My childhood was not the most ideal. My involvement with drugs and alcohol, admitting that I had a problem, the steps I took to turn my life around, and what I have done with my life since they are shared in the pages of this book. I felt it was important to tell others how they too could use the principles of inner work as a passageway to retrieve their priceless treasures from the past in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment. I was born in 1942 in the South Bronx, a borough of New York City. Both of my parents were first-generation Puerto Rican's who came to New York seeking a better life. My father was a rageaholic; my mother, a compulsive gambler; and my siblings were all chemically dependent. (My oldest and youngest sisters were food addicts, and the rest of us were alcohol or drug dependent.) I thought I would die a drunk in the streets of New York until one day I said no more, I'm done. I was introduced to a recovery program, and my life began to take on new meaning. I found hope again, and my spiritual growth began in earnest. The emotional state of constant anxiety and fear that was permeated by long periods of despair and suicidal thoughts and attempts began to dissipate. I cannot say exactly when, but I suddenly became aware that a miracle had taken place. Forty-Two years later I'm still clean and sober.