Accepting The Present Moment

Carly BensonSobrietyLeave a Comment

accepting the present moment

I’ve been talking a lot about sobriety and more particularly practices to foster success in recovery, but these practices of acceptance, surrender and awareness are also applicable for anyone who needs to work through a challenge or has a desire to bring about significant life change. Perhaps you aren’t sober or working to be, but you have other hurdles you’re … Read More

Accepting The Past

Carly BensonSobrietyLeave a Comment

accepting the past carly benson

One of the biggest hurdles for me entering into sobriety was accepting that I had a problem. It was so hard to face the music, swallow my pride and admit that my drinking and drugging was not normal. I had to accept that I couldn’t do moderation, I needed help and that I needed to accept my past for what … Read More

Sobriety Requires Surrender

Carly BensonSobrietyLeave a Comment

sobriety surrender

Sweet, sober surrender. It’s a constant process. It’s a consistent tug on the pride strings. It takes courage.  I give things up to God, my higher power, on the regular, and then I catch myself taking them right back. One of the hardest parts of sobriety is admitting, “I don’t got this.” Surrendering to the fact that alcohol or drugs … Read More

Sobriety Begins With Awareness

Carly BensonSobrietyLeave a Comment

advice on going sober awareness

I have a lot of people that approach me about going sober and I’ve also noticed a lot of people in my circles of friends who want to give it a try for 30-60-90 days. It seems to be a reoccurring theme so I decided to write more pieces with advice for going sober to talk about what the sobriety … Read More

Self Love Is The Beginning of All Love

Carly BensonPersonal DevelopmentLeave a Comment

Carly Benson self love naples pier

Throughout my spiritual journey of finding God and living in sobriety, I’ve been presented with deep life lessons along the way. I’m convinced that life is a never-ending process of refinement, shaping, molding and transforming. A process within that process is learning what it means to love yourself, accept who you are and begin to step forth into your most … Read More

11 Ways To Cultivate More Happiness

Carly BensonPersonal DevelopmentLeave a Comment

carly benson miracles are brewing canyon run

People often ask me if I have always been this happy. While it makes me smile to know that people can genuinely see or feel my happiness it wasn’t always so. Not only that, but I definitely still have my days and moments where everything is not unicorns and rainbows. The difference between now and when I used to “think” … Read More

A Reminder To Let Go

Carly BensonPersonal DevelopmentLeave a Comment

carly benson let go

I recently bought a necklace in Los Angeles. It’s a weathered gold necklace with an old key on the end of it. A key someone used to own to what I would imagine was a mailbox of some kind. I bought the necklace because it had the words “Let Go,” engraved on it. I thought it was a nice reminder … Read More

Things Are Not Always As They Seem

Carly BensonPersonal Development2 Comments

naples fl beach

A couple weeks ago during prayer I heard a message that said: Things are not always as they seem. I couldn’t pin point what it was in reference to until I went for a long walk on the beach the other day. I’ve been coming to the same beach for half my life. I’ve done this walk hundreds of times. … Read More

Fear Is Beauty Disguised

Carly BensonAffirmationsLeave a Comment

angels landing zion national park

This past week I hiked Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park. It’s well known as one of the most dangerous hiking trails in the country and it’s also pretty strenuous. I’m relatively athletic and have an extreme affection for adventure, but I have to be honest in saying I was pretty scared to climb it. Fear was permeating my body … Read More

Our Thoughts Lead Our Lives

Carly BensonAffirmationsLeave a Comment

sky, horizon

Sometimes I write in the moment when I’m feeling inspired. The following is an excerpt from my iPhone notes from last February that I just stumbled upon. I think I was traveling to NYC and this came over me – a raw and unedited stream of consciousness about how our thoughts lead our lives. As I peer out of the … Read More