We Do Recover

[MajestyJo]

more language of letting go

You're being protected

t's easy to be thankful for answered prayers, easy to be joyfully grateful when the universe gives us exactly what we want. What's not so easy is to remember to be grateful when we don't get what we want.

John wanted an executive position in the company he worked for. He worked hard for the promotion. He prayed daily for his promotion, while giving a hundred percent of his energy and dedication to the position that he was in. But when the time came, he was passed over for his dream job. He left the company shortly after that. Today, he runs his own company with more responsibility, success, and joy than he could have ever hoped for at his old firm.

Susan, a recovering addict, wanted to date Sam more than anything. They got along great those times they ran into each other at work. He was charming, handsome, and sober, she thought. For months she tried to arrange a date with him, prayed that God would bring him into her life. But things never seemed to work out. She didn't know why. He seemed so interested in her. She was positive that the relationship was divinely ordained. She was stunned when she arrived at work one morning to find that Sam had died the night before of a drug overdose. He had been using drugs and lying about it the whole time.

Sometimes we get what we ask for. Sometimes we don't. God says, "No." Be grateful-- force gratitude; fake it if you must-- when God answers your furtive prayers by saying no.

Take the rejections with a smile. Let God's "no's" move you happily down the road. Maybe you're not being punished, after all. Maybe God's protecting you from yourself.

God, thank you for not always giving me what I think is best.

I was told that God answers prayer 3 ways. "Yes, No, and You got to be kidding."

When we trust our God, we learn to trust ourselves. How many times I heard a gentle whisper and discounted it only to find it came from my God. The Good Orderly Direction is there if I am open to receive and through it, I learn to trust myself.

[MajestyJo]

The Twelve Rewards of the Twelve Step Program

Ann C. wrote this "a number of years before"
the 1985 Internation Convention in Montreal, Canada
where she set it to tape at the Oldtimers Meeting.

She wrote it to show the contrast that can take place
in any of our lives if we will try to follow the AA principles.

We can all have Hope, instead of desperation;

Faith, instead of despair;

Courage, instead of fear;

Peace of Mind, instead of confusion;

Self-respect, instead of self-contempt;

Self-confidence, instead of helplessness;

The respect of others, instead of their pity and contempt;

A clean conscience, instead of a sense of guilt;

Real friendships, instead of loneliness;

A clean pattern of life, instead of a purposeless existence;

the love and understanding of our families, instead of their doubts and fears;

and the freedom of a happy life, instead of the bondage of an alcoholic obsession.

All this and more through AA, are we grateful enough?
Gratitude will continue the miracle of your sobriety, I found that out.

as written by Ann C. of Niles, Ohio - sober April 1, 1948
Found this on another site, not sure if it is posted here or not.

It is always good to remember to be grateful for the freedom of sobriety, especially at this time of the season.

[MajestyJo]

Just had a thought. Love is not having to say you are sorry. An old advertising saying that I can apply my program to. I need to change my thoughts and actions, so I no longer have to apologize for them, because I no longer do them.

A good picture of what Step 9 is all about. We know right from wrong for our recovery, it is about putting it into practice that can be difficult. Practice these principles in all our affairs. I no longer have to say, "Sorry I wasn't honest with you, Sorry I took that, I should have asked first, Sorry I couldn't be here, I had to go someone where else that day (don't tell them it was to the picture show).

So grateful that this program is one day at a time and I get to practice my program daily. Some days, I need to practice all 12 Steps to the best of my ability. I might have worked them, but there is no reason why I can't try to apply them to my life when I become aware of them.

[MajestyJo]

You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning

We're only as sick as the secrets we keep.
—Sue Atchley Ebaugh

Harboring parts of our inner selves, fearing what others would think if they knew, creates the barriers that keep us separate, feeling different, certain of our inadequacies.

Secrets are burdens, and they weigh heavily on us, so heavily. Carrying secrets makes impossible the attainment of serenity - that which we strive for daily. Abstinence alone is not enough. It must come first, but it's not enough by itself. It can't guarantee that we'll find the serenity we seek.

This program of recovery offers self-assurance, happiness, spiritual well-being, but there's work to be done. Many steps to be taken. And one of these is total self-disclosure. It's risky, it's humbling, and it's necessary.

When we tell others who we really are, it opens the door for them to share likewise. And when they do, we become bonded. We accept their imperfections and love them for them. And they love us for ours. Our struggles to be perfect, our self-denigration because we aren't, only exaggerates even more the secrets that keep us sick.

Our tarnished selves are lovable; secrets are great equalizers when shared. We need to feel our oneness, our sameness with other women.

Opportunities to share my secrets will present themselves today. I will be courageous.

For the most part, the reading says it all. It sure mirrored what I thought in early recovery.

My sponsor use to say, a burden shared is a burden lessoned. If you share it with one person, you only have to take half of it home. If you share it with ten people, you only have to take 1/10th of it home.

Many times I have shared a portion of my story only to have someone say, I am so glad you shared that I thought I was the only one. I needed that identification. For so long I compared and felt like I didn't fit in.

I was very lost, fragmented and bankrupt on all levels when I came into recovery. I found myself reflected in the women in my home group and in the men and women in other groups.

As I heard a man share one time, I had trouble getting in touch with my feelings until I heard a woman share. It is much easier for us. For men, it isn't considered the macho thing. By sharing, they too learn to identify. We all have a masculine and feminine side. I once got a medication card that told me that me feminine side was languishing. I was acting out in my survivor mode. Recovery for me is about balance.

[MajestyJo]

Walk In Dry Places

Garbage in, Garbage Out

Releasing the Past

One thing we don't need in our lives is garbage from the past. Yet many of us say that old thoughts and bitter memories often sneak devilishly back to spoil what should have been a pleasant day. Why do we let garbage from the past befoul our lives a second time?

Computer programmers use a certain expression when their systems turn up errors: "GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT." If you feed erroneous, useless information into a computer, that's what you get back.

We seem to have built-in computers that work the same way. If we waste time and energy talking about past injustices or old mistakes, we are unwittingly calling them back into our lives. We are bringing back garbage that should have been discarded permanently to make room for better things.

There is no benefit in bringing back old garbage. We can't change the past. We can't change our mistakes by brooding about them, and we can't obtain justice by remembering how badly we were treated or by plotting revenge. When we bring back garbage, we allow it to occupy space that should be devoted to constructive and positive things.

If we don't want garbage in our lives, let's not put it there by bringing up matters that should have been released, forgiven, and forgotten.

I will keep my mind on the present, knowing that a positive attitude will help me make the best of the opportunities that come to me.

This may be written for an alcoholic and/or an addict, but as an ACoA qualifier, there was a lot of garbage that I had to let go of. Let go of the darkness, so there was room for the light. Those old tapes were killers and had to be overhauled and replaced.

We often collect garbage and not aware of doing so. We attract things when we are down that don't serve us in today. We take on things that are good for us in the moment, but soon becomes redundant.

We take on things that are not ours to take on. Sometimes it is projected onto us and it isn't ours to take on, but often it is the caretaker in us, taking on too much.

Remember garbage collectors come once a week and we need to remember to put out the garbage.