July 31, 2004

More Ways to Reduce Stress -- and Live

This simple list from a Phillipine newspaper provides elegant guidance in how to live life to the fullest without stress and worry.Number 36 on the list is pointed out as being very important:

"Remind yourself that you are not the general manager of the universe."

July 30, 2004

Eric Clapton Quote

"With heroin I couldn't leave the room. I'd take the phone off the hook and it would just be me and the TV... With alcohol, I could be very gregarious. I thought I'd woken up and come back to life. And in a way I had. But it was a weird life and eventually it led back to the same place... I needed a total internal collapse before I could stop... That moment they call 'the grace of despair'. It came and in a flash of clarity I saw I was going to die. I didn't want to die, so I picked up a phone and asked for help... That's when I grabbed on to the notion of one day at a time and that's been my programme ever since. Sixteen years of one day at a time."

- Eric Clapton, 'Scotsman.com'" Via dryblog

Eight Simple Stress-Busters

Susie Cortright of familyresource.com urges us to choose a life of less stress by identifying your stress points.

July 29, 2004

Quotes from Melody Beattie

Consider signing up to receive daily recovery readings in your email inbox at Tammy's Recovery Resources. Below is a small sample from the July 29, 2004 message. Thanks Tammy.

"Today, I will remember that God has not abandoned me. I can trust that God is leading, guiding, directing, and planning in love each detail of my life.
--Melody Beattie

God, help me become fluent with my emotions. Help me learn to feel whatever I feel, then regularly restore myself to that centered, balanced place.
--Melody Beattie

Today I will be open to growing in my understanding of my Higher Power. I will be open to letting go of old, limiting, negative beliefs about God. No matter how I understand God, I will be grateful that God understands me.
--Melody Beattie "

Breaking Addiction's Grip

Hitting bottom, breaking addiction's grip, William Cope Moyers of the Hazelden Foundation speaks from his own experience

Molitor hears echoes in Eckersley's speech

" The hard part was supposed to be over. But long after Paul Molitor had delivered the speech of his life on the biggest stage of his baseball career, his eyes welled as he listened to Dennis Eckersley.''

"Molitor, the St. Paul, Minn., native who overcame addiction and injury in his playing career, and admitted he's still working on mending relationships that suffered along the way, sat off to the side, his composure quietly breaking down."

Read the story here.

July 27, 2004

Steppin' Out! The 12-Step Radio Show Online!

Powerful Productions offers Steppin' Out! The 12-Step Radio Show Online! for broadcast to local stations. Check out the website for more information


July 26, 2004

Random Quotes

I am not sure of the sources for some of these statements, but they have helped me and I want to share them.

Our defiance and grandiosity springs from a persisting infantile ego, characteristically filled with feelings of omnipotence, demands for direct gratification of wishes, and a proneness to interpret frustration as evidence of rejection and lack of love.

Serenity does not mean the lack of any stress or tension - rather it means the inner security that enables us to bear the stresses and to use them as occasions for growth.

Humility is a state of mind that comes from a realistic and relatively accurate knowledge of one's abilities and limitations.

To those who have made progress in AA, humility amounts only to a clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we can be. (Bill W.)

If there is a disturbance deep inside of me - if anything from the outside disturbs, distresses or presents a conflict in my life - there's something I should be doing that I'm not doing or there's something I'm doing that I shouldn't be doing. I sit down in my rocker until I figure it out with God.

July 25, 2004

Forgiveness is a Gift You Give Yourself

From Real Live Preacher Quotes:

It really doesn’t matter if the person who hurt you deserves to be forgiven. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. You have things to do and you want to move on.

A Save Situation

Albany, N.Y. -- timesunion.com

Dennis Eckersley's greatest save didn't come on a pitching mound. It came when he checked himself into an alcohol recovery center in the winter of 1986.

July 24, 2004

Self-Assessment Tests Can Help

Do You Have a Alcohol or Drug Problem?:

 "Alcohol and drug use can progress into abuse and even addition so insidiously that sometimes people do not realize that their drinking or drugging has become a real problem for them and those around them. 

What about your situation? How do you think it compares to 'normal.' Have you progressed to the point of having a real problem that needs to be addressed? These self-assessment tests can help you determine whether or not it may be time to get help."


Forgiveness is the art of releasing resentment

From Hazelden:


"The Big Book of 'Alcoholics Anonymous' says resentment destroys more alcoholics than anything else because deep resentment leads to futility and unhappiness and shuts us off from the 'sunlight of the Spirit.' Authentic forgiveness takes time... "

July 23, 2004

Welcome

With this blog I will share my experience, hoping to gain and give strength to others in recovery from addiction.