"One of the first actions we take at Passages is to ruthlessly scrutinize, always under a doctor's supervision and care, the specific necessity of any mind - altering or mood - altering medications that our clients are taking. As soon as any non essential drugs are out of their systems, the feelings they were trying to suppress usually emerge. When that happens, we can see what symptoms the client was masking with drugs or alcohol."

"Whatever you now do, whatever you now believe, whatever your current circumstances may be, you are perfectly equipped and fully capable of fulfilling your needs and desires."

"How do you think your body and mind would respond if you were surrounded by psychologists, psychiatrists, or drug and alcohol counselors who subscribed to the belief that 'once an alcoholic or addict, always an alcoholic or addict' and who believed that your current stay in rehab would be one of many?"

"You can take the entire world of physics with all of its macrocosm and microcosm, its quantum mechanics and nuclear physics and reduce it to one word: energy. It's all energy. Scientists say that if you can't measure it, weight it, or see it, it doesn't exist. Well, no one has ever seen energy. We can see its effects, but not 'it."

"We like to take credit when we get a new idea, as if we originated the idea in our brain, but what we actually did was no less extraordinary: we channeled the idea."

"When a problem or a difficult situation arises, say to yourself, as if you already believe it: 'This is for my benefit."

"People who are dependent are merely using alcohol as a crutch to get through the day. Yet doctors and scientists are still treating 'alcoholism' as if it is the problem, when it has nothing to do with the problem. They might as well be studying 'scratchism' for people who have a chronic itch."

"People who believe they have bad luck create bad luck. Those who believe they are very fortunate, that the world is a generous place filled with trustworthy people, live in exactly that kind of world."

"If you have experienced recurring situations in your life that are unpleasant, know that there is something you are supposed to be getting from those situations that you have not been getting and that the moment you get it, those situations will pass out of your life, not to return."

"Your perception of the world and the way you see yourself in it has created within your mind a concept, a philosophy, of the way you believe things to be."

"The punishment approach and bad consequences approach to treatment is the kind of thinking that is prevalent in every residential substance abuse treatment center in the United States of which I'm aware."

"The best way for you to get that new experience is to change your response to what happens."

"You have chosen to exist, and more than just exist - you've been chosen to share in the Universal consciousness."

"Trustworthy partners always think first before they do anything that may affect either the reputation or well - being of each other."

"When you need an idea about how to do anything, get quiet and relaxed and think about what it is you need to know. Then the flow of ideas will come. Be patient and let it happen. Sometimes it takes a little while, but it always works."

"First - class relationships are possible only in an atmosphere of total trust."

"Think about the stigma that is attached to the idea that alcoholism is a disease, an incurable illness, and you have it. That's a terrible thing to inflict on someone. Labeling alcoholism as a disease, a cause unto itself, simply no longer fits with what we know today about its causes."

"What determines each person's state of happiness or unhappiness is not the event itself, but what the event means to that person."

"There is a saying used in twelve - step programs and in most treatment centers that 'Relapse is part of recovery.' It's another dangerous slogan that is based on a myth, and it only gives people permission to relapse because that think that when they do, they are on the road to recovery."

"The Universe is alive, conscious, and aware."

"If you are surrounded by people who not only don't believe in your goals and your positive outlook on life, but who also continually try to tear you down, it will be extremely challenging for you to hold firmly in mind that you will succeed and that you can be happy."

"Stress and anxiety cause our brains to release chemicals that put lines in our faces and tear us down emotionally and spiritually."

"You are not an alcoholic or an addict. You are not incurably diseased. You have merely become dependent on substances or addictive behavior to cope with underlying conditions that you are now going to heal, at which time your dependency will cease completely and forever."

"If you examine your motive for doing anything, you'll soon discover that your reason is that you believe it will make you happy."

"Depression can be due to a low endocrine function, nutritional deficiencies, blood sugar problems, food allergies, or systemic yeast infection. Depression can also result from medical illnesses such as stroke, heart attack, cancer, Parkinson's disease, and hormonal disorder. It can also be caused by a serious loss, a difficult relationship, a financial problem, or any stressful, unwelcome life change."

"The answers are never 'out there.' All the answers are 'in there, ' inside you, waiting to be discovered."

"We know that you don't want to be a drunk and you don't want to be hooked on addictive drugs. You do it because you can't cope with your life without some sort of support, even if that support is damaging."

"If I were to create a word that more accurately describes alcoholism and addiction, I would say it was dependencyism. Sounds silly, doesn't it? Yet it's no sillier than the word alcoholism. The reason alcoholism no longer sounds silly to you is because you're used to hearing it, reading it, and thinking about it."

"Your actions create an 'energy vortex' that draws in the necessary ingredients for your venture."

"You don't need to be a scientist to know how powerful your imagination is."

"The treatment must fit the malady and the malady is not alcoholism or addiction, or addictive drugs and alcohol. Once the correct cause is diagnosed, healing will take place and hoped - for cure will come about."

"The true source of happiness is within each of us."

"Whether the underlying cause of your dependency is a chemical imbalance, unresolved events from the past, beliefs you hold that are inconsistent with what is true, an inability to cope with current conditions, or a combination of these four causes, know this: not only are all the causes of dependency within you, but all the solutions are within you as well."

"It is ethanol that everyone is after when they drink alcoholic beverages. That is what gives us the euphoric feeling, and that is what all vendors of alcoholic drinks are selling."

"You are a perfect spiritual being. Get used to that idea."

"I wrote this book to show you that a cure is entirely possible because I've seen it happen over and over again."

"The world actually is a mirror, and as you change, you will see everything around you changing as well as mirroring your changes."

"A computer cannot manufacture new information. That's the difference between our brain and a computer."

"Treatment for dependency at substance abuse treatment centers must change if alcoholism and addiction are to be overcome in our society."

"Negative emotions, like depression or anxiety, have been shown to affect our immune system. Stress impedes wound healing."

"Alcohol and drugs are not the problems; they are what people are using to help themselves cope with the problems. Those problems always have both physical and psychological components - anything from anemia, hypoglycemia, or a sluggish thyroid to attention deficient disorder, brain - wave pattern imbalances, or deep emotional pain."

"There is no cell culture for depression. You can't see it on a bone scan or an x - ray. Not everyone with depression will show the same behavioral symptoms."

"Change starts with awareness."

"Believe that is cure is possible for you. Discover and heal the underlying causes with a holistic recovery program. Adopt a philosophy based on what is true in the Universe."

"You can be happy if you are willing to let go of your past and leave yourself unencumbered so you can fly freely."

"A diminished self - image will cause you to slouch, to avoid meeting others, to avoid looking others in the eye, to be unassertive, and to be indecisive."

"Every belief that you hold manifests itself in some manner by either causing you to take some form of action or by preventing you from taking action. If you don't believe something is possible, you won't even attempt it."

"We wouldn't have much need of a war if people stopped using drugs. It's like taking up a fight against the use of headache remedies, it will never work until the condition causing people's headache pain is healed."

"The totally alive, totally conscious, and totally aware Universe takes care of itself completely. It is totally self - reliant and totally self - sufficient. it is perfect."

"All decisions and actions that will affect your relationship must be made by answering this single question: Will the action I am considering have a negative impact on my relationship? If the answer is yes, don't do it."