The Healing Tiger Woods Might Really Need…

There’s been quite a bit of news lately about Tiger Woods and how his golf game has become a mere shadow of what it once was. Plagued by injuries dating back to 2008, Woods has been struggling more than not with his game since. While there was once constant speculation on how much time it might take for him to win more championships than Jack Nicklaus, many are now just wondering if he’ll ever win a single one again. Woods continues to tell reporters that his injuries are what are preventing that, but I have a different theory and it relates to an addiction Woods and I have shared in common.

On February 19, 2010, Tiger Woods made his first public statement admitting he suffered from a sex addiction. Ironically, it was only two months later that I would openly declare the same of myself. The interesting thing about a sex or love addiction is that it usually goes untreated for years until something extremely severe brings it to light. In Woods’s case, it was getting caught cheating on his wife. In my case, it was due to all the constant pain I was feeling on a daily basis because of it and that’s specifically what I believe is going on with Woods.

Over the years, I’ve had several wonderful spiritual teachers who have taught me a very valuable principle about pain. They each told me that pain is a great indicator for when I might not be listening to what my soul is trying to tell me. They explained that pain begins on a spiritual level when we’re doing something that’s not in alignment with our greatest highest good. And the more we do whatever that unhealthy something is, the more our pain will shift from a spiritual level to that of a mental and emotional one. But ultimately, as we continue to do whatever it is that’s not in alignment with our highest potential, the more our pain will shift from a mental and emotional level to that of a physical one. This is specifically what happened to me the more I engaged in my own sex and love addiction behaviors.

I remember the first time I had a quick “hook up” with someone that fed my sex and love addiction. While there was an incredible high in all the moments that led up to it, I felt completely off and unclean in some way when it was over. Even after taking a shower, I still hadn’t felt quite right inside. It took some time after that first experience for me to act upon that addiction again, but when I did, I had that same feeling inside all over again. As the years went on, I’d repeat these unspiritual behaviors again and again until I began to deal with waves of depression and anxiety, as well as many moments of doubt, insecurity, and shame. Yet, I never attributed any of that to my sex and love conduct as I always had a justification for those behaviors. So instead of looking at what I was doing in that area of my life, I got prescribed medications to balance my moods out. That only led me right back into my sex and love addiction, until I started suffering from various physical ailments and injuries. For years I attempted to treat each of them as just a physical problem, but eventually I realized something more was going on. I began seeing that my spirit had been trying to tell me all along how unhealthy and unspiritual my sex and love behaviors were.

It tried to tell me this on a spiritual level, but I never listened.

It then tried to tell me this on a mental and emotional level, but I still never listened.

It wasn’t until it communicated this to me on a physical level in such a direct way, that I began to do something about it.

Over the past few years, I’ve worked diligently on recovering from my sex and love addiction and have learned that I’ll heal in the same order I got sick. Initially, I had to work on developing a much closer relationship with my Higher Power. Once I started understanding more of what my Higher Power’s will was for me, I began living my life in that way. The more I did that, the more I found all those crazy moods swings dissipating. I eventually stopped needing those mood-balancing medications entirely because of it. Currently, I’m working on the final stage of this healing process, which is the one that drove me into it in the first place, and that’s the physical one. I believe all the physical pains I’m still dealing with are the remains of the toxins coming out of me from all my former unspiritual sex and love escapades. I’m convinced that when all the remnants of them are removed, my physical body will feel 1000 times better.

Looping all of this back around to Tiger Woods, it’s my belief that all his physical pains and injuries that began back in 2008 have always been his higher self’s attempt to get him to look at his sex addiction. Even though he made an admittance of his addiction publicly and subsequently entered a treatment program, I’ve often wondered what he’s since done for his recovery on a daily basis, as it’s not something that ever goes away.

The only thing that’s kept my sex and love addiction behaviors completely at bay and in remission has been a much deeper relationship with my Higher Power. Nurturing that has completely reversed this disease and led me on that path of spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical healing from it. It’s my hope that Tiger Woods will stop focusing so much attention on his physical recovery like I once tried to do, and instead start focusing more on growing his relationship to a Higher Power. As only then did I find healing from this toxic addiction, and only then do I believe Tiger Woods will be able to fully step out of that shadow and injury-prone cycle to finally return to the top of his golf game.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

How I Handled The Toledo Water Crisis

Greed and selfishness are two traits many of us frequently tend to believe we are void of. While that may be true when life isn’t throwing us any curve balls, the true test of that comes when things are suddenly taken away that are regularly relied upon. I got a chance to see this first hand recently when the Toledo area went through a huge scare where the drinking water became toxic for all of us.

This all began the morning of August 2nd when my cell phone rang. My partner quickly informed me to not use the water in any way, shape, or form. Algae blooms, he said, had entered the city’s local water supply and created a toxic level that was too dangerous to consume or even bathe in. I was half asleep during the call and a little irritated about being woken up given that I had just gone to bed a few hours earlier. So I really didn’t take what he said too seriously and decided to go back to bed hoping whatever problem existed would be gone by the time I got back up. Upon waking a few hours later, it wasn’t and I quickly learned the situation was more extreme than I first believed. The warnings were all over the local news informing everyone not to use their water for consumption, preparation or even bathing.

My mind immediately went into a slight place of fear once I understood just how serious this water problem really was. Even though I didn’t need to take a shower that morning because I had just taken one six or so hours earlier, I wondered how long it would be before I could take one again. I then went into the kitchen deep in thought about this and suddenly realized I couldn’t have my morning glass of water from the tap either. Upon opening the fridge, I took a quick inventory and saw that I hadn’t one single bottle of water on hand. My first taste of this new reality came shortly thereafter when I had to brush my teeth with club soda because that’s all I had in my fridge. It wasn’t a very pleasant experience, but I was grateful nonetheless for having at least something to use that was mostly water based.

By the time I finally left the house I was feeling exceptionally thirsty. I started wondering if I was only feeling that way because I didn’t have a resource in abundance like I normally would. Regardless, I decided to stop at a local Rite Aid to pick up a few bottles of water on my way. I soon discovered there, as well as everywhere else I subsequently stopped at, that they were completely cleaned out of every type of bottled water. Thankfully I finally found a few bottles left at one of the local gas stations I stopped in, and for an instant I truly thought I had discovered gold.

Throughout the rest of the day I began to hear of reports all over the city of the insanity, greed, and selfishness that was taking place because of this water crisis. One person had bought so much water their car became unable to move due to its weight. Another person bought all 36 cases of water remaining at a local Costco. Some businesses had jacked up the price of a single bottle of water up to $15, while various individuals were trying to make some money by selling the many cases they cleared from store shelves on media sites such as Facebook. I even heard that one person had pulled out a gun on another just to fight over the one case of water remaining in some store they were both at.

As I continued to hear these horror stories from various friends and news reports, all of it gave me a sobering thought. Water is something we all take for granted each and every day of our lives. It’s used to prepare our foods at home or at the restaurants we dine at. It’s used to make the drinks we get at coffee shops. It’s used to clean us in the shower or our hands in the sink. And it’s used to replenish our bodies, as all of our drinks are mostly water based. To think that there are places in this world where people go through this type of water crisis every single day of their lives was sobering indeed, especially knowing many of them struggle to have even a single glass of water in a whole day. Yet, we take things like this for granted every day of our lives, until it’s taken away from us when something tragic like this happens.

So many went to a deep dark place of fear here in Toledo when this water scare began, and sadly it seems the idea of having good morals and positive spiritual behaviors did as well. The greed and selfishness of others was very apparent and I shudder to think of what would happen one day if the whole world went through a water crisis like this all at once. I pray to God that never happens but if by some chance it ever does, I know there’s only thing I can do. I must practice the same patience, love, and tolerance like I did in this recent water crisis, and trust in my Higher Power to get me safely through it.

Regardless of whether this ever happens again or not, I definitely have a much greater appreciation now for a resource in life that none of us should take for granted, as every drop of clean water is truly a blessing from our Higher Power.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

The “Lucy” Movie – What If I Developed Superhuman Abilities?

There’s quite a bit of speculation out there as to whether we only use 10% of our brainpower. The Mythbusters on television have claimed it’s not true, while other scientists still maintain it is. Regardless of the answer, the movie “Lucy” explores the idea of a person gaining more abilities the greater one’s brainpower is access and utilized. The question I continue to ask myself every time I see movies such as this, is what if I developed superhuman abilities myself?

I’ve always had a fascination of the possibility of this. There’s actually a show I watch on television called Stan Lee’s Superhumans, which seeks out those in this world who truly do have some type of extraordinary gift. While the discoveries in that show are nothing even close to what “Lucy” actually develops in the movie, each are ones I often wished I had. The sole reason why I consistently feel that way is my sincere desire within to help others more than I currently am.

I wrote an article some time back that I believe all of us already have “abilities” that can help each other on this planet. In my case, I’ve come to see how the words I write and the ones I speak at podiums are doing just that. But I still dream bigger as a kid might dream about the idea of having some type of superhuman abilities such as in the movie “Lucy”. In it, Scarlet Johannson, who plays Lucy, begins to manifest some pretty incredible powers the more she accesses the potential of her brain.

At first she begins to understand all languages, both written and verbal. But as utilization of her brain increases, her senses start becoming super-charged where’s she able to see and hear from great distances. By the time she’s gained the full access of her brain, she also has learned how to see the energy flowing in everything, she’s able to listen to random radio waves of all cell phones, she can control any object with her mind, and eventually, she can even stop time and rewind it to any point in the past.Sometimes I wonder if the only reason why our world hasn’t evolved yet to a point where superhuman abilities like these exist is completely due to how many people might abuse them for greed, power, and control if they had them. Many years ago when I wasn’t asking my Higher Power to guide my life, I probably would have done that very thing with any extraordinary gift manifested within me. Thankfully, that’s not the case these days, as I only desire to use whatever gifts I’m given for spreading more love and light everywhere I can.

I continue to dream though that one day I might still develop a superhuman ability like Lucy, such as her ability to communicate in any language. The idea that I could write or speak about my experience, strength, and hope in life to every single human being on this planet would be something indeed. Or to be able to rewind time to meet and study under famous spiritual teachers who passed on long ago such as Buddha, Christ, or Muhammad would be an absolutely incredible thing to do as well. But alas, I accept that I’m not meant to have any of these abilities at the present time. Hopefully one day I will though so that I may have an increased capacity to help this planet.

The bottom line is that I really do treasure watching movies such as “Lucy” and television shows like “Stan Lee’s Superhumans” because I truly love pondering the idea of developing superhuman abilities. Regardless of whether it ever happens or not, I’m going to continue developing the abilities I already have, and do my best to bring more love and light on this planet through them.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson