CASTIMONIA

Sexual Purity Support & Recovery Group

co-dependency

By

Star Wars: Redemption – VIDEO (Part 3)

This is the finale of the previous two Anakin Skywalker movies, Star Wars: The Fall and Star Wars: Tribulation.  One of the most fundamental items to understand about the Star Wars Saga is that it is not just a battle between rebels and an empire, it is all about the redemption of one man, Anakin Skywalker. 

The Star Wars Saga was probably one of the best film series ever created and had an amazing recovery theme.  Below is a short summary of the overall movie from Wikipedia:

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, mostly involving, but not limited to, the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker.

In this final part of the Star Wars Redemption Trilogy, we see Darth Vader continue to struggle with the fact that he has a son and the Emperor (the addiction) wants to cause harm to his son after years of tormenting Darth Vader.  Many of us in recovery have felt the Holy Spirit speak to us about our children and the effects that our addiction had on them.  For Darth Vader, it is just the same.  A struggle continues inside of Darth Vader.  He knows he has lost a lot to the Dark Side, his first master, Qui-Gon Jinn murdered by a Sith, his mother, Schmi Skywalker murdered by evil Sand People, and even his wife, Padmé Amedala who dies from a broken heart after Anakin chooses the Dark Side.  Now there is a possibility of losing his son Luke to the Dark Side, aka the unhealthy lifestyle.  Will he draw the line and say this problem ends with him, or will he allow the addiction to continue and pass on to his son?  Can someone so vile and evil be redeemed or is he destined to live a life of anger and rage?

One of the things I explain to my daughters is that my own personal story is a lot like Anakin Skywalker’s.  A lot of bad stuff happened to me when I was a child that formed me into an unhealthy individual that made a lot of bad choices.  For 30 years, I was involved in unhealthy behaviors.  But like Anakin, I was redeemed from my past with the help of the “Son” Jesus Christ and now do good for the Lord.  My small children seem to understand this and have compassion on Darth Vader rather than fear him.  Maybe we should all have compassion on those that have fallen into the pit.  After all, if I, “Darth Vader” can be redeemed than anyone can.  I hope you enjoy watching this video as much as I enjoyed creating it.  As always, take what you like and leave the rest.

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, & education, etc. This constitutes a ’fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED! All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their owners.

By

Star Wars: Tribulation – VIDEO (Part 2)

This is a continuation of the previous Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader movie, Star Wars: The Fall.  One of the most fundamental items to understand about the Star Wars Saga is that it is not just a battle between rebels and an empire, it is all about the redemption of one man, Anakin Skywalker. 

The Star Wars Saga was probably one of the best film series ever created and had an amazing recovery theme.  Below is a short summary of the overall movie from Wikipedia:

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, mostly involving, but not limited to, the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker.

In this part of the Star Wars Redemption Trilogy, we see Darth Vader begin to struggle with the fact that he has a son and the Emperor (the addiction) wants to cause harm to his son.  Many of us in recovery have felt the Holy Spirit speak to us about our children and the effects that our addiction had on them.  For Darth Vader, it is just the same.  A struggle begins inside of Darth Vader causing him great internal suffering or tribulation.  Another part of this movie is where Luke Skywalker trains in the ways of the Force in order to be able to “fight” Darth Vader, but more importantly in order to help Darth Vader turn back to the Light Side of the Force.  Yoda is introduced in this movie as the “ultra sponsor” that helps Luke work his own recovery steps so that he can later help his father, Anakin Skywalker, through his own recovery program and ultimate redemption by the Lord.

I hope you enjoy watching this video as much as I enjoyed creating it.  As always, take what you like and leave the rest.

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, & education, etc. This constitutes a ’fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED! All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their owners.

By

Star Wars: The Fall – VIDEO (Part 1)

I love Star Wars.  I grew up a Sci-Fi Geek with various Star Wars movies, swirling in my mind.  I often wonder, of all the Sci-Fi movies I have viewed in my life, how many of these movies had a recovery-related theme.  It wasn’t until entering recovery that the Holy Spirit gave me some special “recovery glasses” that have allowed me to spot recovery themes in various media; music, movies, photographs, etc…  These themes can include support groups, honesty, selfishness, selflessness, redemption, etc… that are portrayed in the movie. 

The Star Wars Saga was probably one of the best film series ever created and had an amazing recovery theme.  Below is a short summary of the overall movie from Wikipedia:

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, mostly involving, but not limited to, the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker.

About ten years ago I read an interview with George Lucas on why he went back to create the three prequels (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, & Revenge of the Sith) to the original Star Wars Trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, & Return of the Jedi).  His answer was simple and intrigued me.  He wanted to finish the “back story” to the original Star Wars trilogy about the old Republic, the rise of the Empire, but most importantly, the entire story of Anakin Skywalker; his fall, tribulation, and redemption.  You see, Anakin Skywalker was not always Darth Vader.  He experienced a lot of childhood trauma that led to him making poor decisions in order to medicate the anxiety and stress from the trauma and ultimately fell into the Dark Side of the Force acting out of the childhood trauma he experienced.  Sound familiar?  Like most men who struggle with sexual purity, his traumatic childhood led to a very unhealthy adulthood.  However, all who have fallen into this trap can be redeemed if the decide they want it bad enough.  For Darth Vader, he believed it was too late for him, but his son Luke Skywalker had hope; hope that there was still some good in Darth Vader, enough to help him break free from his unhealthy lifestyle.  These three videos document the fall of Anakin Skywalker, his tribulation living in the unhealthy lifestyle as well as Luke’s struggle to rescue his father, and ultimately the redemption of Anakin Skywalker with help from his son Luke.

I hope you enjoy watching this video as much as I enjoyed creating it.  As always, take what you like and leave the rest.

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, & education, etc. This constitutes a ’fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED! All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their owners.

By

Recovery from Codependency

Codependency underlies all addictions. The core symptom of “dependency” manifests as reliance on a person, substance, or process (i.e, activity, such as gambling or sex addiction). Instead of having a healthy relationship with yourself, you make something or someone else more important. Over time, your thoughts, feelings, and actions revolve around that other person, activity, or substance, and you increasingly abandon your relationship with yourself. Abstinence or sobriety is necessary to recover from codependency. The goal is to bring your attention back to yourself, to have an internal, rather than external, “locus of control.” This means that your actions are primarily motivated by your values, needs, and feelings, not someone else’s. You learn to meet those needs in healthy ways. Perfect abstinence or sobriety isn’t necessary for progress, and it’s impossible with respect to codependency with people. You need and depend upon others and therefore give and compromise in relationships. It’s said that denial is the hallmark of addiction. This is true whether you’re an alcoholic or in love with one. Not only do codependents deny their own addiction – whether to a drug, activity, or person – they deny their feelings, and especially their needs, particularly emotional needs for nurturing and real intimacy. You may have grown up in a family where you weren’t nurtured, your opinions and feelings weren’t respected, and your emotional needs weren’t adequately met. Over time, rather than risk rejection or criticism, you learned to ignore your needs and feelings and believed that you were wrong. Some decided to become self-sufficient or find comfort in sex, food, drugs, or work. All this leads to low self-esteem. To reverse these destructive habits, you first must become aware of them. The most damaging obstacle to self-esteem is negative self-talk. Most people aren’t aware of their internal voices that push and criticize them — their “Pusher,” “Perfectionist,” and “Critic.” From an article By Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT
http://psychcentral.com/lib/recovery-from-codependency/00014956

“When you give another person the power to define you, then you also give them the power to control you.” – Leslie Vernick

By

Sex Addiction Research – PARTICIPANTS WANTED

An attendee of Castimonia meetings since 2011 is conducting a study of the effects of deviant sexuality on the brain.  He works as a technician at Unique MindCare, a neurofeedback clinic, where he runs an EEG (electroencephalogram) software program which reads electrical brain activity for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment of physical causes in the brain for behavioral symptoms.

They are looking for a minimum of 30 individuals involved in Castimonia who would like to voluntarily participate in a sex addiction study.  Participant involvement is completely voluntary and confidential.

The study aims at examining differences in electrical activity in the brain common within this group’s population compared to other men who do not have these struggles. They expect to find irregularities in areas of the brain known to deal with impulsive behavior, pain and pleasure, fear responses and potentially other areas as well.

This could be used as a way to put a 12th step into action as this research could possibly lead to better understanding the physical reasons to why we struggle as we do and, therefore, later lead to future treatments designed to help relieve symptoms and/or possibly decrease recovery time.  Each participant will also receive a personalized quantitative EEG or “Brain Map”.  A brain map will show you where in your brain there is too much or too little brain activity compared to others your age and can identify strengths or abnormalities that can explain certain, consistent issues. This is a valuable resource which is usually charged at $1,400.00 but will be free of charge in exchange for the participants’ aid to their research.

For more information, please contact Ben or Dominic through any of the following methods;

Phone #s
713-660-1100
281-989-6483

Emails
info@uniquemindcare.com
dominic@uniquemindcare.com
benisaiahswisher@gmail.com

Websites
http://uniquemindcare.com/