More Recovery Thoughts and Quotes - September

[yukonm]

September 16

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories. Never could we recapture the great moments of the past. There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt -- and one more failure. - Pg. 151 - A Vision For You

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

'Let Go and Let God' is a simple phrase that helps us realize that we are not in charge of the world. Our need to control and manage all things in our life will soon be replaced as we allow Our Spiritual Source to operate.

Let this phrase gently lead me to practice Step three each time I hear it in a meeting or see it written on the walls of our meetings.

Paying it Forward

Today I will show my gratitude for the many kindnesses I have received by paying it forward, by giving what I have so appreciated getting to another individual. I remember how good it felt to have some one reach out to me in generosity. I will do that for someone today. I will see an opportunity to give and I will give. Whether it's a smile, an encouraging word, an extra moment of my time or some kind of object. I will not hang on to it, I will give it. And when I do give it I will say a quiet thank you to the person who gave to me. I will see the gift going full circle.

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

There are no musts in our program, but a lot of 'have-tos'.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Light is shining on my path today as I face in the direction of love and goodness.

One step at a time is leading me exactly where I need to be.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I drank like eight pigs. - Mike.

[yukonm]

September 17

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Live and let live is the rule. If you both show a willingness to remedy your own defects, there will be little need to criticize each other. - Pg. 118 - To Wives

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Vengeance sometimes seems the only way to get back at those who've hurt us. But we've found the best vengeance is living well, practicing our principles, and letting our Higher Power take care of the offenders.

May I recognize and internalize that vengeance is an attribute of addiction, not recovery.

Joy

Today I will embrace the experience of joy. The real purpose of life isn't to grab and get, to preen and try to out do the next guy. The real purpose of life is to deepen my ability to experience joy. Joy is the gift. Joy is the accomplishment. Joy is what fills me up. When I am able to feel joy, I don't need to chase around trying to get the world to admire and envy me on the outside because I feel empty on the inside. When I feel joy, I am happy in my own life because I understand that it is the only one that is actually mine to live, the only one through which I can connect with spirit.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Whatever vexes you currently, imagine for a moment what could make it worse. What can make it worse than that? Again. Imagine it, feel it, and come back to now. If you can make it worse, then you can make it better. Remember this: you are not helpless before your feelings.

I am stronger at what I'm doing, than my feelings are at what they're doing.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I continue to find people who are positive, healthy and nurturing.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Turn my stumbling blocks to stepping stones. - Jerry Jeff Walker - 'Getting By'

[yukonm]

September 18

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn't control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn't make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn't seem to be of real help to other people - was not a basic solution of these bedevilment's more important than whether we should see newsreels of lunar flight? Of course it was. - Pg. 52 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Many times we go to meetings to listen to what happens to people who don't go to meetings. When they ask for a topic at today's meeting, suggest 'What Happens to People Who Don't go to Meetings.'

One meeting a day can not possibly take as much time as my former bars, parties, connections, and the energy I put into using and drinking. Help me see that any complaints about the 'frequency' is unfounded.

Love What You Have

Today I will love what I have rather than always wanting something to be different before I allow myself to be happy. There is so much in my life right now. When I sit still and allow the life I already have to surround me, there is a feeling of fullness that begins to expand inside of me. When I spend all my time chasing what I think I need in order to be happy, I am never still enough to actually experience this feeling of contentment. Contentment is available to me all the time if I am willing to slow down and allow it to come into me. My happiness has more to do with loving what I already have than regretting or chasing after what I don't have.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Whether you pray, petition, plead, protest, prod, or praise your Spiritual Source, whether you sing songs of gratitude or whisper words of doubt, this is prayer.

Got prayer?

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

We take the steps, but it's funny where the steps take us.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

If something isn't working for me today, I am willing to let go of the struggle.

I trust that God has something better in store for me.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Ninety per cent of what I do on first contact with a new drunk is to spoon feed him Traditions. 'Cos if you get a guy in your car and you're on your way to a meeting and you say: 'Look, you're going to have to take a searching and fearless moral inventory.' you'd better not hit a red light, 'cos they're gone. - Doug D.

[yukonm]

September 19

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear. Whenever men are gathered together in business there will be rivalries and, arising out of these, a certain amount of office politics. Sometimes we alcoholics have an idea that people are trying to pull us down. Often this is not so at all. But sometimes our drinking will be used politically. - Pg. 145 - To Employers

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Learning to be tolerant of others, a difficult task at best, does not mean that we have to agree with them! Tolerance disagrees agreeably, we think. If someone disagrees with us right now, we can agree to disagree.

Right now I ask for the serenity to agree to disagree because my discomfort for prolonged times could lead me to pick up that first fix, pill, or drink!

Actualizing the Gifts that are In Me

I will actualize that gifts that are in me today. I will be less preoccupied with who I'm not and more occupied with who I am. When I spend all of my time looking outside of me or wanting what others have, I forget that I have my own special gifts. God has placed gifts within me that I am meant to develop and share. My responsibility is to come to know what my gifts are, then to cultivate and strengthen them as I share them with the world.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

One of your greatest resources can be your pets. Animals are wonderful companions and better listeners. They give undivided and devoted attention--long past the time when others have exited. They do not judge and they love unconditionally.

I work toward becoming the person my dog thinks I am.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

It says: 'here are the steps we took,' not suggested, not understand.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I grow and learn from everything that happens.

Today I am keeping my eyes open and many head clear so that I don't have to make the same mistake twice.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Carry the message not the mess. - Anon.

[yukonm]

September 20

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We suggest you draw the book to the attention of the doctor who is to attend your patient during treatment. If the book is read the moment the patient is able, while acutely depressed, realization of his condition may come to him.
We hope the doctor will tell the patient the truth about his condition, whatever that happens to be. When the man is presented with this volume it is best that no one tell him he must abide by its suggestions. The man must decide for himself. - Pg. 144 - To Employers

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

The professionals in our new life may appraise our situation better than us. They are not romantically linked to our love affair with drugs. Therefore, their evaluation may be more nearly correct.

May I have the ability to listen to those trying to help me; they honestly may be more objective than myself.

Loving Myself through Action

I want to do something special for myself today. Giving to others and withholding from myself doesn't work. I tend to treat other people the way that I treat myself. If I am stingy with me, I will, somewhere along the line, act that out with other people. If I am hard on myself, I will tend to be hard on others. I am the only person who is with me all hours of the day and I know what feels good and warm to me. I know what makes me feel sustained from within. Today, I will encourage, support and congratulate myself. Each time I do something that pleases me I'll say 'thank you' to myself. Each time I do something well, I'll tell myself 'good job.'

I will be my own best cheerleader.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

When you are having a bad day, lower your expectations and start over!

The more I work on me - the better most people behave.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Today do something for someone you love: Leave them alone.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am very grateful for this day.

I am grateful for all the love and inspiration that I receive from my Higher Power wherever I ask.

I just stop and tune in to this universal energy and am transformed to the level of my willingness.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

We have an approach called the Dumb Guy Approach to sobriety. We follow the directions that are in the AA Big Book. We don't make up any directions, there are already directions in here. If the book says we should read, we read. If it says to pray, we pray. If it says write, we write. Simple as that; 'Duh dum, ah what the hell, I can do that.' - Milt L.

[yukonm]

September 21

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

If he is sincerely interested and wants to see you again, ask him to read this book in the interval. After doing that, he must decide for himself whether he wants to go on. He should not be pushed or prodded by you, his wife, or his friends. If he is to find God, the desire must come from within.
If he thinks he can do the job in some other way, or prefers some other spiritual approach, encourage him to follow his own conscience. We have no monopoly on God; we merely have an approach that worked with us. But point out that we alcoholics have much in common and that you would like, in any case, to be friendly. Let it go at that. - Pg. 95 - Working With Others

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

If you were the helper and not the helpee, how would you like the person you were working with to behave? Are you acting in a manner consistent with what you believe is right?

Help me act in the same manner I would have others act with me under the same circumstances.

Silver Linings

I search for silver linings, for the deeper meaning of the events in my life. Life is my teacher if I can learn to read the subtle messages that are laced into the circumstances that I co-create around me. I will look for the lesson. When life offers up its inevitable challenges, I will try to understand what I am meant to see that I am not seeing, what I am meant to hear that I am not hearing, what I am meant to know that I am not knowing. There is always a silver lining if I look for it. Even if I don't see it readily, I trust that it is there and that it will reveal itself to me over time. Life isn't simple. One of the ways that I can grow from life's adversities, is to see what is positive about a difficult situation, to look for the silver lining. I can grow in joy and in pain. It doesn't need to be one or the other because pain can transform into joy. It can be the fire that clears the field for new and tender growth.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Do you like being lied to? Didn't think so. Yet how many times have you said, 'I'm fine' or 'Everything's OK' when it's not? When your friends ask how you are, they deserve not to be lied to. When you lie to others, you lie to yourself.

I am authentic with others and thus myself.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

If you want to know God's will, spend time with Him.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am taking whatever comes in my stride.

Today I know I can handle any change, any surprise, anything as long as I remember that my Higher Power is with me and I am never alone.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I'd wake up in the morning and my mind would be waiting like a vulture on the bed head: 'Good, I've been waiting for you.' - And it never told me anything positive. - Bob E.

[yukonm]

September 22

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: 'Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.' Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol. - Pg. 33 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

The slogans we are learning are like combinations to unlock something of value and make it accessible to our mind. Even if we don't like the slogans hanging on the walls and repeated at meetings, we at least consider the possibility of opening our mind to it's intent.

What situation, God, can I find this hour where a slogan will lead me to the solution?

I Will Be Me

I will be me, today. One thing I never seem to do well at, is trying to be someone else. I can imitate and learn from others, but I cannot be them. Only they know how to do that, it's a natural outgrowth of all that they have experienced in life, of all they are. That's the bad news. The good news is no one can be me as well as me. Being me builds on who I already am. It's exercise for my personality and my spirit. If I allow myself to actualize my own unique gifts and visions they will have originality to them, a freshness.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

'When adversity strikes, my message is always, Even this will pass...and better days than we have ever experienced will come.' ~Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

I can't run from God, so I let God run me.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

God speaks through people, don't worry about which ones.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I will find someone who needs my love.

Today I will share my strength, hope and experience so that someone else can be reborn.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

'Analysis' has 'anal' in there. That tells me something. - Trip S.

[yukonm]

September 23

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks - drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is little hope of his recovery. - Pg. xxviii-xxix - 4th. Edition - The Doctor's Opinion

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Even though you are a unique human being, you are not so unique that your recovery is any different then thousands before you. If you think we don't understand, then your disease is playing tricks on you because it doesn't want you getting well with us.

I name three reasons why I am just like every other chemical dependent seeking recovery.

Endless Opportunities

I can start over each day. I can start over each hour of each day. The universe is impersonal in that sense. It's always waiting for me to tell it what I want. Like attracts like. I tell the world what I want more of, by what I am thinking and feeling right now, right this minute. Today, every hour on the hour, I will allow myself to see something positive about my day. I'll let myself send out an order by my pleasant thoughts and feelings for more of the same. When I catch myself heading down a negative path I'll stop and consciously observe what is going through my mind. Life is full of chances and so is my day. I can start it over any time I want to.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Courage is more complex than spontaneous reactions to traumatic events. It may take courage to rush into a burning building or jump in a river to save a life, but they are almost instinctual. Sharing your deep feelings might be an act of courage far beyond gallant feats.

My courage is my fear in action.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Your sponsor helped you up. Don't let them down.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am really listening to the messages that I tell myself.

Today I want to feel good.

Today I'm changing on my negative messages for positive ones.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I got side-tracked; it wasn't that I was born needing six drinks, just Twelve Steps. - Trip S.

[yukonm]

September 24

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did. - Pg. 52 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

There is a fundamental unity that underlies the fellowship of our programs. It is this unity that can comfort us and help us hold on when we want a fix, pill, drink, smoke, or snort more than we want this new unfamiliar life.

God, as I understand You, show me how to take comfort from the unity of fellowship when drugs call me back.

Hope

Hope is on my horizon. I feel it in my bones, I sense it in my being, I know it to be part of who I am. I will never give up hope. Hope for a better world, a better life, a better me. Hope is that feeling that led explores to cross dangerous oceans in search of a new world. Hope is what keeps people who are imprisoned from giving up. Hope is what allows those who have all they hold dear taken from them to begin again. Hope is natural. It is a gift that I will allow myself to have.

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Refuse to attack yourself.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I choose to do things for me that make me feel good about myself.

Today is a perfect day to do something that I have been putting off.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases. - Hippocrates.

[yukonm]

September 25

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in this book. - Pg. 47 - We Agnostics

Being More of Me

Today, I realize that if I am to stand centered and strong within my life and self, I will need to plant a garden within my own soul. A garden for me to nurture and to nurture me. A haven of beauty. I will find my own voice and sing my song because if I don't sing it, it will not be sung. It is all I have and it is enough. I do not need to prove anything to anyone anymore. I have come home -- to me. The truth is, I was here all along, only I forgot to look for myself. Instead, I searched for me in other people's meaning and became lost in their stories. I am not lost today. I know that there is nowhere to look for me but within myself, and no one to lead me there but me.

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Sponsors carry the message, not the sponsee.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I choose to build a pathway to freedom from the bondage of self.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I was worried about stuff I couldn't remember for my 4th Step. My sponsor said: 'Let's just do the fridge, we'll get to the freezer later. - Tony.

[yukonm]

September 26

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

So we shall describe some of the mental states that precede a relapse into drinking, for obviously this is the crux of the problem. - Pg. 35 - More About Alcoholism

One Life

I have one life I can do something about and that life is mine. I have one mind through which to think the next right thought, one heart through which to experience the next feeling and one body through which to take the next right action. I cannot control another person. That is part of my disease, wanting to fix. I have spent too many years feeling overwhelmed by other people's problems, hurt by other people's actions and baffled by disease related behaviors. When I try to control others I will ask myself if I am feeling overwhelmed by their lives being out of order and need to take a step back. If I really want to distance them and I feel guilty about that feeling so I run in to fix instead and I need to take a step back.

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Where do you find recovery? Twelve steps past any lengths.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I'm living according to my truth, knowing that freedom and happiness are the result.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I know my capacity for drink but I keep getting drunk before I reach it. - Oliver R.

[yukonm]

September 27

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all directions. I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol was my master. - Pg.8 - Bill's Story

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

There is a fundamental unity that underlies the fellowship of our programs. It is this unity that can comfort us and help us hold on when we want a fix, pill, drink, smoke, or snort more than we want this new unfamiliar life.

God, as I understand You, show me how to take comfort from the unity of fellowship when drugs call me back.

Help is Not Always Help

I watched those I love sink further and further into a disease and it was extremely painful to witness. I watched those I love steep in denial, coming up with a new set of rationalizations for each manifestation of the disease and I felt deep frustration and sometimes despair at their unwillingness to see the reality that was growing like yeast before their eyes. It hurt to hear them use rationalizations to let themselves off the hook. But those rationalizations, that denial was their disease. It was infuriating to watch them go about their day seemingly free of the kinds of anxieties and worries that I was experiencing because their denial was working so well for them. It was enraging. It left me feeling completely helpless, frustrated and alone. It made me want to scream at everyone. But I fixed instead to make the feeling go away. When I fix to make my own pain go away, it doesn't work. The 'help' I give is too loaded down with my own pain and the messages get muffled.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

The difference between self-love and self-conceit is very important. Self-love is a healthy appreciation of God's gift to you. Conceit is comparing yourself to others and finding them lacking.

I do not climb the mountain so that I can look down on others.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Patience is giving God space.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am learning to trust my intuition and I am willing to act on this inner guidance.

I am taking positive and healthy actions today and my life is getting better and better.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

You go to a meeting and in ten minutes you're telling a complete stranger things you wouldn't tell a priest. - Doug D.

[yukonm]

September 28

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

There is, however, a vast amount of fun about it all. I suppose some would be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity. But just underneath there is deadly earnestness. Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish. - Pg. 16 - Bill's Story

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

This hour may be rough. No one promised us a rose garden and if they did they were wrong. Recovery is not a thing like a rose garden; it is a process like the act of gardening. Right now we are tilling the soil; soon you will be planting seeds; later new growth will reach for the sun.

Let me know Higher Power, God as I understand You, that I can't reach for the sun until I've left the muck of addiction.

Distorted Reasoning

This disease distorted the reasoning of all around me. Because we were trying so hard to hide the pain of watching those we love become mired in the disease and losing our grip on our own happiness, we used our thinking to twist and bend the truth into a more palatable shape. We rationalized, denied what was right in front of us, made excuses and sometimes lied because it made us feel better than to admit the truth. The alcoholic lied to hide their uses and abuses, the family members lied to hide their fear, pain and confusion. We chose stinking thinking over the truth, lying to the world and to ourselves. Pretty soon, our thinking became so filled with denial and rationalization that we started to live by it. Eventually our sense of reality became distorted. Today, I am willing to live life on life's terms, not mine. I am able to tolerate the truth because I know that I have a program, I have accepted the things I cannot change and changed the things I can.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

They say the easiest way to stay clean and sober is to breathe in and breathe out and don't drink or drug in between. That leads to abstinence. Working the Steps leads to recovery.

Nothing is so bad that a drink or drug won't make it worse and nothing is so good that working my steps won't make it better.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Rather than giving others a piece of your mind, don't-and have peace of mind.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I love myself and all that I am today.

My fears are just one part of all that I am. I am a human being on a progressive path to recovery and every part of me is important in the making up of who I am.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Denial - Don't Even Notice I Am Lying. - Mickey B.

[yukonm]

September 29

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

If a person has cancer all are sorry for him and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all things worth while in life. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer's. It brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad wives and parents - anyone can increase the list. - Pg. 18 - There Is A Solution

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Right now you don't have to pretend to be someone you are not. You don't have to pretend to be strong (if you're a man) or weak (if you're a woman). You don't have to pretend that you don't want to use, if you do--share what is real. We can't help if we don't know the truth.

Grant me the courage to simply be who I am, say what is real in my gut, and respond genuinely to others.

Hypervigilance

Living with this disease has been traumatic for me and for those I love. All of the symptoms of trauma have become a part of who we are. That's why we need to do so much work to recover. We're not just recovering from the disease of addiction, we're recovering from the symptoms of emotional and psychological trauma. My fear apparatus got very much overused in my family. I was constantly geared up for fight or flight. And when I couldn't do either of those I froze in my tracks, I went numb inside, I shut down. But all of that pain that I shut down stayed inside of me. It show up in my life as a delayed reaction, even though I am not still living under the same kind of stress as I did surrounded by active addiction, my body and mind carry the imprint of that trauma and over react. I live as if the stressor is still present. My old pain and anger are surfacing after the fact in a post traumatic stress reaction.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

You spend more time with yourself than with anyone else. Doesn't it make sense to put something into that relationship?

I am my own best friend and value my own companionship.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Few of us realize that God is all we need until God is all we have.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am one of the miracles of this universe and I am connected to everything that was ever created.

I can pick up the phone or sit in quiet meditation, choosing to make a contact with a friend or with my Higher Power or with both.

Today I know that I am never alone.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I'm not one who says that sobriety is a life beyond my wildest dreams - I could have dreamed up something far wilder than this. - Lorna K.

[yukonm]

September 30

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of absolutely no avail. This tragic situation has already arrived in practically every case long before it is suspected. - Pg. 24 - There Is A Solution

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Sometimes all we can do is not use, hold on, go to another meeting and tell them, 'I am not using, holding on, and going to another meeting because that's what you told me to do at times like these.' Our answers will come.

Help me take the steps necessary when times get tough, to do what the people in the program tell me to.

Healing Society

Today, I will light one candle and that candle is myself. I will keep my own flame burning. I turn my sight to light and love and goodness. For today, there is no need to be discouraged. So what if I see and identify all the ills of society and diagnose it as sick -- what good will that do me or anyone else? I heal society by healing myself. Just as life is lived one day at a time, the world will heal one person at a time. Each time I think a positive, loving thought, it goes into the ether and vibrates. This is nothing particularly mystical; I have but to sit near someone and look at her face to feel how her thoughts affect me. I take ownership of my own inner workings and their effect on myself and others. Today I am the gift.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

People think that 'nobility' is something special. But when you study the word, you come to realize that 'nobles' were simply those who served the King. Nobles were servants. In the Twelve-Step programs, we are all nobility.

The highest office I can attain in our fellowship, is Chief Servant.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Don't worry about finding your feelings; they will find you.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am grateful for the power I have over the future of my life.

I am being guided at all times to use my power with wisdom and with love.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

We all came on different ships but we're on the same boat now. - Martin Luther King.