Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Emotional Sobriety: The Next Step in Recovery
Allen Berger & Thom Rutledge
The Unicycle Committee with Richard Rohr
32 minutes Posted Oct 16, 2026 at 4:56 pm.
Recap of recent speaking trip and conferences
Training with Tommy Rosen and yoga integration
Men's retreat at Hummingbird Music Camp
Father Richard Rohr's surprise visit and wisdom at 84
Retreat impact and the Enneagram
The pursuit of emotional freedom
Emotional sobriety as riding a unicycle
My story, our story, others' story, and the story
Catholicism, universality, and colonial history
Facing physical helplessness in the third half of life
Sorrow, process addiction, and doing it wrong
Story failure, politics, and Trumpism as meaning
Universal forgiveness and positive cosmology
Genesis 1 vs Genesis 3 and nihilistic culture
Understanding, feeling, and relationships
Multiple selves and internal parts work
Therapy, integrating difficult parts, and leadership of self
Insight versus hindsight in self-understanding
Creative work and not knowing its meaning
Book projects and publishing updates
Nostalgia for radio versus podcasting
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Show notes
Thom’s Nutshell:
Emotional Sobriety is like riding a unicycle.
Allen shares some special interactions he had with Father Richard Rohr, and Thom returns to the show to talk Emotional Sobriety with Patrick.
Richard Rohr’s latest writing, about The Odyssey: https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-odyssey-a-story-of-homegoing/
Our music is provided by the great southern artist Jefferson Ross. Learn more about Jefferson at jeffersonross.com
Visit our website:
www.emotionalsobriety.info
Learn more about Joe C., Secular AA and Rebellion Dogs here:
https://rebelliondogspublishing.com 
Follow us on social media:
Instagram: thomrutledge2
Joe C. Twitter: @Rebellion_Dogs
 
Friendly Circle Berlin workshops: https://friendlycircleberlin.org/events
 
Allen’s book, 12 Essential Insights for Emotional Sobriety: https://www.amazon.com/12-Essential-Insights-Emotional-Sobriety/dp/1955415129/
 
Join Allen & Thom at our Thursday night, 7pm PST Zoom meeting on Emotional Sobriety and the Steps (login information below): 
https://zoom.us/j/330149513
Password: 375986
 
For our ongoing workshop video series on Emotional Sobriety and the 12 Steps, visit our YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHEM2-kqLkfp3I4c0jy-X-g
 
Also, please join our “Emotional Sobriety and Recovery” FB Group at the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/120450976662519
We’d love to stay in touch in between meetings.
 
We appreciate feedback! Contact Patrick, our producer, at [email protected] for any questions or comments.