'H' TOPIC DISCUSSION

[majestyjo]

HELPING OTHERS

How many opportunities have passed us by to help others because we were too busy? Because we had other plans? Because we didn't notice they needed help? God puts us in places where there are needs. There are people all around us in need. They may need a kind word. They may need a helping hand. They may need someone to listen and give encouragement. God's timing is perfect when He puts those in our path who are in need. We should be more aware of this and be ready to lend a helping hand.

Titus 3:14 "Our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others; then they will not be unproductive." (NLT)

Dear Lord, help us to be more aware of those in need. Help us to remember we are to stop and help others. Many times we don't even notice those in need because we are too busy wrapped up in our own lives. However, You remind us we are put in someone's path for a reason. We should find out what they need and how we can help. Help us to remember to plan and prepare now to be ready to help the next person we see in need. In Jesus' name. Amen.

When God puts people in our path who need something, He is telling us to help.

It is not fate or by chance we encounter people in need. It is God presenting an opportunity for us to help them.

God equips us with what we have to help those who are in need. We should plan and prepare to be ready to help.

Everyone we meet has something they need in life. When we find out what it is and help them, we are doing God's will.

When we do good and share with those in need, we are pleasing God.

Hebrews 13:16 "And don't forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God." (NLT)

Focus: Every day seek out the needs of others and ask God how we can best help them.

www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_pu...log_id=6155317

This is a spiritual program not a religious one.  Spirituality fits all religions to my way of thinking.  Help is where I find it.  I can't, we can.

Helping others is a part of the spiritual principles of 12 Step Programs.

[majestyjo]

Helping Hand
With joy in my heart, I lend a helping hand to others.

Each day is comprised of 1,440 minutes, which equates to numerous opportunities to help others—whether opening a door, assisting a neighbor, and so on.

Someone once said, “Never get tired of doing little things for others. Sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts.” These words remind us of how powerful our actions can be to another. The little things matter for they create a flow of love and gratitude that blesses others. An unhappy day can quickly turn into a pleasant one just by smiling at someone or offering a listening ear.

As I go about my day—my 1,440 minutes—I remain ready and waiting for opportunities to help others.
You shall not see your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen on the road and ignore it; you shall help to lift it up.—Deuteronomy 22:4

Daily Word

It is good to get out of Self and help others. You can't give away what you don't have. I was told to top myself up and only give away the overflow.

[majestyjo]

Hope

When I can't find hope, I have to look beyond the nose on my face. Even if I can't see, I have to come to believe. Hope is believing in things unseen, know that my God is doing for me what I can't do for myself.

As I have said many times, "The promises are what gave me hope and kept me coming back." When I lose sight of hope, it means I am back in my disease, and it is me first and I can't see you for all the worries, cares, and woes that I put up as stumbling blocks. I can't, my God can, if I will let Him.


"Instead of resisting any emotion, the best way to dispel it is to enter it fully, embrace it and see through your resistance."

-- Deepak Chopra

When I lose hope, it means I am stuffing my emotions, blocking myself from my God and losing sight of how He can work in my life. I believe in angels. I have experience a few Earthly ones. They have made themselves known at time of need to give me the hope I needed to go on.

[majestyjo]

Recognizing Happiness

Analyzing the Path by Madisyn Taylor

When we take the time to recognize when we are happy and what that feels like, it becomes easier to recreate.

Those of us on the path of personal and spiritual growth have a tendency to analyze our unhappiness in order to find the causes and make improvements. But it is just as important, if not more so, to analyze our happiness. Since we have the ability to rise above and observe our emotions, we can recognize when we are feeling joyful and content. Then we can harness the power of the moment by savoring our feelings and taking time to be grateful for them.

Recognition is the first step in creating change, therefore recognizing what it feels like to be happy is the first step toward sustaining happiness in our lives. We can examine how joy feels in our bodies and what thoughts run through our minds in times of bliss. Without diminishing its power, we can retrace our steps to discover what may have put us in this frame of mind, and then we can take note of the choices we’ve made while there. We might realize that we are generally more giving and forgiving when there’s a smile on our face, or that we are more likely to laugh off small annoyances and the actions of others when they don’t resonate with our light mood.

Once we know what it feels like and can identify some of the triggers and are aware of our actions, we can recreate that happiness when we are feeling low. Knowing that like attracts like, we can pull ourselves out of a blue mood by focusing on joy. We might find that forcing ourselves to be giving and forgiving, even when it doesn’t seem to come naturally, helps us to reconnect with the joy that usually precedes it. If we can identify a song, a picture, or a pet as a happiness trigger, we can use them as tools to recapture joy if we are having trouble finding it. By focusing our energy on analyzing happiness and all that it encompasses, we feed, nurture, and attract more of it into our lives, eventually making a habit of happiness.

Published with permission from Daily OM

I was told that happiness comes from within.  I am responsible for my own happiness.  Making happiness a habit, sounds good to me.

[majestyjo]

Each Day a New Beginning

Humor is such a strong weapon, such a strong answer. Women have to make jokes about themselves, laugh about themselves, because they have nothing to lose. --Agnes Varda

Laughter can cure a physical condition; it can and will positively affect an emotional illness as well. Laughter ushers in a new perspective which gives vent to a changed attitude. And our attitude toward any situation, any individual, is all-powerful.

A negative, critical attitude toward our financial situation, toward our disease, toward our boss, or spouse, or children, determines how we feel moment by moment. In like manner, when we raise our sights, look at the world with lightness in our hearts, expecting to enjoy the day, the people, the activity, we'll succeed.

Finding humor in a situation, any situation prevents us from succumbing to feelings of powerlessness. Feeling powerless, behaving as victims, came easily for many of us before we chose this program and the Twelve Steps to live by. Choosing a humorous response, opting to laugh at our situation, at any point in time, keeps our personal power where it belongs--with ourselves.

My emotional health depends on my active involvement in deciding who I am, right now. Deciding to chuckle rather than snarl will give me an unexpected emotional boost.

Where would our life be without humour.  I had to ask for mine to be healed as I found it a little bit too sarky and hurtful at times.  I had to learn to laugh with someone, not laughing at someone.  There is no humour in bringing yourself down to other people's level or bringing yourself down below a level where your God would have you be in today.  Just because someone else thinks a situation is funny, I don't have to agree and laugh along.

[majestyjo]

Journey To The Heart

See How Each Soul Has Touched You

Often in our lives, we don’t realize the significance of a relationship until later, when the experience has passed. Then we understand how the person helped us along the way, took us to the next part of our journey, opened us up to begin learning the next lesson. And we see how we, in turn, helped shape that person.

One evening, as I was readying for sleep, I had a vision. I saw clearly before me a scenario of the dance we do with each other. I saw in my heart, understood deeply, the tangible, shaping impact each soul had on my life. Each moment, each interaction with another person, had been important– the quiet interactions, the ones I barely noticed, and the more significant relationships. Each moment– the moments that hurt, the moments that brought joy– had helped. We had touched each other. We were joined in an intricate dance, a dance in which our souls learned and grew.

And we had taken our places with each other on time, for the dance was perfectly choreographed.

I could almost see us waving gleefully to each other, happy for how we had connected, joyful that we had helped each other learn the lessons of the soul: courage, love, forgiveness, gentleness, self-love.

See how each soul touches you? See how you touch them? Ask your heart to guide you with honesty, love, and responsibility in all your encounters. Honor the sacredness of love. Honor the lessons of planet earth and the people who help you learn them.

[majestyjo]

~ How It Works ~

Utter confusion, misery, and pain,
Humiliation, remorseful, ashamed.
Dreading to face the light of each day,
Not wanting to hear what people would say.


Like, "Where is your power? Where is your pride?"
They don't understand that deep down inside
I wish that I knew the answers to give,
Or how to find the courage to live.


I had taken pills... they told me I should.
I tried all the cures, but they did no good.
I made many promises and meant them, too.
But the compulsion to "use" is stronger than you.


One day a friend happened to say,
"I know the answer... I can show you the way.
All it takes is willingness to have an open mind.
Believe what you hear from one of your kind."


I went to a meeting; they read Chapter V.
The steps made some sense, and hope was revived.
I saw living proof of what faith can do.
It worked for them... why not for you?


One day at a time, they told me to live.
They said, "Easy Does It." And "Learn to Forgive."
"Be humble, be honest, and help when you can.
Pass on what you learn to any new man."


I heard them repeat the Serenity Prayer.
And soon realized all my answers were there.
Now, when someone asks, "Can miracles be?"
I always reply, "Take a look at me."

~ Author Unknown ~

[majestyjo]

H.O.W.

In honesty, WE recover, The strength to face our fears,
In open-mindedness, WE recover, Our thoughts become clear,
In willingness, WE recover, All of our lost tears,
WE learn, WE laugh, WE live, WE love,

In accepting, WE recover, Those lost parts of ourselves,
In surrender, WE recover, Today as a reality,
In our sadness, WE recover, Those children who love unconditionally,
WE hug, WE smile, WE speak, WE are miracles,

In reflection, WE recover, The innocence we had forsaken,
In attending, WE recover, The courage that was shaken,
In prayer, WE recover, Ourselves as we awaken, To the now, and the H.O.W.
WE feel.

December 10, 1995 Rod A.
AKA: Exhead Poetry In The Key Of Pain

We can do what I can't do alone.



How It Works by Dr. Silkworth:

silkworth.net/bb/howitworks.html

[majestyjo]

Over the years, I have heard so many people say, "The program never worked for me." I found that the program works, if I work for it. It works, because I am still working it.

The program isn't a quick fix, it is a process, a healing process that allows me to live in today alcohol and drug free, no matter what the substance is I try to substitute to make it all go away.

If I am not drinking in my spiritual need, not drinking spirits to meet my needs, it doesn't work.

If I am picking up a drug to escape reality, hide and bury my feelings and shutting of my feelings, then there is no sobriety (soundness of mind), and the program doesn't work unless it is spiritual things instead of people, places, and things, that I choose to put before my God.

I had to make an amend to my God for my thoughts and actions that kept me from Him. My choice, not His. Every time I pick up, be it food, work, cigarettes, alcohol, or street and prescription drugs, I leave God behind and allow my disease to rule my life.

How it works. Honesty myself, with my God and others. Opening my mind to other concepts and ideas other than my own. Willingness to go to any length to stay clean and sober in today.

Something I always remember is that "Ahhhhhhhhh!" feeling when I picked something up and it hit bottom." The thing I had to remember, was that I search for that feeling all of my life. When I reach it, I could stay in that moment, I had to have more. It kept taking more and more to reach that place, and then I found I couldn't reach it any more.

It was the spiritual aspects of the programs in AA, NA, and Al-Anon that worked for me. I could stop, and stay stopped.

I must remember that my disease is four-fold and I needd to apply my program to all aspects of my disease.

[majestyjo]

H is for H.O.W. It means how the program works, "Honesty, Open Mindedness, and Willingness. I also think that the spiritual principles for Step One is Honest, Surrender, and Acceptance.

Unless I can get honest with me, open my mind to other ideas and concepts other than my own (my best thinking got me to the doors of recovery), and willing to go to any length, not to have that first drink in today and willing to do what ever it takes to maintain my sobriety.

One alcoholic/addict talking and sharing with each other is how the program works for me.

[majestyjo]

H.O.W. it is done, but while your doing it, don't take yourself so seriously according to Tradition 4. A once heard a lady say she had to learn and apply the Traditions in order to live long enough to work the Steps.

There is no race to be run and we have to find what works for us. We listen to others and take it under perusal and by trial and error and with the guidance of OUR Higher Power.

You are given a second chance at life. How you live it is up to you. You are given freedom of choice. Why not enjoy the journey. Sobriety is a journey and an experience with no destination, other than to stay clean and sober one day at a time.

[majestyjo]

~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

We all rise again like the moon.
Our very best God makes us all rise again,
but never the same as before.
Always brand new.

~ Sr. Karol A. Jackowski ~

Great loss takes everything from us but in time gives back more than we lost. By grieving we shed the old and receive the new. At first we find it hard to believe a brighter day will come. When we look inside ourselves, we find only the hurt and remorse. As we grieve, we may deeply resent people who say “Time heals all wounds.” How can they minimize our loss by predicting its end?

In the middle of deep loss we may need only a hand on our shoulder and a silent message that says, “I’m here with you.” Then, as healing begins, we find ourselves filling up again, but in a different way. By surviving such pain we come to appreciate life in a new way. Our feelings are deeper, richer than before. We know about loss, and are more grateful for what we have. We are more trusting of our Higher Power, Who helped us find the strength to endure when we thought it would be too much for us. We’re learning that grief can bring newfound depths of beauty to our vision of life.

Today let me move through my healing process, trusting that I am being cared for by my Higher Power.

[majestyjo]

10 reasons why we need at least 8 hugs a day

by Marcus Julian Felicetti


Hugging therapy is definitely a powerful way of healing. Research shows that hugging (and also laughter) is extremely effective at healing sickness, disease, loneliness, depression, anxiety and stress.

Research shows a proper deep hug, where the hearts are pressing together, can benefit you in these ways:

1. The nurturing touch of a hug builds trust and a sense of safety. This helps with open and honest communication.

2. Hugs can instantly boost oxytocin levels, which heal feelings of loneliness, isolation, and anger.

3. Holding a hug for an extended time lifts one's serotonin levels, elevating mood and creating happiness.

4. Hugs strengthen the immune system. The gentle pressure on the sternum and the emotional charge this creates activates the Solar Plexus Chakra. This stimulates the thymus gland, which regulates and balances the body's production of white blood cells, which keep you healthy and disease free.

5. Hugging boosts self-esteem. From the time we're born our family's touch shows us that we're loved and special. The associations of self-worth and tactile sensations from our early years are still imbedded in our nervous system as adults. The cuddles we received from our Mom and Dad while growing up remain imprinted at a cellular level, and hugs remind us at a somatic level of that. Hugs, therefore, connect us to our ability to self love.

6. Hugging relaxes muscles. Hugs release tension in the body. Hugs can take away pain; they soothe aches by increasing circulation into the soft tissues.

7. Hugs balance out the nervous system. The galvanic skin response of someone receiving and giving a hug shows a change in skin conductance. The effect in moisture and electricity in the skin suggests a more balanced state in the nervous system - parasympathetic.

8. Hugs teach us how to give and receive. There is equal value in receiving and being receptive to warmth, as to giving and sharing. Hugs educate us how love flows both ways.

9. Hugs are so much like meditation and laughter. They teach us to let go and be present in the moment. They encourage us to flow with the energy of life. Hugs get you out of your circular thinking patterns and connect you with your heart and your feelings and your breath.

10. The energy exchange between the people hugging is an investment in the relationship. It encourages empathy and understanding. And, it's synergistic, which means the whole is more than the sum of its parts: 1 1 = 3 or more! This synergy is more likely to result in win-win outcomes.
____________

[Lin]

H is for HUGS. When we have a newcomer and she is very distraught I always try to go to her after the meeting and give her a big hug. Once in a while thy almost recoil because they are not used ot unconditional love from a stranger. But I know HUGS do help many know they are not alone!

LIN

[majestyjo]

A firm believer in hugs. I generally ask "Do you do hugs?" As you say, they almost recoil, because of situations from their past and love isn't always shown. My family didn't do hugs. It was a great day in recovery when my aunt, who has now passed away, came up to me and asked, "Can I have one of your hugs?"

I have been told many times, "You give great hugs." Perhaps,it is because I do believe in them and they are a good connection between people in recovery. For me, they come from the heart, not just a saying from NA, "Hugs not drugs."

[majestyjo]

Habits

Our drinking was connected to many habits — big and little.
Some of them were thinking habits, or things we felt inside ourselves.
Others were doing habits — things we did, actions we took.
In getting used to not drinking, we found that we needed new habits to take the place of the old ones.
- Living Sober, p. 1

In order to change, I had to change those habits and old behaviors. I had to recognize all those old ways. I was told that I had to make new tapes to replace the new one. I had to recognize that it was me that pushed the play button. That meant I could press stop and rewind and reject.

[majestyjo]

Honesty

We went back through our lives. Nothing counted

but thoroughness and honesty. When we were finished

we considered it carefully.

- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 65



Thought to Ponder . . .

Honesty is the absence of the intent to deceive.

Self-honesty was difficult for me.  I had so many old tapes running, that it took a while to identify them and change them.

The butterfly stands for transformation.  A big transformation happens when we can get truly honest with ourselves.  Recovery has to begin with me.

[majestyjo]

H is for Hope. The 12 Promises of AA gave me hope. They are why I kept coming back. They said I would find a new freedom and a new happiness. They also said I would be amazed before I was half way through the Steps.

I found that they told the honest to God truth. The Steps lead me to that new freedom and happiness.

[majestyjo]

H is for Heart. They say the longest journey we make in recovery is from our head to our heart. It takes a while to get there, and that is all right. When you get there, you will see it was well worth the journey. It speeds up the process, when you get out of Self and help someone else.

[majestyjo]

Hangovers
"When a drunk has a terrific hangover because
he drank heavily yesterday, he cannot live well today.
But there is another kind of hangover which we all experience
whether we are drinking or not.
That is the emotional hangover,
the direct result of yesterday's and sometimes today's
excesses of negative emotion -
anger, fear, jealousy, and the like.
If we would live serenely today and tomorrow,
we certainly need to eliminate these hangovers."
1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 88

Thought to Consider . . .
I'd rather be better than bitter.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
A A = Altered Attitudes

We all have had physical hang overs, yet anything in excess can cause a hangover, be it work, food, emotions, etc.