Path to Ambivalence

People who are stuck in life, are often ambivalent. They want two things, but can’t have both. They are in conflict. But this broken path, or cross-roads

paralysis can so easily lead to real failure in life – failure to become happy

and fulfilled, to achieve life purpose, to do the things most important and

stop doing those things that block pursuit of one’s core values. It’s kind of like an addiction.

Ambivalence and Addiction

One of the most problematic issues confronting our society, most every society in
the world, is addiction – a clear path to personal, social and spiritual

breakdown and failure. Addiction may be

defined and understood as a relatively compulsive pattern of behavior, which

may or may not include substance use, that is both self- and other-destructive,

and appears to reflect a loss of personal control and free choice. Yet, most all addicts would tell you that

there is an important part of them that doesn’t want to be under the control of

a substance or uncontrollable behavior.

They are just plain stuck.

When we think of addiction, we picture hard drugs, like heroin, cocaine, and
methamphetamine, but cannot forget alcohol.

Then there is the costly “war” on drugs, many believe unwinnable, that

we have been waging for so many years.

So many lives lost or ruined, families destroyed, accidents caused,

could have been prevented. Or could

they?

Some believe that when the drug takes over, so to speak, in a person’s life and
body, that he or she loses control, loses will power, the ability to choose to

use or not. Out of this kind of thinking, personal responsibility has passed

over a threshold. They can no longer be held completely accountable. For example, it is common to hear the alcohol

dependent person, the “alcoholic,” to declare that he has a disease (indeed it

is a dis-ease) and cannot really be held responsible for what he does when

drinking or drunk, or even for this ability to stop drinking after just a

single drink. This is called the loss-of-control hypothesis.

We see the same sort of thinking around many “behavioral addictions” such as
gambling, smoking, eating, and pornography.

Similarly, the “loss of control” hypothesis is tapped to explain

personally harmful behavior here as well.

But is it true? Considerable clinical
research as well as anecdotal evidence suggests the answer is a qualified

“no”. It seems that it is not that a

person actually loses personal control, can no longer choose their behavior or

exert will-power after a certain point in their behavior or drug intake. Rather, the individual may lose the ability

to predict their subsequent behavior. In

other words, the drinker may sometimes be able to only have a drink or two one

time as planned, but another time becomes drunk after many drinks. The addictive gambler may only gamble for a

short time on one occasion (thinking she does not therefore have a problem),

but on another occasions, doesn’t seem to be able to stop, and stays all

night.

What to do

For a long time we in the clinical addictions treatment field, were relatively
ineffective in helping (or, better, forcing) them to change. Some of the drugs we tried to use, to break

dependence on certain drugs, caused addiction of their own (e.g. Librium, a

powerful tranquilizer, was first used to treat alcoholism. But then it led to

its own addiction). Hospitalizations

worked during the time the addict was under 24 hour care and surveillance, but

once the person was back home, the addictive behavior all too frequently

returned. Programs were imposed on

people, and even if they worked, when the program was no longer in force, the

addiction was back. In fact, most

addicts relapsed within 30 to 90 days.

It was a bleak picture. It was time for a change, for different approach

maybe.

Motivation the Key

A paradigm shift happened, and is still ongoing, in the addictions treatment
field not too many years ago. We began

to view addictive, and even problematic behavior choices in general, as related

more to motivational rather than to physical or psychological addiction

processes. Research showed that even the

most chronic and severe addicts always retained the power to choose, to decide,

and to change. But they were stuck at

the decision point of: “should I change, do I want to change, do I need to

change, is it important to change, would I like to change, would it be better

to change than to stay the way I am now, who am I?” We found that no matter the problem or

compulsive behavior, or even substance dependence, motivation was the key, and

individuals could be significantly helped by working with them to build up

their own motivational strength and self-efficacy rather than imposing a

program on them. So we began to provide motivational science training (Miller

& Rollnick, Motivational Interviewing, 2002, Guilford Press; www.motivationalinterview.org) to addictions counselors, and now many others

in the helping and life coach/counseling professions who work with those who

are stuck in various life trials and places (e.g. physicians, nurses,

psychologists, marriage counselors, probations and corrections officers, social

workers, ministers, pastoral counselors, business consultants, etc.). The results have been impressive enough in

addictions that this motivational counseling approach is often the treatment of

choice, while very promising results are found in a number of other counseling

areas.

Expansion of Motivational Science to Life Purpose Coaching and Personal Change.

The Path2Success program is a new program for life of purpose coaching and change.
It is the first to employ the same motivational science and application that

has been proven so successful in the treatment and recovery of some of the most

severe addictions. Path2Success4me has

been designed and validated on those who may need to make, or could be

interested in changes in their life paths – who want to find ways out of their

previous life paths that have failed to fully satisfy or fulfill their

desires. As such, Path2Success4me

addresses in a systematic way the places of ambivalence, where the individual

is stuck in life, conducts a deep heart analysis of what he or she really wants

to do, is called or gifted to do in life, creates an efficient and powerful

change/action plan, engages and maintains the new paths and goals through

personal accountability strategies, and ultimately provides training in

leadership to pass these life benefits and strategies on to others in their

lives.

If it Works with Addicts Why Not with Us?

Path2Success4Me is potentially for everyone who wants more fulfillment out of their own life,
who is looking for or needing life purpose transformation. It’s for all of us who have made New Year’s

Resolutions that have been cast into the sea of forgotten or failed attempts,

it is for those adults who want more out of life, for those parents who would

like to introduce their wandering teens or young adults to a program that could

launch them into true life purpose, and even for those retirees who want a new

direction, who aren’t ready to just stop living passionately. It’s for you and me.

Path2Success, Motivation, Purpose-Transformation and Life Change

The Path2Success4Me program is based on a scientifically-validated motivational
interview and life coaching process that promotes powerful life transformation.

As such, it represents a relatively unique process that launches people into a
discovery of an ultimate path to new life potential and purposes, while helping

to answer the question of “how to

change your life.”

But Path2Success is not a “safe” program (though the process is quite safe). It is a program that brings about
change. Especially, life change is

risky, maybe even a bit scary. Indeed,

Path2Success4Me.com will shake things up and shake things loose in a person’s

life and purpose. It starts with a deep

heart examination, which opens up new opportunity for forgotten goals and life

values reformation, greater self worth and self confidence. Individuals who complete the program are

gently guided through their reformed and recalibrated path to achieving new

personal objectives beyond their previously restricted scope and envisioning.

The final stages of this life change process includes strong positive

encouragement and accountability programming, thus enabling participants to

build a daily checklist to manage their life the way they want it to be

fulfilled.

Woods felt sad when the story ended, and that prompted him to write its sequel.

“Return to Treasure Island” begins three years after Jim Hawkins leaves Treasure Island, when Jim learns that Long John Silver has been captured and sentenced to hang. Jim decides to help Long John Silver. The two set out to find a huge treasure — the pharaoh’s gold.

In an online video interview, Woods described his trepidation about writing a sequel to one of the world’s great classics. “A bad version would be worse than none at all,” he said.

The first step in re-creating Jim’s world was getting a feel for the language, Woods explained.

“The book was written in the late 1800s and language had a different cadence then,” he said. “It’s a more difficult language for modern readers to understand, but I didn’t want to make it completely modern, so I split the difference.”

Woods recorded all the pirate dialogue to train his ear. “Once I got the language, it was clear how the book was going to sound,” he said.

He decided to retain as many of the original characters as he could, then added additional characters plus a romance.

“The first book was a coming-of-age story, from boy to man. This one also includes a love story,” Woods said. “I also needed to get Hawkins back to Treasure Island, so I created a reason for him to come back.”

Woods aimed to provide the means for readers to revisit the world of the original story.

“My hope for ‘Return’ is to bring the reader back into the joy and adventure of ‘Treasure Island,’” he said. “I brought Jim back to the same kinds of moral dilemmas he faced in the original, and I wanted the reader to have the fun of going through a treasure hunt.”

Readers sometimes tell Woods that reading “Return” made them want to read the original again. “That to me is a very fulfilling moment,” he said.

Woods will visit Pages Bookstore Thursday, July 22, at 7 p.m.

The Book Works, Monday August 23rd, 7:00 Pm.

"A first-class sequel to the original. Woods has skillfully brought us back into the life of Jim Hawkins in the most successful way imaginable.”

— LeVar Burton, PBS’ Reading Rainbow

“The adventures are just as wild, and Jim’s heart is as stout and his wit as quick as ever.”

— Jack Butler, Award-Winning Author and Poet

The Event

The Book Works proudly presents author John O’Melveny Woods. On Monday, August 23rd, at 7:00pm. Woods and trained actors will give a dramatic reading from his adventure novel Return to Treasure Island. There will be time for Q&A and a book signing will follow. This event is free to the public.

The Book

Three years after his triumphant return from Treasure Island, Jim Hawkins learns that Long John Silver has been captured and sentenced to hang. Jim's fateful decision to help Silver propels them into a dangerous search for the greatest treasure of all time The Pharaoh's Gold. A cryptic map, secret codes and puzzling clues all lead back to Treasure Island where courage, cunning, and mutual trust are the only weapons that can save Hawkins and Silver from a horrific death and help them in their quest to find the treasure.

The Author

John O’Melveny Woods is a successful entrepreneur who attended USC Film School, and has written numerous television shows, screenplays, articles, and non-fiction books. Return to Treasure Island is his first book; his second Jesse James Secret: Codes, Cover-Ups and Hidden Treasure is the basis for the History Channel’s highest rated show, and is due out Fall 2010. He lives in Leucadia, California.

The Location

The Book Works is located just east of I-5 at Via de la Valle: in the Flower Hill Mall, on the 2nd level, next to Pannikin Coffee & Tea. 2670 Via de la Valle, Del Mar, CA 92014. (858) 755 3735.