Pause For Thought

[MajestyJo]

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

The Twelve Steps: One to Three: Clear up; Four to Nine: Clean up; Ten to Twelve: Contact up. These are also called the Foundation Steps, the Action Steps, and the Maintenance Steps respectively. Are you looking for something easier?

The easier, softer way is the Twelve Steps.

This could have gone under the Steps, but I am thinking back to when I came into recovery. I was one of the really sick ones. All I was capable of doing was go to meetings, go to meetings, go to meetings. What I did do, was go to Step meetings and Big Book meetings and discussion meetings where the Steps and Traditions were discussed and well as topics like acceptance, patience, tolerance, surrender, honesty, willingness, all the things, I need to learn about staying sober.

I had this big empty void that needed to be filled. I filled it up with meetings and people of recovery. Every meeting was a deposit in my insurance account and as a dear woman shared many years ago, one day when I can no longer go to meetings, I will be able to reap the dividends. Today, I am reaping the dividends of going to 2 meetings a day for 2 years.

They say 90 meetings in 90 days. That is the easy softer way. What are you suppose to do then. Are you suppose to be cured and fixed. I don't think so, you aren't even detoxed. In 90 days, you shouldn't be past the first step to my way of thinking, but then most people don't think the way I do. Most people's 4th Step is a 1st Step in disguise. I did my 1st 4th when I was two years sober.

These Steps aren't there to play lip service and say, there I'm done. Know what you do? You start again!

Someone said, "You must not have been honest." I was as honest as I was capable of being. For the most part, I didn't remember nothing, it was all a blank and a lot of things took years to come up. Maybe that is because I am old, but it was the way it was. I was honest to the best of my ability. As I grew in the program and as I healed, my perception changed, and I was able to get more honest and see things from a different reality and from a broader sense that before.

The easier softer way is to push it under the carpet and say that happened then, this is now, I can't change it, forget it. If you don't heal, if you don't deal with it, what took you to the bottle and to the drugs, will take you back out. A proven fact, many times over, especially those who have never done a 4th & 5th Step.

You only get out of it what you put into it.

Posted in July 2012. It is still true in today.

Dream big, all things are possible when our God is at the helm.

[MajestyJo]

Thoughts for the Day
Tuesday, July 15, 2014

“For every negative experience that enters our lives,
there is always something to learn
and a way to grow from it.
Identify the lesson learned.
Recognize how you have grown from it
and then be thankful for the experience.
It is from our difficult experiences
that we learn and grow the most.
You can allow yourself to let go of the anger,
resentment, and negative emotions
that are attached to that individual or situation.”
Sonia Ricotti

"Unlike any other creature on this planet,
humans can learn and understand, without having experienced.
They can think themselves into other people’s places.”
J.K. Rowling

Harvard commencement address
"A mistake is an opportunity to learn but,
an opportunity to learn
doesn't necessarily have to be a mistake."
Anonymous

[MajestyJo]

Thoughts for the Day
Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Smile.
Have you ever noticed how easily puppies make human friends?
Yet all they do is wag their tails and fall over.
Walter Anderson
It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown.
Author Unknown

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.”
William Arthur Ward

“If in our daily life we can smile,
if we can be peaceful and happy,
not only we, but everyone will profit from it.
This is the most basic kind of peace work.”
Nhat Hanh

[MajestyJo]

Thoughts for the Day
Thursday, July 17, 2014

“To free us from the expectations of others,
to give us back to ourselves –
there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.”
Joan Didion

"Respect your fellow human beings,
treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly,
enjoy their friendship,
explore your thoughts about one another candidly,
work together for a common goal
and help one another achieve it."
Bill Bradley

"There is overwhelming evidence
that the higher the level of self–esteem,
the more likely one will be to treat others
with respect, kindness, and generosity."
Nathaniel Branden

[MajestyJo]

Thoughts for the Day
Friday, July 18, 2014

"Violence is an admission
that one's ideas and goals cannot prevail on their own merits."
Edward Kennedy

"Violence is not power, but the absence of power."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.”
Dalai Lama XIV

[MajestyJo]

Thoughts for the Day
Saturday, July 19, 2014

“Today I wish you a day of ordinary miracles ~
A fresh pot of coffee you didn't make yourself….
An unexpected phone call from an old friend….
Green stoplights on your way to work….
The fastest line at the grocery store….
A good sing-along song on the radio…
Your keys found right where you left them.”
Julia M. Chambers

“All change is a miracle to contemplate;
but it is a miracle which is taking place every second.”
Henry David Thoreau

“You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one.
Each day is a different one,
each day brings a miracle of its own.
It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.”
Paulo Coelho

[MajestyJo]

Thoughts for the Day
Sunday, July 20, 2014

"The true Southern watermelon is a boon apart,
and not to be mentioned with commoner things.
It is chief of this world's luxuries,
king by the grace of God
over all the fruits of the earth.
When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat.
It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took;
we know it because she repented."
Mark Twain

[MajestyJo]

Thoughts for the Day
Monday, July 21, 2014

“You can’t just write and write and put things in a drawer.
They wither without the warm sun of someone else’s appreciation.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it
is like wrapping a present and not giving it."
William Arthur Ward

“Don't forget,
a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.”
H. Jackson Brown Jr.,
Life's Little Instruction Book:
511 Suggestions, Observations, and Reminders
on How to Live a Happy and Rewarding Life

[MajestyJo]

In The Valleys I Grow



Sometimes life seems hard to bear,
Full of sorrow, trouble and woe
It's then I have to remember
That it's in the valleys I grow.
If I always stayed on the mountain top
And never experienced pain,
I would never appreciate God's love
And would be living in vain.
I have so much to learn
And my growth is very slow,
Sometimes I need the mountain tops,
But it's in the valleys I grow.
I do not always understand
Why things happen as they do,
But I am very sure of one thing.
My Lord will see me through.
My little valleys are nothing
When I picture Christ on the cross
He went through the valley of death;
His victory was Satan's loss.
Forgive me Lord, for complaining
When I'm feeling so very low.
Just give me a gentle reminder
That it's in the valleys I grow.
Continue to strengthen me, Lord
And use my life each day
To share your love with others
And help them find their way.
Thank you for valleys, Lord
For this one thing I know
The mountain tops are glorious
But it's in the valleys I grow!
Have a blessed day!
REMEMBER...
The shortest distance between a problem and a solution
is the distance between your knees and the floor.
The one who kneels to the Lord,
can stand up to anything.

~ Jane Eggleston ~

[MajestyJo]

Life is Beautiful



You can't quit until you try
You can't live until you die
You can't learn to tell the truth
Until you learn to lie

You can't breathe until you choke
You gotta laugh when you're the joke
There's nothing like a funeral to make you feel alive

Just open your eyes
Just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful.
Will you swear on your life,
That no one will cry at my funeral?

I know some things that you don't
I've done things that you won't
There's nothing like a trail of blood
to find your way back home

I was waiting for my hearse
What came next was so much worse
It took a funeral to make me feel alive

Just open your eyes
Just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful.
Will you swear on your life,
That no one will cry at my funeral?

Just open your eyes
Just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful.
Will you swear on your life,
That no one will cry at my funeral?

Just open your eyes
Just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful.
Will you swear on your life,
That no one will cry at my funeral?

Just open your eyes
Just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful.
Will you swear on your life,
That no one will cry at my funeral?


...song by Sixx A. M.

I needed to read this and thought to share it with you. A sign for me that my God leads me to where I need to be and what I need to see.

The Hawk is the messenger according to Jamie Sams.

http://www.whats-your-sign.com/symbo...k-meaning.html

[MajestyJo]

How aware are you? Here is another tip on "getting control" from Higher Awareness.

The shocking fact is that most of us are unconscious of 80% of what we do, think and say. WE'RE NOT AWARE of our defenses, our emotional reactions, our beliefs and deep-seated habits. Of our fears, negative self-talk and judgments.

Why is this so important? Because THESE UNCONSCIOUS FORCES ARE
RUNNING OUR LIVES! When we're not aware, we stay stuck in patterns that limit our ability to enjoy life. In fact, we stay stuck in patterns that cause us pain. Without awareness, we don't know how to think, create, love and reap the bounty of our world.

If you want to gain more control in your life, you will need to cultivate greater awareness. It's the MOST POWERFUL RESOURCE we have to effect change.

To be aware, we must STOP AND PAY ATTENTION. We must pull back our perspective to impartially observe what we are doing, feeling and thinking and what is going on around us. This detachment allows us to recognize our automatic patterns and reactions. And new insights let us break free of our patterns and defences. This allows us to choose something different for ourselves, if we want.

If we are unconscious, our future is created from our past, through patterns in our subconscious. If we are aware and conscious, our future is created anew in each moment.

Do you want to go through life on auto-pilot, letting old tapes dictate how you act? Or do you want to truly live life by clearly seeing the choices before you, and claiming your power to choose what you most want? It's up to you.

"To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe." -- Marilyn vos Savant

From Higher Awareness - used with permission

=======================================

As I have grown in recovery I have found that there have been stages where I seemed to get a shot of awareness, and I have to look at things, and do something about them. If I don't then I become uncomfortable in my own skin, and I can end up substituting other "things" and start looking for something or someone outside of myself to make me feel better.

For me, my conscious contact with my Higher Power is a connection I can not afford to lose or even slacken even a little bit. My disease is cunning, baffling and powerful and it just seems to be waiting for that moment that it can sneak back into my life. I don't have to physically pick up to have a relapse.

[MajestyJo]

Some times I can be caught up in things and I can't see my nose from my face as my father told me many years.

He said,"The house could burn down and you wouldn't be aware when you have your nose in a book." In today, I try to put the book down to check out on what is going on, I no longer have to finish it before I set it down. My books are not a priority, but they are good when your feet are swollen and you have trouble getting around.

I think that books are the reason that I took an adult mature student test and graded 13+. I also started playing bridge to keep my mind active so I could exercise my mind and keep it busy, they say it is good to think. Unfortunately for me, when I turn on the TV I want to be entertained and informed, I don't want to have to think about I am watching and wait until next week to see what happens, not built that way.

When I don't know, I pray for clarity and new awareness.

[MajestyJo]

"It takes time to grow into freedom. We have time yet.

- Anne Wilson Schaef

This covers a lot of ground. My freedom as a woman, who no longer lives her life through other people, who is not afraid to be her 'own' person is the biggest freedom I have gained in recovery.

I hear freedom from active addiction, and for the most part that is true, but that is the reason for the second statement. I may be free from my drug of choice, but I am always vulnerable about other substance coming into my life and want to take over." So I have to work on my freedom daily, to allow myself freedom from the bondage of self and the nature of my disease.

I never had a concept of "just one" in my life! I had no understanding of "one day at a time", which frees me from the mistakes and cares of yesterday, release of me from the self-imposed obligation of looking at tomorrow (because I have have is the past to base my projections on), which allows me to live in today free to enjoy life in the moment, in God's care with love and faith, instead of my manipulations, guilt, and fear.

There is no price high enough to give up my freedom of today.

Posted in 2004

Could have written it in today.

[MajestyJo]

Willingness

from: "A Late Start"

"Small miracles keep offering new opportunities just when I need change and growth. New friends have shown me hidden truths in those sayings that I once found so shallow. The lessons of tolerance and acceptance have taught me to look beyond exterior appearances to find the help and wisdom so often lurking beneath the surface. All my sobriety and growth, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, are dependent upon my willingness to listen, understand, and change."

© 2001, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 542

Am I willing to make changes in my life today?

Am I willing to make plans for a new beginning for 2015?

Am I willing to let go of 2014 so I can have that new beginning in the year ahead?

What garbage do I need to let go of in today, so that I don't take it into the tomorrows of a new year?

Are you willing to accept the gifts of recovery by working the Step into your life and become willing to be free of the bondage of self and active addiction one day at a time.

I received an e-mail from a friend which said, why do good people get problems to deal with. It said, "To make them better people."

Not sure I agree with this. Often we are as a result of choices made, also our willingness to do what we need to do has a big part of it also.

Many people say God challenges us, but in truth, I think we challenge God.

I wrote him back and said, "Good people get challenged to bring them to a closer God-consciousness, and awareness. If they are challenged it doesn't mean they are a "bad" and perhaps they have a lesson to learn or their God wants to bring them closer to Him/Her/It.

Many times I have asked, "Are you sure about this? This isn't funny! Only to respond with, "Okay, so it is!" My HP seems to have more faith in me than I have in myself.

By showing that faith, my faith in Him/Her/It has grown and no matter where I am led, I know that any challenge that is presented to me will be overcome.

When I surrender, I was empowered to do what I needed to do for myself.

This was posted in 2004 on another site, I changed it to the present.

[MajestyJo]

I grew up in the fifties with practical parents -- a Mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it. She was the original recycle queen, before they had a name for it...

Father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, dishtowel in the other.

It was the time for fixing things -- a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep.

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy.

All that re-fixing, reheating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.

But then my Mother died, and on that clear summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any 'more.'

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return.

So...while we have it...it's best we love it.....and care for it.....and fix it when it's broken.....and heal it when it's sick.

This is true.....for marriage.....and old cars.....and children with bad report cards.....and dogs with bad hips.....and aging parents.....and grandparents.

We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Some things we keep.

Like a best friend that moved away -- or -- a classmate we grew up with.

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special.....and so, we keep them close!

I received this from someone who thought I was a 'keeper'! Then I sent it to the people I think of in the same way. Now it's your turn to send this to those people that are "keepers" in your life.

I love pansies, I call them pretty ladies. On the internet it was called heart ease. They have always been a keeper in my life, along with butterflies.

http://healing.about.com/od/animaltotems/tp/insects.htm