Sharing and Caring

[MajestyJo]

Being diabetic, I not only have to look at the sugar and the calories, I have to check the label for chemicals and additives that are not good for me, especially artificial sugar. Diabetic Clinic said it was okay to drink diet cola, and yet health clinics and personal say it is a No! No!

Healthy choices can be as simple as going to bed instead of staying up on the computer. Going for a walk, even if it is down the hall and back. Eating my meals on time, taking my medication on time (difficult with me because of my sleeping disorder) i.e. If I slept 2-4 hours in the afternoon, there is no purpose taking my night medication at 11 p.m., pick up the phone and call your sponsor and if she is not available, then call someone else. Make that personal connection.

Recovery is making healthy choices. Just for today, I choose not to use any mind altering substance to stuff or take me away from who my God would have me be in today.

I choose to laugh and enjoy recovery. I have been given a second chance at life. It is a real gift, why sit in doom and gloom, when you can choose to change you and your attitude.

[MajestyJo]

Coming To Grips With Fear

I did not like to admit it while I was still drinking, but I can now see that fear played a big part in my alcoholism. There were times I dove into the bottle because I was afraid, and this only had the effect of creating more situations that caused more fear. We have feared being confronted by bill collectors, for example, and then got drunk and created more debt. We'd feared getting fired, and by getting drunk we made it happen.

Fear, for me, doesn't go away just because I'm not drinking now. So I thought a good topic would be "coming to grips with fear". In sobriety, how can I cope with fear in ways that make it work for me rather that against me?

When the topic of fear comes up, someone will point out that fear is necessary to help us get out of the way of an oncoming truck. But, we're talking here about the kind of fear that freezes us in our tracks when we see the truck coming.

The truck, of course, is any threat or big problem in our lives. We have all kinds of them in different forms, and if we're going to be sober and happy, we have to deal with them.

"How do you come to grips with fear?"
We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into the fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed. ~Alcoholic Anonymous Pg. 25

Posted in 2009

c. It is easier to say "Let go and let God" than it is to actually do it.

One thing that helped me was not to compare the past with today. Before when I was using, I had to faith and my life was consumed by fear. They say there is no room for faith and fear in the same place and yet there are healthy fears, like picking up will kill me, so it isn't an option.

I have asked for the healing and a lot of the old fears have gone away. i.e. thunder storms, walking over grates and bridges, putting the wrong foot forward or saying the wrong thing.

What comes to mind is " Feel the fear and do it anyway." What God has brought me to, He will see me through."

Fear is a feeling like any other. It is alright to be afraid. My strength and courage today comes from my Higher Power. I just have to remember to take Him with me. Just because certain things happened in the past, doesn't mean it will repeat itself in today. Today is a different case scenario if I stay sober, spiritual connected, and live in the moment and not project my fears into the future, onto others, or use them to beat myself up.

Love the acronyms. Face everything and recovery. Fear everything and run. False evidence appearing real.

We are never alone.

[MajestyJo]

Easy Does It

Not what we would, but what we must, makes up the sum of living. - Richard Henry Stoddard

"We must do the things we must" is frequent advice in the Program. Each Step is evidence of what our founders did in order to achieve abstinence and keep it going with serenity and security. All of the "musts" implied in the Steps and frequently mentioned throughout the Big Book are also spiritual. We will find the importance of "must" in the favorite quotes from that book.

The Steps aren't based on the theory of "thou shalt not." They are based on the theory that "thou shall." That's why we say "there are no musts" in our Program.

Fortunately, those Twelve Steps we work require positive action. They tell us what we can do in order that each of us can live a joyous, happy, and free existence.

"Must" appears many times in the Big Book, along with a few "absolutes. " This doesn't refer to my requirements for working the Program. It just lets me concentrate on what I can do, not on what I can't.

-------------------------------------------------------

This reminds me of a friend who use to say to me, "The program is suggested." My response was, "They may be suggestions, but there are some darn well betters, or you will go back to where you came from."

1) Go to Meetings
2) Call your sponsor
3) Read the literature
4) Find a Higher Power
5) Work the Steps
6) Learn what the Traditions mean and apply them to your life.
7) Find a Group
8) Get active and do service in your Group
9) Share at meetings and greet newcomers.
10) Finish working the Steps
11) Build a relationship with your Higher Power
12) Build a relationship with Yourself.

If you have one hand in the hand of a newcomer and the other hand in the hand of your Higher Power, you won't have any hands left to pick up.

[MajestyJo]

ACCEPTING

Samuel Thadeus Short

“God speaks to all individuals through what happens to them moment by moment.” — J. P. DECAUSSADE

What if we were to open ourselves peacefully and trustingly to accepting good rather than pugnaciously trying to coerce life into responding to us? What if we came to life with our palms out and raised upward rather than greeting it with a double fist? We would develop a consciousness of acceptance of good which is immense and would unfold into every area of our existence.

Such a consciousness of this sort invites the natural wholeness of God to enrich us at every turn. We discover that the atom of God is always flowing through our thoughts and through our deeds.

We can come to know and trust this action to support our good at all times. As we accept only good for ourselves we do the same for all other life forms as well. The perfect manifestation of God comes through us.

The Antesian Road To Enlightenment
antesianroadtoenlightenment-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

EXPANDING CONSCIOUSNESS

When I read this, one thought came to mind. When I get out of the way, God works through me. When I am willing to be a channel of His Blessing, I live my life in today, that when I surrender that direction is there and it is my acceptance and acknowledgement of that good orderly direction, which determines how smoothly my day goes, how well equipped I am to hand today on life's terms, and accepting that God knows what is good for me, more so than my own narrow minded concepts and outlook at myself and others.

So many times I have been grateful that God doesn't think like I do, but I am sure He has thought that He is very grateful His thinking isn't based on my thoughts.

Today He is companion and friend. I have been known to question His actions, yet I have found that He has much more acceptance of me than I have had of Him over the years.

Written in 2011

Every day is about acceptance. I don't have to like it, but I need to find that acceptance if I want to heal and grow.

Lack of acceptance as always caused me pain, depending on how long I fight it. I have to accept my pain, accept the source (lack of acceptance), and accept that I have pray for the willingness to be willing to accept.

[MajestyJo]

Give yourself permission to see the goodness in you. I can still have problems with this. I think I have a preconceived idea of how I should look. Perhaps it is a illusion, and perhaps something I aspire to and yet haven't reached my goal. Be it my weight, my personality, my communication skills, and my all round physical appearance.

I have always had a problem with swollen ankles. When my ankles are swollen, I think fat and ugly. It has an origin that goes back about 40 years.

Sometimes I can see that face and I am happy with her. Most days I feel complete and whole, prior to this last bout of swelling and medication and difference of opinion with my doctor. He keeps saying it is a good pill. I think it is a bad pill because it does more than work on the physical it tears down my mental and emotional well being.

This was something I posted in 2010. It maybe posted somewhere else on the board.

I still have to remember to look in the mirror and make things right with me and my God. I watched Sharon Stone share on OWN tonight. She carried a great message. Being yourself is enough.

[MajestyJo]

IF YOU CAN'T GO TO A BEAUTIFUL PLACE, PICTURE IT IN YOUR HEAD. GO TO A PLACE YOU HAVE BEEN OR A PLACE YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO BACK TO.

It is so important to feel safe. A place we can go to, be it in body, mind, and/or spirit.

For me, my favourite was a beaver pond (pure Canadian), surrounded by tall green, green grass, birch trees and a meadow filled with a bouquet of wild flowers. Some may call them weeds and look down on them, but they are a part of the Creator's creations.

We all get what we need, as the saying goes, "Just enough light to show us how to work the Step we are on."

It is a fearless inventory. Find faith in your God, His Creation, and blessing bestowed on us, when we walk with HIm.

The God of my understanding, was always there, I just had a misunderstanding. I had listen to old tapes, listed to people who I thought was in the know, after all who was I to know, especially when everyone called me stupid, dumb, and not worthy of expressing my thoughts.

My safe place in today is with my God. I can make new places, but where ever I am at in the moment will do.

IF YOU CAN'T FIND IT IN ONE PLACE GO TO ANOTHER!

[tara2recover]

Thanks

[MajestyJo]

This may be a duplicate and posted elsewhere.

How do you get started quitting your drug of choice.

We do this one day at a time. Asking for help is the 1st Step.
I was living at the YWCA and talked to my social worker there and through her counselling got into a treatment center. I detox by myself in my room at the Y, I didn't know that there was such a thing as a detox center and that I didn't have to do it alone. It was those five days of hell that I remember when I think of picking up. I never wanted to go through them again. When I got into treatment, I found 12 Step programs and have been going to them since then. That was in August 1991 and I haven't found it necessary to pick up since, yet it is a one day at a time, things like my computer, food, and other things will sneak into my life and I had to recognize them for what they were.. I had tried my way for eight years before that, I could stop, but couldn't stay stopped.

Just keep coming, reading the posts here. There is a lot of good material posted here. If you feel like sharing, press reply and share your thoughts and questions to that post. If you don't find anything to answer your questions, click on NEW THREAD and a new window will open up and you can share your thoughts there. Each has a separate section, but it doesn't matter where it is, it is more important that you share what is important for your recovery.

I am an addict, an alcoholic, an adult child of an alcoholic, and my drug of choice was always 'more' and it doesn't matter where I post I qualify. I have an eating disorder, my son is a self-admitted addict, and I have been known to get carried away with Nevada Tickets.

For many years, I blamed my husband and my father for my drinking. My husband I kicked out and my father passed away as a result of his disease, and I was alone and I was still drinking and taking prescription medication (dried up alcohol). When I hit my bottom, I was alone. No one was around for me to blame and I had to look at myself. I use to say, "If you can't beat 'em join 'em." It got so bad I had to be drunk to be around my husband. I couldn't accept life, and drinking was my coping tool. It stopped working for me and what had been my friend became my enemy. My disease increased, I kept having to have more and my pill addiction increased. I finally got to a stage where I was sick and tired of being tired and sick. I surrendered and reach out and asked for help. I was 49. Hopefully you won't have to continue drinking as long as I did. For me to drink is to die, I chose to live.

One of the reasons I got involved in service was to give back what was given to me. They said "If I didn't give my recovery away, I wouldn't keep it." This is a selfish program and your recovery comes first. I think it is about balance. It is important to have a life outside of the rooms. That is one of the reasons for recovery, to get a life and start living it and being a part of the word around us.

You can not help those who are willing to work a program. I have let go of several sponsee by saying, "If you aren't willing to work an AA program, I can't be an AA sponsor." I couldn't do it for them, all I could do was carry the message, and what they did with it was none of my business. In Al-Anon, they call it detachment. We don't give advice, tell them what to do, just share our experience, strength and hope.

A lot of the whiners made me grateful that wasn't were I was at. If you aren't enjoying recovery, what are you doing wrong? Have you done the Steps? Do you have a sponsor?

I found that my way wasn't always the right way for someone else, it was about what was good for me and my recovery. I took a little from one, none from another, and a lot from others. I was very involved for the first ten years of my life and then due to health issues, I couldn't go out there and do and the internet has been a way for me to do service in today.

Posted in part in 2006

[MajestyJo]

LIFE IS FOR LIVING ON LIFE'S TERMS. LIFE DOESN'T GET BETTER, I DO!



FIND LOVE IN UNEXPECTED SOURCES!



HOPE THERE AREN'T TOO MANY HARD KNOCKS!



REWARD YOURSELF! MAKE HEALTHY CHOICES!



HOPE IT IS A HOOT!



ASK FOR WHAT YOU NEED!



DON'T BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW! THIS IS A ONE DAY AT A TIME PROGRAM.



LOVE THE SKIN YOUR IN!



MAY YOU BE ABLE TO HANDLE EVERYTHING THAT IS DISHED UP TO YOU!



BEFORE YOU KNOW IT -- TIME WILL BE GONE AND YOU WON'T KNOW WHERE IT WENT!

[MajestyJo]

What can I 'do' differently today in order to 'feel' better?

"If you do what you always did-you'll get what you always got"

"Nothing changes, if nothing changes"

My first thought was "Get back to basics." Call my sponsor, go to a meeting, read my literature, apply the slogans, take time for meditation, pray and take the time to listen for the answers.

If I am having a bad day it is generally because I have slacked off on one or all of the above.

One of the things I did today was stay off the computer for a few hours.

What helps me is to get out of the house and go for a walk. It is important that I get exercise and not isolate in my apartment.

When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I had to look at my eating habits. They had improved because I had made an attempt at eating healthy. Fresh food and not eating out of a box or a can. Very little frozen food unless my energies were low and I was unable to cook.

One of the healthy things I started doing was to eat breakfast. Then I was told at the clinic to eat smaller meals and eat more often.

I started reading labels and looking for the hidden sugars, colouring, fats and chemicals.

As my chiropractor says, "A healthy mind makes for a healthy body." He has said, "I have never met anyone who is as tune with their body as you are."

Finding acceptance, is the key to my recovery today. When I sit and do a lot of wishful thinking, should have and could haves, I stay in the problem and stay stuck. Life is full of challenges, they are something I can overcome. Problems I can stay stuck in and when I don't find that acceptance, I have problems moving out of the situation.

Just came to see what I had posted and found a grammar error. I had written there for their. The Ms. Perfect in me was horrified. I am so glad we can modify our posts and change them. There has always been a part of me that 'needed' things to be just so! It was something I had to learn to accept and yet I think it is important, for me, what I say reflects on me. I wouldn't want people to think I didn't care and that is how I perceive changing what it says in the Big Book a couple of pages after the paragraph on acceptance.

People were judging me by my actions and I was judging me by my intentions.

Written in 2010

What I need to do in today is to remember that I know and tap into the sources and apply them to my life.

[MajestyJo]

Fact

from: "A Vision for You"

"Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us."


© 2001, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 164

Over the years I have found that there are some darn well betters. If you don't follow the suggestion, you just mind find yourself back in active addiction and you are questioning why?

The suggestions are go to meetings, and when you are tired of going to meetings, go to more meetings. It is suggested that you do 90 and 90, but I have heard several people say,"I can't get by without 3 meetings a week. I was one of the sick ones, when I got to 90 and 90, I continued going because I was so empty, I needed filling up.

It is suggested that you get a sponsor. Even if you get a temporay sponsor until you find someone you can identify with and feel comfortable sharing with. It is suggested that you get a sponsor who is the same sex as you, because you don't want a bunch of sponsettes running around. If you are gay, it is suggested that you get someone who is opposite your sexual preference.

It is nice when you grow together, but there were times when I out grew my sponsor, they were happy with where they where,and I either needed more or I had to move into an opposite direction, and we could no longer identify and have the same bond.

It is suggested that you get a home group. A place you feel safe and comfortable sharing with the people in the room. You may not identify with all, but we are all on the same path, the road to recovery.

It is suggested that you work the Steps. When you get to Step 12, start again at Step 1, because if you didn't jump over any, you will have grown and will have new awareness and able to be more honest when you go over the Steps. You work the Steps long enough that you can live them.

It is suggested you get active in service. This really helped my self-esteem. Others went before me and showed me the way. Others before them showed them the way so they could pass recovery on to me. It only seemed right that I do service and pay forward what was given to me.

They say if you don't have it, you will lose it. That is my sobriety they are talking about. My disease is mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical and I have to work the Steps on all levels.

Sobriety I was told by my sponsor, means "Soundness of Mind." That is something I have to work on daily.

THE TWELVE STEPS OF EMOTIONS ANONYMOUS


1. We admitted we were powerless over our emotions-that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision o turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The Twelve Promises of Emotions Anonymous


1. We realize a new freedom and happiness.
2. We do not regret the past or wish to shut the door on it.
3. We comprehend the word Serenity, and we know peace of mind.
4. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we see how our experience can benefit others.
5. The feelings of uselessness and self-pity lessen.
6. We have less concern about self and gain interest in others.
7. Self-seeking slips away.
8. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life changes.
9. Our relationships with other people improve.
10. We intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
11. We acquire feeling of security within ourselves.
12. We realize that God is doing for us what we could not do ourselves.

These may seem like extravagant promises, but we think not. They are being fulfilled among us, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.

[MajestyJo]

Down with the letter "I"
I say,
Up with the letter "U",
Down with the phrase
"Let's not bother",
And up with the phrase
"Let's do!"

- Anne Kreer

Hope everyone has a good day! God Bless!

[MajestyJo]

Some days you just have to laugh or you just might finding yourself crying, because something has become the last straw, that broke the camels back; or it is the last block that makes the pile of 'stuff' come crashing down.

I was upset at myself for not turning on the alarm after I set it. I was not happy about missing Jeopardy because it is the first day of the Championship Tournament, hoping I won't miss the one tomorrow, which is the final.

I went to turn on some music and my TV just shut down, with a flash of light. I turned it back on and the music channels and sport channels were not available. More sob, sob, pity, pity, pity me. My first thought was "I will miss the 1:30 a.m. tennis." I forgot about it and in the silence, I have been doing some posting, but made a lot of errors, typing, spelling, and thinking. I turned the TV on at 1:45 a.m. and tennis was on and our Canadian player Raonic is playing and winning at the moment. Something to soothe the savage beast, and make me feel all better.

That is discounting the prayer and meditation I did before I started posting, something I always do, and when I got honest, "I wasn't giving God the credit." Why should I not believe it was of God's making. 1) My TV isn't broken. 2) I didn't miss my tennis and next week, they will show part of the dancing I missed this week, and 3) Things came together in spite of me.

To Him I give the thanks and the glory. Life just is, it is how I handle it. I am grateful that when I forget to pray and ask for help, that I am reminded that I haven't connected to my Higher Power, because everything starts to go wrong.

When I got home, I didn't allow time to process my treatment at the Holistic Center. It was working on my body, but I forgot to do more than give a quick thanks, almost like an after thought, until I realized how well the treatment was and how good I felt when I woke up. Again, it isn't about Tony or myself, It is about God working through us, using each of us as a channel, helping each other. I like to say, "It is a prayer, a connection between my God and Yours, as to how much you receive and willing to accept." If you shut down you will not receive, especially if you don't believe in the Source, you will not received the help you need.

Hawk:

There are many different varieties of hawks. Common traits they share are a keen eyesight, superb hunting ability, and impressive flight patterns. As a totem the hawk is representative of soaring to higher states of awareness and vision. You can expect communications with spirit to open up more fully whenever hawk visits.

http://healing.about.com/od/animalto...llery/Hawk.htm

[MajestyJo]

Relax and have fun. Life is for living. We have been given a second chance at life, why not enjoy it. Show some gratitude. Gratitude is an action word. Be there for others, as others were there for you.

If you are not enjoying sobriety, what are you doing wrong?

[MajestyJo]

THE CLIMB MAY BE DIFFICULT AT TIMES; BUT IT IS WORTH THE EFFORT. THE LESSON IS THERE IF WE LOOK FOR IT.

EACH DAY IS MADE UP OF CHOICES. HOPE YOURS ARE HEALTHY ONES.

WE ARE NOT ALONE, LET THE GOD OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE SPIRIT FOUND IN THE ROOMS OF RECOVERY, GUIDE YOU ON THE ROAD OF RECOVERY.