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#1 |
Super Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Hamilton, ON
Posts: 25,078
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![]() When I made the decision to quit, my way I was 41. Figured men where my problem, (and they can be if I allow it to happen, I lived my life through many people in my lifetime) and never got more than three months at one time. When I came to the program at 49, I was able to stay stopped. The biggest part of my recovery has been service. The best way to get out of me and my problems is to help someone else; yet I can use other people to not look at my own issues, so I need the balance of meetings, a sponsor, outside interests, and working the Twelve Steps into my life. It is a living program. Not a one time "fix" or a remedy to cure my "ills", it is about me learning to live instead of existing and living in the shadow of others and life. Service helped me with my self-esteem, self-respect and self-worth. Just keep coming, don't leave until the miracle happens. You may be the only Big Book someone will ever see. ![]()
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Love always, Jo I share because I care. ![]() |
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#2 |
Super Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Hamilton, ON
Posts: 25,078
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Am I running away from Alcohol?
My first sponsor said to me one day, " You traded your Alcoholism for I isms Never heard this put exactly this way before, but it is so true. When I get full of "Me, Myself and I" then I am back playing the "god" of my life! They say that the root of my disease is selfishness and self-centeredness. It is so easy to slip back into old ways if we don't keep that spiritual connection, and for me, it is contact with friends who will be honest with me when I can't be honest with myself. I can slip on that blanket of denial and tell myself I am "just fine", yet this is a disease of perception, so unless I share my thinking, how do I know if it is stinking or not! Always sounded good to me! That doesn't mean it is right!!! ![]()
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Love always, Jo I share because I care. ![]() |
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#3 |
Super Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Hamilton, ON
Posts: 25,078
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This is a living program, each day is a new beginning. What I did yesterday, a week ago, a year ago, doesn't keep me sober in today. It gives me a perception as to what I need to do in today, I can learn from my past, either continue doing what worked or continue acting out in my disease. It is my choice.
That is why I like the Serenity Prayer. I found I couldn't wear it out. It was applicable to all areas of my life. For me, it was an all day, every day thing and I was glad I couldn't wear it out. At first, all I can do was say the words. They didn't have much meaning and yet taking the time to say it, gave me that time out that I needed to make a healthy decision instead of reacting or opening my mouth when it was best left closed. The major dilemma I had was figuring out "the wisdom to know the difference." That took a while and lots and lots of practice. Often there were occasions that I thought what would have happened if I hadn't stopped to say it. I often shutter just to think about it! In today, I always try to follow it up with the Third and Seven Prayers too. If you look in the AA Big Book (Page 76), the Amen comes after the Seventh Step Prayer. ![]()
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Love always, Jo I share because I care. ![]() |
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#4 |
Super Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Hamilton, ON
Posts: 25,078
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Author Dan Millman says, "...our sense of self-worth is the single most important determinant of the health, abundance, and joy we allow into our lives."
In truth, each of us is innately worthy. Our worthiness does not have to be strengthened or improved. I may not PERCEIVE myself to be worthy, however. If I doubt my self-worth, consciously or unconsciously, I will limit the good things I will allow into my life. Subconsciously, I will choose or attract into my life what I believe I deserve and nothing more. EXERCISE: Your self-worth reflects your overall sense of your own value. Our exercise today asks you to explore this question: HOW DESERVING AM I? It may help to ponder these questions: - Do you find it easier to give than to receive? - Do you have as much money as you would like? - Do you feel driven to improve yourself? - Do you value other people's time more highly than your own? - How would you feel if someone offered to pay you a salary of 10 million/year? Take some time to answer these questions and write your thoughts in your journal. If you discover you have set limits on what you deserve to receive in life, don't despair. (We all doubt our self-worth to some degree.) Being aware that we have set limits is a huge step forward in beginning to let them go. "I have never been contained except I made the prison." -- Mary Evans "Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them." -- Brendan Francis You are worth it! ![]()
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Love always, Jo I share because I care. ![]() |
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#5 | |
Super Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Hamilton, ON
Posts: 25,078
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This was the topic at the Living Sober meeting I went to. Learning to let go of the old tapes and learning to think and act a new way. Letting go of limiting beliefs, opening my mind to other things other than my way, and just because I have been doing things for 20 + years, doesn't mean I should continue doing them, old patterns don't make things right.
What served me in good stead, even in early recovery, may not be what I need in today. I must remember that it is just for today. All I have is this one day and it is what I make of it that counts in the long run. My best thinking got me to the doors of recovery. I no longer have a drug problem, I don't pick up, a day at a time. What I have is a thinking problem, and I need to let go of the stinking thinking. I have to remember when it comes to mind, that it is part of my using, not my recovery. Quote:
As the old saying goes, "If you have one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow, you are missing out on today. How can I see what is happening in today if I am continually looking over my shoulder at the past or focusing my sight on the future. I can't see what is going on around me and I end up with tunnel vision. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. You can't be ready in today, if you are still focusing on the past and the future. ![]()
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Love always, Jo I share because I care. ![]() |
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#6 | |
Super Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Hamilton, ON
Posts: 25,078
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