Freedom from Addiction: “Recovery” – by Russel Brand

I couldn’t have found a better book to read right now. As someone with an adult child in recovery, this book gave me new insight that affirms my decision earlier this year to regularly attend a 12 step group, not only to support my daughter, but to make deep changes in myself. Russell Brand points out that we are all on the addiction scale in some area of our lives. He urges doing inner work so that addictions of all kinds. . . . drug, alcohol, sex, food, gambling, even internet/phone. Anything that we use to distract us from facing our emotions and making needed changes in our life – anything we do to numb ourselves can become something worth closer examination. His book follows the “12 Steps” but goes into specifics in a way that is both personal to him and identifiable to every reader. I was so moved by the changes he has made in the past 14 years of his sobriety. The fact that he faces his demons every day . . . . and is willing to share the inner tools that have worked so well for him makes the price of this book (freedom from addiction) and the time to read it very worthwhile. The inner soul searching he has done makes me eager to do my own.

Russell has hard-won advice to share, and I love his raw honesty and humor. I’m not an addict per se but have depression and some bad habits to manage (among them overeating, inactivity, and procrastination). This book helps me find (and maintain) the strength and positive energy to tackle them. You can open the book to practically any page to get a dose of help.

I bought this book because I am in intern counselor who deals with clients with substance abuse. I also used it in my bibliography assignment for my counseling class. It took me about a month to finish it because I was taking notes but it was worth the read. I gave it 4 stars because sometimes Russell’s references to things are lost in translation as an American reader and sometimes he does go off a bit on tangents. That said, aside from maybe needing a bit of a tighter editor and more universal dialogue, it was a great read. I really liked how he broke down The 12 Steps and made it understandable to people who aren’t necessarilly in AA and or people who don’t want to read “The Book”. I especially liked how humble Russell was when he wrote his story and shared about others as well. He really is quite authentic, real, genuine etc. He’s flawed, just like the rest of us and is not afraid to admit it. I would recommend this book to any reader wanting to familiarize themselves with the steps as well as anyone struggling with some kind of addiction. Russell makes it clear that to some degree, we all struggle with an addiciton, it may be shopping, over eating, movies/series on TV, sex, porn, exercise (even that can be bad for you if done in excess), drinking, pain killers, work, etc. He also shares his spiritual side, information on meditation/mindfulness and overall, just how to be a more aware, awake and compassionate person. If some of you are familiar with who/how Russell was about 15 years ago, he’s really (to steal Virginia Slim’s phrase) come a long way. He’s a much more mature, kind, compassionate, empathetic, awake, aware, wise, humbled, husband, father and son. Thank you Russell Brand for encouraging others to be a better version of themselves and to stop stigmatizing people with addictions.

This is exactly exactly the sort of person I need to be “talking” to. Or listening to, or reading–what have you. Having recovered from more serious addictions 30+ years ago, I now find myself addicting to shopping! Yikes!!! If you are addicted to ANYTHING, from shopping to narcotics, and we all have addictions (believe me), you should find this book beneficial. For me, it’s just great to be “communicating” with another hardball player with a sense of humor.

Russell Brand has become a tremendous force in my life, due to his podcasts, interviews and “Revolution” book… This book follows suit, seeming (so far) to be another honest, insightful, humorous, intelligent peek into what it means to be human… Or, i should say to be pure, unblemished Awareness playing out the human dance in our shared reality.

Russell…

…If by some fluke you read this review, you have truly helped change the trajectory of my path, along with my obsession with the Bhagavad Gita, and Upanishads…and, may i recommend to you the Ashtavakra Gita? (If you have not read).

Blessing!

Ryan:

SearchingHorizons@gmail.com.