyddu, ond ni allan nhw ffynnu o dan sbotolau gwirionedd. Bydd cymdeithas sy’n cofleidio euogrwydd, cywilydd a chyfrinachau’n parhau i gynhyrchu plant sy’n cael eu camdrin ac oedolion dibynnol, ond bydd un sy’n ymladd i’r pen dros wirionedd a gonestrwydd yn llawer iachach oherwydd ei hymdrechion.

Jimmy Savile

Imagine this; the day that the scandal over Jimmy Savile's hundreds of unprosecuted and unpunished crimes against children was revealed, a newspaper publishes the following headline: "Exclusive! Man who we all strongly suspected to be paedophile turns out, amazingly, to be pedophile." Much to Fleet Street's shame, no such headline was published, but it might have been one of the more genuine statements that could have emerged in this most troubling of scandals. There is so much that is distressing about this case it is hard to know where to begin, but a quick examination of the facts might help to focus the thoughts. On his death Sir Jimmy was deified by the press, he was exactly the kind of loveable eccentric that the British tabloid media loves to celebrate, his work for charity and his lesser known, and now darkly ironic, campaigns for public decency in the 1970s and 1980s with Mary Whitehouse created a persona of simple down to earth integrity. And yet...and yet no one was really fooled, were they? Jimmy Savile presented society with an awkward conundrum, do we harass any single adult man who has a desire to be kind to children and make their wishes come true? Do we cast aspersions about a man who visits sick children in hospital, who frequents hospices and care homes, ostensibly out of human decency? If we do, does this take us another step down the road to the kind of hysteria that sees all adult men as suspect? There is a simple and effective way to square this circle, and it is a strategy that would revolutionise nearly every known area of child protection, from dubious Top of the Pops presenters to under age drinking, and that strategy is one of full and complete openness and honesty throughout our society about the things that shame us the most. Evidently Jimmy Savile's crimes were known to many, many people, there were those who covered up for him, those that ignored his victims, those that were compromised by this manipulative sociopath, there was enough actual knowledge to arrest and jail him decades ago. It was not acted upon because child sexual abuse was then, and to some extent still now is, the great pink elephant in the room that we cannot bear to acknowledge, we can only bring ourselves to discuss at times of acute crisis. At the Living Room in Cardiff, we know all about these pink elephants, be they alcohol, drug, gambling or other addictions. There seems to be an acute parallel between the way in which we deal with the horror of child abuse, and the manner in which we discuss addiction in society, our sense of shame shuts all discussion down. The time has come for all of us, victims, addicts, loved ones, bystanders, accidental facilitators and even perpetrators who want to stop, to get honest and to talk. Jimmy Savile operated freely not because, as some have suggested, that he was too powerful and influential, but because we were too afraid, not of him, but of acknowledging the existence of abuse in our society. We are still too afraid to acknowledge openly what everyone knows privately, that as with abuse, addiction is rife everywhere we look, in off licenses, casinos, pubs, down back alleys, supermarkets and online. Both these twin evils will be present, each and every day, no matter how hard we try to ignore them, but they cannot thrive under the spotlight of the truth. A society that embraces guilt, shame and secrets will continue to produce abused children and addicted adults, one that fights tooth and nail for the truth and honesty will be that much healthier for its struggles.

Please Drink Responsibly, Because We Will Do As We Please

When a history of advertising in the 21st Century eventually comes to be written, special mention should be given to the alcohol industry's appropriation of the word 'responsible', and the hidden ideology that goes with it. In cinema adverts, full page features in newspapers and the sponsorship of popular TV shows, we are gently reminded to drink alcohol responsibly, whilst being bombarded with powerful alluring images of the good times it supposedly brings. The critic Roland Barthes argued that an object is mythologised when the politics and history attached to it is replaced with a sense of 'naturalness'; the word responsibility has surely become the alcohol industry's great mythologising tool. The subtle subtext, always unspoken, but by implication unmistakably there, is that once the product is purchased, the responsibility lies completely with the consumer, and that the alcohol content, pricing, promotion, advertising and packaging are not factors in the equation worthy of considering. It is if these elements of the discussion have been erased completely, and the drinker must now live up to society's expectations and try to behave. No one, of course, would advocate anything less, we all have a personal responsibility to act in a law abiding manner and be sociable to our neighbours, but the trick with responsibility is to shunt any of the burden of it off the shoulders of the alcohol industry and retailers. There is a sound reason for this as well, when seen from the point of view of the industry; Alcohol sales are worth billions in the UK, but the actual cost to society, the massive, massive clean up job that we have to take 'responsibility' for, comes to the princely sum of £21 billion a year. These eye watering figures are something that the alcohol industry is working very hard not to have to be associated with, the subtext to their insincere pleas for moderation make more sense in the light of these kinds of sums; they are less a plea for sanity in a world gone mad with alcohol, and more a disclaimer - 'we've asked people to drink sensibly, and if they don't it's hardly our fault is it?' Alcohol retailers and manufacturers are only showing the most cursory signs that they are willing to make and sell this powerful addictive drug more responsibly. Heineken, embarrassed by the cider brand White Lightning stopped producing it last year, and Tesco and Co-op in Ipswich, with the backing of local police, have ended the sale of super strength lagers. All of this is to be commended, but it is a tiny step along a road to recovery for Britain during a time which more and more shocking revelations are coming to light. In a recent article in the Independent newspaper Jeremy Swain, Chief Executive of Thameslink, a leading homelessness charity, said that his charity's clients were harmed more by super strength lager than by heroin and crack cocaine. He said: "We are not talking about people dying at 68 or 69. We are talking about people dying in their late 30s," highlighting the absurdity that one can of 9 per cent Carlsberg Special Brew contained 4.5 units, whereas the recommended daily intake for a man is 4 units. Buy one can of super strength lager, and automatically, you aren't drinking responsibly, but what of the brewer? How, in the face of such facts, can Carlsberg or any other producer of such dangerous products preach responsibility towards the consumer, when they have acted in such a reckless manner, if not causing then certainly facilitating untold misery? They manage to do it through another term that is worth its weight in advertising and marketing gold: choice. Equip consumers with enough choice and they can make their own minds up without being patronised by governments, doctors and do gooders, choice was a preferred phrase of the smoking lobby until recently too. Choice will only be a term that can be meaningfully applied when people are made aware on the packaging of beers wines and spirits that they are buying a powerful addictive drug that has been aggressively marketed at them, that it is an aggravating factor in the vast majority of violent crimes, features in most of the NSPCC's recorded cases of child abuse, and as latest figures suggest, causes an additional 22,000 deaths per year.

Perhaps it is one resolve that will somehow not dissolve

I'm thinking of setting up a spiritual group at Living Room Cardiff for all those suffering from what Eric Fromm describes as 'the unbearable burden of alonness'. I e-mailed my friend Jim McGovern in Philadelphia this morning just to seek out his opinion and to ask whether he had any literature that might be of any use to me. Below is his reply: Loneliness The cringing desire not to be alone. Loneliness can seem all pervasive. Behind it and next to it, everything else is subsidiary. We can talk the talk of Universal Oneness and God always being with us and so on and so forth…. But this Oneness does not sit across from us as we eat our meal. Sharing our joys or our sadness-es with it, seems terribly remote. We cannot reach out and touch it in the middle of the night…. The Enlightened speak of the illusory nature of our physical world - that reality is in our metaphysical unity with all of humanity and even nature Tell that to the child or woman or man curled up in a depress-ed ball because they have no real mortal human being to connect with or talk to. And thus we put up with the drama and pain and anguish and maybe even abuse of a partner with whom we just cannot get along…. We refuse to accept the abject discomfort of being alone. Stop in a nursing home and see human beings who’ve been shunted to the sidelines of life…folk that no one comes to see….or maybe they come on Christmas or Easter only…. Sitting in a corridor, in a wheelchair, staring at your eyes as you walk on by hoping, pleading, begging for even a glimmer of recognition, of connecting …of some kind of assurance they still are and that they still matter…. All the lonely people – they come from everywhere, from all walks of life… But like all people, lonely or not, they live, they live, they live and then they die…. And who is to know, but perhaps the field levels out then. Perhaps the escape from the mortal flesh brings with it the escape from the illusion of aloneness….and maybe even those that were so lonely, are even more enthralled with being an unencumbered part of the Universal One because it is so far away from the cold lonely corner of their mortal days. Perhaps. Perhaps I’ll make good on my idea to take a poetry group up to one of those nursing homes. Perhaps it is one resolve, that will somehow not dissolve. ----- i'll try again at that nursing home that keeps ignoring my calls my book is a kind of generic 12 step guide. i also have a 9 step program for berevement i'll send you when i write from home. peace always, jim mcgovern

The Lost Prince

The nation seems to be divided over Prince Harry's most recent antics and two positions on his drunken Las Vegas behaviour have emerged. The first argues that Harry has every right to behave as he sees fit in the privacy of his own hotel room, and in Britain, after the scandals of press intrusion and faux moralising, the pro-privacy argument seems to carry a lot of weight. The second argument is that Harry is a citizen like no other, he is an ambassador for Britain, showing off to the world all that is positive about Britain and emphasising British values. He should therefore be on his best behaviour at all times and the recent scandal over naked photos taken of him in a hotel room is just another embarrassment that the House of Windsor periodically inflicts on the nation. Coming so soon after the success of the London Olympics, where Britain truly showed off in its opening and closing ceremonies and in its record of gold medals won, what British values at their best are. There are merits in both these arguments, yes, Harry is entitled to privacy and there is no journalistic reason worthy of mention to publish embarrassing pictures of him; despite the Sun's defence of 'public interest' there is a gulf of difference between 'what interests the public' and public interest itself. Also, anyone in his position with an iota of common sense would protect themselves from embarrassment far more rigorously than he does. Perhaps there is a third perspective to view this recent debacle from? Is it possible that we can feel sympathy for Harry, a lost young man with immense privilege but no role or purpose. It is easy for us in recession hit Britain to look at Harry, a man who seems to live a life of endless opportunity and fun and feel no sympathy at all, but that is to deny a few human truths that apply to all of us, irrespective of wealth. There is no role for Harry in the future, not even the position of Duke of York, not in the next few decades at least, direction, purpose and contribution is something human beings cannot live without. He has lost the guiding hand of his mother at an early age and exists in a culture that was defined by the stiff upper lip and emotional repression of aristocracy and wartime national service. He has few achievements of his own to point to, the controversy surrounding his art exams at Eton College, where the work was shown to be someone else's, speaks volumes about how far Harry's real abilities have been tested. Similarly his deployment in Afghanistan was cut short after an article in a magazine announced his presence there, once again emphasising his differentness and hampering his ability to be counted for who, not what he was? Acting the fool in these circumstances isn't perhaps as aberrant as we might think, for all intents and purposes, he might as well, there clearly isn't anything better to do. What does this story tell us about our own times? Look at the countless Prince Harrys on every high street on a Saturday night, engaged in an alcoholic nihilism, seeking for a few hours to negate their very beings. Their existence is a powerful indication of a hopelessness that exists in the core of our society and in the very fabric of our thinking. it existed long before the recession, it hasn't been helped by the lack of jobs for young people, but unemployment and high university costs aren't the sole cause. Instead there is a massive desire on the part of our youth, just like Prince Harry for annihilation and humiliation instead of engagement. There is the desire for anaesthetic experiences where people sleepwalk drunk and hungover through swathes of their lives, instead of aesthetic experiences where they feel at their most alive. Why is this so? We don't fully know because there is no meaningful debate about our relationship between drink, drugs and ourselves. Until we start talking about this most pressing of national concerns we will have no right to judge Prince Harry because we will not be demonstrating that we are committed to finding alternatives and solutions to a generation lost to alcohol and other drugs.

A Leveson for the brewers?

Decades of wrongdoing, criminal and unethical behaviour and the scandalous abuse of vulnerable people by Britain's tabloid press have been finally brought into the public sphere in the last twelve months, but one area, perhaps most importantly has been spotlighted. It is the relationship between corporate media power and both Labour and Tory Governments. The evidence surfacing does not paint our democracy in a good light, and it is unlikely that media companies are the only conglomerates who have had a hand in shaping government policy in the past few decades. Following the outrage over the manipulation of interest rates, a scandal just in its infancy, some politicians have called for a 'Leveson for the Banks', as if the term Leveson is a new British shorthand for exposing hidden conspiracies against the public. If this is the case then there is another industry who's relationship with government needs urgent examination, the alcohol industry. Brewers and distillers have traditionally been a formidable lobby, scions of the great brewing magnates have frequently stood as Conservative MPs and funded the party that understood its concerns and interests. During the heady, booze fuelled years of Blair's Cool Britannia, the drinks trade found a new ally in the Labour Party, who's policies regarding licensing have had apocalyptic consequences for British high streets and hospital A&E departments over their 13 years in office. The Coalition Government, faced with an historically unprecedented level of alcohol abuse has, to its defence, taken the first positive steps towards dealing with Britain's societal alcoholism, but the planned minimum alcohol pricing strategy is but one small, fairly reluctant step on a long journey and plans to reverse 24 hour drinking have been kicked into the long grass. In this country people will always drink and they will probably always take other drugs too, but in order to find a solution to the rapidly escalating alcohol crisis that confronts Britain, some painful truths must be addressed. The government in Westminster and here in Wales should now be obliged to face the same kind of questions regarding the alcohol industry that they have faced about the media. We should ask them the following things: 1) What is the extent of industry involvement in the creation of new laws or codes of practice to regulate the marketing and sale of alcohol? 2) How often do representatives of the main brewers, distillers and supermarkets meet with the Secretary of State for Health and the Assembly Minister for Health and Social Services? 3) Have ministers or senior civil servants responsible for policy regarding alcohol accepted any form of hospitality from parties interested in shaping policy towards alcohol? Has this been declared? We might also wish to question the previous administration, given that its policies seemed to benefit the industry so dramatically. It might be pertinent to ask: 1) What motivated the 2003 decision to introduce 24 hour drinking licenses? What industry involvement in the decision was there? 2) What was the relationship between the previous Labour Government and the big four supermarkets when it came to the issue of minimum alcohol pricing and selling? Why ask these questions? Because as all former addicts know, truth is the key to recovery. We must stand back and realistically assess the carnage that alcohol has wrought in the past decade and before. In the year following the 24 hour drinking relaxation, a further 64,000 alcohol related assaults were recorded and drink driving leapt to a 30 year high. This year, at a conservative estimate, 15,000 people will die of drinking, there will be a million hospital admissions, and one in four young people who die in Britain will be killed by alcohol. With statistics like these, we need urgently to be told the truth about how the alcohol industry and the government work together to create immense profits for drinks manufacturers and retailers, while leaving the costs for the rest of us to pay. To date, distasteful though his publications are, Rupert Murdoch's newspapers haven't cost any lives, but the laissez faire way in which alcohol is sold and consumed has, and will continue to do so unless the public is allowed a thorough investigation into the industry.

Wales of the 21st century

If we can think of a country of a society as being analogous to a human being, then is it possible to make comparisons between the recovery of a person and the recovery of a nation? The individual who has stopped drinking or taking drugs or engaging in other harmful behaviours often experiences a rebirth, a renaissance, in fact in most instances this rebirth is the strongest chance of a lasting recovery. They must learn, or re-learn authentic and open ways of articulating themselves, a language of recovery that makes them independent, not co dependent. In much the same way, Wales has begun the long process of the reclamation of her identity, and the Renaissance of the Welsh language is gradually becoming her people's way of articulating themselves and their world. Language itself is our most important means of making sense of experience, and Wales quite literally, must find her own way of speaking and feeling in Welsh and also in English, for her society to be at ease with itself. The fact that she is not at ease, not in a state of acceptance, or of harmony, can be seen in every large town and small village, not just in Cardiff, on Saturday night, but also increasingly, all week round. Addiction, once confined to the living room or bedroom, behind the lace curtains, is now spilling on to our streets, the old Wales of community, chapel, proud and not a little puritanical, has been swept away, helped in no small part by alcohol, the drunken displays of violence and illness we see (and, amazingly, featured in the Wall Street Journal in 2010) have made cities like Cardiff renown for this appalling social problem. The curious irony here, and it is one that is once again linked to language and our inability to properly articulate what we mean, is that in the same breath as referring to public alcoholic drinking as a social problem, politicians and commentators to a man put the problem down to individual weakness. The idea that social problems might have social causes, and that they might be the result of anything more than a lack of moral fibre or self restraint on the part of the drinker raises questions that are too incendiary, too deadly for our modern political and cultural discourse to deal with. Questions of exclusion, alienation, boredom, hopelessness, meaninglessness, let alone poverty, fairness or consumerism or egotism are conveniently ignored by mainstream discourse, which is why Wales urgently needs a new language of recovery, a people's language if you will, one that speaks in a multiplicity of tongues but that holds honesty to be its constant. If our society can be thought of as a people making machine, crafting all types of individual consciousnesses, based on whatever settings are programmed in, we must direct our words, and thoughts to ask simply how we have programmed it to produce so many alcoholics, addicts and people who feel addictive substances or behaviours can do for them what they cannot do for themselves. If we are courageous in addressing this question in Welsh, English, Polish and Urdu, in every language where addiction cuts a bloody swathe through communities, then the Wales of the 21st Century will be able to clearly articulate itself as distinct from the rest of the UK, and will be able to show the way to the rest of the peoples of these islands, tormented, as so many of them are, by addiction and fear.

A spiritual dilemma?

Today I was asked my opinion on charities partnering with the alcohol industry, whether through sponsorships, partnerships or accepting funding. Here’s my reply: “It's the Lottery dilemma magnified. Can't using drinks industry money be justified, however, as a means to an end? I think we should take the money from the government and the drinks industry if it helps people recover. We wish to continue and develop our relationship with the drinks industry and the government in promoting responsible drinking. However, there are people in our communities, like those with a nut allergy, who cannot take alcohol in any form. We should welcome what support we can get from whatever source in dealing with this chronic condition and offering first class, on-going support and after-care. However, our goal is to be properly funded. And it goes without saying that we should always operate within the law. What would the Master have done? From my knowledge of Him, he'd have put saving lives as a priority and broken the "rules". He’s my role-model.”

My letter to the Prime Minister

Rt. Hon. David Cameron, MP 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA Dear Mr Cameron, I am writing to you as Chief Executive of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, a charity that promotes recovery from addiction and advocates sensible and healthy choices with regard to drinking. Firstly on behalf of the council, its helpers and clients, may I applaud your decision to pursue an alcohol minimum pricing policy, peer reviewed studies have shown a clear link between minimum pricing and harm reduction. The council itself has been vigorously campaigning in the Welsh media for over a year to see minimum pricing policies introduced in Wales. I am writing to you, however, to urge you to take a further and perhaps more ambitious step in our country's war against addiction, whilst addressing pricing is important, it will only treat the symptoms of the illness and not its cause. Britain could be described as an alcoholic culture, it has all the traits socially that an addict tends to have on an individual level, our national media, where much of our dialogue about alcohol is had, helps to obscure, to rationalise and to justify our nation's drinking. This is how an addict in denial behaves, until he or she is able or willing to face up to the truth. A national debate about drinking needs to be had, not simply one that looks at the relative 'fairness' or 'unfairness' of pricing, but the reasons behind our huge and excessive alcohol consumption and its massive social costs. We need to have a debate about how and why our national alcoholism is facilitated by the media, and to really question what exactly it is that many British people feel that alcohol can do for them that they cannot do for themselves. Sometimes public institutions from small charities such as the Welsh Council all the way up to the office of Prime Minister are reluctant to address big existential questions like 'the purpose of living'. However, when so many people, at such an alarming rate are running away from that very question, and are using alcohol to do it, we must at least pose this question in an accessible way to the British public. If they do not have a chance to answer it, those who are affected by addiction will continue to be defeated by it. The Welsh Council will be considering ways to take this debate and these questions to the British public and hopefully start the long process of changing British attitudes towards alcoholic drinking, and we would like to invite the Government to join us in this. Wynford Ellis Owen Chief Executive Welsh council on Alcohol and Other Drugs 58 Richmond Road Cardiff CF24 3AT T. 029 2049 3895. E. info@welshcouncil.org.uk www.welshcouncil.org.uk & www.livingroom-cardiff.com

Lleiafswm Pris

Ym mywyd pob alcoholig, mae amser yn dod pan na fydd ef neu hi’n gallu anwybyddu cost ofnadwy eu dibyniaeth ac maen nhw’n dawel ac yn drist yn cyfaddef na allan nhw gario ymlaen gyda phethau fel ag y maen nhw.

Mae hyn yn ymddangos yn wir gyda chymdeithasau alcoholig ac mae’r Prif Weinidog ei hun yn ystod yr wythnosau diwethaf wedi cyfaddef mai ei reddf normal fyddai caniatau i gewri bragu, cadwynau tafarndai ac archfarchnadoedd gael pen rhyddid. Mae cyfradd problem yfed Prydain mor fawr fel y dywedodd Edward VII unwaith ‘rhaid gwneud rhywbeth’.

Mae’r rhywbeth hwnnw wedi datgelu ei hun mewn galwad am leiafswm pris alcohol a allai fod yn 50p yr uned, gan gynyddu’n sylweddol cost alcohol sydd mewn termau reol y rhataf y bu erioed ers cadw cofnodion.

Mae’r ddibyniaeth, y salwch, y tristwch, y trais a’r anhrefn y mae’r tswnami hwn o alcohol rhad wedi’u dwyn y tu hwnt i bob amgyffred ond efallai y bydd yr un ffaith hwn yn rhoi golau bychan ar y problemau y mae Prydain yn eu hwynebu ar hyn o bryd; mae meithrinfeydd yng Nghymru’n awr yn cael canllawiau ar sut orau i ddelio â phlant bychan sydd wedi’u geni â syndrom alcohol y ffoetws, cyflwr oes sy’n gwanychu ac yn effeithio ar blant yn gorfforol, yn emosiynol ac yn feddyliol. Mae’r gost i’n hamgylchedd, i’n cymunedau, i’n GIG, i’n ffrindiau ac i’n teuluoedd wedi bod yn un yr ydym fel petaen ni wedi bod yn barod i’w dioddef wrth i frandiau alcohol byd-eang gynyddu eu helw a thalu dim tuag at lanhau eu llanastr. Ond yn awr bydd y gost yn cael ei dioddef gan genhedlaeth o blant hefyd.

Petai’r felin ddur gerllaw’n taflu mwg gwenwynig allan ac yn llygru ein cymdogaethau, gan efryddu plant â dwr llygredig neu gyfyngu ar ddisgwyliad oes pobl ifanc yn eu harddegau, byddai mudiad amgylcheddol wedi codi i herio’r perchnogion i wneud y safle’n ddiogel. Mae hyn wedi digwydd nifer o weithiau ac yn awr, mae mudiad tebyg yn dechrau ymddangos, un y mae’r Prif Weinidog yn ddigon doeth i’w gydnabod a’i gefnogi.

Yn lle torri adenydd y felin ddur sy’n llygru, mae’n rhaid i fân werthwyr alcohol sy’n gwenwyno cymdeithas ac sy’n preifateiddio eu helw ond yn cymdeithasu eu costau, drwy ddeddf gwlad, dderbyn rhywfaint o gyfrifoldeb am y lefel o ddinistrio cymdeithasol y mae alcohol yn ei achosi.

Hanner y stori yn unig yw hyn, fodd bynnag. Os mai cwestiwn o roi treth ar alcohol a newid arferion gwerthu’n unig fyddai hyn, gallem adael y dasg i fyddin o Fandariniaid di-wyneb yn San Steffan ac anghofio popeth amdano. Ond nid hynny yw’r sefyllfa ac ni allwn.

Beth sydd wedi ein harwain at hyn? Rhaid i ni’n awr ofyn y cwestiwn hwn yn ddwys i ni ein hunain, ein teuluoedd a’n cymdogion. Sut rydyn ni wedi cyrraedd pwynt lle, yng ngeiriau’r AS Sarah Wollaston:

"Bydd tua 13 o bobl ifanc yn marw yr wythnos hon o ganlyniad i alcohol, a thua 650 eleni. Mae bron i chwarter o’r holl farwolaethau ymhlith pobl ifanc rhwng 15 a 24 oed yn cael eu hachosi gan alcohol. Mae hyn yn 2 bob dydd - llawer mwy nag sy’n cael eu lladd â chyllell neu o ganser …. “ (Sarah Wollaston aS)

Mae lleiafswm prisiau’n sicr yn gam yn y cyfeiriad cywir, ond dim ond y cam cyntaf, fel y mae’n rhaid i unrhyw alcoholig beidio ag yfed er mwyn dechrau gwella. Dechrau’r siwrne yn unig yw hyn a heb ddeall y poen a’r tristwch personol oedd yn arwain at y ddibyniaeth, mae ail-bwl yn debygol iawn. Rhaid i ni’n awr archwilio ein diwylliant, un sy’n dathlu alcohol ac alcoholiaeth; sy’n annog George Best, Keith Moon, Oliver Reed a Paul Gascoigne fel rebeliaid amharchus, sy’n dehongli marwolaeth Amy Winehouse fel un o 'athrylith yn cael ei harteithio’ ac sy’n gwobrwyo meddwon ac adictiaid X Factor drwy fwy o gyhoeddusrwydd i foddhau ein trythyllwch.

Rhaid i ni archwilio’r anobaith sy’n bodoli yn ein cymdeithas o’r brig i’r gwaelod, sy’n cyflwyno yfed fel rhywbeth amgen i fyw ac sydd wedi codi meddwdod i lefel rhinwedd. Rhaid i ni hefyd archwilio’r hunanaddoliad a’r hunan-amsugnad sy’n hyrwyddo ego y bu’n rhaid i ni i gyd ei gydnabod fel ymddygiad cyfreithus ac sy’n esgor ar niwed personol a chymdeithasol anferthol.

Deallwyd ers amser maith bod cymdeithas sy’n cael ei thanio gan bethau fel hyn yn gwanhau neu’n mewnffrwydro. Felly am amser hir ar ôl i reolau prisio newydd y Llywodraeth ddod i rym, rhaid i ni, fel mater o raid, gynnal trafodaeth genedlaethol am bwy ydyn ni a pham ein bod yn yfed.

Minimum pricing

In the life of every alcoholic, a moment arrives when he or she can no longer ignore the terrible costs of their addiction, and they quietly and sadly concede that they cannot go on any more with the way things are.

This appears to be the case with alcoholic societies, and the Prime Minister himself in recent weeks has conceded that even though his normal instincts are to let brewing giants, pub chains and supermarkets run riot, the scale of Britain's drinking problem is so great that, as Edward VIII once put it, 'something must be done'.

That something has manifested itself in a call for minimum alcohol pricing, which could come to 50p per unit, substantially increasing the cost of alcohol, which in real terms is the cheapest it has been since records began.

The addiction, illness, misery, violence and chaos that this tsunami of discounted alcohol has brought with it is almost beyond counting, but perhaps this one fact will shed a little light on the problems Britain now faces; nurseries in Wales are now being given guidance on how best to deal with young children born with foetal alcohol syndrome, a debilitating and life long condition that affects children physically emotionally and mentally. The cost to our shared environment, to our communities, to our NHS, to our friends and families has all been one which we seem to have been willing to bear as global alcohol brands accumulate vast profits and pay nothing towards cleaning up their messes, but now the cost will be borne by a generation of children too.

If the nearby steel mill was belching out poisonous fumes and polluting our neighbourhoods, crippling children with contaminated water or reducing life expectancy amongst teenagers, an environmental movement would evolve to challenge the owners and make the plant safe. This has happened on numerous occasions, and now there is the beginning of a similar sort of movement, one which the Prime Minister is savvy enough to recognise and court.

Instead of clipping the wings of a polluting steel mill, however, socially polluting alcohol retailers who privatise their profits but socialise their costs must now be forced by law to accept some responsibility for the level of social destruction wrought by alcohol.
This is but half the story however. If it were simply a question of taxing alcohol and changing sales practices, we could leave the task to an army of faceless Whitehall Mandarins and forget all about it. But it isn't, and we can't.

What has led us to this place? We must now earnestly ask ourselves, our families and our neighbours this question. How did we get to a point where, in the words of MP Sarah Wollaston:

"About 13 young people will die this week as a result of alcohol, and about 650 this year. Nearly a quarter of all deaths of young people aged between 15 and 24 are caused by alcohol. That is two every day - far more than are killed by knife crime or cancer..."

Minimum pricing is certainly a step in the right direction, but only a first step, just as any alcoholic must initially stop drinking in order to start getting well, it is but the very beginning of the journey and without understanding the personal pain and sorrow that led to addiction, relapse is highly likely. We must now examine our culture, one that celebrates alcohol and alcoholism, that cheers on George Best, Keith Moon, Oliver Reed and Paul Gascoigne as irreverent rebels, that interprets the death of Amy Winehouse as the result of 'tortured genius' and rewards X Factor drunks and addicts by more publicity to satisfy our prurience.

We must examine the hopelessness that exists in our society from top to bottom, that presents drinking as an alternative to living, and that has raised drunkenness to the level of a virtue. We must also examine the narcissism and ego fuelled self absorption that we have now all been forced to recognise as legitimate behaviour, and which results in immense personal and social harm.

It has long been understood that societies that are fuelled by such things inevitably weaken or implode, so long after the Government's new pricing rules come into effect, we must, as a matter of absolute necessity, be engaging in a national debate about who we are and why we drink.

Ar ddydd Gwener y Groglith, dewch i ni ystyried rhai pethau

Mae’r cam cyntaf at adferiad o ddibyniaeth ar alcohol, cyffuriau neu ymddygiadau niweidiol eraill megis pornograffi, rhyw, gamblo, hunan-niweidio, camddefnyddio bwyd ayyb. yr un fath yn union â’r cam cyntaf tuag at ffydd: sef ein bod yn sylweddoli ein hangen am help, ac na fedrwn wneud dim i achub ein hunain o grafangau’r cyffur neu’r obsesiwn sydd wedi ein goddiweddyd, heb gymorth Pŵer uwch na ni. Dyna pryd mae dioddefaint - yn ôl Rollo May, y seicotherapydd byd enwog, “O bosibl, y grym mwyaf creadigol ym myd Natur” - yn arf effeithiol iawn i sbarduno’r broses o adfer. Dioddefaint yn ddi-os gafodd fi i newid fy ffyrdd.

Dyna pryd mae Duw yn gallu cyffwrdd â’r enaid drwy grac yr ymwadiad yn y bersonoliaeth - yr ymwadiad sy’n nodweddu’r cyflwr, ac sy’n mynnu dweud wrth y dioddefwr nad oes dim byd yn bod arno. Dyna un diffiniad o wallgofrwydd, mae’n debyg - yr anallu i amgyffred yn llawn ein gwir gyflwr. Mae pawb arall yn gweld yn glir beth yw’r broblem - ein bod yn ddibynnol ar bethau allanol (alcohol/cyffuriau ayyb) i wneud i ni deimlo’n well - pawb, hynny yw, ond ni ein hunain. Yn hytrach, dewiswn ni feio neu feirniadu pawb arall am ein cyflwr; a bod y datrysiad yn eu dwylo nhw, ac nid o fewn ein gallu ni ein hunain. (Mae sgitsoffrenia yn gyflwr arall sy’n meddu ar yr un nodwedd.)

Mae sawl llwybr at y Dwyfol, wrth gwrs. Mae rhai yn canfod yr allwedd drwy brofiadau annisgwyl yr ysbryd sy’n deillio o sefyllfaoedd cyffredin bywyd bob dydd, ac sy’n dal sylw dyn drwy gynnig iddo flas anghyffredin ar fyw. Mae eraill yn ufuddhau, heb wybod yn iawn pam, i fynych anogaethau’r ‘llais bach tu mewn’, ac yn canfod y ‘bywyd gwynfydedig’ drwy wneud hynny. Dyma lwybr Paul a Ffransis o Assisi at y Creawdwr. Mae llwybr anobaith yn llwybr dilys hefyd: pobl sydd wedi methu darganfod pwrpas i’w bywydau yw'r rhain, ac wedi anobeithio’n llwyr gan droeon trwstan a siomedigaethau bywyd. Hunanladdiad neu gymryd siawns (gambl) ar Dduw yw’r unig ddau ddewis sy’n weddill iddynt. Canfyddant y Duwdod am nad oes dihangfa arall yn agored iddynt o’u hadfyd. (Maent yn rhy llwfr i gymryd yr opsiwn eithaf). Dyma’r llwybr a gymrodd Sant Awstin i’r tragwyddol - fel sawl un arall, yn cynnwys fi. Ac mae’r niwrotig yntau, ar goll ac yn ddigyfeiriad, yn canfod Duw trwy ei boen. Yn wir, po ddyfnaf yw’r boen; y dyfnaf yw’r llawenydd o’i wynebu’n wrol fel y gwnaeth Luther. Yna, wrth gwrs, mae’r ychydig call yn sylweddoli bod mwy i fywyd na’r bersonoliaeth a materoliaeth. Chwenychant ragorach ffordd o fyw a chanfod, drwy ddyfalbarhad, deyrnas ogoneddus Duw.

Yn ôl Morton Kelsey yn ei lyfr Encounter with God (Hodder and Stoughton, 1972), gwyleidd-dra sy’n nodweddu’r llwybrau hyn i gyd. Y sylweddoliad nad yw pethau fel y dylent fod, a bod rhywbeth rhagorach yn eisiau yn ein bywydau. Dyna pam bod cyfforddusrwydd a bodlonrwydd yn rhwystrau ar y daith ysbrydol. Mae hawddfyd yn rhwystro Duw rhag cyrraedd atom.

Gyda llaw, ni allwch fyth fod yn rhy dwp i ganfod y llwybr at Dduw. Ond mi fedrwch chi fod yn rhy glyfar o’r hanner.
Yn y Stafell Fyw, felly, ein gwaith pennaf yw graddol ddatgelu’r crac yn y bersonoliaeth i’r dioddefwyr (eu bod yn doredig), a’u galluogi i sylweddoli eu hangen am help. Dyna ddechrau’r broses o adferiad a’r daith hir at hunan-adnabyddiaeth. Mae hynny’n hollol angenrheidiol, oherwydd ni allwch ddod i berthynas iach â’ch cyd- ddyn na’ch Duw heb adnabyddiaeth lwyr o’r hunan.

‘The way out is in’ chwedl Leo Tolstoy - ac mae’n daith fewnol sy’n gofyn am onestrwydd, ymroddiad llwyr a dyfalbarhad am oes. Weithiau ceir deffroadau ysbrydol sydyn a Damasgaidd. Ond, ar y cyfan, tân siafins o bethau yw'r rhain. Diffoddant yr un mor gyflym heb y dyfalbarhad a’r gefnogaeth angenrheidiol. A dyna ddau wasanaeth arall mae’r Stafell Fyw yn ei gynnig yn ddiwahân i’r adferwyr: cefnogaeth ac ôl-ofal am oes. Na, yr un yw taith y pererin a’r adict tuag at gyfanrwydd. Mae crac ynom i gyd..

WANTED/YN EISIAU - A Recovery Hymn/Emyn Adferiad

YN EISIAU

EMYN I DDATHLU SUL ADFERIAD CYNTAF CYMRU

Mae Cyngor Cymru ar Alcohol a Chyffuriau Eraill yn chwilio am emyn newydd ar gyfer dathlu Sul Adferiad cyntaf Cymru.

Bydd yr emyn buddugol yn cael ei gynnwys yn y gwasanaeth swyddogol ar gyfer Sul Adferiad, 7 Hydref 2012.

Mae Sul Adferiad yn fenter newydd gan Gyngor Cymru ar Alcohol a Chyffuriau Eraill i dynnu sylw at y ffaith anorchfygol fod dibyniaeth ar alcohol a chyffuriau eraill yn chwalu bywydau. Hyd yn oed o fewn eglwysi, mae pobl a theuluoedd yng nghrafangau dibyniaeth. Mae Sul Adferiad yn gyfle i ofyn i Dduw alluogi ei holl blant i weld y perffeithrwydd sydd ynddynt eu hunain.

Bydd y Sul Adferiad cyntaf yn cyd-daro â lansiad Apêl Ecwmenaidd ar gyfer y Stafell Fyw, y ganolfan drin dibyniaeth gyntaf i gael ei sefydlu gan Gyngor Cymru ar Alcohol a Chyffuriau Eraill.

Bydd gwasanaeth Sul Adferiad yn cael ei anfon i filoedd o eglwysi o bob enwad ledled Cymru. Rydym yn chwilio am emyn Cymraeg a Saesneg, ac mae’r gystadleuaeth yn agored i unigolion ymgeisio yn y ddwy iaith. Beth amdani?

I gael ysbrydoliaeth, beth am ymweld â gwefan Cyngor Cymru ar Alcohol a Chyffuriau Eraill, www.cyngorcymru.org.uk?

Beirniad: Luned Aaron (dramodydd a chyflwynydd Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol)

Dyddiad cau: 1 Gorffennaf 2012.

Anfonwch eich emynau i Gyngor Cymru ar Alcohol a Chyffuriau Eraill, 58 Heol Richmond, Caerdydd CF24 3AT neu i info@welshcouncil.org.uk.
WANTED

A HYMN TO CELEBRATE WALES’ FIRST RECOVERY SUNDAY

The Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs is seeking a new hymn to celebrate Wales’ first Recovery Sunday.

The winning hymn will be featured in the official service for Recovery Sunday, 7 October 2012.

Recovery Sunday is part of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs’ campaign to draw attention to the tragic fact that addiction to alcohol and other drugs wrecks lives. Even within our churches, people and families fall into the claws of addiction. Recovery Sunday is an opportunity to ask God to enable all His children to see the perfection within us all.

The first Recovery Sunday will coincide with the launch of an Ecumenical Appeal for The Lioving Room Cardiff, which is the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs’ first rehabilitation centre.

The Recovery Sunday service will be sent to thousands of churches of all denominations all over Wales. We’re looking for an English and a Welsh hymn, and individuals are welcome to compete in both languages. How about it?

For inspiration, why not visit the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs’ website, www.welshcouncil.org.uk?

Judge: Luned Aaron (dramatist and presenter of Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol)

Closing date: 1 July 2012.

Send your hymns to the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, 58 Richmond Road, Cardiff CF24 3AT or to info@welshcouncil.org.uk

Love & Forgiveness Retreat - 16th to 18th March, 2012

“LOVE AND FORGIVENESS” RETREAT
IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE LIVING ROOM, CARDIFF

Friday 16th to Sunday 18h March 2012

Coleg Trefeca, Brecon Beacons National Park,

Theme – “Came to believe”
"A mind once stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Has your life been directly or indirectly affected by addiction? If so this weekend retreat is for you – it will be centred around the 12 step recovery program and key principles of love and forgiveness – we believe that a life characterised by these profound ways of living will equip us to live a life of not only being “sober”, “clean” or “abstinent” but developing a way of living that will emotionally equip you to deal with whatever life throws at you.

It is about you not putting things off any longer but finding a power greater than yourself to help you live an abundant life that is not scripted by your family, environment, peer group or anybody else that controls you. At this retreat you will:

 Learn about the 12 step program of recovery;
 Break through the fears that hold you back (including unconscious fears);
 Reflections on Scripture and other spiritual resources;
 Boost your self esteem;
 Learn how to forgive and heal the wounds of the past;
 Improve your communication skills.

FRIDAY: Introduction and welcome meeting; exploring addiction, powerlessness and the unmanageable life; identifying the exact nature of the things that are dominating your life; sharing in a safe environment; releasing the toxic effects of resentment and anger; making amends.

SATURDAY: Exploring belief systems; power; sanity; making decisions, taking inventory-identifying the exact nature of the things that dominate your life; sharing in a safe environment; releasing the toxic effects of resentment and anger; making amends; time for quiet reflection and guided mediation.

SUNDAY: Group meeting and final meeting to conclude the weekend.

Each part of the weekend involves large group meetings; small sharing meetings and one to one sharing – practical workshops and relaxation times - the sessions are lead by experienced teachers of the 12 Step programme of recovery.


“This retreat gave me hope and courage to face myself – in getting away from the busy life I lead, to deal with the truth of my past, being in a safe place with like minded people has set me free from the confusion and helped me to forgive”

“My world is not such a dark place as I know I am no longer alone – I now understand the recovery program for myself and able to experience the freedom it promises”


Cost for the weekend: £120 - This includes accommodation, all meals, tea and coffee throughout the weekend and study resource material.

CONTACT: SHARON at The Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, 58 Richmond Road, Cardiff CF24 3AT; T. 02920 493 895; E. info@welshcouncil.org.uk; Web. www.welshcouncil.org.uk.


“LOVE AND FORGIVENESS” RETREAT
IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE LIVING ROOM, CARDIFF

Friday 16th to Sunday 18h March 2012

RETREAT DETAILS

VENUE: COLEG TREFECA, Trefeca Village,Talgarth, LD3 0PP. On the B4560 road between Talgarth and Llangors. Abergavenny is the nearest railway station (18 miles). – For further information on the venue please go to the following website : www.trefeca.org.uk Street map: www.streetmaps.co.uk. If you have any difficulty with transport there are usually spaces in the cars that go from South Wales – so that can be arranged.

REGISTRATION
Everyone attending MUST register. Registration is on Friday 16th March 2012 until 5.00pm. Please allow 30 minutes for this process. Registration opens at 3.00pm.
At registration:
- you will receive your workbook
- name badge
- shown to your room
- shown around the venue to familiarise you with the layout – meeting rooms and dining area etc.

RETREAT TIMES
Friday 16th March: 6.00pm to 10.00pm
Saturday 17th March: 9.00am to 10 pm
Sunday 18th March: 9.00am to 1.30pm

Please note that the times are approximate only – the retreat providers are committed to the highest standard of presentation and aim to ensure that all the material is covered, therefore the time schedules may vary. There are regular comfort breaks throughout and an hour for breakfast, lunch and evening meal with other times out throughout the weekend.

DRESS - There is no dress code - please dress comfortably – we hold some outdoor activities – depending on the weather it is worthwhile to bring a sweater and waterproof.

DISABLED ACCESS – There is disabled access throughout the venue.

CONTACT:
To book your place contact SHARON at The Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs,

58 Richmond Road, Cardiff CF24 3AT; T. 02920 493 895;

E. info@welshcouncil.org.uk; Web. www.welshcouncil.org.uk

Landing lights in the dark

How one Person in Recovery sees Living Room Cardiff, the new recovery centre for Cardiff and South Wales.


I think in metaphors all the time, it's almost a compulsion, but as I am something of a story teller by trade, I think it's naturally how I am meant to think. I teach history, and from time to time historical visions come to me, and they help me to explain and comprehend my own recovery.
One such image has stayed with me for a while now, and it concerns the fate of American airmen during the Second World War, as they flew in the twilight across the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean.
They had been sent out to find the Japanese fleet; I can't remember if this was at the Coral Sea or Midway or Leyte, but it was long before the outcome of the war was certain.
They had flown from the decks of America's aircraft carriers, their only home in tens of thousands of square miles of ocean, searching for the Japanese.
When they found them the fighting was bloody and many on both sides were lost, the Americans, having completed their mission, flew home, but as they did, the sun began to set.
The commanders of the US fleet knew that the biggest danger to them was a Japanese reprisal attack coming at night and they decided they could not risk having the landing lights on their aircraft carriers on, as they would stand out like beacons.
So the desperate pilots, now low on fuel circled and circled, looking for ships they could not see, and could not find, until one commander, hearing plane engines that he was sure were American, relented and switched on the flood lights.
Like that, there was and island of light in the dark. Planes that were flying on fumes descended from the night, their exhausted crews tearful with relief.
How like recovery this sounds, we come from so many futile, bloody struggles, so weary and full of pain desperate for anything in the wide lonely oceans and wildernesses of our lives to cling on to, and if we have faith and don't surrender to despair, someone, somewhere will turn on the lights for us.
Once I was the pilot, skidding down the runway, now I am the man on the deck, guiding others to touch down at Living Room Cardiff, on our island of light in the dark.

Nick

Gonestrwydd gyda'n hunain

Gwrando ar sgwrs am onestrwydd ar Bwrw Golwg ar BBC Radio Cymru bore ‘ma.

Mae gonestrwydd llwyr yn anghenraid cyn y gall unrhyw un ddod i berthynas â’r dwyfol. Rhaid i ddyn fod yn gwbl onest gyda’i hunan cyn y gall yn ddiogel dderbyn mynediad i deyrnas yr ysbryd a delio gydag o. Fel y dywed Morton Kelsey yn ei lyfr Encounter with God, ‘All others are either turned away or they find themselves entangled and enmeshed in the darker sides of spirituality, for God does not like false faces.’

Ychydig iawn o bobl sydd â’r dewrder a’r gwrhydri i ganiatáu i’w hunain ddod i ymwybyddiaeth lwyr o beth ydynt, a pha bethau sy’n gudd o’u mewn, a phan nad yw dynion yn fodlon gwneud hynny, mae’n amhosib iddynt gyfarfod Duw.

Dyma’r prif reswm pam na all rhai pobl, sy’n gwbl analluog i fod yn onest gyda nhw eu hunain, adfer o ddibyniaethau ar alcohol a chyffuriau eraill. Rhaid iddynt, yn gyntaf, ddinoethi eu hunain yn llwyr. Dim ond wedyn mae’r broses o drawsnewid eu bywydau yn gallu dechrau.

The hustling of booze at times resembles something akin to drug pushing

These are difficult times for supermarkets, price wars, falling profit margins and talk of closing huge out of town retail sheds dominate the news, and now the spectre of the Prime Minister giving consideration to minimum alcohol pricing.

Inventive solutions to these testing conditions are necessary, and it seems that Sainsbury’s has decided to sell as much cheap alcohol as possible before new regulations are introduced.

Sainsbury’s supermarket on Queen Street in Cardiff now sell a litre of white wine (or rose, if you prefer) for the bargain price of £3.20, slightly more than the price of sandwiches, a price which is guaranteed to make excess consumption an inevitability.
What could possibly motivate this pricing policy, given that the majority of evidence based research indicates that alcohol pricing has a clear relationship with excess consumption and alcoholism. All the studies that have reached the headlines in recent years seem to agree, cheap booze costs lives.

The packaging of this ‘special offer’ is interesting in itself as it is branded under the ‘Basics’ range, and sold at the queue-line for the automated tills in huge quantities.

Cheap alcohol, sold in a bargain product brand (perhaps to confuse it with the kind of cheap dietary staples that families desperate to make ends meet in a recession might buy) sold in plastic bottles with screw caps – the discerning wine buff is unlikely to be the target market.

More likely, the target market is the kind of person who values cheap alcohol, the sort of person who on a daily basis does the arithmetic of booze, calculating price against percentage per volume.

Sainsbury’s has perhaps considered that the golden age of bargain basement booze sales is drawing to a close, and that there might be few opportunities to sell the drug at so low a price as now.

Making hay while the sun shines, is, of course, a primary consideration for businesses, but if the troubles of our times are teaching us anything at all it should be this: We are more than businesses, our hearts and souls cannot be plotted into an Excel spreadsheet, we have higher responsibilities to one another than the simple mechanics of profit and loss.

The hustling of booze at times resembles something akin to drug pushing, and to sell a powerful, addictive and poisonous substance at the queue line for tills as if it were an impulse buy is a deliberate, calculated and cynical act.

Ironically, in many supermarkets, sweets and chocolate have been removed from the tills because harassed parents have often felt pressurised to buy their children unhealthy treats while doing the weekly shop.

It reveals volumes about our times that a Diary Milk or a Twix can be removed in the interests of customer health and well being, and be replaced by cheap alcohol instead.

A Faustian pact

Cynicism is a word that is so frequently over used these days that gradually, over time, it loses its strength, its meaning becomes diluted. It takes financially difficult times like the ones we live through, and will continue to live through for years to come, for mercenary individuals and businesses to raise predatory practices to new heights.

There is something unique, in economic terms, about a casino, it is the only business that offers neither a product, nor a service, it fails to create anything (other than perhaps the illusion that some kind of success or wealth is possible) and instead feeds upon our very human need to feel risk, reward and excitement. Unlike smoking, which was known to be addictive for decades - and until court action wrung the truth out of the tobacco companies was not public knowledge - gambling's addictive qualities have been an open secret for centuries.

At precisely the time that ever greater demands for financial prudence are being imposed on the poorest, at precisely the time that essential services are being pared back to the bone, the Coalition are giving online casinos and betting chains carte blanche to entice another generation into indebtedness, addiction and despair.

Take the case of Think Bingo, the current sponsors of the Jeremy Kyle show. The entire point of commercial broadcasting is to find an audience and capture it with entertainment, and then deliver that audience to an advertiser who is likely to be able to sell something.
In the case of the Jeremy Kyle Show, described by Judge Alan Berg as:"A morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people whose lives are in turmoil", and that it was "a plain disgrace which goes under the guise of entertainment" and "Human Bear Baiting," gambling advertisers have chosen to ally their harmful and dysfunctional with a programme that seems to echo their values.

With a largely low income and often unemployed daytime audience, the show, once sponsored by Learn Direct, has forged a rather Faustian pact with Think Bingo to increase the indebtedness of its viewers.

Given the fact that the show claims to be a forum for good, a means by which contestants (if that is the correct term?) and audiences are helped, encouraging them to hand their hard earned money over to mercenary gambling magnates is quite a breath taking act of hypocrisy.

Given the fact that Jeremy Kyle himself deals with all manner of addicts on his show, creating an aggressive simulacrum of recovery for sick and desperate people, while in reality providing prurient viewers with an underclass Barnum and Bailey circus for them to gawp over - its association with gambling advertisers should open our eyes to its absence of any legitimacy.

Interestingly, Kyle himself said: "...Sometimes people need to be stripped bare before they can be helped."

By this he meant that his programme had some valuable role in deconstructing and deprogramming dysfunctional people, but perhaps it is time we exposed more than the private miseries of others in order to sell addictive and destructive 'entertainment'?
Soap opera Emmerdale is sponsored by Tombola Bingo, and whilst Emmerdale has higher production values and actually pays its actors instead of using a constant stream of damaged people, the fact remains that a much loved family drama is being used by big gambling businesses in much the same way that a fisherman uses a fly.
Cockney national treasure Barbara Windsor has been picked exclusively because of her demographic appeal to be the public face of Jackpot Joy, and it is no coincidence once more that the bulk of adverts featuring her are broadcast during the day. Bored, frustrated and despairing people, often unemployed, are the 'mark' in a multi billion pound sting.

We are told, repeatedly, that we are 'all in this together', that the current economic crisis is akin to the spirit of the Blitz, that national and social unity should prevail and that a pragmatic, stoic and typically British spirit of 'keep calm and carry on' should prevail.

Are any of these slogans in use in the head offices of large online gambling companies, or in the conversations had between their lobbyists and their friends in all three major parties?

It is doubtful. Because as we all try to muddle through together, to keep calm and carry on, there are powerful predatory forces encouraging harmful addictive behaviour, who see other people's poverty, desperation and sorrow, not as a tragedy, but as an opportunity.

24 Hour Alcohol Delivery Services present a mortal risk for alcoholics

In the past week, Wynford Ellis Owen, Director of the Welsh Council For Alcohol and Other Drugs visited an alcoholic engaged in an ongoing battle with alcohol addiction.

What confronted him as he stepped through the front door was a scene from hell.

In a recent blog post Wynford described the alcoholic's home as the prison of "…A still suffering alcoholic in the throes of active addiction with vomit all over the place – in Pyrex bowls and plates; on the settee; on the carpet; in the sink on top of her soaking, dirty plates; all over the bathroom; saturating her pillow and matted in her hair – and urine drenching her bedclothes and the stench permeating the whole flat. This alcoholic is being supplied with alcohol by a new breed of pariahs, the alcohol home delivery services, which she accesses by computer or telephone during the night."

In the last decade, drinks manufacturers have been inserting into their adverts the words 'Please enjoy Jack Daniels/Jacobs Creek/Stella Artois responsibly', placing the responsibility for the outcomes of drinking squarely on the shoulders of the drinker.

Is it not time that the drinks manufacturers now communicated a similar message to retailers and wholesalers of alcoholic drinks, asking them to 'Please sell our products responsibly'?

The commercial practice of selling alcohol by home delivery 24 hours a day makes the word irresponsible rather redundant. There is no legal sanction against this practice, and unlike alcohol sales on licensed premises, there is no penalty for selling alcohol to an already intoxicated person or under-age person.

Given that the market for late night parties that unexpectedly run out of wine or beer is probably rather small, the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs believes this trade thrives on alcoholics and has found at least one example where this is demonstrably the case.

The government, both in Wales and in Westminster must act to ensure that this new and unregulated frontier in the drinks industry is forced to adhere to the highest standards of responsibility, or be forced to cease trading.

However, beyond government action the home delivery sellers of alcohol must take strenuous action in order to distinguish themselves from common drug pushers, benefiting from a veneer of legality.

The fact that it is legal to sell alcohol to a dying alcoholic at any hour of the day or night should not be confused with the idea that it is right to do so, sellers of addictive and toxic products like alcohol should actually have a higher moral threshold than other retailers, given the risks to health and wellbeing that their products pose.

A few things which I regard as very important as we start on a new year

A while ago, I wanted something from a certain shop. I used to call there regularly. This particular day, however, when I tried to open the door, to my great surprise, it was locked. I knocked several times, thinking that the shopkeeper for once had overslept. Eventually, after banging at the door several times, it was opened and I could see that the shopkeeper was very wide awake indeed.

“What do you want?” he asked angrily. And then after a second thought, he said, “Alright, come in quick.”

As soon as I was inside, he locked the door again.
There were no other customers inside only myself, but there were two or three other people behind the counter, all very much occupied.

“My word, what’s going on in here?” I asked. “You all seem very busy.”

The shopkeeper answered, “It’s stock-taking time here I’m afraid, and we are closing the shop today so that we can get on with the job.”

Of course, I felt somewhat guilty and offered my apologies for interfering with their work.

Now, don’t you think we ought to do something like that at the beginning on a new year? I mean, spiritually, of course. Ought we not to look into our hearts and thoroughly examine ourselves to find out how it is with us as we face a new year?

The times are evil. There’s not much shine on our spiritual life is there? Our stock has surely got very low and the prospects are not at all bright. Let us therefore take stock of our resources. For in a certain sense, life is a business concern. A book was publishes several years ago and its title was: This Business of Living.

“What do you do when you set about this complicated job of stock-taking?” I asked the shopkeeper. “What is the first thing you do?”

“Well,” he said, “the first thing I do is to close the shop for a day or two. There is a notice in the window to that effect and obviously you hadn’t seen it, or you wouldn’t have been banging on the door a few minutes ago. It’s quite impossible to get on with this stock-taking with customers coming in twos and threes all day long. So we close the shop.”

A very good idea, don’t you think? We too could do something like that. Shut everything out; forget for a while the cares of the world, the problems of every day life, so that we can give our whole attention to the things that matter.

Wordsworth, in one of his poems, says:

‘The world is too much with us, late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers’

How true that is. In order to examine ourselves thoroughly and take stock of our spiritual resources, we must shut the door tight and lock it so that we can concentrate on the priorities of life. So, the first thing we’ve got to do is to shut the door; close the shop.

“What’s the next step?” I asked the shopkeeper. “What do you do next?”

“Well,” he said, “we make an exact list of everything we’ve got in the shop. By doing this, we find out what we are most in need of. We find, for example, that we have a good stock of one thing but that we are dangerously short of something else.”

We too must do something like that – take stock of all that we have; count our blessings, as it were. No shop is ever empty of goods. Neither is life. We all have what we might call assets – things that are of value to us and to other people. Health – that is one very precious thing. Food and clothing – they’re two others. We need all these things. We have friends, families, sponsors, and the good things of this world. Let us be grateful for what we have already in stock.

But to know just what we have in stock is only part of the purpose of stock-taking. The main purpose is to give us some idea of the things we are short of; the things we must order for the future.

Some things are more in demand than others. Go to any shop and you will find that there are many commodities there that are only asked for occasionally. But there are other things, like bread and milk, for instance, that we must keep constantly in stock - things that are needed for day-to-day living.

Life is like that too. Food and clothing, health and happiness – we want all those things. But if we examined ourselves in this manner, we might discover that there are some things that we are short of, things that are we are desperately in need of – such as discovering the secret of serenity or experiencing wholeness. You might have everything else – good name, character, wealth, friends, and all that. Yet, that is not enough. There is one thing you haven’t got – wholeness maybe - and until you get that, life is no good.

There is a lot of cheap stuff on the market today – wealth, pleasure, and so on, and we are in danger of cramming our lives with these things. But there are other things too, things that neither moth nor rust can corrupt; things that will stand us in good stead in this life: faith, hope, trust and love.

There was one other thing the shopkeeper told me. “When stock-taking,” he said “I also get a chance to clean the shop from top to bottom. You have no idea how much dust there is here, and I take this opportunity to clean the place out.”

This is another thing we could do to our advantage. When we examine ourselves, and take stock of our lives, a lot of ugly things will no doubt come to light. Habits that we have formed unawares – they will all come to light and we shall feel ashamed of ourselves.

Here is a chance for us at the beginning of a new year to cleanse our minds and souls and to rededicate ourselves to that which is pure and good and leads to sound recovery.


I wish you all a happy New Year and all that's good for 2012.