Russell Brand is undeniably engaging. I really enjoyed his Revolution book from a couple of years ago. This is the age of addiction, a condition so epidemic, so all encompassing and ubiquitous that unless you are fortunate enough to be an extreme case, you probably don't know that you have it. My qualification for writing this book is not that I am better than you, it's that I am worse. I am an addict, addicted to drugs, alcohol, sex, money, love and fame.' Part of that change is forgiveness and the willingness to look at our lives and the world differently. Ask yourself ‘Do I really want to change or do I just want to justify staying the way that I am?”

This is definitely a more accessible guide to the 12 steps than the "Big Blue Book". It is also a lot less patronising and gives better examples. This kind of self help book is needed and I am glad it exists. I am also glad of my own sobriety and although I don't follow all the steps some of them are just part of being a decent human being. Becoming Flawsome | Kristina Mand-Lakhian Interview | The Key to Living a Imperfectly Authentic LifeThroughout the early chapters in Recovery, Russell Brand references a duality of self. A multiplicity, really. He mentions the Jekyll and Hyde complex understood by most addicts and alcoholics, but also suggests the existence of another. A better, higher self that we’ve yet to realize. Listen to this episode of The Art of Charm in its entirety to learn more about how Russell handles his addiction to social media, why you have to be willing to confront pain to grow, what addiction wants, why confession is a tradition that works, patterns Russell identifies within himself and how he works to break their hold on him, what’s involved in the amends process, what the secular world can learn from religion, why Russell has been a vegetarian since age fourteen, why Russell has waited until now to write this book, how Russell has acted as a tool of reconciliation for Jordan, and much more. I think it’s part of being human. To carry a wound. A flaw. And again, paradoxically, it is only by facing it that we can progress”

The program in Recovery has given Russell Brand freedom from all addictions and it will do the same for you.In today’s episode, we cover the value of pursuing your passions with AJ, Johnny, and Coach Michael Herold. You’ve heard AJ Harbinger is one of the world’s top relationship development experts. His company, The Art of Charm, is a leading training facility for top performers that want to overcome social anxiety, develop social capital and build relationships of the highest quality.

But it’s also human to believe in something greater within, and this is one of the many ways to find that. One of his most endearing qualities is his emotional honesty—his openness about his flaws and ignorance, and his confidence despite them.” —CALM (UK) Initially, some of his views may seem incompatible with the messages you hear in the rooms. In truth, however, Brand cuts right to the heart of the spirit behind the 12 Steps. Based primarily on principles with only minimal focus on orthodoxy, he presents a program of recovery that anybody can utilize. Below are just a few points of discussion that we found particularly thought-provoking. In the book’s technical aspects, it is well written - a surprise to me as I didn’t know Brand was an accomplished writer. If anything, it is at times over written to disguise the fact that it gets repetitive as it goes along. There is one theme - recovery - and while the structure (the 12 step program) ensures that this theme follows a trajectory, the analysis starts to feel shallow, and dare I say it, a bit prescriptive, after a while. You can skip passages and you won’t really lose out on much. Russell Brand talks about this core fear quite often. The fear of being abandoned, left alone and possibly unable to take care of himself. He notes that Step 5, sharing his inventory with another addict, helped him to get over this. Not simply because he got things off his chest, but because someone found his authentic self worthy of both acceptance and understanding.A thought-provoking explication of the 12-step program run through the Mixmaster of Mr. Brand’s verbal pyrotechnics . . . spellbinding . . . stunning.” — The New York Times

Whether you’re a gnarled and boisterous apprentice mechanic or a Cambridge don, solving conundrums from your high-tech wheelchair, there is in most cases a comparable inner world. If not a basic binary, a universal pantheon of inner deities and demons which, in our race to total rationalism, we have unwisely discarded. The Greeks knew these gods dwelt not on Olympus but upon the summits, crags and slopes within. This inner realm interfaces with external phenomena for good or for ill. This program, like all mythology, is a methodology for management.”

The instinct that drives compulsion is universal. It is an attempt to solve the problem of disconnection, alienation, tepid despair... the problem is ultimately 'being human' in an environment that is curiously ill-equipped to deal with the challenges that entails.” The unmanageability at its heart means that there is a beast in me. It is in me still. I live in negotiation with a shadow side that has to be respected. There is a wound. I believe that this is more than a characteristic of addiction. I think it is a part of being human, to carry a wound, a flaw and again, paradoxically, it is only by accepting it that we can progress.”