Paul Williams and Tracey Jackson

People tell me I work all the time. I laugh out loud because I know I'm addicted to creativity. Addiction isn't always attached to shopping, drugs and alcohol. From the iHeart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with the legendary Paul Williams and the very creative Tracey Jackson. Williams, the award-winning songwriter, actor, and performer, has embraced a traditional alcoholism recovery plan for more than two decades of sobriety. Jackson, a well-known TV and film writer—and veteran of many years of traditional therapy—though never an alcohol or drug abuser, has struggled with other negative behaviors to numb her pain such as men, cigarettes, and over-spending. Jackson realized that many of the tenets of Williams’s program could apply to her. Together, they have written GRATITUDE & TRUST: Six Affirmations That Will Change Your Life, applying the principles of the recovery movement to help countless individuals who are not alcoholics or addicts, yet seek effective help with their difficulties — credit card debt, anger issues, a victim mentality — and pain. Please let me know if you would like an interview with Paul Williams and Tracey Jackson. In GRATITUDE & TRUST, Williams and Jackson ask: What happens to those who struggle with vexing problems yet are not full-blown addicts? Are there any lessons to be learned from the foundational and time-tested principles of the recovery movement? Whether you’re tethered to your phone or you turn to food for comfort; whether you’re a perfectionist and can’t let things go or are too afraid to fail to even try; whether you can find intimacy only on the Internet or you’ve been involved in a string of nasty relationships—the first step toward feeling better about yourself and your life is the realization that you are what’s standing in your way. Williams and Jackson have designed a new, positive program, based on a half-dozen new affirmations, that can help conquer your vices, address personal dysfunction, and start to brighten the darkest moods. Paul Williams is an Oscar-, Grammy-, and Golden Globe-winning Hall of Fame songwriter (“Rainbow Connection,” “Evergreen,” and “We’ve Only Just Begun”). Winner of a 2014 album of the year Grammy as a collaborator on Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” and President of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), he is a major public force in the recovery movement, a graduate of UCLA’s Drug and Alcohol Counseling Certification Program, and has served as a member of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Board of Directors. He was a founding board member and counselor for the Musicians Assistance Program (MAP), now the treatment wing of MusiCares. He has been a passionate public advocate for the recovery movement for the past twenty-five years. Follow Paul on Facebook and @IMPaulWilliams on Twitter. Tracey Jackson wrote the films “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” “The Guru,” and “The Other End of the Line,” among others. She has also written twelve TV pilots, and created the series “Babes” for Fox TV. Tracey wrote, directed, and starred in the controversial documentary “Lucky Ducks,” which can be seen on Amazon, Journeyman Docs, and pay for view. Her first book, Between a Rock and Hot Place: Why Fifty is Not the New Thirty, came out in 2011 and was optioned for a TV movie by Lifetime. Tracey blogs on www.traceyjacksononline.com, and has blogged for Huffington Post, WOWOWOW, Society for Drug Free America, Tiny Buddha, and various other sites. Follow Tracey on Facebook, Pinterest, and @TraceyJackson4 on Twitter.