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#40306 From: "Archie" <aais10to12@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:22 am
Subject: A thought about God
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God wants to live in our hearts, not just meet us in a sanctuary.

 

Pray continuously.

 

THE PEARLS

 

Jenny was a bright-eyed, pretty five-year-old girl. One day when she and her mother were checking out at the grocery store. Jenny saw a plastic pearl necklace priced at $2.50. How she wanted that necklace, and when she asked her mother if she would buy it for her, her mother said, "Well, it is a pretty necklace, but it costs an awful lot of money. I’ll tell you what. I’ll buy you the necklace, and when we get home we can make up a list of chores that you can do to pay for the necklace. And don’t forget that for your birthday Grandma just might give you a whole dollar bill, too. Okay?" Jenny agreed, and her mother bought the pearl necklace for her.

Jenny worked on her chores very hard every day, and sure enough, her grandma gave her a brand new dollar bill for her birthday. Soon Jenny had paid off the pearls. How Jenny loved those pearls. She wore them everywhere-to kindergarten, bed and when she went out with her mother to run errands. The only time she didn’t wear them was in the shower--her mother had told her that they would turn her neck green!

Now Jenny had a very loving daddy. When Jenny went to bed, he would get up from his favorite chair every night and read Jenny her favorite story. One night when he finished the story, he said, "Jenny, do you love me?" "Oh yes. Daddy, you know I love you," the little girl said. "Well, then, give me your pearls." "Oh! Daddy, not my pearls!" Jenny said. "But you can have Rosie, my favorite doll. Remember her? You gave her to me last year for my birthday. And you can have her tea party outfit, too. Okay?" "Oh no, darling, that’s okay." Her father brushed her cheek with a kiss. "Good night, little one."

A week later, her father once again asked Jenny after her story, "Do you love me?" "Oh yes. Daddy, you know I love you." "Well, then, give me your pearls." "Oh, Daddy, not my pearls! But you can have Ribbons, my toy horse. Do you remember her? She’s my favorite. Her hair is so soft, and you can play with it and braid it and everything. You can have Ribbons if you want her, Daddy," the little girl said to her father. "No, that’s okay," her father said and brushed her cheek again with a kiss. "God bless you, little one. Sweet dreams."

Several days later, when Jenny’s father came in to read her a story. Jenny was sitting on her bed and her lip was trembling. "Here, Daddy," she said, and held out her hand. She opened it and her beloved pearl necklace was inside. She let it slip into her father’s hand.

With one hand her father held the plastic pearls and with the other he pulled out of his pocket a blue velvet box. Inside of the box were real, genuine, beautiful pearls. He had had them all along. He was waiting for Jenny to give up the cheap stuff so he could give her the real thing.

So it is with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so he can give us beautiful treasure. Isn’t God good?

  Author unknown

 

Little Mary Sue was not the best student in Catholic School. Usually she slept through the class. One day her teacher, a Nun, called on her while she was sleeping. "Tell me Mary Sue who created the universe?" When Mary Sue didn’t stir, little Johnny who was her friend sitting behind her, took his pencil and jabbed her in the rear. "God Almighty!" shouted Mary Sue. The Nun said, "Very good" and continued teaching her class. A little later the Nun asked Mary Sue "Who is our Lord and Savior?" But Mary Sue didn’t stir from her slumber. Once again Johnny came to her rescue and stuck Mary Sue on the butt. "Jesus Christ!!!" shouted Mary Sue and the Nun once again said "Very good," and Mary Sue fell back asleep. The Nun asked her a third question, "What did Eve say to Adam after she had her twenty-third child?" Again, Johnny came to the rescue. This time Mary Sue jumped up and shouted, "If you stick that damn thing in me one more time, I’ll break it in half!" The nun fainted.

       ASAP
Always Say A Prayer

#40305 From: "Archie" <aais10to12@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:27 am
Subject: A recovery thought
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EZ DUZ IT

 

LIFE SAVING DIRECTIONS IN CHAPTER 5

 

The following is a summary of the lifesaving directions given in Chapter Five.

1) Completely give yourself to this simple Program.

     2) Practice rigorous honesty.

     3) Be willing to go to any lengths to recover.

     4) Be fearless and thorough in your practice of the principles.

     5) Realize that there is no easier, softer way.

     6) Let go of your old ideas absolutely.

     7) Recognize that half measures will not work.

     8) Ask God’s protection and care with complete abandon.

     9) Be willing to grow along spiritual lines.

     10) Accept the following pertinent ideas as proved by A.A. experience:

(a) that you cannot manage your own life;

     (b) that probably no human power can restore you to sanity;

     (c) that God can and will if sought.

 

An alcoholic convinced his wife that playing golf with his drinking buddy, Harry, who would help him quit drinking. The wife was all for it and supported it. One day she realized that her hubby was not playing golf with Harry anymore and got very alarmed and asked her husband why he was not playing with Harry. His responded by saying, “Would you play golf with somebody who puts down the wrong score and moves the ball when you’re not looking?” “I most certainly wouldn’t” she replied. “Well, neither will Harry.”

       ASAP
Always Say A Prayer

#40304 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:27 am
Subject: Passing It On
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LeClair Bissell, MD, NCAC

Retired Sanibel physician LeClair Bissell, an internationally known expert on
addiction, died suddenly in Hartford, Conn. on August 20, 2008. She was 80 years
old and relished every minute of "being old!"


Born on May 18, 1928 to Clayton Bissell, a major general in the United States
Army, and Louise LeClair Bissell, she learned to ride horses from an Army
colleague
of her father's, Ike Eisenhower, who gave her lessons when she was a little
girl.

In an Islander interview in 1997, she described herself as "an Army brat with no
roots
'til I was old enough to fend for myself. Born in Virginia, left in six weeks,
and
Columbia [University] was my 23rd school!" After completing her education in
Library
Science, including an M.S. from Columbia in the 1950s, she was a librarian for
the New
York Public Library, later attending Yale's School of Alcohol Studies. During
this time,
she met her life partner, Nancy Palmer, and with Nancy's encouragement, returned
to
Columbia in 1963 and earned her M.D.

"A medical degree gives you license to treat anyone for anything," she said in
that 1997
interview. "Some of us felt there was more to treating the addicted professional
than
what we had gotten in med school, so we took the exam for counselor
certification to
make the statement that additional training is necessary to deal with this
problem."

LeClair was actively involved for 30-plus years with the American Society of
Addiction
Medicine. Her achievements include establishing an alcoholism program that, with
her
help, later became the highly regarded Smithers Alcoholism Treatment and
Training
Center at Roosevelt Hospital.

As a skilled teacher and lecturer, she traveled all over the world speaking on
issues
related to impaired professionals, ethics, AIDS, sexual behavior and various
addiction
topics. And she has written or co-written several books on the topic of impaired
professionals; Ethics for Addiction Professionals, Alcoholism in the
Professions,
and To Care Enough (Intervention with chemically dependent colleagues). Bissell
is also the author of The Cat Who Drank Too Much, a children's book.
She served as president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and was on
the
Carter Mental Health Commission's Task Force on Alcoholism. "There's another
part of it,
too," LeClair continued. "After setting up the training center, I was
increasingly
frustrated by doctors and educators who thought all alcoholics were "derelict
men
under a bridge." There was an urgent need to acquaint them with professionals
who
were alcoholics.

We used AA members who were also professionals to make the point. It became much
less
scary when they related their terrible experiences and could now say they'd been
dry
for a year. "You tend not to turn in a colleague if you know your action is
going to
end her career," she added. "You're much more likely to get help for her if you
can
see a good prognosis in the future."


She was honored in June of 2007 by the Florida Commission on the Status of Women
for
her nearly 50 years of service on behalf of women in general and women in
addiction
recovery specifically. Her other numerous awards and citations included the
American
Society of Addiction Medicine Award in 2000 and the the American Medical Women's
Association highest honor - the Elizabeth Blackwell Award - for her outstanding
contributions to the cause of women and medicine, in 1997.

Steve Mullins, a fellow physician and internist who became friends with her over
25
years ago on Sanibel, said "She was a real expert and a pioneer in the treatment
of
alcoholics and substance abusers. She humanized their treatment. In fact, when I
started to work part-time for SWAFAS [Southwest Florida Addiction Services] not
so
long ago, I soon realized I didn't know anything about the treatment of
addiction -
LeClair mentored me, guided me, pointed me in the right direction. I really
appreciate
her kindness in sharing with me what she knew of her specialty." She was still a
staunch AA member, even after years of being dry.


"I don't think I quite realized just how much she meant to me until I got word
that
she had died," he added. "I was so shaken I was in tears."


She was an active member of Zonta; the Democratic Party (her answering machine
said,
"If you're a Democrat, you may leave a message."); the Unitarian Universalist
Church;
Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians & Gays; the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual
and
Transgender Coalition; a board member of Planned Parenthood; and was the
backbone of
Chihuahua Rescue.


"She was such a great lady," fellow Democrat Joy Dillon commented sadly. "And
she
had so much more to give. What a loss to all of us." "I think the most
extraordinary
thing about LeClair was that she did things because they needed to be done,"
said
Kate Gooderham, who knew LeClair from the local National Women's Political
Caucus.
"No limelight, no applause, no kudos - she saw a need and filled it. I really
admired
her dedication to her beliefs. She truly put her 'time, her treasury and her
talent'
into the things she cared about."


"I've known her for only six years - we both joined Zonta the same year,"
islander
Sue Denham said. "But I have the most incredible respect for her sharp, sharp
mind
and her take on various issues. She was passionate. She was outspoken on things
of
importance to her - she absolutely did not care what other people thought. She
could
be downright blunt but, at the same time, she was incredibly kind and
compassionate.
You could see that in some of the causes she espoused, always championing the
underdog."


She and Nancy came to the island some 40 years ago and bought the Burnap
Cottage, one
of the island's oldest buildings, at that time located on Woodring Point. In a
News-Press
interview in 1996, she said, "Rumor is that it used to be a small chapel." They
eventually got tired of its "antiquities" and donated it to the Sanibel
Historical
Village, where it has been restored and is open for tours.


LeClair herself successfully battled alcoholism as well as endured the
difficulties
inherent in being one half of a gay couple in the 1960s. She went on to champion
the rights of those fighting addictions and discrimination of all kinds.

```````````````

#40303 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:26 am
Subject: Member Site Of The Week
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www.tonypowell.wordpress.com

#40302 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:24 am
Subject: Helpful Link
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#40301 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:24 am
Subject: Food For Thought
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Thoughts

I am not responsible for what comes into my head.......I am responsible for how
long it stays there and what I do with it...........
````````````````````

#40300 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:22 am
Subject: Today is November 11, 2009
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Today is November 11, 2009
A Great Day for Recovery!
  PEACE
"Peace without justice is tyranny."
-- William Allen White
Peace at any price! Not for me today. For years I sought a peace that was based
upon the "no-talk" principle remaining quiet, rather than causing upset or
risking embarrassment. Such a peace was unjust. It only fed the disease and
helped to keep me sick.

Today I seek a peace that involves discussing or confronting painful situations,
often making me and others uncomfortable. Serenity is a peace that is arrived at
after periods of pain but a necessary pain.

In my life today I have the courage to speak out and make choices that are good
for me; God is alive in my choice.

May I forever search for the "peace" that is real. May I find "peace" in the
justice of my lifestyle.

#40299 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:19 am
Subject: What Does The BigBook Say About Resentment?
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What Does The BigBook Say About Resentment?
I see resentment crop up in meetings and out in the "world" every now and again,
as egos and personalities get to working before principles. The following is
from my archives ... something to read again and think about.

The word resentment comes from the Latin word "sentire" which means, "to feel",
and when you put "re" in front of any word, it means "again", so the word resent
means "to feel again". It includes people, institutions or principles with whom
we were angry, with whom we were hurt or threatened or interfered with, with
whom we felt had wronged us, with whom we stayed sore at, with whom we felt
"burned up" toward, and with whom we held a grudge.

I would like to add the following as well: People, institutions or principles
which we are annoyed with, agitated by, or let down by; and I also like to
suggest that this includes our regrets [from "gratan", to weep, i.e., to weep
again] because regret is resentment toward ourself.

I always thought that resentment was reasonable, acceptable, and almost fun at
times. Resentment became a way of life for me because it seemed like I had
problems with or was annoyed by most of the people, institutions or principles I
knew.

But, if we want to recover from alcoholism, the BigBook says, "We saw that these
resentments must be mastered," and here's why:

Resentment is the "number one" offender. It destroys more alcoholics than
anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease. (Page 64)

It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility.
(Page 66)

It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to unhappiness
(Page 66)

To the precise extent that we permit these [deep resentment], do we squander the
hours that might have been worth while. (Page 66)

But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual
experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. (Page 66)

We found that it [this business of resentment] is fatal. (Page 66)

For when harboring such feelings [resentment] we shut ourselves off from the
sunlight of the Spirit. (Page 66)
[There is a native word of greeting, Ky'hoo'ya, which means "Walk In The
Sunlight of the Spirit", and is also a fitting acronym for "Keep Your Head Out
Of Your Ass."]

[When we harbor resentment] the insanity of alcohol returns. (Page 66)

[When we harbor resentment] we drink again. (Page 66)

For alcoholics these things [including resentment] are poison. (Page 66)

We began to see that the world and its people really dominated us. In that
state, the wrong-doing of others [resentment], fancied or real, had power to
actually kill. (Page 66)

We have listed and analyzed our resentments. We have begun to comprehend their
futility. (Page 70)

We have listed and analyzed our resentments. We have begun to comprehend their
fatality. (Page 70)

We have commenced to see their [resentment's] terrible destructiveness. (Page
70)

Never forget that resentment is a deadly hazard to an alcoholic. (Page 117)

The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, frustration, and
fear. (Page 145)

I can't afford resentments against anyone, because they are the build-up of
another drunk. (Page 325)

I realized I had to get rid of it [a resentment toward his mother], for my
reprieve was running out, and if I didn't get rid of it I was going to get
drunk. (Page 552)
After all this, it can't be denied that the Big Book paints a really definite
picture of the result of holding resentments. Is it possible that the more we
have them, the more we are moving toward our next drink, since we have used
alcohol before to help us deal with them? We must honestly ask ourself if we are
earnestly seeking to get rid of resentments in our life, or do we hold on to
some, considering them unavoidable. It's something to think about.

#40298 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:21 am
Subject: How will it affect you?
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How will it affect you?
How will this affect you, and how will that affect you? That is completely for
you to decide.
What happens outside of you has an influence. Yet it is what happens within you
that has the final say.

You can choose to be brought down by the worst aspects of the situation. Or you
can choose to be lifted up by the best positive qualities of that very same
situation.

What do you think about the possibilities of this day? How do you feel about the
circumstances you're in?

What you think, the way you feel, the things you believe combine to create the
filter through which you experience life. What passes through that filter is
exactly what you allow to pass through.

You cannot change what already is, yet you can decide precisely what you will
take from it and what you will do with it. No matter what happens, you have the
power to make of it what you will.

-- Ralph Marston



Read more: http://www.greatday.com/motivate/index.html#ixzz0WbkZtINh

#40297 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:20 am
Subject: Sons of the Forest People
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Sons of the Forest People
November 11, 2009 Story of the Day
December 1986

Vol. 43 No. 7


I am sitting at home here in Helsinki which situates in Finland. For many months
I've thought to write an article as a counterpart to that American Indian who
write to the Grapevine.[1] I have read that article from our "Grapevine"
(Ratkaisu) where it appeared into Finnish translation.

From my childhood I have felt very strong sympathetic toward the Indians and the
other native people. They have not easily got over the companionship of us.

Finnish people are sensitive descendants of the forest people, who have overturn
the marshes to the fields; their property is the toughness. But to me, as an
alcoholic, was also fear characteristic. Really, it was not a part of the real
me. In addition, we Finns are insociables and envious, and we alcoholics have
often grudge to bear--not always.

However, at the summer we awake, really someone too much. We begin to live, and
we can breathe the unique clear air in the country of the thousands of the lakes
and millions of the ponds.

In the childhood I had occasion to play Red Indians at the beach of a river.
Sometimes I still go there to look. Really, now it seems rather like a brook.
Here I can undergo the presence of the High Spirit, which we everyone have deep
in ourselves, in our hearts, and we feel missing if we don't know it. AA says
that it is the knowledge of God. In Finland we speak about it with the "little
letters," hushing.

We are not so brave and cheerful than I have heard that you are there in the
States. Although also we have often a good reason to be very glad, first for our
sobriety and then for our independent country. We are autonomous like you, but
do alcoholics be independent themselves? That's the question.

However, maybe we are more independent when we are sober than we were before,
when we needed charity of everyone and we had to be servile.

My Indian friend, it was really magnificent happening when you told that you had
seek work and at the same went to meetings. It was the same as I did, although
not by running over the country. Here can do so only the salesman.

As far as here I felt your gratitude, and I join with your tribe although I live
here. I'm proud for belonging to this very international race and tribe. This AA
is universally like love.

1"Son of Tall Man," February 1976 Grapevine



A. A.
Helsinki

#40296 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:17 am
Subject: Wednesday 11 November 2009
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Wednesday 11 November 2009

When we use time
as a means of acquiring a quality,
a virtue or a state of being,
we are merely postponing
or avoiding what is;
and I think it is important
to understand this point.

J. Krishnamurti

#40295 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:15 am
Subject: "Silence is the cornerstone of character."
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"Silence is the cornerstone of character."

Charles Alexander Eastman  Ohiyesa  Santee  Sioux

 

 

 

Returning home we find a place where we can be quiet for an hour, carefully reviewing what we have done. We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better.

Big Book pg. 75

Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

 

  

 

Grandfather give us strength to be silent.


#40294 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:05 am
Subject: The 3 Legacies - Recovery
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The 3 Legacies - Recovery

The Legacy of Recovery

Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.

Many of us, upon first seeing those words, asked ourselves the question "Can it be just that simple?" -- and then heard a voice inside us answer "Yes."

Bill's application of AA principles to ever-changing circumstances was another of his remarkable talents. Day in and day out, letters would arrive at his desk asking for his "last word" on a matter of AA policy. And, in answer after answer Bill would fall back upon the basic principles of AA's three Legacies, tempered by wisdom, humor, perspective, and regard for the feelings of others.

One warm example occurred in 1968 when a well-meaning AA wrote to Bill, in deep concern, about an influx of youthful hippies or flower children to local AA groups, along with their distinctive manner of dress, sexual mores, and other unorthodox behavior, including the use of drugs. The writer feared that this particular invasion might be "a very real threat to our wonderful, God-given program."

Bill's reply was typical of his use of AA principles to meet new challenges.

"Your letter about the hippie problem, so-called, was mighty interesting to me. I doubt that we need to be alarmed about this situation, because there have been precedents out of the past. All sorts of outfits have tried to move in on us, including communists and heroin addicts, prohibitionists and do-gooders of other persuasions.

"Nearly all of these people, who happened to have an individual problem with alcohol, not only failed to change AA, but, in the long run, AA changed them. I have a number of them among my closest friends today, and they are among the best AA's I know.

"You also have some people who are not alcoholics, but are addicts of other kinds. A great many AAs have taken pity on these people, and have actually tried to make them full-fledged AA's. Of course, their identification with alcoholics is no good at all, and the groups themselves easily stop this practice in the normal course of AA affairs.

"Thoughtful AAs, however, encourage these sponsors to bring addicts to open meetings, just as they would any other interested people. In the end, these addicts usually gravitate to other forms of therapy. They are not received on the platform in open meetings unless they have an alcohol problem, and closed meetings are, of course, denied them. We know that we cannot do everything for everybody with an addiction problem.

"There has also occurred lately a new development centering upon hippies who have LSD or marijuana troubles -- not so much stronger stuff. Many of these kids appear to be alcoholics also, and they are flocking into AA, often with excellent results.

"Some weeks ago, there was a young people's convention of AAs. Shortly thereafter, four of these kids visited the office. I saw one young gal prancing down the hall, hair flying, in a mini-skirt, wearing love beads and the works. I thought, 'Holy smoke, what now!' She told me she was the oldest member of the young people's group in her area -- age twenty-two! They had kids as young as sixteen. I was curious and took the whole party out to lunch.

"Well, they were absolutely wonderful. They talked (and acted) just about as good a kind of AA as I've seen anywhere. I think all of them said they had had some kind of drug problem, but had kicked that, too. When they first came around, they had insisted on their own ideas of AA, but in the end they found AA plenty good enough as it was. Though they needed their own meetings, they found interest and inspiration in the meetings of much older folks as well.

"Perhaps, as younger people come into AA, we shall have to put up with some unconventional nonsense -- with patience and good humor, let's hope. But it should be well worth the attempt. And also, if various hippie addicts want to form their own sort of fellowship along AA lines, by all means let us encourage them. We need deny them only the AA name, and assure them that the rest of our program is theirs for the taking and using -- any part or all of it.

"For these reasons, I feel hopeful and not a bit scared by this trend. Of course, I'm no prophet. I may be mistaken, so please keep me posted. This is a highly interesting and perhaps significant development. I certainly do not think it ought to be fought. Instead, it ought to be encouraged in what we already know to be workable channels.

In affection ... Bill"


© AA Grapevine, March 1971


#40293 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:27 am
Subject: Morning Meds
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Thursday, November 12, 2009
 
Recently, I was at a meeting where the topic that was suggested was Serenity.  The person who suggested it shared that she had a difficult week managing serenity.  As folks went around the room sharing their particular challenges with serenity, I was reminded of my week and that I actually was embarrassed by my behavior in one particular instance.  I was definitely NOT serene.  There really wasn’t a way to make an amends to anyone regarding it…except maybe myself.
 

What I have come to learn in this program is that surrender of my “self” includes the surrender and acceptance of my character defects as well.  When I surrendered and accepted the fact that I was an alcoholic, I acknowledged that I COULD NOT keep myself sober but my Higher Power could.  So, as my sponsor has been patiently trying to impart to me,  I have to trust my Higher Power to keep me sober, I also have to trust Him with my “self” and let go of the agony that I feel over my “unserenity”.  She has also taught me that what I go through daily, I give my day to HP, and trust that He is in charge of me, my life and the mistakes I make.  He will carry me through them as they are there for the purposes of learning.  That learning with teach me what the promises say.
 

The promises say we will comprehend the word serenity.  I do comprehend that word.  I long for it to be an absolute in my life.  I am trusting today in my Higher Power to take me there.  Whatever the lesson, that I will learn to walk through it without a drink and holding His hand, trustingly.
 
(Soberly submitted by Kathi of Huntington Beach, CA)
Kathi@...

Please feel free to write, comment on, or pass the Meds on at anytime.  Submit new contributions to Chpshots@....  


#40292 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Wed Nov 11, 2009 6:58 pm
Subject: AA Grapevine, November 1968:
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AA Grapevine, November 1968:
     Clarence Snyder, 'I've Never Quit Being Active'
     The following AA Grapevine article was originally published in the November
1968 issue and reprinted in the November 1999 AA Grapevine, under the category
of "Big Book Authors."
     Ron Long, El Cajon, California

'I've Never Quit Being Active'

The author of "Home Brewmeister" asserted that
in this life-changing program, the growth process
never ends.

     On February 11, 1938, I had my last drink. I was a chronic alky, and through
a long, involved miracle, I met my sponsor, Dr. Bob, one of our co-founders. He
put me in Akron City Hospital, where I met the alkies who had preceded me in the
Fellowship.
     Fifteen months later, I organized the Cleveland, Ohio AA group. The activity
in the Cleveland area was hectic. I spent practically all my time obtaining and
following up on publicity for AA, lining up cooperation with civic and church
groups, hospitals, and courts, and helping new groups to start.
     So what do I do now, thirty years later? I have never quit being active,
although my position in the Fellowship has modified over the years. I attend an
average of two meetings per week, when I am home. I am also asked to speak at
various groups. In addition, I am invited to take part in numerous group
anniversary programs and AA roundups around the country (and sometimes out of
the country). Many people call upon me for counsel and advice on both personal
and group problems. I have an extensive correspondence, since I have made so
many friends in AA from coast to coast. Once in a while, I sponsor someone.
Cases where about everything has been tried, by everyone else, often wind up in
my hands.
     I have not found the program to be difficult, and I maintain that if it does
seem difficult for anyone, he is not doing it "right." Certainly, when I came to
this Fellowship, I was in no position or condition to handle anything difficult!
I kept things simple. But I must add that when I first began I was well
sponsored.
     I took measures now summarized in the first nine Steps of the program:
admittance of need (the First Step), surrender (Second through Seventh), and
restitution (Eighth and Ninth). Having done this, I no longer had a drinking
problem, since it had been turned over to a Higher Power. Now I had — and still
have — a living problem. But that is taken care of by the practice of Steps Ten,
Eleven, and Twelve. So I don't have to be concerned about anything but a simple
three-step program, which with practice has become habitual.
     Step Ten enables me to check on myself and my activities of the day. I have
found that most things disturbing me are little things, but still the very
things which, if not dealt with, can pile up and eventually overwhelm me. My
daily checkup covers good deeds as well as questionable ones; often, I find I
can commend myself in some areas, while in others I owe apologies.
     Step Eleven is done after my daily inventory. I usually need the peace
resulting from prayer and meditation, and I do receive guidance for my life and
actions.
     Step Twelve, to me, does involve not only carrying the message, but
extending AA principles into all phases of my daily life.
      I learned long ago that this is a life-changing program, but that, after
the change occurs, it is necessary for me to go on making the effort to improve
myself mentally, morally, and spiritually.
     This is my simple program, and I recommend it to anyone who wants a good
life and is willing to do his share of helping.
                C.H.S., St. Petersburg, Florida

#40291 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Wed Nov 11, 2009 6:53 pm
Subject: Recipe for Miracles
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Recipe for Miracles

Ingredients
1 part of knowing who you are
1 part of knowing who you aren't
1 part of knowing what you want
1 part of knowing who you wish to be
1 part of knowing what you already have
1 part of choosing wisely from what you have
1 part of loving and thanking for ALL you have

Instructions
Combine ingredients together gently and carefully, using
faith and vision. Mix together with strong belief of the
outcome until finely blended.

Use thoughts, words and actions for best results.

Bake until Blessed.
Give thanks again

Yield: Unlimited servings

#40290 From: "Kevin Feuerlicht" <kevin@...>
Date: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:55 am
Subject: Nov 11 Discipline
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Discipline                                                  November 11

 

Children need discipline to feel secure; so do adults. Discipline means understanding there are logical consequences to our behaviour. Discipline means taking responsibility for our behaviour and the consequences.

  Discipline means learning to wait for what we want.

  Discipline means being willing to work for and toward what we want.

  Discipline means learning and practicing new behaviours. Discipline means being where we need to be, when we need to be there, despite our feelings.

  These be recovery behaviours or washing the dishes.

   Discipline involves trusting that our goals will be reached though we cannot see them. Discipline can be gruelling. We may feel afraid, confused, uncertain. Later, we will see the purpose. But this clarity of sight usually does not come during the time of discipline.

We may not even believe we’re moving forward.

But we are.

The task at hand during times of discipline is simple: listen, trust, and obey.

 

Higher Power, help me learn to surrender to discipline. Help me be grateful that You care enough about me to allow these times of discipline and learning in my life. Help me know that as result of discipline and learning, something important will have been worked out in me.

 


#40289 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:05 pm
Subject: Daily Ponderables - 11/11/09
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Daily Reflections

SELF-ACCEPTANCE

 

We know that God lovingly watches over us.  We know that when we turn to Him, all will be well with us, here and hereafter.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 105

I pray for the willingness to remember that I am a child of God, a divine soul in human form, and that  my most basic and urgent life-task is to accept, know, love and nurture myself.  As I accept myself, I am accepting God's will.  As I know and love myself, I am knowing and loving God.  As I nurture myself I am acting on God's Guidance.

     I pray for the willingness to let go of my arrogant self-criticism, and to praise God by humbly accepting and caring for myself.

 

*****************************************************

 

 

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

When I think of all who have gone before me, I realize that I am only one, not very important, person.  What happens to me is not so very important after all.  And A.A. has taught me to be more outgoing, to seek friendship by going at least halfway, to have a sincere desire to help.  I have more self-respect now that I have less sensitiveness.  I have found that the only way to live comfortably with myself is to take a real interest in others.  Do I realize that I am not so important after all?

Meditation for the Day

As you look back over your life, it is not too difficult to believe that what you went through was for a purpose, to prepare you for some valuable work in life.  Everything in your life may well have been planned by God to make you of some use in the world.  Each person's life is like the pattern of a mosaic.  Each thing that happened to you is like one tiny stone in the mosaic, and each tiny stone fits into the perfected pattern of the mosaic of your life, which has been designed by God.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may not need to see the whole design of my life.  I pray that I may trust the Designer.

**************************************

Thought for Today
 
"The absence of profanity offends no one."    Bill W.
 
********************************************************

Buddha/Zen Thoughts
 
We plant merit with our minds, and we commit crimes with our minds. With our minds, we imprint images. This one mind is like an artist. It can draw anything, and what it draws is realized. If you surrender your impressions, ideas, thoughts, and so on at the moment they arise without imprinting them on your mind, your minds will not be tainted, just as the lotus flower is not tainted by the muddy water whence it grows.

-Jae Woong Kim, "Polishing The Diamond"
 
********************************************************
 
Native American
 
"If you don't know the language, you'll only see the surface of the culture...the language is the heart of the culture and you cannot separate it."
--Elaine Ramos, TLINGIT
The Creator gave to every person their own special way to communicate and understand. Indians understand connectedness, balance, harmony, spirituality and the relationship to Mother Earth. The understanding of these things is expressed in the language. The true understanding of culture is expressed in the language. The language is the heart of the people. If we have not learned the language, we need to find a teacher.

Great Spirit, help me to learn the culture. Let me pray and sing to You in my language.

*****************************************
Keep It Simple
 
 Have the courage to live; anyone can die.  ---  Robert Cody

Living means facing all of life. Life is joy and sorrow. We used to be people who wanted the joy without the sorrow. But we can learn from hard times, maybe more than we do in easy times. Often, getting through hard times helps us grow. When things get tough, maybe we want to turn and run. Then, a gentle voice from within us say, “I am with you. You have friends who will help.” If we listen, we’ll hear our Higher Power. This is what is meant by “conscious contact” in Step eleven. As this conscious contact grows, our courage grows. And we find the strength to face hard times.
 
Prayer for the Day:  I pray for the strength and courage to live. I pray that I’ll never have to face hard time alone again.

Action for the Day:  I’ll list two examples of conscious contact” in my life.
*****************************

The Next Frontier: Emotional Sobriety
by Bill Wilson

Copyright © AA Grapevine, Inc, January 1958

(also see: A Letter From Bill W. on Depression, from the memoirs of Tom Pike, an early California AA member, which is strikingly similar to this AA Grapevine Article, "The Next Frontier: Emotional Sobriety.")

      I think that many oldsters who have put our AA "booze cure" to severe but successful tests still find they often lack emotional sobriety. Perhaps they will be the spearhead for the next major development in AA—the development of much more real maturity and balance (which is to say, humility) in our relations with ourselves, with our fellows, and with God.

      Those adolescent urges that so many of us have for top approval, perfect security, and perfect romance—urges quite appropriate to age seventeen—prove to be an impossible way of life when we are at age forty-seven or fifty-seven.

      Since AA began, I've taken immense wallops in all these areas because of my failure to grow up, emotionally and spiritually. My God, how painful it is to keep demanding the impossible, and how very painful to discover finally, that all along we have had the cart before the horse! Then comes the final agony of seeing how awfully wrong we have been, but still finding ourselves unable to get off the emotional merry-go-round.

      How to translate a right mental conviction into a right emotional result, and so into easy, happy, and good living—well, that's not only the neurotic's problem, it's the problem of life itself for all of us who have got to the point of real willingness to hew to right principles in all our affairs.

      Even then, as we hew away, peace and joy may still elude us. That's the place so many of us AA oldsters have come to. And it's a hell of a spot, literally. How shall our unconscious—from which so many of our fears, compulsions and phony aspirations still stream—be brought into line with what we actually believe, know and want! How to convince our dumb, raging and hidden "Mr. Hyde" becomes our main task.

      I've recently come to believe that this can be achieved. I believe so because I begin to see many benighted ones—folks like you and me—commencing to get results. Last autumn [several years back - ed.] depression, having no really rational cause at all, almost took me to the cleaners. I began to be scared that I was in for another long chronic spell. Considering the grief I've had with depressions, it wasn't a bright prospect.

      I kept asking myself, "Why can't the Twelve Steps work to release depression?" By the hour, I stared at the St. Francis Prayer..."It's better to comfort than to be the comforted." Here was the formula, all right. But why didn't it work?

      Suddenly I realized what the matter was. My basic flaw had always been dependence - almost absolute dependence - on people or circumstances to supply me with prestige, security, and the like. Failing to get these things according to my perfectionist dreams and specifications, I had fought for them. And when defeat came, so did my depression.

      There wasn't a chance of making the outgoing love of St. Francis a workable and joyous way of life until these fatal and almost absolute dependencies were cut away.

      Because I had over the years undergone a little spiritual development, the absolute quality of these frightful dependencies had never before been so starkly revealed. Reinforced by what Grace I could secure in prayer, I found I had to exert every ounce of will and action to cut off these faulty emotional dependencies upon people, upon AA, indeed, upon any set of circumstances whatsoever.

      Then only could I be free to love as Francis had. Emotional and instinctual satisfactions, I saw, were really the extra dividends of having love, offering love, and expressing a love appropriate to each relation of life.

      Plainly, I could not avail myself of God's love until I was able to offer it back to Him by loving others as He would have me. And I couldn't possibly do that so long as I was victimized by false dependencies.

      For my dependency meant demand—a demand for the possession and control of the people and the conditions surrounding me.

      While those words "absolute demand" may look like a gimmick, they were the ones that helped to trigger my release into my present degree of stability and quietness of mind, qualities which I am now trying to consolidate by offering love to others regardless of the return to me.

      This seems to be the primary healing circuit: an outgoing love of God's creation and His people, by means of which we avail ourselves of His love for us. It is most clear that the current can't flow until our paralyzing dependencies are broken, and broken at depth. Only then can we possibly have a glimmer of what adult love really is.

      Spiritual calculus, you say? Not a bit of it. Watch any AA of six months working with a new Twelfth Step case. If the case says "To the devil with you," the Twelfth Stepper only smiles and turns to another case. He doesn't feel frustrated or rejected. If his next case responds, and in turn starts to give love and attention to other alcoholics, yet gives none back to him, the sponsor is happy about it anyway. He still doesn't feel rejected; instead he rejoices that his one-time prospect is sober and happy. And if his next following case turns out in later time to be his best friend (or romance) then the sponsor is most joyful. But he well knows that his happiness is a by-product—the extra dividend of giving without any demand for a return.

      The really stabilizing thing for him was having and offering love to that strange drunk on his doorstep. That was Francis at work, powerful and practical, minus dependency and minus demand.

      In the first six months of my own sobriety, I worked hard with many alcoholics. Not a one responded. Yet this work kept me sober. It wasn't a question of those alcoholics giving me anything. My stability came out of trying to give, not out of demanding that I receive.

      Thus I think it can work out with 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.

      Of course I haven't offered you a really new idea—only a gimmick that has started to unhook several of my own "hexes" at depth. Nowadays my brain no longer races compulsively in either elation, grandiosity or depression. I have been given a quiet place in bright sunshine.

http://silkworth.net/aahistory/emotionalsobriety.html



#40288 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:56 pm
Subject: Today's Gift - 11/11/2009
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Today's thought from Hazelden is:

The Evolving Relationship

. . . a partner who provided a place to climb.

Once when climbing rocks with friends, a woman reached a place she decided was impossible to move beyond. She wanted to retreat, but her belayer encouraged her to try again. She felt angry and scared, and she was stuck. She fought with the rock, but it was clear that the rock was never going to change. Wanting the rock to be different, to grow new footholds or handholds was futile.

After she vented her feelings, she realized there were only two ways out of her predicament. One way was to quit, and the other was to try again, perhaps with a different mind-set than she had before. Staying with her task in spite of her fear, she began to think of the rock as her friend, as a partner who provided a place to climb. She realized that she did not have to make her friend, the rock, change in order to continue climbing. Her thoughts were more focused, and she was able to make her way up the rock.

Sometimes our partner feels like an immovable rock. It is difficult to stop trying to change our partner and focus on ourselves. When we do, we discover a new direction in our relationship, a new view of our partner, and empowerment for ourselves.

You are reading from the book:

The More We Find In Each Other by Merle Fossum and Mavis Fossum

The More We Find in Each Other by Merle Fossum and Mavis Fossum. Copyright 1992 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of Hazelden.

______________________________________________________________________


#40287 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:53 pm
Subject: Workbook Lesson 198
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ACIM Workbook
Healing Perspectives

Lesson 198

“Only my condemnation injures me.”

I am only tempted to condemn what appears to be in a world outside me when I forget that the world is a dream that is coming from my mind. When I make the world of the ego real, it is sinking in clearer and clearer that this is an unforgiveness that is occurring in my mind. This is where forgiveness is needed -- in my own mind. Forgiveness means letting go of the belief in separation. When I get too wrapped up in the dream, I may think that judgment or condemnation of what I see as outside me may help or be the answer. When I make the dream real, I have forgotten that, "Only my condemnation injures me."

It is only when I am willing to quiet my mind and listen for Holy Spirit's perspective of oneness that the pain of condemning something or someone in a world "outside" will subside. Being willing to open to the Holy Spirit is the only answer that will really be successful. The more I recognize this, the quicker I will be to let go of making the dream of separation appear to be real. "To every apprehension, every care, and evey form of suffering: "I will forgive and this will disappear." (W-pI.193.13:3-4) Forgiveness, or letting go of illusions, is the secret to my freedom from suffering.


The times when I have truly forgiven, truly recognized that there really was nothing to forgive, have brought me deep peace, quiet joy and uplifted me with Love. It was a great relief. I felt free as a feather, floating in a gentle breeze. It astounds me that with these experiences, I don't go searching for all unforgiving thoughts to bring them to the Holy Spirit to be undone so that I can continue to experience the freedom and ecstasy of forgiveness. There is no greater high than true forgiveness. Its a gift that keeps on giving.

And yet there is a part of my mind that does not believe I am worthy of such a gift. And so it goes searching for thoughts of unforgiveness, but not to bring them to healing. Instead it uses these thoughts to further justify condemnation and prove unworthiness. This part of my mind treasures its privacy and isolation. It would rather suffer the pain of guilt from condemnation than join with all Love and lose its special, unique identity. This is the core belief, the core unforgiveness that lies beneath all the layers of unforgiven events and thoughts.

The ego would use the fact that I still have judgmental thoughts, that I still experience guilt as proof that I am weak and deserve condemnation. The Holy Spirit does not believe this one instant. The Holy Spirit sees my true Self and knows that all these other thoughts that I believe I hold are just illusions, and so with a kindly smile, He offers me His hand to give me His strength and remind me that I am not alone. With His strength, I can forgive each unforgiving thought, lay it down and let it go.

With His guidance, I will begin to see the sameness of these mistaken thoughts. At first they are forgiven one by one. But as I begin to see what they all have in common, the forgiveness of a single incident can reverberate through my mind, for I recognize more and more thoughts that are the same and are forgiven as one. The path to freedom accelerates. Today I would remember forgiveness is the only thing I want. And so I will remember forgiveness is the only thing I want to give. It is my own forgiveness that sets me free.


©2003, Pathways of Light, Inc. http://pathwaysoflight.org. To subscribe, click here or direct your browser to http://pathwaysoflight.org/forms/subscrdailylessns.html. You may freely share copies of this page with your friends, provided all copies include this notice.


#40286 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:16 am
Subject: Morning Meds
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
 
I Wish I Were An Alcoholic by Fulton Oursler

(Fulton Oursler was a magazine editor, religious author, and Hollywood screenwriter, and was an early Oxford Group member and friend to AA. He passed away in 1952. His official relationship with AA is as follows: Sept. 30, 1939, the very popular weekly Liberty Magazine, headed by Fulton Oursler, carried a piece titled Alcoholics and God by Morris Markey (who was influenced to write the article by Charles Towns). It generated about 800 inquiries from around the nation. Oursler (author of The Greatest Story Ever Told) became good friends with Bill W and later served as a Trustee and member of the Grapevine editorial board.
In Oct. 1949, Dr. William D. Silkworth and Fulton Oursler joined the Alcoholic Foundation Board.)
 

There are times when I wish I were an alcoholic. I mean I wish I were a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. The reason is that I consider the AA people the most charming in the world.
 
Such is my considered opinion. As a journalist, it has been my privilege to meet many people who are considered charming. I number among my friends stars and lesser lights on stage and cinema; writers are my daily diet; I know ladies and gentlemen of both political parties; I have been entertained in the White House; I've broken bread with kings, Ambassadors and ministers; and I say that I would prefer an evening with my AA friends to any person I've indicated.
 
I asked myself why I considered so charming these alcoholic caterpillars who have found their butterfly wings in AA. There are more reasons than one, but I can name a few. The AA people are what they are, and they are what they were, because they are sensitive, imaginative, possessed of a sense of humor, an awareness of the universal truth. They are sensitive, which means they are hurt easily, and that helped them become alcoholics. But when they found their restoration they are as sensitive as ever; responsive to the beauty and the truth and eager about the intangible glories of this life. That makes them charming companions.
They are possessed of a sense of universal truth that is often new in their heart. This fact that this 'at-one-ment' with God's universe had never been awakened within them is the reason they drink. They have found a power greater than themselves, which they diligently serve. And that gives them a charm that never was elsewhere on the land and sea; it makes you know that God is charming, because the AA people reflect his mercy and forgiveness.
They are imaginative, and that helped make them alcoholics. Some of them drank to flog their imaginations onto greater efforts. Others guzzled only to block out unendurable visions that arose in their imaginations. But when they found their restorations, their imagination is responsive to new incantations and their talk abounds with color and might, and that makes them charming companions, too.
They are possessed of a sense of humor. Even in their cups they have known to be damnably funny. Often it was being forced to take seriously the little and mean things of life that made them seek their escape in the bottle. But when they find their restoration, their sense of humor finds a blessed freedom and they are able to laugh at themselves, the very height of self-conquest. Go to their meetings and listen to their laughter. At what are they laughing? At ghoulish memories over which weaker souls would cringe in useless remorse. And that makes them wonderful people to be with by candlelight.
 

(Soberly submitted by Ann of Naples, FL)
iluvnaples2@...

Please feel free to write, comment on, or pass the Meds on at anytime.  Submit new contributions to Chpshots@....  


#40285 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:50 pm
Subject: 1. Alcohol and Cocaine Form Deadly Mix
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1. Alcohol and Cocaine Form Deadly Mix

Young adults who mix alcohol and cocaine are threatening their futures with
devastating health problems.

Combining alcohol and cocaine creates a third chemical, cocaethylene, which
builds up in the liver over time and causes major health concerns when users
reach their 30s and 40s. Few, if any, realize the devastating consequences of
their behavior.

Cocaethylene, which was discovered in 1979, is highly toxic and is the only
known example of two drugs forming a third when mixed in the body.

Many who take "recreational" drugs, mostly on the weekends, drink alcohol at the
same time because they believe the combination enhances their "high," which
lasts longer and is more pronounced than using each drug on its own. And they
consider themselves social drinkers and recreational drug users, so they don't
believe their weekend or monthly indulgences will affect their health.

But they are totally unaware of the deadly chemical that is building in their
bodies each time they combine cocaine and alcohol.

In addition to causing liver damage, cocaethylene is believed to cause heart
attacks in people under the age of 40 and can be especially dangerous in those
who have underlying heart problems that often are undiagnosed.

Drug centers are seeing increases in drug-related problems related to
cocaethylene. Drug centers have reported an increase in crime among people who
mix alcohol and cocaine, as well as an increase in risky sexual behaviors.

"There is no question that the use of both alcohol and cocaine is a growing
concern," Martin Barnes, chief executive of the charity DrugScope, told the
United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper. "Surveys show people who drink regularly in
bars and clubs are more likely to be using alcohol and drugs. This presents
challenges to health professionals about how to raise awareness of the health
risks because combining the two drugs is not seen as taboo. It's simply a
lifestyle choice."

The numbers of cocaine-related deaths in the United States are increasing. The
U.S. National Household Drug Survey estimates that 5 million people mix cocaine
and alcohol each month. The U.S. Drug Abuse Warning System stated:
"Cocaine/ethanol abuse is a major cause of emergency medical admissions" and
"the cause of increases in cocaine-related mortality," the survey stated.

Editor's Note:

#40284 From: "Archie" <aais10to12@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:06 pm
Subject: A recovery thought
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Alcoholics have three kinds of memory loss: short-term, long-term and convenient.

 

OVER VIEW OF THE STEPS

 

     They completed the Steps in about a month. Then, in order to ensure their own sobriety, they helped others through the Steps.

  Back To Basics, page 1, paragraph 3, line 3

Steps 1, 2, 3 = believe

Steps 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 = do

Steps 10, 11, 12 = live

-----

OVER VIEW OF THE STEPS

 

 

Give it up (Steps 1,2,3)

Clean it up (Steps 4,5,6)

Make it up (Steps 7,8,9)

Keep it up (Steps 10,11,12)

  Back To Basics, page 30

 

An Al-Anon showed off her new Sobriety Ring to some ladies before a meeting. She explained, “When he’s sober, it turns green. When he’s drunk, it leaves a red mark on his forehead.”

       ASAP
Always Say A Prayer

#40283 From: "Archie" <aais10to12@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 4:11 pm
Subject: A thought about God
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God wants to forgive us more then we want to be forgiven.

 

Never try to forecast the way God is going to answer our prayers.

 

THE ANT AND THE CONTACT LENS

 

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was very scared, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took hold of the rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda’s eye and knocked out her contact lens. Well, here she is, on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn’t there. Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry.

She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is, please help me."

Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?" Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it on its back.

Brenda’s father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don’t know why You want me to carry this thing. I can’t eat it, and it’s awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I’ll carry it for You".

It would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, "God, I don’t know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it’s awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will."

  Author unknown

 

A pastor was opening his mail one morning and one envelope had only a single sheet of paper with a single word printed on it: "FOOL!" The following Sunday the priest announced, "I have known many people who have written letters and forgotten to sign their name. But this week I received a letter from someone who signed his name and had forgotten to write a letter."

       ASAP
Always Say A Prayer

#40282 From: "Kevin Feuerlicht" <kevin@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:14 am
Subject: Nov 10 Beliefs about money
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Beliefs About Money                              November 10

 

I was starting a new job for a corporation, I was good at what I did for a living. The personnel manager and I were down to the details of employment, and he asked me how much money I believed I deserved. I thought about it and came up with a figure of $400 a month. This was back in the sixties. I didn’t want to ask for too much, so I decided to ask for the smallest amount I could live with. He hired me and gave me what I asked for. Later on, when I left that job, the personnel manager told me he had been willing to pay me whatever I wanted. Had I asked for $600 or even $700 a month, which was a tremendous salary at that time, I would have gotten it. I had limited myself by what I believed I deserved.                                                       

                                                                                                          – Anonymous

 

  What are our beliefs about money?

  Do we believe that money is evil and wrong? Money is neither. It is a commodity on earth, a necessity. It is what people need to purchase many of their basic needs, as well as

luxuries and treats; it is one way they are rewarded for their work. Loving money however, can be as self-defeating as loving any other commodity. We can become obsessed with money; we can use it as an escape from relationships and feelings; we can use it compulsively to gain a temporary sense of power. Money is simply money.

  Do we believe there’s a scarcity of money? Many of us grew up with deprived thinking concerning money: There’s not enough. There will never be enough. If we get a little, we may guard it and hoard it because there’s no more.

  Money is not in short supply. We do not have to waste our energy resenting those who have enough. There is plenty of money here on earth.

  How much do we believe we deserve? Many of us are limiting ourselves by what we believe we deserve.

  Money is not evil. There is no scarcity, except in our mind and attitudes. And what we believe we deserve will be about what we shall receive.

  We can change our beliefs through affirmations, by setting goals, by starting where we are, and working slowly forward to where we want to be.

 

Today, I will examine my beliefs about money. I will begin the process of letting go of any self-defeating beliefs that may be limiting or blocking the financial part of my life.

 


#40281 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:02 pm
Subject: babulous thought for the day
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Each morning, a man paid a visit to his spiritual advisor.  He began every conversation with a long list of complaints about the day before: the names and transgressions of people who had treated him badly, the situations where someone else got what he deserved, the ways that the universe was plotting against him to insure that he would never be happy.

 

One day, his spiritual advisor said to him, “I am going to write down the secret of the universe.  Once you embrace this secret, you life will begin to change in ways that you cannot now imagine.”  He wrote the secret on a piece of paper and carefully folded it up.  He said to the man, “Do not open it yet.  I want you to go home now.  When you get there, I want you to look in the mirror and then open the note and read it.”

 

The man was very excited, and he ran home as fast as he could.  He unlocked the door and raced to the bathroom mirror.  He took a good look at himself, and with growing excitement, he opened the note, which read:

 

“YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE PROBLEM.”


#40280 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:38 pm
Subject: Daily Ponderables - 11/10/09
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Daily Reflections

A SENSE OF BELONGING

 

Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 105

That's what it is— -- belonging!  After a session of meditation I knew that the feeling I was experiencing was sense of belonging because I was so relaxed.  I felt quieter inside, more willing to discard little irritations.  I appreciated my sense of humor.  What I also experience in my daily practice is the sheer pleasure of belonging to the creative flow of God's world.  How propitious for us that prayer and meditation are written right into our A.A. way of life.

 

******************************************************

 

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

I am less self-centered.  The world used to revolve around me at the center.  I cared more about myself, my own needs and desires, my own pleasure, my own way, than I did about the whole rest of the world.  What happened to me was more important than anything else I could think of.  I was selfishly trying to be happy and therefore I was unhappy most of the time.  I have found that selfishly seeking pleasure does not bring true happiness.  Thinking of myself all the time cut me off from the best in life.  A.A. taught me to care less about myself and more about the other person.  Am I less self-centered?

Meditation for the Day

When something happens to upset you and you are discouraged, try to feel that life's difficulties and troubles are not intended to arrest your progress in the spiritual life, but to test your strength and to increase your determination to keep going.  Whatever it is that must be met, you are to either overcome it or use it.  Nothing should daunt you for long, nor should any difficulty entirely overcome or conquer you.  God's strength will always be there, waiting for you to use it, Nothing can be too great to be overcome, or if not overcome, then used,

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may know that there can be no failure with God.  I pray that with His help I may live a more victorious life.

*************************************

Thought for Today
 
"A man would do nothing, if he waited until he could
do it so well that no one at all would find fault with what
he has done."

--Cardinal Newman
*****************************************************
 
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
 
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama
 
*****************************************************
 
Native American
 
"The battle for Indian children will be won in the classroom, not on the streets or on horses. The students of today are our warriors of tomorrow."
--Wilma P. Mankiller, CHEROKEE
The world is constantly changing. One of the strengths of Indian people has been our adaptability. In today's world, education is what we need to survive. We need doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists. We can become these things and still live in a cultural way. We need to live in two worlds; the educated world and the Indian cultural world. Education will help protect our land, our people's health, and provide knowledge for our people. We must teach reading, writing and arithmetic. Also, we must teach the language, the culture, the ceremony and the tradition of our people.

Creator, let me remember You are my teacher.

*****************************************

Keep It Simple

 Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.  ---  Will Rogers

The greatest adventure ever is recovery, and action is what’s important in recovery. That’s because the Twelve Steps are full of action. The whole world has now opened up to us. At times, this will scare us. But we aren’t alone. Our Higher Power is there to help us. All we have to ask ourselves is, “Would this action keep me in touch with my Higher Power?” If the answer is yes, then we take action. If the answer is no, then we don’t.
In recovery, we’ll be busy. We admit our wrongs. We take inventories. We seek answers. We ask for help. We are to get as much as we can out of life. We can’t sit and watch; we have to get out and live life.

Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, You gave me a second chance at life. Help me use it and not let my fear stop.

Action for the Day:  Today, I’ll five things I want to do but I’m afraid to try. I’ll talk to someone I trust about how I can do these things.
******************************
The Great Awakening

To watch the eyes of men and women  open with wonder as they move from darkness into light.. to see their lives quickly fill with a new purpose and a new meaning, to see families put back together to see the alcoholic accepted back into the community of the living.... is wonderful but the real gift I receive is to watch them awaken to the presence of a real God in their lives and to be freed from the compulsion to drink .... Oh what a gift ...Some come quickly , some come slowly , but it comes to all who seek Him... Oh what a gift to see...Then to sit in meetings and hear them share their experiences and listen to them share the message that saved my life too... The message of Hope that one Day at a time you don't have to live and feel that way anymore... Walk with us to Freedom as WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny


#40279 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:01 pm
Subject: Workbook Lesson 197
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ACIM Workbook
Healing Perspectives

Lesson 197

“It can be but my gratitude I earn.”

Ingratitude is another word for unforgiveness. The whole ego thought system came from ingratitude for God's gift of all His Love. It was wanting more than everything. When I have been able to truly forgive a brother, when I recognize that no harm occurred, my heart overflows with gratitude. The space that resentment had taken in my mind is freed to receive the gift of Love. With Love, gratitude is inevitable, for it is an aspect of Love.

When I experience pain, whether it be emotional or physical, it reflects ingratitude and unforgiveness. I do not need to earn God's gratitude, for His gratitude for His extension, which is my Self, has never ceased. But I do need to earn my own gratitude through forgiveness. Without my gratitude, I can neither recognize nor accept God's. One of the central themes of the Course is that we perceive God as we perceive ourselves. So if I have ingratitude, I will believe that God is not grateful for me. Because I believe I can withhold Love and do withhold it when I am not grateful, I believe that God withholds His Love when I perceive Him as ungrateful.

To earn my gratitude, I must recognize my unforgivenesses and offer them to the Holy Spirit so that He can help me recognize them for the illusions they are. With His help I can release these illusions and make room for the gratitude that is innate in my Self.

Holy Spirit, I ask your help to recognize unforgiveness so that I may let it go.


Yesterday I was walking down the street trying to keep an open mind and tell myself it's not so bad, things will get better, Holy Spirit take my thoughts and my troubles and show me the way.

Suddenly there was this woman in front of me, polio stricken, maybe in her forties and it dawned on me that she reminded me of a young girl that I knew from my childhood neighborhood. She always had a smile and never seemed to appear victimized or angry. This woman I saw seemed to possess the same qualities. I was suddenly pulled back in time and thought of that young girl from my old neighborhood and what her life has been like growing up with an affliction to that magnitude.

I felt the following message loud and clear -- My girl you have no problems. Be grateful and keep up the good work.

I have so much to be grateful for.


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#40278 From: Patricia <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:35 pm
Subject: Today's Gift - 11/10/2009
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Today's thought from Hazelden is:

I haven't won yet but I haven't lost, either.
--Dennis C.

A favorite saying in sports is, "It isn't losing to get knocked down. Losing is staying down."

In life, as in sports, that idea makes great sense. Like "Let go and let God," or "Let it begin with me," it is a saying that reminds us of an important underlying principle. In this case the principle is that battles aren't wars, but rather a series of campaigns. No one wins every time out, or can expect to. And some battles aren't worth fighting anyway.

Fighting a battle isn't hell – our unrealistic expectations are. When we strike out against some old attitude or behavior, we have to realize we're in for the long haul. When the enemy is some aspect of ourselves, we are up against a formidable opponent that won't give up easily. We have to expect that there will be many battles – and not a few defeats. The winner is the one who perseveres longest.

Only continued effort wins the war; we can't lose if we don't quit.

Today, I pray for persistence in the face of many defeats. I ask my Higher Power for courage to keep at it.

You are reading from the book:

Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty

Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty. Copyright 1987, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the Hazelden.

______________________________________________________________________


#40277 From: "Patricia" <pdixonrae@...>
Date: Tue Nov 10, 2009 4:35 am
Subject: Concept 11 (Short Form)
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Concept 11 (Short Form)

The trustees should always have the best possible committees, corporate service
directors, executives, staffs, and consultants. Composition, qualifications,
induction procedures, and rights and duties will always be matters of serious
concern.

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