Tradition 11
www.recoverycartoons.com/html/trads2002/trad11.html

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*LAUGHTER Is HEALING*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The weekly meeting topic is:
How do you handle a sponsee who doesn't call regularly , doesn't work
on the steps , and shares with you what's going on in their life after
the fact (911 phone calls) but they do go to meetings and call you their
sponsor ? What is your part in your relationship with your sponsor ?

to share please visit
www.health.groups.yahoo.com/group/twelvestepsoulfood4thespirit/
or email
twelvestepsoulfood4thespirit@yahoogroups.com

This is a DIFFERENT Yahoo Club you MUST join this club in order to
participate otherwise your emails will bounce

Yahoo! Clubs Twelve Step Soul Food 4 the Spirit
www.health.groups.yahoo.com/group/twelvestepsoulfood4thespirit/

A Safe Place to Share , Discover and Recover.
This is a SLAMMING, STRONG support group with
a whole lot of EXPERIENCE, LOVE and HOPE that is available to you.
This a message bulletin board meeting, where people post on the
weekly topic. It takes only 1 minute to enter a password and
username. Please go this page on the upper right hand corner and click
the join club link, sign in and go to the left hand side and click
messages to read what others have shared and click on the post link,
now you can share on the topic of the week or whatever you would like.
There is a lot of good experience, strength and hope in here as well
as newcomers who need our support and love, PLEASE stop by,
we will leave the light on in the room and there is coffee in the
back :)
Thanks for your participation and support !!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Please Be There For The Newcomers*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

April 15
I will put aside all judgments and accept each
and every situation with openness and trust today.
Only then will I discover the joy that lies beyond my fear.
written by ~ Ruth Fishel
"Time for Joy"
Check out Ruth's collection of
light, nourishing and nurturing Books and Tapes
& some touching and embracing Greeting Cards
www.spirithaven.com
for inspirational messages email
spirithaven@...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Just for Today*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This Is My Story

all this hype about substance abuse
drugs and alcohol, a likely excuse
some people say i planned it that way
so life could be one big game to be played

lookin for love in all the wrong places
searchin out the most despirate faces
the pig at the bar stool next to mine at last call
to pick me up when i fall

waking up or coming to
to a whole new nightmare i have to get through
the car, where is it? did i even drive?
and who the hell is this smelly, fat guy???

my head is banging, my mouth is dry
i don't know how i don't just die
i welcome the idea as the only solution
for the nightmare i'm trapped in, this hopeless delusion

voices are ringing in my head
telling me i'm already dead
but my heart is still beating and my body wants drink
and i know i can still choose to swim or to sink

so i go to the faucet and quench my undying thirst
let me just spill some onto my fat, smelly friend first...
"whoooops, i'm sorry did i do that?
my hands are so shaky and you're just so fat"
so he leaves, must have been something i said
and i'm left to wonder if i'm better off dead
i can't stop this torture inside my head.

then one day i meet a guy, you see
who i think means something special to me
he's looking for a fun, a little honey
he's right up my alley; he's cute and has money.

we fall in love, head over heals,
and down the road he says how he feels
"you drink too much, it's got to stop"
it rings like an echo, in the words of my pop.

hadn't thought of my poppi in years
almost brought my heart to tears
to know i disappointed him
and now this man, whose hopes were dim

that was the start of a journey, you see
our dysfunctional love served a purpose for me
i stopped drinking and then somewhere along the way,
couldn't tell you the day,
i discovered a moment of sanity.
now on to step three...

realizing you can't change what you are
or your past for what it represents
but you must learn to let go and allow yourself
to open yourself to a new life experience
if you will drop your ego and pride
to admit you aren't your own hero
that everyone needs help sometimes
you might be surprised by what you find
there's a solution to every problem,
and a problem to every solution if you look at it that way
or you could just say....
there are no problems but only solutions
to circumstantial life events
so maybe it's not even in the event anymore
but what it represents
old tapes will play through my head
till the day i lay down with the dead
i have learned only to arrest them, detest them, molest them
just as they have done me
i treat them as poison and replace them, deface them;
i let my father set me free.....
Step Three.

i have told you my darkest secrets above
for which i'm no longer deeply ashamed
you're only as sick as your secrets
and you can be weller than the people you blamed
the parents, the system, the in-laws as well
because of them, your life was hell
forgive them you must, or you'll surely succomb
it's an inside job and it starts with the bum
take a real hard look at what you've become
is this what you want for yourself, for your daughter, your son?
now steps four and five are done.

now to step six and this one's a winner
you recognize that you're a sinner
with flaws in your make-up you can't use anymore
they try to keep you stuck in your past
rebellion, thinking you control what's in store
life has a way of proving it's force
so the pride has to be completely removed
total control in the hands of god
the devil will try to confuse you, of course
pulling you in like a fish on a rod
if you don't drop the pride and let go
commit to a way besides your own
then you're still running the show
holding the cards and keeping control
this is where i am today
still struggling to let go of the obstacles that stand in the way
recovered today
from alcohol
they say it's not was'm , but ism...
the "isms" for me are the character flaws
from the ghosts of ancient history
that keep me stuck in yesterday
and won't let me be free

that is where i'm at today
and so this poem has to end
i can only share what i know
i hope it spoke to you, my friend
it's worth the journey, look at me
10 years without a drink, I finally see
the solution lives with the problem
and the problem is centered in me.

Jodi S.
jes1239@...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Don't Use*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

If anyone has any original recovery poetry that they
would like to share with us please copy and paste it into the body
of an email and send it to me, Thanks for your support and
contributions.
What I can't do alone, We do together.
In loving service, Scott ~ YOUnMEnHP@...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*No Matter What*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Childrens Artwork
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-FQWlRA0odLMC0svu1ovT3Tc-?cq=1&p=454

Page 56* - Kevin's Story
www.anonymityone.com/story5.htm

Insanity
www.anonymityone.com/story62.htm

The Stone Cutter
www.storybin.com/sponsor/sponsor137.shtml

Comes A Dawn
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-FQWlRA0odLMC0svu1ovT3Tc-?cq=1&p=518

My Blog YOUnMEnHP Scott's Daily Blog
http://360.yahoo.com/younmenhp

Tommy D. GREAT MUSIC (one of my sponsees)
http://www.bluesbuddha.com/home.html

One Day At A Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9iIq3Tm44A

Recovery Gifts, Bracelets, T-Shirts, Mugs and other GREAT gifts
http://www.serenityquest.org/60.html

Spiritual Greeting Cards, Bookmarks & Spirit Stones
http://www.spirithaven.com/greeting_cards.htm

Ruth Fishel Books and Tapes
http://www.spirithaven.com/booksa.htm

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Make A Meeting*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Just For Today
April 15 Keep Coming Back

"We have come to enjoy living clean and want more of the good things
that the NA Fellowship holds for us." Basic Text p. 26

Can you remember a time when you looked at the addicts recovering in
NA and wondered, "If they aren't using drugs, what on earth do they
have to laugh about?" Did you believe that the fun stopped when the
using stopped? So many of us did; we were certain that we were leaving
the "good life" behind. Today, many of us can laugh at that
misconception
because we know how full our life in recovery can be.

Many of the things we enjoy so much in recovery are gained by actively
participating in the Fellowship of NA. We begin to find true
companionship, friends who understand and care about us just for
ourselves. We find a place where we can be useful to others. There are
recovery meetings, service activities, and fellowship gatherings to fill
our time and occupy our interests. The fellowship can be a mirror to
reflect back to us a more accurate image of who we are. We find
teachers, helpers, friends, love, care, and support. The fellowship
always has more to offer us, as long as we keep coming back.

Just for today: Just for today: I know where the "good life" is. I'll
keep coming back.

Just For Today Daily Meditation is the property of Narcotics Anonymous ©
1991 by World Service Office Inc.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Get Involved In Service*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

If you are enjoying this daily recovery email,
Please pass on 12 Step Soul Food For The Spirit to your online friends,
"We can only keep what we have by giving it away."
If you have received this as a forward
and would like to subscribe please email
me at YOUnMEnHP@...
Thanks, In loving service, Scott :)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Get A Sponsor*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Food For Thought Meditation
www.hazelden.org/web/go/thought_food

Each Day a New Beginning (Women) Meditation
www.hazelden.org/web/go/thought_eachday

Touchtones (Men) Meditation
www.hazelden.org/web/go/thought_touchstone

Meditation of the Day
http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/thought.view

Viking Thought of the Day
http://www.gorm.com/cgi-local/daily.pl

Elder's Meditation of the Day
http://www.whitebison.org/meditation/

Dr. Twerski's Sober Thought of the Day
www.gatewayrehab.org/April.html

Daily Zen
http://www.dailyzen.com/


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Use Your Sponsor*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Growing Up

The essence of all growth is a willingness to change for the better and
then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this
entails.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 115

Sometimes when I've become willing to do what I should have been
doing all along, I want praise and recognition. I don't realize that
the
more I'm willing to act differently, the more exciting my life is. The
more I am willing to help others, the more rewards I receive. That's
what practicing the principles means to me. Fun and benefits for me
are in the willingness to do the actions, not to get immediate results.
Being a little kinder, a little slower to anger, a little more loving
makes
my life better day by day.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
Daily Reflection In Loving Memory Of Scott Reeves

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Be A Sponsor*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Twenty-Four Hours A Day by Hazelden/ April 15th

A.A. Thought for the Day

Terrible things could have happened to any one of us. We
never will know what might have happened to us when we
were drunk. We usually thought: "That couldn't happen to
me." But any one of us could have killed somebody or have
been killed ourselves, if we were drunk enough. But fear of
these things never kept us from drinking. Do I believe that
in A.A. we have something more effective than fear?

Meditation for the Day

I must keep calm and unmoved in the vicissitudes of life. I
must go back into the silence of communion with God to recover
this calm when it is lost even for one moment. I will accomplish
more by this calmness than by all the activities of a long day.
At all cost I will keep calm. I can solve nothing when I am
agitated. I should keep away from things that are upsetting
emotionally. I should run on an even keel and not get tipped over
by emotional upsets. I should seek for things that are calm and
good and true and stick to those things.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may not argue nor contend, but merely state calmly
what I believe to be true. I pray that I may keep myself in that
state of calmness that comes from faith in God's purpose for
the world.

"Twenty-Four Hours A Day" is a © Copyrighted book of
Hazelden Foundation. No portion of this publication may
be reproduced in any manner without the written
permission of Hazelden.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Work The Steps*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Today's Thought
APRIL 15

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Melody Beattie ©

Communication

Part of owning our power is learning to communicate clearly,
directly, and assertively. We don't have to beat around the
bush in our conversations to control the reactions of others.
Guilt-producing comments only produce guilt. We don't have
to fix or take care of people with our words; we can't expect
others to take care of us with words either. We can settle for
being heard and accepted. And we can respectfully listen to
what others have to say.

Hinting at what we need doesn't work. Others can't read our
mind, and they're likely to resent our indirectness. The best
way to take responsibility for what we want is to ask for it
directly. And, we can insist on directness from others. If we
need to say no to a particular request, we can. If someone is
trying to control us through a conversation, we can refuse to
participate.

Acknowledging feelings such as disappointment or anger
directly, instead of making others guess at our feelings or
having our feelings come out in other ways, is part of
responsible communication. If we don't know what we want to
say, we can say that too.

We can ask for information and use words to forge a closer
connection, but we don't have to take people around the block
with our conversations. We don't have to listen to, or participate
in, nonsense. We can say what we want and stop when we're
done.

Today, I will communicate clearly and directly in my
conversations with others. I will strive to avoid manipulative,
indirect, or guilt producing statements. I can be tactful and
gentle whenever possible. And I can be assertive if necessary.

©1990, Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. No portion of this
publication may be reproduced in any manner without the written
permission of the publisher.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*You Are A Miracle*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Being Masterfully Human
www.inlightimes.com/archives/2002/04/aluna-joy.htm

The Wisdomgifting & Power Objects
www.lightworks.com/MonthlyAspectarian/1997/October/1097-16.html

Mindfullness and the Discovery of the Self
www.intouchmag.com/joanb3.html

Inspirational movie, about 3 minutes long
http://www.lightmovie.com/

Inspirational Spiritual Flash Movies
http://www.inspiringthots.net/m-all.htm

Has Anyone Told You
http://www.hasanyonetoldyou.com/

meditationroom
http://www.lime.com/meditation_room

The Secret
http://www.thesecret.tv

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Keep It Simple*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dogs Never Lie About Love
by Jeffrey Masson, Ph.D.

Few who have lived with dogs would deny that dogs have feelings.
Taking a cue from his great friend Darwin, who spoke of conscience in
the dog, George Romanes wrote that "the emotional life of the dog is
highly developed -- more highly, indeed, than that of any other
animal." (He did not include the human animal, though perhaps he
should have done so.) Of course dogs have feelings, and we have no
trouble acknowledging most of them. Joy, for example. Can anything be
as joyous as a dog? Bounding ahead, crashing into the bushes while out
on a walk, happy, happy, happy. Conversely, can anything be as
disappointed as a dog when you say, "No, we are not going for a walk"?
Down he flops onto the floor, his ears fall, he looks up, showing the
whites of his eyes, with a look of utter dejection. Pure joy, pure
disappointment.

But are this joy and disappointment identical to what humans mean when
we use these words? What dogs do, the way they behave, even the sounds
they make, seem instantaneously translatable into human emotional
terms. When a dog is rolling in fresh-cut grass, the pleasure on her
face is unmistakable. No one could be wrong in saying that what she is
feeling is akin to what any of us (though less often, perhaps) may
feel. The words used to describe the emotion may be wrong, our
vocabulary imprecise, the analogy imperfect, but there is also some
deep similarity that escapes nobody. My dog may appear to feel joy and
sorrow much the way I do, and the appearance here is critical: We
often have no more to go on when it comes to our fellow humans.

All dog caretakers (just another word for companion and friend) have
marveled at the exuberant greeting their dogs give them after a brief
absence. Sasha twirls around in delight, squealing and making
extraordinary sounds. What accounts for this display of unbounded
pleasure in our return? We tend to explain it by assuming a kind of
stupidity: The dog thought I was gone forever. Dogs, we say, have no
sense of time. As Robert Kirk of the Cornell Veterinary School once
put it to me, dogs don't watch the clock. Every minute is forever.
Everything is for good. Out means gone. In other words, when dogs do
not behave as we do, we assume it to be irrational behavior. Yet a
lover is entranced to see the beloved again after even a brief absence
-- and dogs are all about love.

Another explanation for dogs' delight in our return may be found in
the way in which puppies greet their mother. As soon as the mother
appears, the puppies crowd around her, eager to nurse or expecting her
to vomit food for them. Wolves have a greeting ceremony during which
they wag their tales, lick one another, and bite the muzzles of other
wolves. The pleasure of the puppies may be a vestige of this ceremony,
as John Paul Scott and J. L. Fuller suggest.

Soon after she joined the family, Sasha was sitting next to me one
evening as I worked on an early draft of this chapter. I had been
alone all day, working. There were just the two of us sitting in the
living room, and it was very quiet. I looked over at Sasha and noticed
that she was looking at me. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with the
thought: There is another being in this room, another consciousness.
There is somebody here besides me. What, though, was Sasha thinking?
Why did she suddenly glance up at me? Was she just checking to make
sure I was still there, that I had nothing else in mind? Or was it a
more complicated thought, one that was imbued (as many thoughts are)
with feelings -- affection, for example, or perhaps anxiety? She
looked so peaceful, lying there. Was she feeling something like
tranquillity? For certain Hindu philosophers, tranquillity is the
master emotion, the one that underlies all others -- it has been so
fascinating to me that it was the subject of my Ph.D. thesis at
Harvard. Perhaps I was merely projecting my own feelings on to Sasha.
It is hard to know.

As Sasha sat quietly next to me, looking contented, every so often
sighing with what appeared to be contentment, I wondered what she was
actually feeling. How I would love to be her for just one moment, to
feel what she was feeling. I have had this desire, more than once,
with people, too. Does one ever know what another human being is
actually feeling? It may be no harder to find out the truth about
feelings in dogs than it is in people.

The question of how we know what we feel, let alone what somebody else
feels, is beset with difficulties. Speaking to other people, we often
use shorthand: "I feel sad" or "I feel happy." But more often than not
what we feel is an emotional state for which there are no precise
verbal equivalents. Think of how we restrict ourselves with language.
"I'm depressed," we say. Yet that is only the vaguest hint of a more
complex set of feelings. It is probably the same for dogs; their joy
is at least as complicated (in the sense that we are not always
certain of its components; perhaps memory of earlier pleasure plays a
role and perhaps it is entirely bound to the moment) and hard to define.

While it is clear that we can learn a great deal about dogs from
observing their behavior in terms of purely external actions, I think
it is time to recognize that we could understand much more from
observing how dogs feel. Moreover, we could learn something about our
own feelings as well. For in the realm of feelings we can have no
sense of superiority. After a lifetime of affectionate regard for dogs
and many years of close observation and reflection, I have reached the
conclusion that dogs feel more than I do (I am not prepared to speak
for other people). They feel more, and they feel more purely and more
intensely. By comparison the human emotional landscape seems murky
with subterfuge and ambivalence and emotional deception, intentional
or not. In searching for why we are so inhibited compared with dogs,
perhaps we can learn to be as direct, as honest, as straightforward,
and especially as intense in our feelings as dogs are.
Dogs Bite Their Enemies

Freud remarked on the fact that "dogs love their friends and bite
their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and
always have to mix love and hate in their object relations." In other
words, dogs are without the ambivalence with which humans seem cursed.
We love, we hate, often the same person, on the same day, maybe even
at the same time. This is unthinkable in dogs, whether because, as
some people believe, they lack the complexity or, as I believe, they
are less confused about what they feel. It is as if once a dog loves
you, he loves you always, no matter what you do, no matter what
happens, no matter how much time goes by. Dogs have a prodigious
memory for people they have known. Perhaps this is because they
associate people with the love they felt for them, and they derive
pleasure from remembering this love.
Doggie Love is Forever

Sasha is possessed by my two small kittens, Raj and Saj. The minute
she sees these two tiny fur dots, she goes into hyper-alert mode. She
begins to whine and to moan and to groan. She looks at me with a
pleading look, as if I hold the key to helping her get what she so
badly wants. She sniffs them. She follows them from room to room,
whining piteously. The first night they were here, Sasha never slept
at all. She lay on the floor next to their cage, crossed her feet
daintily, and observed them all through the night. When I let them
out, she gently put her paw on them. The cats were a little
dumbfounded by the whole thing, and especially at what Sasha took to
doing by the second week: She would pick one up in her mighty jaws,
taking great care not to harm him, carry him into another room,
deposit him somewhere, and then head off to find the other one to do
the same. Seeing her carrying these little orange dots from room to
room was as puzzling for me as it was evidently for the cats. Soon,
however, they wanted to play. One of the cats rolled over and reached
out with her little paw. Yet their interest in Sasha is mild compared
to hers in them. There can be no mistaking the intensity of her
interest in these kittens. The nature of this interest is another
matter.

What does she want? Could it be that a maternal instinct has been
awakened and Sasha wants to act as a mother to the kittens? Does she
really think they are her puppies, and want to bring them into a den?
Or is her interest predatory, in that she wants to eat them and is
torn between her desire to listen to me ("Do not eat the kittens!")
and her instincts as a predator telling her that a kitten makes a good
meal? Is she merely curious, wondering if these small beings are some
odd kind of puppy? Maybe she is just herding them; she is after all a
shepherd.

None of these explanations is entirely satisfactory. If it were a
mothering instinct at work, she would behave similarly to rabbits,
say, or geese, moaning when she sees them (instead of chasing them).
Moreover, Sasha has had no pups. I doubt that she wants to eat them; I
can barely persuade her to eat a piece of steak. Nor is she stupid;
she knows the difference between a dog and a cat. If she were herding
the kittens, she would not pick them up in her mouth, nor moan and
groan with some inexpressible need or feeling. The truth is that I
don't know why she's so drawn to them, and nobody else knows either.
It would be so much simpler if only we could ask, "Sasha, why are you
so interested in these small fur balls?" "Simple, just look at how
adorable they are!" Or "They look so small and helpless, I want to
protect them." Or even "Beats me." Whatever the behavior means, it is
clear that Sasha is filled with feeling for these little kittens. It
is clear because she moans and groans and follows them from room to
room, and cocks her head and looks puzzled and intrigued. That is why
I say she is possessed. She wants something from them, she feels
something for them, and she seems to want to express those feelings.

It is hard to empathize with her because humans generally do not walk
behind kittens sighing and groaning. There does not seem to be an
equivalent for us. Perhaps, then, Sasha is demonstrating to me one of
my "pet theories": As well as the emotions animals and humans have in
common, animals can also access emotions that humans do not share,
ones different from those we know, because animals are other; they are
not the same as human beings. Their senses, their experiences, open
them to a totally different (or new) set of feelings of which we know
little or nothing. That a whole world of canine feelings remains
closed to us is an intriguing notion. Some of these feelings could be
based on the dog's sensory capacities. According to one early
authority, a dog can smell 100 million times better than we do. But
even if the true figure is significantly less, the fact remains that
when Sasha puts her nose to the ground, she becomes aware of a world
about which I can only make guesses. Similarly, when Sasha cocks her
ears, she hears sounds of which I am altogether unaware.
Dogs are a Social Animal

In the case of Sasha's interest in the kittens, we are dealing not
with a question of superior (or inferior) sensory capacities but
something else, something social. We like to assume that dogs and
humans are social in very similar ways, and that therefore humans are
uniquely qualified to understand whatever emotions a dog may have
based on belonging (like us) to a pack. We, too, have deep interests
in one another's social lives and the web of interrelations
interdependence creates. We assume this is why dogs are able to
understand us so well, and appear to empathize with humans from their
own direct experience.

Perhaps they are so often right about human emotions because their
social world is similar to ours. We are not similar to cats in the
same way, and cats are not all that good at understanding us. We do
not expect the same kind of sympathy from our cat as we do from our
dog. A cat the size of a lion would be an animal we would approach
with some hesitation. No matter what size, however, most of us would
accept a reliable dog as being reliable. The German ethologist P.
Leyhausen, an expert on the cat family, makes the point that nobody
chose to domesticate the cat; it chose domestication itself, while
nevertheless maintaining its independent nature. He believes that the
cat is domestic, but not domesticated.

The German scholar Eberhard Trumler suggests that it was not wolves
who joined the human fold but the opposite. He pointed out that
wolves, phylogenetically older than us and superbly equipped for
hunting, had no need of human help. Men, on the other hand, derive
from plant-eating ancestors and are not nearly as well equipped for
hunting as are wolves. In order to eat, wolves scarcely need us at
all, but we could benefit from the help of wolves. It may well be that
human groups followed wolf packs, waited until they had brought down a
kill, then chased the wolves away. Indian wolves are often chased away
from their kills by wild pigs, and the same could have been true of
early humans and wolves.

The naturalist and writer Jared Diamond points out that the large
mammals were all domesticated between 8000 and 2500 b.c. Domestication
began with the dog, then moved to sheep, goats, and pigs, and ended
with Arabian and Bactrian camels and water buffalos. He believes that
since 2500 b.c. there have been no significant additions. Why this is
so is a question that has never been answered.

Although other animals have been domesticated -- primarily the cat,
the horse, certain birds, rabbits, cattle -- no other animal (wild,
tame, or domesticated) carries such meaning for humans as the dog. We
feel strongly about such nondomesticated animals as wolves, elephants,
and dolphins (all of which can be tamed but over whose reproductive
life we exercise little control), but our direct interactions with
them are much more restricted. By raising all these domesticated
animals over centuries, we have altered their genetic makeup to make
them conform to our desires. We control their reproductive functions
and breed them to suit our needs, just as we control their territory
and food supply. Juliet Clutton-Brock, an expert on domestication,
believes, as Darwin did, that only humans benefit from the
association. She quotes Darwin to the effect that "as the will of man
thus comes into play we can understand how it is that domestic races
of animals and cultivated races of plants often exhibit an abnormal
character, as compared with natural species; they have been modified
not for their own benefit, but for that of man."

Michael Fox, a dog expert and Humane Society vice president (in charge
of bioethics and farm animal protection), points out that rapid
maturation, disease resistance, high fertility, and longevity, all of
which we foster in domesticated animals, would in nature produce
overabundance of certain species, which would cause a shift in the
ecological balance (and possibly the extinction of other species).
Many of these domesticated animals, even when they appear to be semi-
wild, are dependent on humans and require considerable attention. Even
hardy hill sheep still need to be dipped, wormed, and given
supplementary winter feed.

Even among domesticated animals, the dog stands out as perhaps the
only fully domesticated species. Goats are domesticated, and can be
tame, but they rarely make intimate companions. Pigs probably could,
if given half a chance. H. Hediger, the director of the Zoological
Gardens of Zurich, writes that the dog, basically a domesticated wolf,
was the first creature with which humans formed intimate bonds that
were intense on both sides. According to Hediger, no other animal
stands in such intimate psychological union with us; only the dog
seems capable of reading our thoughts and "reacting to our faintest
changes of expression or mood." German dog trainers use the term
Gefühlsinn (a feeling for feelings) to talk about the fact that a dog
can sense our moods.
Dogs and Emotions

Voltaire, who knew about the emotions of dogs, used the example of a
lost dog to refute the thesis of Descartes that dogs are merely
machines, incapable of any kind of suffering. He responded to
Descartes in his Dictionnaire philosophique with:

Judge this dog who has lost his master, who has searched for him
with mournful cries in every path, who comes home agitated, restless,
who runs up and down the stairs, who goes from room to room, who at
last finds his beloved master in his study, and shows him his joy by
the tenderness of cries, by his leaps, by his caresses. Barbarians
seize this dog who so prodigiously surpasses man in friendship. They
nail him to a table and dissect him alive to show you the mesenteric
veins. You discover in him all the same organs of feeling that you
possess. Answer me, mechanist, has nature arranged all the springs of
feeling in this animal in order that he should not feel? Does he have
nerves to be impassive?

The reason why humans and dogs have such an intense relationship is
that there is a mutual ability to understand one another's emotional
responses. The joie de vivre of a dog may be greater than our own, but
it is immediately recognizable as a feeling that we humans enjoy as
well. The closeness between dogs and people is taken for granted and,
at the same time, seen as something immensely mysterious. Naturally I
feel close to my dogs, but who are these dogs? They are Sima, Sasha,
and Rani, of course, that much is simple and obvious. Yet I will often
look at them lying in my study as I work and be overwhelmed with a
sense of otherness. Just who are these beings lying here, so close to
me, and yet also so remote? They are easily grasped, and they are
unfathomable. I know them as well as I know my closest friend, and yet
I have no idea who they are.

Jeffrey Masson has a Ph.D. in Sanskrit from Harvard University and
graduated from the Toronto Psychoanalytic Institute. He was briefly
projects director at the Sigmund Freud Archives; the documents he
found there on Freud's approach to child abuse created a major
controversy in psychoanalysis. He has written more than a dozen books,
including most recently the national bestseller When Elephants Weep:
The Emotional Lives of Animals (with Susan McCarthy). Visit his
website at www.jeffreymasson.com.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*One Day At A Time*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Story of Creation
by William Mistele

And seven mighty cosmic angels, Lords of Creation, stood
before the throne of God.

And God spoke and said: "What part will each of you play in
fulfilling my Will to create the universe?"

And the first angel spoke and said: "I shall create the sky
and the stars that Light might shine forth. Thereby a trace
of Your Glory and Joy shall echo throughout the universe till
the end of time."

And the second angel said: "I shall create the worlds and
planets separating liquid from earth so that Order might
prevail out of chaos. Mountains and seas, hills and streams,
volcanoes and trees, clouds flowing, lightning striking - these
shall I call into being that the firmament might bear witness
to the notes with which Your Voice sings."

And the third angel said: "I shall bring forth Life upon these
worlds and planets. All manner of creatures I shall design that
Life might come to know itself as each gazes into the other's
eyes."

And the fourth angel said: "I shall grant these creature
Intelligence so that thought and choice might arise. There by
living creatures shall guide and refine Nature itself into its
quintessence."

And the fifth angel said: "I shall place dreams of what can be
within both matter and living beings. Thereby ideals shall take
root and be born even in the darkest place so that planets,
stars, and creatures shall walk on paths which lead to Ecstasy."

And the sixth angel said: "I shall place within the minds of living
beings a mirror so clear the stars, planets, and galaxies shall be
reflected therein to perfection. In this way, they shall attain the
enlightened mind."

The seventh angel waited a moment, meditating quietly to herself
on what within God's Will was still left undone. She then came forth
and stood before all the others. She said, speaking both to the
other angels and to God: "I shall create Love and hearts deep
enough to hold the entire universe within themselves. Thereby, in
the fullness of time, living beings shall unite all creatures, planets,
stars, and angelic powers into One Song - Love and Beauty joined.
Then and only then will Your Will to create the universe be done."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*First Things First*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and
fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so
that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone,
and as we let our own light shine,
we consciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON

Our Deepest fear
www.goodworksonearth.org/nelsonmandela2.html

Our deepest fear, Marianne Williamson, (Nelson …
www.skdesigns.com/internet/articles/quotes/williamson.html

Marianne Williamson's prayer used in Nelson Mandela's speech…
www.the-reflectory.com/mw_fear.html

Deepest Fear
www.geocities.com/Heartland/9290/DeepestFear.htm

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Easy Does It*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS

We come into these rooms admitting defeat
thru the pain of addiction, we truly earned our seat
we really found a home when we found N.A.
and we were told we could live life, "Just For Today"

Addicts in Recovery told us where they'd been
they told us we never have to use again
and just when we found it difficult to cope
they shared with us their "Experience, Strength and Hope"

They said to fill the emptiness deep within our soul
we must learn to surrender & give up control
And honor a God that only we need comprehend
to be honest & willing to trust in a friend

They introduced the "12 Steps" they hold so dear
they said that if we worked them we'd have "nothing to fear"
that they'd help us learn to live life clean
and help us clear the wreckage, make amends & feel serene

They they taught us "12 Traditions" to live them everyday
which showed us to treat others in a kind & loving way
they suggested doing service, so we'd finally know
that carrying the message can only help us grow

There's still so many addicts out there in the rain
Stuck in their addiction, stuck in their pain
Only we can help them when they're ready to see
That Narcotics Anonymous can truly set them free

Randi7258@...
Miami Beach, Florida

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Live And Let Live*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Process

Complete chaos
Confusion blankets my brain
Ideas
Half-formed
Bombard my being
Unasked questions
Remain unanswerable
Truth is deceitful
Deception, truth
Delusions of grandeur
Short-lived
Feelings of failure
Constant
Loneliness above all else

You reach in
Handing me hope
Answer my questions
Without a word
Give me steps
Lead the way
Brighter tomorrow
Feeling new
In recovery
Friends emerge

Karen S
sngnrnbwwmn@...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Keep The Focus On You*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

One SONG can spark a moment
One FLOWER can wake the dream
One TREE can start a forest
One BIRD can herald spring
One SMILE begins a friendship
One HANDCLASP lifts a soul
One STAR can guide a ship at sea
One WORD can frame the goal
One VOTE can change a nation
One SUNBEAM lights a room
One CANDLE wipes out darkness
One LAUGH will conquer gloom
One STEP must start each journey
One WORD must start a prayer
One HOPE will raise our spirits
One TOUCH can show you care
One VOICE can speak with wisdom
One HEART can know what is true
One LIFE can make a difference
You see, it is up to YOU.

Author Unknown

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Let God and Let Go*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Don't ask God to send you a brilliant career,
but rather ask Him to show you the brilliance within you,
It is the recognition of our brilliance that releases it into
expression.
Marianne Williamson

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Come*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

People shop for a bathing suit with more care
than they do a husband or wife.
The rules are the same.
Look for something you'll feel comfortable wearing.
Allow for room to grow.
Erma Bombeck

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Come To*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I recently read this line:
"If you ever think you are too small to be effective,
then you have never been in bed with a mosquito."
There are times we forget who we are, what we're made of,
or we struggle to know the purpose for which we've been born.
That's why it's so important to build support into our lives,
with prayer groups or Master Mind partners.
We are not too small to make a difference in the world.
By infusing each day with practices that help us remember this truth,
we can begin and continue to do the work we have been sent here to do.
Mary Manin Morrissey

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Come To Believe*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The wise man in the storm prays to God,
not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear.
It is the storm within that endangers him,
not the storm without.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Look For The Beauty*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Many are called
and few choose to listen.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Today Is A Gift*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Move a muscle,
change a thought.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Keep Stepping*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The answers don't come before the question.
Ask the question.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Stay In The Light*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We can disagree without being disagreeable.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Take A Moment To GIVE (NO COST)*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

FREE Rice
http://www.freerice.com/

Click to GIVE @ the STOP HIV Site
http://www.thestophivsite.com/

Click to GIVE @ the Hunger Site
http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1

Click to GIVE @ the Breast Cancer Site
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2

Click to GIVE @ the Rain Forest Site
http://www.therainforestsite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=4

Click to GIVE @ the Animal Rescue Site
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3

Track Your Impact in GIVING
http://www.care2.com/click2donate/

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*One Promise, Many Gifts*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Adult Children of Alcoholics
www.AdultChildren.org

Al-Anon/Alateen
www.al-anon.org

Alcoholics Anonymous
www.alcoholics-anonymous.org

Alcoholics Anonymous Deaf and Hard of Hearing
www.dhh12s.com/access.htm

Artists Recovering through the Twelve Steps
www.artsanonymous.org

Clutterer’s Anonymous
www.clutterersanonymous.net

Cocaine Anonymous World Services
www.ca.org

Co-Dependents Anonymous Home Page
www.codependents.org

Crystal Meth Anonymous
www.crystalmeth.org

Criminal and Gangs Anonymous
www.angelfire.com/id/CGAnonymous

Debtors Anonymous: A Twelve Step Fellowship for…
www.debtorsanonymous.org

Depressed Anonymous
www.depressedanon.com

Dual Recovery Anonymous - a 12 Step program
www.draonline.org

Eating Disorders Anonymous
www.eatingdisordersanonymous.org

Emotions Anonymous
www.emotionsanonymous.org

Families Anonymous
www.familiesanonymous.org

Gamblers Anonymous Official Home Page
www.gamblersanonymous.org

Hepatitis C Anonymous
www.hcvanonymous.com

HIV Anonymous
www.hivanonymous.com

The Marijuana Anonymous
www.marijuana-anonymous.org

Methadone Anonymous
www.afirmfwc.org/methanon.htm

Narcotics Anonymous Official Homepage
www.na.org

Earth Group N.A. online meetings
www.earthgroupna.org

Nar-Anon is a family support group
www.naranon.com

Nicotine Anonymous (WWW Home Page) NA Home Page
www.nicotine-anonymous.org

Overeaters Anonymous
www.oa.org

Parents Anonymous
www.parentsanonymous.org/paIndex1.htm

Rape Survivors Anonymous
www.rsaws.org

Recovering Couples Anonymous
www.recovering-couples.org

Sexaholics Anonymous
www.sa.org

Sex Addicts Anonymous
www.saa-recovery.org

Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous
www.slaafws.org/

Shoplifters Anonymous
www.shopliftersanonymous.org

Spenders Anonymous
www.spenders.org/home.html

Suicide Anonymous
www.geocities.com/samemphis

Survivors Of Incest Anonymous
www.siawso.org

Workaholics Anonymous
www.workaholics-anonymous.org

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*@¿@*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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YOUnMEnHP@...

== == "we are each of us angels
<^\()/\()/^> with but one wing,
\/ \/ \/ and can only fly by
/ \/ \ embracing each other"
`""``""`

Scott’s Daily Blog
http://360.yahoo.com/younmenhp
http://younmenhp.multiply.com/

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