Reclaiming Our Lives

01/05/2023

21/03/2023

❤️Just For Today❤️

March 21

A treatable illness

Addiction is a disease that involves more than the use of drugs.

Basic Text, p. 3

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At our first meeting, we may have been taken aback at the way members shared about how the disease of addiction had affected their lives. We thought to ourselves, Disease? I've just got a drug problem! What in the world are they talking about?

After some time in the program, we began to see that our addiction ran deeper than our obsessive, compulsive drug use. We saw that we suffered from a chronic illness that affected many areas of our lives. We did'nt know where we'd caught this disease, but in examining ourselves we realized that it had been present in us for many years.

Just as the disease of addiction affects every area of our lives, so does the NA program. We attend our first meeting with all the symptoms present: the spiritual void, the emotional agony, the powerlessness, the unmanageability.

Treating our illness involves much more than mere abstinence. We use the Twelve Steps, and though they don't cure our illness, they do begin to heal us. And as we recover, we experience the gift of life.

Just for today: I will treat my illness with the Twelve Steps.

23/02/2023

19/02/2023

❤️Just For Today❤️

19 FEBRUARY

Being Flexible through Life's Challenges
Just when we think we know all that recovery has to offer, more is revealed-if we are willing to accept the gift.

-Living Clean, Chapter 7, "Awakenings"

Recovery allows us to take life by the reins. With a clear head and a clean conscience, we're able to deal with situations that would have mystified us in our previous lives. With time and effort spent on our recovery, we find the balance-often repeatedly-between confidence and humility, patience and action, faith and persistence. Flexibility sits at the intersection of all of these principles, allowing us to adapt and be resilient as recovery reveals its gifts. When life takes an unexpected turn, sometimes there's magic in what we discover-other times, disappointment. In either case, practicing flexibility helps us to go with the flow. We keep breathing, regardless of the circumstances. A difficult living situation, an unhappy marriage, or a dead-end job may call on us to make decisions and take action. Our problems don't solve themselves just because we're clean. The work we put into our recovery helps us to understand our part in every situation. With that, we figure out what we can accept, what we should change, and when it's time to walk away. We take the reins of our lives, but we leave enough slack for the right pace and direction to reveal itself. With faith and flexibility as our guideposts, new challenges seem more like serendipity and less like a curse. "I grew up hearing, ˜We plan, God laughs,'" one member shared. "When something gets in the way of my plans, I take it as divine intervention prompting me to explore other options." We often emerge from our most painful times with gifts we could not have imagined. Recovery helps us let go of some of our fixed ideas and look for the horse when all we see is manure.
I can learn new things and discover unique gifts at any phase of life in recovery. I will loosen the reins today and be flexible enough to accept the grace that comes my way

17/02/2023

Remember the signs that you need HEALTHY boundaries:

1. You feel overwhelmed.

2. You feel resentful toward people for asking for your help.

3. You avoid phone calls and interactions with people who might ask for something.

3. You make comments about helping people and getting nothing in return.

4. You feel burned out.

5. You frequently daydream about dropping everything and disappearing

6. You have no time for yourself

17/02/2023

My Definition of “Boundaries”

Boundaries are expectations and needs that help you feel safe and comfortable in your relationships. Expectations in relationships help you stay mentally and emotionally well. Learning when to say NO and when to say YES is also an essential part of feeling comfortable when interacting with others.

17/02/2023

💕Spiritual Principle a Day💕

17 FEBRUARY

Open-Mindedness Keeps Us Teachable

The principle of open-mindedness helps us to remain teachable, and to look for teachers all around us.

-Living Clean, Chapter 5, "Being a Parent"

When we read "Just for Today"-as we do at many meetings-we're reminded to cultivate a better perspective on life. Open-mindedness is one of the keys to attaining this improved outlook. Without an open mind, we limit ourselves to what we already know. As one member pointed out, "If I knew how to fix myself, why would I come to NA?" Knowing we don't have all the answers can be a real asset. Such humility helps us to stay teachable. In addition to looking within, we can find lessons and teachers in our experience and all around. Desperation, no matter the degree, can be a teacher. It has a way of opening our minds to the possibilities recovery has in store. When we're open to finding teachers, we're quicker to detect life's guardrails and correct course to avoid some of the harshest lessons. When things don't go our way, open-mindedness helps us find opportunities to stretch ourselves. New ideas seem less like a personal attack and more like a chance to increase our understanding. Instead of avoiding criticism, we seek to learn from it without getting defensive. Once we stop using and lose the desire to use, the job of finding a new way to live is a lifelong project we chip away at each day. It takes on new meaning as we mature in recovery. "The new way to live I found when I was 20 and new to NA would kill me today," one member shared with a wink. "I need to be in bed by ten!" Regardless of our preferred bedtime, it helps to remain open and teachable if we want to continue to learn and grow. Life never stops offering new lessons. Instead of resenting life's twists and turns, we try to focus on what we can discover about ourselves as we navigate them.
I will stretch myself to consider perspectives that may be different from my own today. I will look at my challenges as opportunities for growth

17/02/2023

❤️Just For Today❤️

February 17

Carrying the message, not the addict

They can be analyzed, counseled, reasoned with, prayed over, threatened, beaten, or locked up, but they will not stop until they want to stop.

Basic Text, p. 65

Perhaps one of the most difficult truths we must face in our recovery is that we are as powerless over anothers addiction as we are over our own. We may think that because we've had a spiritual awakening in our own lives we should be able to persuade another addict to find recovery. But there are limits to what we can do to help another addict.

We cannot force them to stop using. We cannot give them the results of the steps or grow for them. We cannot take away their loneliness or their pain. There is nothing we can say to convince a scared addict to surrender the familiar misery of addiction for the frightening uncertainty of recovery. We cannot jump inside other peoples skins, shift their goals, or decide for them what is best for them.

However, if we refuse to try to exert this power over anothers addiction, we may help them. They may grow if we allow them to face reality, painful though it may be. They may become more productive, by their own definition, as long as we don't try and do it for them. They can become the authority on their own lives, provided we are only authorities on our own. If we can accept all this, we can become what we were meant to be carriers of the message, not the addict.

Just for today:
I will accept that I am powerless not only over my own addiction but also over everyone elses. I will carry the message, not the addict.

16/02/2023

God, I offer myself to Thee
To build with me
and to do with me as Thou wilt.
Relieve me of the bo***ge of self,
that I may better do will.
Take away my difficulties,
that victory over them may bear witness
to those I would help of Thy Power,
Thy Love, and Thy Way of life.
May I do Thy will always!

13/02/2023

❤️Spiritual Principle a Day❤️

14 FEBRUARY

Selflessness Brings Relief

Practicing selflessness gives us relief from self-obsession.
-Living Clean, Chapter 5, "Fellowship"

Our Basic Text states, "Self-obsession is the core of our disease." When we look for evidence of this in our lives, most of us find plenty to go around. We see ample proof of self-centeredness and self-obsession in many of the thoughts, feelings, and actions that led us to the door of our first meeting. Coming to terms with the way our disease manifested itself in active addiction is a crucial component of the recovery process. We see much more as we stay clean and work a program - like how self-centered fear spirals into self- obsession and continues to manifest in recovery. And, thankfully, how selflessness can offer us some relief. "Once I was able to stop using," one member wrote, "the greatest freedom I've received in NA has been freedom from intoxication with my own thoughts and way of thinking, freedom from the self-centered me. I've been freed to care about others." Simple abstinence does not eliminate self-obsession; we get a better perspective on our lives when we get out of ourselves. One member was known to tell newcomers: "If you feel lousy today, call another addict and ask how they're doing." When we focus all our attention on ourselves, we end up feeling bad. By shifting our focus to others, we usually feel much better about everything. Especially when we are helping a newcomer, we find plenty of reasons to be grateful for what we have. Instead of worrying (or obsessing) about our own desires, we try to practice care and concern for those around us. Selflessness doesn't even have to mean we disappear from the picture altogether-we simply turn our thoughts to others for a bit, and we experience some relief from self- obsession.
When self-obsession strikes, I will help another addict. It's that simple.