Some Assembly Required

Musings on addiction, recovery, mindfulness, and chronic pain

Dan Mager MSW

Mindful Parenting and the Four Stages of Skill Development

Becoming a skillful parent doesn’t happen by accident or by coincidence. It necessitates conscious awareness and ongoing intentional effort.

Can We Find Our Way to More Civil Political Discourse?

The intensity of political disagreement has escalated dramatically in recent years. Social media and cognitive distortions combine to fuel this dynamic. But there are pathways out.

Can You Be Okay With Uncertainty?

There is a saying that “When one door closes, another one opens.” But waiting in the hallway between those two doors takes awareness, skill, and practice to negotiate.

Demystifying Meditation

Meditation if often perceived as a mystical and esoteric process. However, it's actually much simpler and more accessible than you may think.

Is Portable Computer Technology Distorting Your Life?

Digital stimuli sing a Siren’s song, calling to us softly and sweetly, with tantalizing attention-snatching tidbits that promise enthralling if momentary distractions.

Screen Media Immersion—Part 1 of 2

Computer technology has become an essential 21st century learning resource for children, but at what point does it obstruct children’s social and emotional development?

Profanity Can Be Therapeutic AF

Profanity is beneficial beyond adding emphasis and color to our language. Its benefits may surprise you.

Bringing Emotional Equilibrium To The Holidays

Learning to recognize, be present, and make peace with the parts of ourselves we may struggle with makes it possible to be accepting of whatever arises.

The Power of Tiny Practices

These five simple yet precious practices soften the heart, don’t cost anything extra and, to borrow a term from boxing, punch way above their weight.

A Five-Step Approach to the Opioid Epidemic, Part 2 of 2

Make no mistake: there is no magic bullets and no quick fixes to this crisis. However, there are several critical steps that can help us make meaningful progress toward solutions.

Where Did the Opioid Epidemic Come From? Part One of Two

The opioid epidemic is a solely human created catastrophe, born of sincere intent that became mutated by unadorned profit-motivated greed. Here's how it happened.

What You Need to Know About Stress and Self-Care

Long-term stress rewires the brain, leaving you more vulnerable to fear, anxiety, depression — and yes, more stress. But there are solutions.

Values Can Be a Conduit to Recovery

Clarifying your values can help motivate you to change addictive behavior.

Applying Mindfulness in Relapse Prevention

The mindfulness practice of urge surfing can help those in addiction recovery learn how to bear urges or cravings to use alcohol and other drugs more skillfully.

What You Need to Know about Relationships and Recovery

It is helpful to resist the urge to "fix" your relationships and keep the focus on making progress in your recovery. As you do, your relationships will likely improve over time.

How Do You Know If Your Relationships Are Healthy?

The quality of our relationships with others is a reflection of our overall state of mental & emotional health, but our relationships also affect our mental & emotional well-being.

How to Have Difficult Conversations

Most everyone dreads the difficult conversation. However, with planning and preparation you can maximize the chances that your conversation will serve its intended purpose.

The 4 Primary Principles of Communication

Do you want your communication with others to be more skillful and successful? Paying conscious attention to these four universal aspects of the communication process is key.

8 Strategies to Work Through Anger and Resentment

Angry or resentful related to the recent U.S. presidential election? There are specific actions you can take to address these feelings in more healthy and helpful ways.

Give Yourself the Gift of Self-Affirming Boundaries

Given the intensity of expectations this time of year tends to create—both self-imposed and those of others)—it can be easy to fall prey to spreading oneself too thin.

Addiction, Recovery, and Loss

Loss is a natural part of the process of recovery that is generally under recognized and inadequately addressed by addiction treatment programs and professionals.

A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Healing From Loss

Ironically, allowing oneself to feel the pain of loss takes considerably less energy than running from or trying to suppress it.

Recovery Is a Process of Learning, Growth, and Healing

Recovery from addiction is the process of sustaining abstinence, and learning and practicing the awareness and skills necessary to live a whole, healthy, and healed life.

The Therapeutic Value of Nature

Research suggests that spending time in nature can be extremely beneficial, leading to improvements in mood, cognition, and health.

The Balancing Act of Living with Chronic Pain

If you have chronic pain, you can learn how to go beyond the boundaries of your comfort zone, and through practice find the sweet spot between not doing enough and doing too much.

What We Learn From Our Pets

Simply having pets can have wonderful therapeutic value.

Addiction as a Family Affliction

The addiction of a loved one brings up many difficult questions and may leave you feeling like you are riding an emotional rollercoaster that you can’t get off.

Trauma Tips for Understanding and Healing—Part 4 of 4

What happened to you in the past does not have the final say in who you become. Trauma recovery is a highly individualized process that takes place over time, not overnight.

Trauma Tips for Understanding and Healing—Part 3 of 4

The connection between trauma and addiction is a two-way street: trauma increases the risk of addiction and active addiction increases the likelihood of experiencing trauma.

Trauma Tips for Understanding and Healing, Part 2

It’s important to be aware that small-t traumas are not less significant than “bigger” traumas. Trauma can be caused by seemingly “smaller" events that happen over time.