How do you handle your difficulties?

[caressa]

Today's Reminder - November 21

In handling my difficulties, what's important isn't hoow much time I have in Al-Anon but how willing I am in implement the tools of recovery. While Al-Anon doesn't grant immunity from problems, it does offer a healthy way to deal with them.

"Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things." H. W. Beecher

From Courage to Change (Al-Anon)

The 90 tools of sobriety (soundness of mind)

eor.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Tiger&action=display&thread=8999

Sometimes when I am caught up in life, it is sometimes difficult to realize what is happening and takes a while to recognize something for what it is like self-pity and resentment because they are familiar feelings and places I have found myself in far too many times. The nice thing is I recognize them much quicker and don't stay stuck in the feelings. Even nicer is the fact that I can feel the feelings so that I can let them go instead of stuffing them.

Even in today, after several 24 hours of recovery, I still need to pick up the phone and call my sponsor. The special person that allows me to share and be myself.

What I needed to recognize was that things are different in today. Today I take my Higher Power with me into situations and I no longer walk with fear, I don't have to figure things out by myself. I am granted freedom of choice. The greatest choice is to change my mind and choose again.

[SunnyGirl]

How do you handle your difficulties?

All of us have to face troubles and difficulties in our lives....
I try to break them down into smaller pieces that I can
take care of easier.... If I smash my car, it's unfortunate
and can be costly, but I can deal with it pretty easily!
One major thing I've learned is that worry never solved
anything and is a total waste of my time. Worry is like a
fast getaway on a rocking horse....

If I can change or fix my problem, I want to think it all the
way through and take appropriate steps to "fix" it.....
If it is out of my hands, I know my only option is to "Let
go and let God"...... This is where acceptance comes in,
if God leads me to it He will get me through it. Sometimes
it's as simple as learning the lesson and moving on from
it, again worry never changed a thing.

How you view a difficult situation will affect how you cope
with it, your mindset dictates the quality of your life....
Keep an open mind and broaden you perspectives, just
accept troubles as part of life and work through it.... If
you need help, recovery friends are good listeners and
God is just a prayer away......

Peace on the journey, SG

[caressa]

But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and unbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting; for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receivee anything of the Lord; a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

- James I: 5-8

The only way to find true help and support is to take things to my Higher Power.

Turn things over and leave them there, walk in faith.

[majestyjo]

Turn things over and leave them there.

[majestyjo]

The only difference between stumbling blocks
and stepping stones is how we use them.

[majestyjo]

Most people know who have been around the rooms for a while that H.A.L.T. means Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and Tired.

What I tend to forget is that I need to work this slogan on all areas of my disease.

My disease is also four-fold. It is mental, emotional, spiritual and physical.

I need to make sure that I get food for the body, mind and spirit.

We think of recovering from our disease as mostly physical. We want to feel better. Yet in turn, our emotional and spiritual malady can make itself known physically.

I am reminded that anger corrodes the soul. Loneliness is part of isolation and part of my disease not my recovery. Tired is generally lack of 'food' and often a complacency which allows us to get in a rut or stand on what we have done in our recovery, not recognizing that this is a 24 hour a day program, not a 2-4 hour a day program.

I may want to take a holiday and yet my disease is always there waiting for me to put a HALT to my recovery. When I do that, the stinking thinking comes in and little substitutions come in and cloud my vision.

We do recover from that hopeless state of mind and body. We need to maintain our recovery, with Steps 10, 11, & 12.

When I become lax or when that stinking thinkings brings some thoughts of yesterday into today, I need to go back and do Steps 4-9. Every morning is a Step 1,2,3, Waltz.

This is a one day at a time program. I need to HALT and check to see where I am at in my recovery. Do I need to apply H.A.L.T. to my program in today?

A good reminder originally posted in 2010, it is a one day at a time program. It doesn`t matter what substance I chose to use, it is the thinking behind why I choose to pick it up. H.A.L.T. can help me not get to a place where I can say yeah or nay! and make a healthy choice.

[majestyjo]

Sharing our thoughts, feelings, and experiences with other people shows us who we are and helps us to accept ourselves. Those with whom we share also benefit.

Grant me courage and trust so that I may share.

Food for Thought

Really like this, and it made me think, it doesn't matter what we use in our life, food, alcohol, drugs, men, work, friends, etc. it is all rooted from the same source, ME!

Let it begin with me.

Went to a meeting one morning and someone asked me how I was. I said, "I am good, having a great day." He said, "What are you doing here then?" I smiled and said, "Passing it on."

There were days that were far from that, I went to meetings and it was there that I found myself, reflected in the faces of the people in the rooms. The words that were spoken were the words that I couldn't voice for myself. I got a little from this person, a lot from another, another I might not identify with, and another one would give me something to think about, and another would give me something that I would need later. They all contributed to my recovery, and for that, I will always be grateful.

This is a we program. Without them, there would be no me!

[majestyjo]

It was important for me to share, if for no other reason to put some order to the chaos that was running around in my own head. Once I started sharing, the words came out in some kind of order, and I could see what direction they were taking and what I needed to do to change them.

By sharing, I could obtain a new perspective, that of my own and that of others. I could get feed back from others and give me food for thought. When it was rattling around in my head, it was generally going no where, just round and round giving me a head ache, it it was good to either journal or come on the computer and share my thoughts, put them out there, so I could either take action or rethink them. Most times, they need more prayer and asking for help or they wouldn't be all jumbled to begin with. If the Good Orderly Direction was there, the chaos wouldn't be!

Not sure if these are duplicates, but two of this picture can't hurt.  

[majestyjo]

If you are in the center of AA, you won't fall off the edge.

Directions to AA: Just go straight to hell and make a U-turn.

AA: Being a part of something is more important than being the center of attention.

AA is the only place whre you can walk into a room full of strangers and reminisce.
A.A. Romance......The odds are good......but the goods are odd.

AA: Look for a way in; not for a way out.

AA: We are not reformed drunks, but informed alcoholics.

AA has no fixed address--you can take it with you.

AA: We're here for a reason, not for the season.

AA Groups: An AA group will be judged by the worst behavior of its members.

AA Groups: When you clean up after your group, you leave the signature of AA behind you.

AA is a check-up from the neck up.

Before I came into AA I was dead, but I did not know enough to lie down.

AA is not a sentence, it is a reprieve.

A.A. is a self-help program but you can't do it by yourself.

AA won't keep you from going to hell nor is it a ticket to heaven but it will keep you sober long enough for you to make up your mind which way you want to go!

AA won't open the gates of heaven to let you in, but it will open the gates of hell to let you out.

In AA, there are no losers--just slow winners.

Alcoholic (as defined by self): A piece of crap the universe revolves around.

Alcoholic: Someone who refuses to give up a life of failure without a fight.

Alcoholic: A person who, when s/he goes to a wedding, wants to be the bride; when s/he goes to a funeral, wants to be the corpse.

Alcoholic: An alcoholic is someone who wants to be held while isolating.

Alcoholic: I may not be much, but I'm all I think about.

Alcoholic: If I could drink like a normal drinker, I'd drink all the time!

Alcoholic: If you drank enough to get to AA, you drank enough.

Alcohol: It provokes the desire but takes away the performance.

Only an alcoholic would believe that the solution to loneliness was isolation.

Alcoholics burn their bridges in front of them.

Alcohol: An alcoholic is someone who finds something that works and then stops doing it.

Alcohol: It's not what or how much you drank, it's what it did to you.

Alcohol: What you thought was the solution became the problem.

Alcoholic: Terminal uniqueness!

Alcoholic: They didn't make a glass big enough for me to have one drink.

Alcohol: You will be rich when you know you have enough.

Alcoholic drinking's three stages: impulsive ... compulsive ... repulsive.

Each and every alcoholic ---sober or not--- teaches us some valuable lessons about ourselves and recovery.

An alcoholic alone is slumming.

An alcoholic is not a guy who thinks he's had one too many.

He's usually the guy who thinks he's had one too few.

Every alcoholic's favorite brand: More!

If you think you are an alcoholic, chances are, you are.

Alcoholics heal from the outside in...but feel from the inside out.

The destiny of every alcoholic is to be locked up ... covered up ... or ... sobered up.

An alcoholic is a man with two feet firmly planted in mid-air.

You can carry the message, but not the alcoholic.

You're probably an alcoholic if: You think spilling beer is alcohol abuse.

Alcoholics are in a class by themselves. Everyone else has graduated.

Alcoholics are life-long loners who cannot stand to be alone.

Non-alcoholics change their behavior to meet their goals and alcoholics change their goals to meet their behavior.

Alcoholics aren't afraid to die. They're afraid to live.

Alcoholism: Alcohol went from being my best friend to my worst enemy.

Alcoholism: An alcoholic can be in the gutter, yet still look down on people.

Alcoholism: Guilt of yesterday, fear of tomorrow, shame of today.

Alcoholism: High bottoms have trap doors.

Alcoholism: If the cure works, chances are, you have the disease.

Alcoholism: If you drank long enough to get to an A.A. meeting, you drank long enough.

Alcoholism: Name it, Claim it, Tame it!!!

Alcoholism: Once you are a pickle, you can't be a cucumber. But once you are a pickle, you can be a newcomer.

Alcoholism is an equal opportunity destroyer.

Remember that alcoholism is .. incurable, progressive, and fatal.

Alcoholism: The three most dangerous words for an alcoholic -"I've been thinking"

Alcoholism: We are not bad people becoming good, but sick people becoming well.

Alcoholism: Your bottom just may be six feet under.

Alcoholism: Your disease progresses even when you are not drinking.

Alcoholism doesn't come in bottles; it comes in people.

Alcoholism is a self-diagnosed disease.

Some people think alcoholism is a two-fold disease -- more and right now.

Original source unknown

Have posted so many, don't know what's where!

[majestyjo]

WHAT IS LIFE?

Being Reborn of the Spirit

As we fight life's trials and tribulations, we surrender them to the God of our own understanding. When we surrender, we are empowered to do what we need to do for ourselves.

Just for today, I surrender to win!

Just for today, I gain courage and strength!

Just for today, I am free to be me!

We are Co-Creators of our own universe!

Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition. -Alexander Smith

[bunnypie]

surrender to win is one of the greatest paradox of the AA program.......

[majestyjo]

Do my part and leave the rest up to my God.