|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2008 8:42:34 GMT -5
JAN.1/08
Do not regret the past. “The past is but the beginning of a beginning/and all that is and has been/is but the twilight of the dawn.” ~H. G. Wells from Beside Prayers. Your past is the beginning of this beginning.
I “will not regret the past nor wish to close the door on it.” (P 83, AA Big Book)
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2008 8:43:41 GMT -5
If you think you are having a problem with God, just try to imagine the problem He/She is having with you!
There is no way to know God’s Will unless I do it. |
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2008 8:44:52 GMT -5
Wet the bed and blame the blanket—that is the life we led. With the Twelve Steps, we learn that problems are basically of our own making.
At the end of BLAME is ME.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2008 8:45:53 GMT -5
This time, like all times, is a very good one if we but know what to do with it." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson. Every thought you have can be part of a continuous prayer and everything you do can be your practice of healing.
If I’m not happy today, what am I waiting for?
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2008 8:47:18 GMT -5
Seemingly “bad” days are usually the days in which we don’t get our own way. This is a Third Step problem. If you are having a “bad” day, read the Third Step from your basic recovery text and ask yourself what part of your life today has not been turned over.
Today I work toward matching my will to my Higher Power’s, not my Higher Power’s to mine. |
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2008 8:48:17 GMT -5
There is no right way to do the wrong thing. Whatever you were thinking of doing, you can not rationalize it into “right” action by saying, “yes but this” or “no but that.” You know what’s right and you know what’s wrong—that gut feeling guides you.
When things go wrong, I don’t go with them.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2008 8:49:49 GMT -5
Our program will work for people who believe in God.
Our program will work for people who don’t believe in God.
Our program will not work for people who believe they are God. |
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2008 8:52:38 GMT -5
Everybody makes mistakes. Fools repeat them, the weak excuse them, only the wise admit and profit from them.
If I really want to find a solution to my current quandary, I will. If not, I will find an excuse.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2008 8:53:49 GMT -5
Today you are leading a life. When you were drinking and drugging, you were a life being led.
It is God’s job to make miracles and I am one of them.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2008 8:54:39 GMT -5
Jan.22/08
“For a time we are living inside a scream where there seems to be no exit, only echoes. The small cares that seemed so important yesterday seem like nothing, and our daily concerns become petty and irrelevant. When we finally reclaim ourselves, as we ultimately do, we are changed.” -Kent Nerburn, Simple Truths
Cooperating with God is the easier softer way.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 24, 2008 9:11:59 GMT -5
Jan. 23
Nothing contributes more to the peace of the soul than having no opinion at all." -George Christopher Lichtenberg
When I have no opinion on outside issues, I cannot be drawn into controversy. (Tradition Ten)
Jan. 24
You are an exceptional human being. There has never been anyone with your personality, ability, and unique way of seeing things. Take the world by storm because you have what it takes!
I used to feel impending doom. Now I feel impending good.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Jan 27, 2008 10:09:35 GMT -5
Egoism isn’t necessarily thinking a lot of yourself--just thinking of yourself a lot.
I begin this day by thinking of another first. Who is distressed or frightened that I may offer words of comfort?
Jan.26/08
Witness the miracle of recovery happening for others, and you come to believe that this miracle can happen for you as well. Look at the miracles around you, one month off drugs, three years, 20 years or more. You are surrounded by living miracles.
I do not believe in miracles, I rely on them.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Feb 16, 2008 11:07:05 GMT -5
“Rather than put a label on yourself as Christian, Jew, Moslem, Buddhist, or whatever, instead make a commitment to be Christ-like, God-like, Buddha-like and Mohammed-like.” -Dr. Wayne Dryer
I make a commitment to be “Twelve Step-like” today.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Feb 17, 2008 10:47:41 GMT -5
Recovery is a Process Not an Event. There will never be a graduation day for your new way of life. The more you learn and grow the more you will see that you have more to learn and grow. That is what Steps Ten, Eleven, and Twelve are all about.
I learn to grow and grow to learn. My day of graduation is when I die
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Feb 23, 2008 17:01:25 GMT -5
“You should not be esteemed by others if you have no real inner virtue.” -Dogen, The Pocket Zen Reader You get esteem by doing something esteeming.
I never have to worry about low self-esteem when I do esteeming things.
==============================================
The safest banks fail, corporations fold, loved ones die, all things change. Your life now changes like the tides or the seasons. You are not alone in this change. Seek out others who have experienced relief from your problem of choice and let them guide you through it.
I can change my clothes and change my address but until I change myself, I cannot grow.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Feb 24, 2008 14:12:01 GMT -5
Our disease had so much control over our lives, that it not only made us do things we did not want to do, but would not let us do things that we wanted to.
My disease used to make my choices. Now I do.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Mar 1, 2008 11:17:24 GMT -5
MARCH 1/08
Even when it hurts like hell, hold fast. The pain is the arrow coming out, not the arrow going in. Faith is not about trusting a God who will rescue you from arrows but trusting in the process. Faith will center you, not rescue you.
As the pain and fear pass, I hold fast.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Mar 2, 2008 17:42:48 GMT -5
If people don’t agree with you, so what? If people do agree with you, so what? Our program is one of suggestions, not conformity.
I do not need to conform to be comfortable. “Comfortable” is conscious contact, not conscious copycat.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Mar 4, 2008 18:55:06 GMT -5
MARCH 3/08
All of us chemical dependents have come from the same place, no where. We all enter the world of recovery by changing our place to now here. No Where to Now Here. It works.
NOW is the working unit of my life.
MARCH 4/08
There are no victims, only volun-teers. When we cry, “They did this to me, they did that to me…” what we are really saying, is I placed myself in a position for this or that to happen. I volunteered for it.
I volunteer for sobriety today.
|
|
|
|
Post by caressa on Mar 8, 2008 11:38:10 GMT -5
MARCH 5/08
He who laughs, lasts! “But why shouldn’t we laugh? We have recovered.” (P 132, AA Big Book)
My laughter is good medicine.
March 6/07
You certainly are not good at every aspect of service to your group. You may be good at opening meetings, emptying ash trays, remembering to contact people, or going out on Twelve Step calls. Maybe you are lousy at greeting people at the door, holding office, getting birthday cakes, or paying the rent. Whatever you lack skills for, others can pick up; whatever you are good at, recognize!
For my shortcomings, I delegate; for my strengths, I congratulate.
MARCH 7/08
“Being angry at God won’t hurt God, and neither will it provoke Him to take measures against us. If it makes us feel better to vent our anger at Him over a painful situation, we are free to do it. The only thing wrong with doing it is that what happened to us was not really God’s fault.” -Harold S. Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People
Usually, things don’t happen TO make me angry; things happen THAT make me angry.
MARCH 8/08
Life begins right outside your comfort zone. Start changing.
If I fail to change the person I was when I came in, that person will take me out!
|
|
. I will be back looking for Lin and others.