Pause For Thought

[MajestyJo]

Do you own your life?

"The meaning of life is to give life meaning."

-- Ken Hudgins

When we own our lives, we accept what we've inherited and the experiences we hold in our memories. We also claim our right to create new conditions if we're not happy with what's come before. We assume responsibility for changing what does not suit us. We acknowledge our own special talents and skills, and truly comprehend our right to enjoy the journey. In short, we embrace the meaning and purpose, the mystery and the beauty of our lives.

Do you feel that you own your life at the moment?

"I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself... and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part."

-- Shirley MacLaine

"Life is too short to be little."

-- Benjamin Disraeli

"Every man dies, but not every man lives...."

-- Garth Brooks

- Higher Awareness used with permission

For many years this was a big issue for me. Then I realized that I had to accept my limitations and my fibromyalgia and just try to be the best me I can be each day. To do what I can do and not wish the world away.

I was the only one who could make it happen. I wouldn't let my pain rule my day. I made some healthy choices and learned to live each day as it came, not look into the past or project into the future. Just live each day as it comes. Some days i can, some days I can't, and that is okay.

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=13769

[MajestyJo]

DAILY FORGIVENESS

"As long as you don't forgive, who and whatever it is will occupy rent-free space in your mind."
-- Isabelle Holland

We cannot avoid daily resentment and thoughts of guilt. They are a part of human nature. What we can do is release their grip on us. We can forgive others and ourselves daily.

Forgiveness requires nothing in return. There are no conditions. It gets rid of old baggage and clears up unfinished business. It leads us to a life of authenticity, lightness and directness. Forgiveness is the highest form of letting go of resentment and ego.

True forgiveness is more than an apology, understanding and acceptance. There is an element of recreating and re-imagining. There is a need to envision ourselves as more loving, interdependent, courageous and compassionate. Forgiveness requires honouring the sacred journey of learning about life - our life and others'.

"Whatever we have done, we can always make amends for it without ever looking back in guilt or sorrow."
-- Eknath Easwaran

*** Journey through the traps of ego into a life of meaning, purpose, joy and service. Make sense of your life, the world around you and your spiritual journey.

From Higher Awareness - used with permission

[MajestyJo]

GOD'S HOTEL



I checked you in again last night, my child,

Because it hurt me so bad to see you out there running wild.

All tired and sucked up you appeared to me

But put a mirror in front of you, and you can't even see;

That you are a number among the walking dead,

Sores all over your body, confusion in your head.

Jail is not the place you want to be

But it's my hotel, where I can work on thee you see.

You weren't just arrested, you were rescued from yourself.

I had to bring you back here, to put your habit on the shelf.

Give you some rest, some food, and some talk

Encourage you and love you, before I let you walk.

Don't be like a mule that's led around by a bit,

Just listen to your warnings, and I can help you quit.

This could be the last time you have to come into this place,

Just listen to me the Creator Of All with tears upon my face...

Original Source Unknown - posted on FB's Addict's Mom

[MajestyJo]

FILL UP YOUR TANK

"How do we keep our inner fire alive? Two things, at minimum, are needed: an ability to appreciate the positives in our life - and a commitment to action. Every day, it's important to ask and answer these questions: 'What's good in my life?' and 'What needs to be done?'"
-- Nathaniel Branden

I have found there's a very different quality to my action when it springs from a sense of abundance as opposed to a feeling of being impoverished.

When I sense I'm not good enough or that I don't have enough, I feel driven to be better and to have more. Whatever I do takes effort - there's an element of struggle involved. And this makes sense because there's no fuel - I'm working on an empty tank.

When I'm feeling abundant, I act out of my own inspiration. I'm rich and full and so the energy flows naturally. This action at times feels almost effortless.

It's important to remember that we don't need money to be abundant. All we need is appreciation of all that we have.

" ...what I focus on in life is what I get. And if I concentrate on how bad I am or how wrong I am or how inadequate I am, if I concentrate on what I can't do and how there's not enough time in which to do it, isn't that what I get every time? And when I think about how powerful I am, and when I think about what I have left to contribute, and when I think about the difference I can make on this planet, then that's what I get. You see, I recognize that it's not what happens to you; it's what you do about it."
-- W. Mitchell

*** Tackle your financial challenges holistically!

From Higher Awareness used with permission

[MajestyJo]

HARD WORK

"Work should be in order to live. We don't live in order to work. That shift in awareness is necessary."
-- Matthew Fox

What are your beliefs around work? Do you believe it's necessary to work hard to earn a living? No pain, no gain? Do you believe women's work is never done? That play is a waste of time?

While there are merits to the work ethic, over-work takes a serious toll on the quality of our lives. Our ability to contribute to life requires us to have a sense of balance, joy, playfulness, time to stop and smell the flowers.

"Learning to let go of the ways we inadvertently and unconsciously contribute to our own pain is the key to finding radiant physical and emotional health."
-- Ingrid Bacci

"To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious."
-- Samuel Butler

"The true object of all human life is play."
-- G.K. Chesterton

[MajestyJo]

Love -or- Hate

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life;
love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.”
- -Martin Luther King, Jr

In recovery, I have learned to not only love myself but like myself too. I may hate parts of me on any given day, but on the whole, I do love myself.

There are very few people in my life that I can honestly say that I hate. I may hate what they are doing, but don't hate them as a person. It helps to look at them as a child of God, and they are deserving of recovery even though they may choose not to go that route. All I can do is pray for them.

I know that my God loves me. I know He loves you too!

[MajestyJo]

Befriend yourself

"Self-contempt never inspires lasting change."
-- Jane R. Hirschmann & Carol H. Munter

The journey to know ourselves ideally brings us to self-understanding and acceptance. It is NOT a quest for self-improvement.

When we open to love and accept ourselves, no matter what, we allow our innate love, power and wisdom to emerge naturally.

"Who you really are is enough."
-- Oriah Mountain Dreamer

[MajestyJo]

Archangel Michael~

Oh beautiful splendor of love and light,
shine forth your essence of
joy to this world,
illuminating all darkness with your
divine presence of light.
For within you resides an inner
well of unfathomable joy,
unspeakable splendor,
unending love,
untouchable peace,
and unmovable truth so deep,
that nothing can penetrate
or even come close
to touching it's essence.~

[MajestyJo]

We are co-creators of our own universe. Often our thoughts are left unsaid and they end up stewed and boiling around in our head and they come out in ways that are better left unsaid or they are spewed out in anger and resentment.

What we can cook up in our own head can be astonishing, especially when we are using, any substance, not just food!

We try to manipulate, intellectualize, change things around so that they are of our own thinking and the way we want them to be, rather than the reality of what they are.

We often embellish by adding things on so they sound good, or we make them the way we think others would have us do, or we leave them unseasoned, and they come out uninteresting and totally blah! Or they are so hot and spicy, they aren't edible and something others don't want to partake of.

We often disguise them in a way, so that things are hidden and we are trying to get our own way and we don't want people to really know that they originated with someone else, rather than taking ownership for our actions and words.

We say things which we try to make good so we will be accepted, loved, affirmed and validated.

I think it is called being human. But with my Higher Power, I no longer have to listen to my Lower Power, and I can change for the good.

[MajestyJo]

This is a program of reflection. What we put out, we get back, not always from the same source.

I found myself in the rooms of recovery. I was told to take what I found there, apply it to my life and take it into my home and the community.

Sometimes when things get dark, I know there is a solution through the 12 Steps and Traditions of recovery. I recovered my relationship with my God, and no matter where He leads, I know He will see me through it.

Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

[MajestyJo]

I came across this little prayer, it really defines God in my life..and reminds me that God is always there..

I am with you

In the springtime of your life, when joy is new

And when summer brings the fullness of your faith
I am there with you

I am with you in the autumn of your years, to turn to gold

Every memory of yesterdays, to banish winter's cold.

I am with you in the sunshine, when your world glows warm and bright.

I am with you when life's shadows bring long hours of endless night.

I am with you every moment, every hour of every day..

Go in peace upon life's journey, for I am with you all the way.

Peace, Schell

God is there!

[MajestyJo]

Scriptures that offer encouragement in your daily life and provide inspiration and strength as you cope with life's challenges.

Psalm 119:50
My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.

Psalm 120:1
I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me.

[MajestyJo]

God called and said, Solitude is...

When we cease to fear loneliness
and begin to cherish and use our solitude to advantage,
we have come a long way.
We realize a little solitude is necessary
to think and to try to work some of the Steps.
In solitude, we take our inventories.
In solitude, we admit the exact nature of our wrongs.
In solitude, our spirits seek that Power greater than we are;
in solitude, we seek through prayer and meditation to be aware of God's will for us.

- Came To Believe . . ., p. 109

Grace is a wonderful quality of the Spirit. When it is manifested in our lives, it brings the energy that uplifts our vibrations and clears the inner barriers.

To be in a state of grace is to put into practice the certainty that if we knock the door will be opened, and if we ask it will he be given unto us.

[MajestyJo]

I cannot change the way I am,
I never really try,
God made me different and unique,
I never ask him why.
If I appear peculiar,
There's nothing I can do,
You must accept me as I am,
As I've accepted you.
God made a casting of each life,
Then threw the old away,
Each child is different from the rest,
Unlike as night from day.
So often we will criticize,
The things that others do,
But, do you know, they do not think,
The same as me and you.
So God in all his wisdom,
Who knows us all by name,
He didn't want us to be bored,
That's why we're not the same.

~Author unknown~

[MajestyJo]

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Along the road well travelled, there are many pity potholes.

Not sure about the rest of you, but this speaks to me from all directions. I think all members from whatever fellowship has been on a pity pot and often let it grow into a party, most times it is a party of one, although I have been where there have been two and three. Not a nice place, and not somewhere you want to stay long at, you say your hellos and then a quick goodbye if you are lucky. If you look at the other participants, you can see your reflection and you will not want any part of it, when you are alone, you tend to stay there longer.

When pity comes out, it is time for a gratitude list. As my sponsor said, "If you have one hand in the hand of your Higher Power and the other hand in the hand of a newcomer, you have no hands left to pick up. What are you doing, bring your Higher Power to the pity pot or did you leave Him behind? Mind you better the hole than the pot!

Many years ago, I got snowed in at work and couldn`t get home and a friend let me have a bed for the night. I had to go out and buy a few essentials and I was not a happy camper. On the third day, I went in to see my boss for a price check, and he said, `Go away, I don`t have time for that.` I told him that I needed it right away and not to give me a hard time, I wasn`t in a good mood because I had to wear the same clothes three days in a row. He replied, `That isn`t my fault. Get off the pity pot, you probably have one of those old out houses out back.` I said, `No, that was pushed over last Halloween.` He burst out laughing and gave me my price. He was very brisk and his bark was worse than his bite. You just couldn`t let him intimidate you.

When I think of pity pot, I think of the two-seater we had when I was growing up on the farm.