More Recovery Thoughts and Quotes - August

[yukonm]

August 19

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We realize some men are thoroughly bad-intentioned, that no amount of patience will make any difference. An alcoholic of this temperament may be quick to use this chapter as a club over your head. Don't let him get away with it. If you are positive he is one of this type you may feel you had better leave. Is it right to let him ruin your life and the lives of your children? Especially when he has before him a way to stop his drinking and abuse if he really wants to pay the price. - Pg. 108 - To Wives

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Some addicts have returned to using mind-affecting chemicals because they tried to 'cope forever' and couldn't face never, ever using anything again. But you can maintain abstinence by just not picking up that first dose of anything NOW. Forget forever.

Give me the understanding that what I cannot do for a lifetime, I may easily do right now.

Denial

Denying this disease does not make it go away. I have watched this disease wrap its tentacles around three generations now. I have watched each generation pretend that it wasn't all that bad, that it didn't do all that much damage, that they didn't really need help. But they did. I have seen my family not drink or drug and imagine that that meant they we were not sick. They couldn't see that the relationship issues that we all suffer from are related to this disease. This disease takes many form because addiction is traumatizing to all concerned, and trauma creates emotional and psychological problems that do not necessarily get better by themselves.

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Resistance is only a waste of strength.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I value myself today.
I value everything about me.

I am finding people who value me as much as I value myself. I am attracting people who treat with me with love and respect.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

If you catch the disease of alcoholism you stay alive. If you don't you die. - Scott R.

[yukonm]

August 20

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Everybody knows that those in bad health, and those who seldom play, do not laugh much. So let each family play together or separately, as much as their circumstances warrant. We are sure God wants us to be happy, joyous, and free. We cannot subscribe to the belief that this life is a vale of tears, though it once was just that for many of us. - Pgs. 132-133 - The Family Afterward

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

All our past 'good intentions' were fragmentary at best, facades at worse. Some of us didn't mean to mess things up, some of us did mean to, always justifying our inadequacies by blaming parents, spouses, society, or God. This hour we must accept who we are, and stop looking around for the culprit--he is us!

May I recognize, as this program teaches, that I am at the root of my own problems and this hour, I can be at the root of my recovery.

Past Anger and Resentment

I need to find a way to experience my old anger and resentment without living in it. When I live in it, I ruin my own day. When I deny it, I create a dark spot on my emotional lungs that keeps me from being able to breathe deeply and fully. When I get lost in anger and resentment, I spend all my time justifying why I have a right to be angry and making all of my painful or negative feelings about someone else and not me. When I pretend that I don't have anger that I do have, I keep myself from feeling and processing it, I hold myself back from learning and growing from what I will learn about myself and the disease. Today, I will allow myself to feel my own anger and see what it has to tell me before I dump it, act it out, make it about someone or something else or medicate it. I will sit with it and let it sit with me. I will witness my feelings without trying to control them.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

God didn't do it!

God doesn't do anything to me, but always through me.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

If you're not working with others, then others will be working with you.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am beginning to experience all that I am, a unique and interdependent human being.

I feel unique and alive and unlimited.

I am free to experience love and joy.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

He asked how she could tell if her husband was lying. She said; 'Watch his lips. If they move, he's lying. - Anon.

[yukonm]

August 21

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

When we decide who is to hear our inventory and we are prepared for a long talk. We explain to our partner what we are about to do and why we have to do it. He should realize that we are engaged upon a life-and-death errand. Most people approached in this way will be glad to help; they will be honored by our confidence.
We pocket our pride and go to it, illuminating every twist of character, every dark cranny of the past. Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease. Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the nearness or our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink problem has disappeared will often come strongly. We feel we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe. - Pg. 75 - Into Action

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

When we feel that fate has dealt us a bad hand with chemical dependency, we simply remember that many people have MS, or cancer, or diabetes, or lupus, or heart disease, or. There are many diseases that people have for a lifetime. We simply do what we have to in order to obtain and maintain remission.

When I tend to pity myself, let me count my blessings. I have a chronic disease that is easily put in remission with abstinence. Others are not so lucky.

Alone

I will not try to get better all by myself. Trauma and depression are diseases of isolation, they make you want to withdraw, recoil and isolate. I will reach out and ask for help. I will go to meetings and let the program wash over me. I will accept 'the kindness of strangers.' I am not bigger than my disease; my disease is huge, pervasive and powerful. But I don 't have to face it alone nor should I.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Do it right the first time. If you don't have the time to do something right, when will you have the time to do it over?

It takes less time for me to do something right, than to explain to my sponsor why I did it wrong.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Keep an open mind, something may fall in.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

God is guiding me in all my thoughts and plans and actions.

I have given up all my struggling and self-defeating messages and have turned over all my thoughts to the power and energy of goodness and love.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

If everything is coming your way...you're in the wrong lane. - Anon.

[yukonm]

August 22

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

They said to me, 'Do you want to quit drinking? It's none of our business about your drinking. We're not up here trying to take any of your rights or privileges away from you, but we have a program whereby we think we can stay sober. Part of the program is that we take it to someone else who needs it and wants it. Now is you don't want it, we'll not take up your time, and we'll be going and looking for someone else. - Pg. 186 - Alcoholic Anonymous Number Three

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Right now you are safe. Whatever is troubling you is not so bad that your sponsor or another group member cannot help. Call them as soon as you find a phone.

Grant me the humbleness to call for help whenever I feel threatened, lonely, angry, or in any way separated from my spiritual health.

Arrogance and Grandiosity

I will not get lost in the arrogance and grandiosity that dog this disease 's trail. These are compensations for pain and fear. I won 't buy myself off with grandiose fantasies as a way of feeling big inside. I will go to meetings and experience my smallness, face it with courage and let myself slowly become right sized. Grandiosity and arrogance are part and parcel of this disease, defenses against feelings of helplessness. Today I can tolerate my own inner world.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Embrace all of your emotions for they are what make you, you. 'Hold them in an embrace of total acceptance and in that embrace you will not be agonized any more. Do you think the Christ never cried? Do you think the Buddha never ached? You are not going to be less human, you are going to be wholly human.' ~Bartholomew, I Come as a Brother

I become one with myself by embracing all of me, because I am all of me and I won't be less!

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Life is fragile; handle with prayer.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I accept all responsibilities of my life.

It feels good to know that I am in charge of my life and can accept the outcome of my decisions.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I'm not much, but I'm all I think about. - Anon.

[yukonm]

August 23

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We put them on paper, even though we had no resentment in connection with them. We asked ourselves why we had them. Wasn't it because self-reliance failed us? Self-reliance was good as far as it went, but it didn't go far enough. Some of us once had great self-confidence, but it didn't fully solve the fear problem, or any other. When it made us cocky, it was worse. - Pg. 68 - How It Works

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

If someone on the program talks rather harshly to you, it is because they too have been where you are. They will not pity you because pity leads to self-pity which leads to mind-affecting chemicals. Sometimes reality is harsh, and we won't hide that from you in our program.

When another in the program is harsh with me, help me to see the love behind the harshness, the reality behind my pain.

Shifting Helplessness to Powerlessness

Today I will allow my feelings of helplessness that I cannot help to shift to a powerlessness that I choose. Powerlessness leaves room for spiritual awakening. Helplessness is part of trauma. When I allow myself to shift into powerlessness, I make a profound move inward and upward. The helplessness that I carry from the disease, that feeling that nothing I can do will make a difference, transforms into a spiritual recognition and I can let go and let God in. I can stop being Cysifus pushing the same rock up the same mountain. I can step out from under the disease.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

The birth of resentment is blame. Often from the center of your bad feelings you seek someone to blame and yet if you 'find' this someone, it can only serve to increase your misery. Blame increases misery because it gives you something to focus on again and again. 'Resentment' is from Latin, meaning to 'feel again.'

By eliminating blame, I don't allow 'them' to live rent free in my head.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

What would my Higher Power do?

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Everywhere I turn I know that I am being supported by a powerful, positive energy.
I am finding love and support wherever I go.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

He said 'If you'll repeat sober what you said last night, I'll leave you and never bother you again. I said I'd do that on one condition: That he tell me what I said last night. - Anon.

[yukonm]

August 24

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in their lives. - Pg. 29 - There Is A Solution

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Our recovery is not just 'not using.' It is not just a program of 'not doing' something but is an action program where we must 'do' certain things to maintain our abstinence and grow. We learn what to do by reading our literature, attending meetings, and listening to our sponsor.

Help me to live clean and sober by DOING and not just 'not doing.'

Healed, Whole and Handling Life

I will get out of my own way today. When I get tied up in my head my life becomes one giant rationalization. I cannot move in any direction, I cannot access what I feel, I cannot find my own hope and healing. Today I will surrender, I will 'let go and let God.'
I will place my hand in the hand of my Higher Power and trust that I will be led. I will stop trying to outsmart this disease and release my life and will into the loving hands that can guide and sooth me, that can save my spirit. I do not have to do this alone.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Sporadically, even with a strong program, you may feel spiritually dead or emotionally empty. We're addicts, it happens! No matter how dead or empty you sometimes feel, this too shall pass.

It came to pass- it didn't come to stay.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Egotism is the drug that soothes the pain of stupidity.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I no longer want to repeat the same mistakes over and over again

Today I take the time to slow down and examine the source of my difficulties so that I can move on a clear path with freedom.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Habit is habit. And not to be flung out the window by man, but coaxed downstairs, a step at a time. - Mark Twain.

[yukonm]

August 25

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

...it was Dr. Bob's afternoon off - he had me to the office and we spent three or four hours formally going through the Six-Step program as it was at that time. The six steps were:
1. Complete deflation.
2. Dependence and guidance from a Higher Power.
3. Moral inventory.
4. Confession.
5. Restitution.
6. Continued work with other alcoholics.

Dr. Bob led me through all of these steps. At the moral inventory, he brought up several of my bad personality traits or character defects, such as selfishness, conceit, jealousy, carelessness, intolerance, ill-temper, sarcasm, and resentments. We went over these at great length, and then he finally asked me if I wanted these defects of character removed. When I said yes, we both knelt at his desk and prayed, each of us asking to have these defects taken away. - Pg. 263 - 4th. Edition - He Sold Himself Short

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

How are you feeling right now? Do you have flash reactions to everybody and everything? If we give ourselves a few minuets by counting to 10, we will give ourselves the gift of time so we can stop helping others control us by triggering negative behavior reactions.

Higher Power, may I have the presence of mind to count to 10 slowly before reacting to negative triggers from others?

Helplessness and Rage

When I feel I can do nothing to correct the situation I am in, to cure the disease that has taken so much from me I can collapse into a place of helplessness and rage. And when I get into that place I am an emotional, quivering heap, an accident waiting to happen, a powder keg waiting to explode when ignited by just about anything. This disease hurts so much. It makes me feel crazy. It makes me want to scream at people and call them idiots. But I have been down that road before, many times, and it gets me nowhere and does no one else any good. Today, I will humble myself before the power of this disease to destroy lives. I will recognize my own powerlessness. I will invite God and time and prayer in.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

We hug a lot. This can make newcomers uncomfortable because they are not used to being given love and attention without serious strings attached. By your example, you can teach them there are no strings to this love.

A hug is a great gift. One size fits all.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

People who seek a sponsor without faults, will be without a sponsor.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am so pleased with all the growth that I am experiencing.

It is OK to feel good about myself; and I do.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

The counselor said: 'You're full of denial.' I said; 'No I'm not.' - Tony.

[MemphisMike]

I can really identify with the words of Dr. Dayton. I let my temper get the better of me last week. I tried my best to count to ten.

I DID make it to 9.5 which is better than usual.

[yukonm]

August 26

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

It may seem incredible that these men are to become happy, respected, and useful once more. How can they rise out of such misery, bad repute and hopelessness? The practical answer is that since these things have happened among us, they can happen with you. Should you wish them above all else, and be willing to make use of our experience, we are sure they will come. - Pg. 153 - A Vision For You

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

It is important to stay away from 'trigger' people and places. These old influences can 'trigger' an overwhelming desire to use: bars, pot smoking, using friends, drug parties, cocktail parties, dealers, angry relatives, liquor stores, concerts, etc. We each need to determine our personal 'triggers' and stay away from them.

Divine Intelligence helps me honestly identify and stay away from my 'triggers.'

The Three C's

I didn't cause it, I can't control it and I can't cure it. I didn't cause it, I can't control it and I can't cure it. I didn't cause it, I can't control it and I can't cure it. I need to repeat and repeat this to myself in order to deal with my powerful disease of codependency that actually makes me feel that I did cause this disease, I can control it and I can cure it. When I get into this trap I lose myself all over again. I get into fights that cannot be won, I alienate others, I give away my power and I wind up feeling terrible about myself. Today I will not try to do the impossible. I will remember that my only job is to get better myself.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

In light of your recovery, when dealing with family and friends, you may have to make some unpopular decisions and enforce them. Be open to moving toward the middle of issues that don't com-promise your principles and going to any length for those that do.

My recovery is Twelve Steps past any lengths.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Some people are so successful in AA they turn out almost as good as they used to think they were when they were drinking.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am open to be touched by love, by joy, by nature.

Today I put aside all the happiness that I seek so that I can be free to experience the joy of this very moment . . . right now.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

A definition of an alcoholic: A drunk with a conscience. - Keith D

[MajestyJo]

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Some people are so successful in AA they turn out almost as good as they used to think they were when they were drinking.

That is like the words I use to say to husband #2, if you were as half as smart as you think you are, you would be brilliant. The tongue can be a terrible weapon, it cuts deep, and often the scar is invisible, and it festers inside eroding body, mind, and soul. Even words spoken in retaliation and anger, and you have a two-way warfare.

[bluidkiti]

August 27

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

The alcoholic may say to himself in the most casual way, 'It won't burn me this time, so here's how!' Or perhaps he doesn't think at all. How often have some of us begun to drink in this nonchalant way, and after the third or fourth, pounded on the bar and said to ourselves, 'For God's sake, how did I ever get started again?' Only to have that thought supplanted by 'Well, I'll stop with the sixth drink.' Or 'What's the use anyhow?'
When this sort of thinking is fully established in an individual with alcoholic tendencies, he has probably placed himself beyond human aid, and unless locked up, may die or go permanently insane. These stark and ugly facts have been confirmed by legions of alcoholics throughout history. But for the grace of God, there would have been thousands more convincing demonstrations. So many want to stop but cannot. - Pgs. 24-25 - There Is A Solution

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Many times in beginning sobriety, we have absolutely insane thoughts and feelings! But remember that transformation and insanity often intersect. The process of change is fraught with ambiguity--as long as you don't use, you're OK.

As long as God is running my life, my insanities will be used for the highest good of all and are nothing to be afraid of.

Trauma

This disease is traumatizing. It is shocking. It takes away my sense of normal. It makes people I love unpredictable and scary. It undermines my trust and faith in an orderly and predictable world and in my primary relationships. The earth beneath me feels unsolid, shaky and unreliable. And when I feel like this, I want to hold on tighter, to control, to fix and pin things down so I won't have to feel this way any more. Today I will accept these feelings as natural and I will breath through them and give them space to move through me knowing that there is a new kind of solidity growing daily within me. The power of presence.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen To Good People said that pain is the price we pay for being alive. So instead of wondering why we feel pain, more correctly we should ask, 'What can I do to make my pain mean something more than suffering?'

A No Pain; No Gain/Know Pain; Know Gain

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

If you're not getting mad at meetings, you're not going to enough meetings.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am discovering who I am. Today I am becoming my person, worthy of developing all of me. Today I am beginning to know that I am okay just the way I am.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I never went to bed with an ugly woman/man, but I sure woke up with a few.- Bobby Bare song.

[yukonm]

August 28

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

A man of thirty was doing a great deal of spree drinking. He was very nervous in the morning after these bouts and quieted himself with more liquor. He was ambitious to succeed in business, but saw that he would get nowhere if he drank at all. Once he started, he had no control whatever. He made up his mind that until he had been successful in business and had retired, he would not touch another drop. An exceptional man, he remained bone dry for twenty-five years and retired at the age of fifty-five, after a successful and happy business career. Then he fell victim to a belief which practically every alcoholic has - that his long period of sobriety and self-discipline had qualified him to drink as other men. Out came his carpet slippers and a bottle. In two months he was in a hospital, puzzled and humiliated. He tried to regulate his drinking for a little while, making several trips to the hospital meantime. Then, gathering all his forces, he attempted to stop altogether and found he could not. Every means of solving his problem which money could buy was at his disposal. Every attempt failed. Though a robust man at retirement, he went to pieces quickly and was dead within four years. - Pgs. 32-33 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Positive clean thoughts of ourselves are a must. It is important to 'picture' ourselves speaking at meetings, 12th stepping newcomers, laughing, cleaned up and well groomed, and holding our heads high. These clean and sober thoughts help counter years of drunk and dirty thoughts.

I see myself laughing and sharing with others.

Loving My Family and Hating the Disease

I can love my family and hate the disease. I can love myself and hate the disease. This disease is more powerful than the human body's and psyche 's ability to fight it off sometimes. It enters the human body and makes it tense, hyper-vigilant and addictive. It floods our minds and makes our thinking distorted, depressed and disturbed It wraps itself around our hearts and makes us feel hopeless. It infiltrates relationships with mistrust, resentment and paranoia. This disease has invaded and degraded my family system. But I can do little to change that unless each family member seeks out recovery and works a vigorous program. Dabbling in a little 'help' only scratches the surface of the problem. This disease is powerful and needs to be treated as aggressively as a spreading cancer. Today I know that the only person I can heal is myself. If anyone else chooses recovery, it will be through the power of example and their own free will.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

When you are having trouble doing one day at a time and it feels as though several days have attacked you at once, realize that nothing except your own thoughts can really attack. In fact, it is only your own thoughts that can prove to you that you have not been attacked or singled out unfairly.

I counter thoughts of 'unfairness' with the realization that I am very lucky the world has not paid me back for all the wrongs I've caused.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Thank God for what you have. TRUST GOD for what you need.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am worthy of being gentle with myself.
I am worthy of it and I am going to give myself gentleness and softness.

I am developing a new habit of being softer with myself today . . . of not driving myself so hard.

Today I will drive myself less and know that my Higher Power gives me the energy I need to do what needs to be done in this day.

I will stop pushing myself as hard as I do.

I will stop for a moment and get renewed by the energy that I receive when I know that my Higher Power is holding my hand.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Selfishness, self-seeking and self-centeredness sound the same but I learned they're different: Selfishness is 'It's all for me.' - Self-centeredness is 'It's all about me' - Self-seeking is 'What's in it for me?' - Scott R.

[yukonm]

August 29

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices when we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness and usefulness which we should have sought ourselves. - Pg. 49 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Whether we have lost our family, friends, or our dignity through this devastating affliction, the greatest loss of all was our relationship to our Higher Power.

Higher Power, as I understand You, I give thanks for my return to You.

A Spiritual Awakening

Today I am open. I understand that a spiritual awakening is my path to healing. My life looks different. I am learning to allow it to unfold a day at a time. I am becoming aware of the deeper experience of being alive. The morning and I meet and greet each other like old friends. I am alive and in this world for another day by the grace of God. I am in charge of my body, mind and soul and it feels right and good. I belong to this world and this world belongs to me, I am meant to be here. I am learning to let life work out rather than forcing it into place. I am living simply and enjoying simple pleasures. I am awake and alive for one more day.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

There may be a great temptation to believe that some sort of sacrifice is being asked of you when you are told you must accept reality. After all, isn't it reality that keeps messing up your fantasies? Do reality; it is the easier softer way.

Reality check: I am here 'X'

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Self-will cannot be overcome by Self-will.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Everywhere I turn I find positive and loving people.

My heart is full of peace and love.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I'm the type who, if he has to shift a refrigerator up 15 flights of stairs, and sees a guy with a refrigerator mover's uniform on, who says; 'Can I help you bring that up the stairs? I'll do it for free.' I'm the type who say: 'Nah, I think I've got it.' - Charlie C.

[yukonm]

August 30

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Many doctors and psychiatrists agree with our conclusions. One of these men, staff member of a world renowned hospital, recently made this statement to some of us: 'What you say about the general hopelessness of the average alcoholic's plight is, in my opinion, correct. As to two of you men, whose stories I have heard, there is no doubt in my mind that you were 100% hopeless, apart from divine help. Had you offered yourselves as patients at this hospital, I would not have taken you, if I had been able to avoid it. People like you are too heartbreaking. Though not a religious person, I have profound respect for the spiritual approach in such cases as yours. For most cases, there is virtually no other solution.' - Pg. 43 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Many of us have not gone this long without some kind of chemical for many years. We feel awkward, uncomfortable and in physical pain. It seems like too much is being asked of us. Sometimes we romanticize the 'good times' when we were using. But we must now trust that thousands of addicts have lived through this hour and go on to a better one.

God, as I understand You, show me that I can go to a better hour, day, and life!

The Next Right Action

My only job today is to take the next right action. I cannot solve my life in a day. I cannot erase my past in a day nor do I even want to. All I need to do is the task at hand as well and sincerely as I can. When I do that sincerely and daily, the rest takes care of itself. When I don 't I get overwhelmed with my own fears and pain and I eventually feel immobilized and stuck. I will not oneness about tomorrow because the only day I am in is today and the only moment I can do anything about is now.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Did you know that the word 'share' derives from the Old English word for 'shear' which means to cut or divide? To share with others means to divide your burden. Each time you share, you leave another little piece of the weight of your burden with them.

By sharing, I divide; by dividing, I lighten my load.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Chapter Five is called 'How It Works,' not 'Why Me?'

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

It feels so good to be alive and to be part of this universe.

No matter where I am in my life today, no matter what it is that I am doing, I know that I am growing richer and richer with love and with life.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

NUTS = Not Using The Steps. Mickey B.

[yukonm]

August 31

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God. - Pg. 46 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Are you angry or about to get angry? We have learned that only one thing causes anger: not getting what we think we want, need, or deserve. Whether it is attention, money, respect, sex, admiration, things, or security, it means not getting what we think is our just deserts.

As I do what I know is right in any given situation, anger will be replaced with a reliance on my Spiritual Source and that source will provide what I need.

Keeping My Soles in the Room

I will get myself to a meeting today. I won 't go to hear anything life altering or to say anything brilliant. I will just go to keep my soles in the room knowing that my soul will somehow follow, even if I cannot fully see it. I will go to gather my senses, to hear what I hear, to get them emotional or limbic balance that comes when I sit with others like me in a room that is dedicated to telling the truth in a calm way. My limbic or emotional system is balanced by other humans 'read mammals' like me through a phenomenon called limbic resonance. When I sit with a room of calm people my nervous system calms, too. I actually repattern my neurological wiring in this way, I develop pathways for experiencing my emotions calmly by being around others who are doing that.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Relapse is part of recovery: NOT! What the fellowships say is keep coming back SOBER. Members warn of the very real danger of that last relapse: stepping in front of a car or bus, overdosing, being institutionalized, and death! The truth is, any relapse can be your last. Never kid yourself, relapse is part of the disease process, not part of our recovery process.

I do not help people work on their recovery by OKing working on their disease. OK

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

It's not what you get from a meeting, it's what you take to a meeting.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I respect my body, mind and spirit and am taking care of all three.

I am gentle and nurturing, putting my needs first. Only then can I be well enough to help others with their needs.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I've had some lousy days sober. Some-down-in-the-dirt, drooling-on-myself, miserable low-life ugly days sober - But I've had fifteen and a half wonderful years. - Earl H.