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Pamela7030
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800 Posts |
 Posted - 08/15/2008 : 09:26:44 AM
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I was driven to my knees by alcohol/drugs and I learned to stay on my knees in prayer. I do read your "Thoughts For The Day", Tim. They help me and I know they help you too. What I write in these posts, helps me a whole lot. Today, I am a grateful alcoholic/addict.
Pam |
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Pamela7030
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800 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2008 : 09:35:49 AM
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August 15............................Recovery And Relapse(Chapter Seven, Continued)
Basic Text, P's. 79 through 81
We come here powerless, and the power that we seek comes to us through other people in Narcotics Anonymous, but we must reach out for it. Now clean and in the Fellowship, we need to keep ourselves surrounded by others who know us well. We need each other. Narcotics Anonymous is a Fellowship of survival, and one of its advantages is that it places us in intimate, regular contact with the very people who can best understand and help us in our recovery. Good ideas and good intentions do not help if we fail to put them into action. Reaching out is the beginning of the struggle that will set us free. It will break down the walls that imprison us. A symptom of our disease is alienation, and honest sharing will free us to recover.
We are grateful that we were made so welcome at meetings that we felt comfortable. Without staying clean and coming to those meetings, we would surely have a rougher time with the steps. Any use of drugs will interrupt the process of recovery.
We all find that the feeling we get from helping others motivates us to do better in our own lives. If we are hurting, and most of us do from time to time, we learn to ask for help. We find that pain shared is pain lessened. Members of the Fellowship are willing to help a relapser recover and have insight and useful suggestions to offer when asked. Recovery found in Narcotics Anonymous must come from within, and no one stays clean for anyone but themselves.
In our disease, we are dealing with a destructive, violent power greater than ourselves that can lead to relapse. If we have relapsed, it is important to keep in mind that we must get back to meetings as soon as possible. Otherwise, we may have only months, days or hours before we reach a threshold where we are gone beyond recall. Our disease is so cunning that it can get us into impossible situations. When it does, we come back to the program if we can, while we can. Once we use, we are under the control of our disease.
We can never fully recover, no matter how long we stay clean. Complacency is the enemy of members with substantial clean time. If we remain complacent for long, the recovery process ceases. The disease will manifest apparent symptoms in us. Denial returns, along with obsession and compulsion. Guilt, remorse, fear, and pride may become unbearable Soon we reach a place where our backs are against the wall. Denial and the First Step conflict in our minds. If we let the obsession of using overcome us, we are doomed. Only a complete and total acceptance of the First Step can save us. We must totally surrender ourselves to the program.
The first thing to do is to stay clean. This makes the other stages of recovery possible. As long as we stay clean, no matter what, we have the greatest possible advantage over our disease. For this we are grateful.
Many of us get clean in a protected environment, such as a rehabilitation center or recovery house. When we re-enter the world, we feel lost, confused and vulnerable. Going to meetings as often as possible will reduce the shock of change. Meetings provide a safe place to share with others. We begin to live the program; we learn to apply spiritual principles in our lives. We must use what we learn or we will lose it in a relapse.
Many of us would have had nowhere else to go, if we could not have trusted N.A. groups and members. At first, we were both captivated and intimidated by the fellowship. No longer comfortable with our using friends, we were not yet at home in the meetings. We began to lose our fear through the experience of sharing. The more we shared, the more our fears slipped away. We shared for this reason. Growth means change. Spiritual maintenance means ongoing recovery. Isolation is dangerous to spiritual growth.
From the Basic Text of Narcotis Anonymous, Fifth Edition,
Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc., Chatsworth, California
(I will continue this chapter in my next post)
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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Edited by - Pamela7030 on 08/15/2008 09:37:03 AM |
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Pamela7030
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800 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2008 : 05:33:06 AM
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August 16............................Recovery And Relapse(Chapter Seven, Continued)
Basic Text, P's. 81 through 83
Those of us who find the Fellowship and begin to live the steps develop relationships with others. As we grow, we learn to overcome the tendency to run and hide from ourselves and our feelings. Being honest about our feelings helps others to identify with us. We find that when we communicate honestly, we reach others. Honesty takes practice, and none of us claims to be perfect. When we feel trapped or pressured, it takes great spiritual and emotional strength to be honest. Sharing with others keeps us from feeling isolated and alone. This process is a creative action of the spirit.
When we work the program, we are living the steps daily. This gives us experience in applying spiritual principles. The experience that we gain with time helps our ongoing recovery. We must use what we learn or we will lose it, no matter how long we have been clean. Eventually we are shown that we must get honest, or we will use again. We pray for willingness and humility and finally get honest about our mistaken judgments or bad decisions. We tell those we have harmed that we were to blame and make whatever amends are necessary. Now we are in the solution again. We are working the program. It becomes easier to work the program now. We know that the steps help prevent relapse.
Relapsers may also fall into another trap. We may doubt that we can stop using and stay clean. We can never stay clean on our own. Frustrated, we cry, “I cannot do it!” We beat ourselves as we come back into the program. We imagine that our fellow members will not respect the courage it takes to come back. We have learned the utmost respect for that type of courage. We applaud heartily. It is not shameful to relapse -- the shame is in not coming back. We must smash the illusion that we can do it alone.
Another type of relapse happens when being clean is not the top priority. Staying clean must always come first. At times, we all experience difficulty in our recovery. Emotional lapses result when we don’t practice what we have learned. Those who make it through these times show a courage not their own. After coming through one of these periods, we can readily agree that it is always darkest before the dawn. Once we get through a difficult time clean, we are given a tool of recovery that we can use again and again.
If we relapse, we may feel guilt and embarrassment. Our relapse is embarrassing, but we cannot save our face and our ass at the same time. We find that it is best to get back on the program as soon as possible. It is better to swallow our pride than to die or to go permanently insane.
As long as we maintain an attitude of thankfulness for being clean, we find it is easier to remain clean. The best way to express gratitude is by carrying the message of our experience, strength and hope to the still-suffering addict. We are ready to work with any suffering addict.
Living the program on a daily basis provides many valuable experiences. If we are plagued by an obsession to use, experience has taught us to call a fellow recovering addict and get to a meeting.
Using addicts are self-centered, angry, frightened and lonely people. In recovery, we experience spiritual growth. While using, we were dishonest, self-seeking and often institutionalized. The program allows us to become responsible and productive members of society.
As we begin to function in society, our creative freedom helps us sort our priorities and do the basic things first. Daily practice of our Twelve Step Program enables us to change from what we were to people guided by a Higher Power. With the help of our sponsor or spiritual advisor, gradually we learn to trust and depend on our Higher Power.
From the Basic Text of Narcotics Anonymous, Fifth Edition,
Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc., Chatsworth, California
(End of Chapter Seven)
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2008 : 08:55:05 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
August 16, 2008
Understanding
When I walked into the friendly atmosphere of my first AA meeting,
I knew I was where I belonged.
Here were people who had thought and felt as I had.
Here was the understanding I'd been searching for all my life.
These people were my friends, and I felt their sincere interest in me.
With these new and enlightening doors opening up to me,
I was able to make the eventual decision to stop drinking, a day at a time
-- because I, too, was an alcoholic.
And with this came the only real freedom, the freedom of truth.
© 2003 AAWS, Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 315
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Truth is to inner space what sunshine is to a garden.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Always Awesome.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2008 : 09:46:07 AM
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August 17...........................90 Meetins in 90 Days
Go to 90 meetings in 90 days. If you're not satisfied, we'll gladly refund your misery."
I'll never forget how crazy I was when I was new. My poor sponsor had to listen to my endless rants, my objections to his suggestions, and all my 'better ideas'. Worst of all, he put up with my constant doubts about whether the program would actually work for me. And that's when he told me to give it 90 days and if it didn't work, he would gladly refund my misery.
I thought he was just being a smart aleck when he said that, and I became determined to prove him wrong. So I did what he told me to do - I got a home group, took commitments, worked the first three steps, and I went to a meeting every day for 90 days. At the end of all that I was amazed that I not only felt better, but my life was improving as well.
When I next asked him how long I'd have to go before I could drink and use again, he smiled and said, "Why don't you try the program for 12 months and if you don't like it, we'll gladly refund your misery". While I balked at the thought of staying sober for a whole year, I secretly imagined toasting my anniversary with a glass of champagne. Nine months later when I took my one year cake, I looked at my sponsor and told him I didn't want my misery back.
And that's when he told me I never had to go back to that way of life again, as long as I kept working my program, one day at a time...
From the Web Site "Wisdom Of The Rooms"
wisdomoftherooms.com
We don't have to take a drink/drug today. Just For Today! Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow! Live in today!
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2008 : 1:07:02 PM
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AA Thought for the Day
August 17, 2008
Emotional Sobriety
If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small,
we will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency
and its consequent unhealthy demand.
Let us, with God's help, continually surrender these hobbling demands.
Then we can be set free to live and love; we may then be able
to Twelfth Step ourselves and others into emotional sobriety. . .
Nowadays my brain no longer races compulsively in either elation,
grandiosity, or depression.
I have been given a quiet place in bright sunshine.
- Bill W., January 1958
© 1998 The AA Grapevine, The Language of the Heart, p. 238
Thought to Ponder . . .
The peaks and valleys of my life have become gentle rolling hills.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Keep It Simple, Surrender.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2008 : 11:30:37 AM
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August 18
"Recovery is the only place where you can walk into a room full of strangers and reminisce."
When I began going to meetings, I remember how uncomfortable it was being around so many people that I didn't know. As soon as they found out I was new, many of them came up to me and gave me their phone numbers, asked me how I was doing, and wanted to know all kinds of things I that didn't want to tell them. It was all pretty overwhelming.
As I sat and listened to people's shares, I was pretty sure I didn't belong because I hadn't done half the stuff I was hearing. That's when my sponsor told me I hadn't done them 'yet'. He asked me if I identified with the other half, and I admitted I could. He suggested I looked for the ways I was the same, rather than the ways I was different.
It's amazing how that little piece of advice has changed my life. Now, no matter what part of the world I'm in, I can always find a part of myself in the strangers I meet in the rooms of recovery. Even if I don't know you personally, I know I can identify with many of your experiences and with the way you feel and think.
This is what allows strangers like us to start reminiscing the first time we ever meet.
From the web site Wisdom of The Rooms
www.theWisdomoftheRooms.com
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2008 : 09:48:34 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
August 19, 2008
Honesty
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path.
Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not
give themselves to this simple program,
usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable
of being honest with themselves.
There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault.
They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living
which demands rigorous honesty.
There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders,
but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
© 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 58
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Honesty isn't an event ... it's a process.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2008 : 10:16:02 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
August 20, 2008
Unity
It has always been the hope of democratic nations that their citizens
would always be enlightened enough, moral enough, and responsible enough
to manage their own affairs through chosen representatives.
But in many self-governing countries we are now seeing the inroads of ignorance,
apathy, and power-seeking upon democratic systems. . .
Happily for us, there seems little prospect of such a calamity in AA.
The life of each individual and of each group is built around our Twelve Steps
and Twelve Traditions.
We very well know that the penalty for extensive disobedience to those principles
is death for the individual and dissolution for the group.
- Bill W., 1962
© 1962 AAWS, Twelve Concepts for World Service [26th printing 1997], p. 8
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
There is no strength without unity.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Alcoholics Anonymous Recovery Unity Service.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2008 : 08:50:58 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
August 21, 2008
Gratitude
It took several years, but I learned to be grateful for my alcoholism,
and the program of recovery it forced me into,
for all the things that had happened to me and for me,
for a life today that transcends and far exceeds anything I had previously known.
I could not have that today if I had not experienced all the yesterdays. . .
Adversity truly introduces us to ourselves.
But we never need deal with our adversities alone
as long as we can find another alcoholic in a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous.
© 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 529-530
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
I have learned how a heart full of gratitude feels.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Always Awesome.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/22/2008 : 08:32:22 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
August 22, 2008
Instant Magic
Whenever I start climbing the walls for some reason
-- usually because I'm unable to have things my way, like the behavior of my boss,
my son's attitude, or even my country's politics --
I have an instant cure.
I close my eyes and visualize one of the many moments
of past horror and humiliation, waking up in the street,
begging a stranger for money, talking my way into buying a bottle on credit,
or (worst of all) trying to convince a doctor to hospitalize me
because I had nowhere to go.
This and the Serenity Prayer always work instant magic.
© 2000 The AA Grapevine, Inc., AA Around the World, p. 33
Thought to Ponder . . .
Serenity isn't freedom from the storm; it is peace within the storm.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Pray Until Something Happens.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2008 : 09:27:15 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
August 24, 2008
Fictitious Thinking
There are a lot of people who don't like the weakness that is implied
in that word "surrender." . . .
People like to think they are strong characters
who can take care of their own destinies.
That is always fictitious thinking.
Everybody in this world is some kind of weakling, and if he thinks he is not,
then pride is his weakness, and that is the greatest weakness of all.
© 1985 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p. 266
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
It's never too late to be what you might have been.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Keep It Simple, Surrender.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2008 : 09:41:03 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
August 25, 2008
Habits
Our drinking was connected with 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 have found we needed new habits
to take the place of those old ones. . .
After we spent a few months practicing these new, sober habits
or ways of acting and thinking, they become almost second nature to most of us,
as drinking used to be.
Not drinking has become natural and easy, not a long, dreary struggle.
© 1998 AAWS, Living Sober, p. 1
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Habits are like cork or lead -- they tend to keep you up or hold you down.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Behavior, Attitude, Thinking, Habits.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2008 : 09:17:55 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
August 26, 2008
No Reservations
We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again:
"Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic."
Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety,
we are in a short time as bad as ever.
If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind,
nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol.
© 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 33
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
If you want to quit drinking, you are going to have to quit drinking.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Staying Off Booze, Recovery Is Everything To You.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2008 : 07:35:53 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
August 27, 2008
Building a New Life
I was allowing others to control my sense of well-being and behavior.
I came to understand that the behavior, opinions, and thoughts of others
were none of my business.
The only business I was to be concerned with was my own!
I asked my Higher Power to remove from me
everything that stood in the way of my usefulness to Him and others,
and to help me build a new life.
© 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 468
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Who we are is not dependent upon someone else's opinion.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
C A R D S
Call your sponsor,
Ask for help from your Higher Power,
Read the Big Book,
Do the Twelve Steps,
Stay active in your group.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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