Unmasking our real selves
The first act of bad faith consists of evading what one cannot evade, of evading what one is.

Jean-Paul Sartre


When did we learn to pretend to be other than we were? When did we learn that what or who we were wasn't good enough - that we could never do or say or be enough?

We learned in childhood, as did our parents & their parents as well. Wearing a mask was a habit that evolved into becoming that mask, while our real selves disappeared.

In many ways, our real selves are still untested. But unlike the old days when they'd emerge only under pressure, we now try our real selves on like new clothes first in a locked room when no one's looking; later, in the open air & finally, with other people.

Being who we are is scary & strange & awkward at first, but it is an act of faith, one that builds upon the next act. These acts of faith are the process that is our recovery.

Today help me show my real face, if only for a moment.


Body, Mind, & Spirit

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Each one of us can make a difference by passing on what we know.

You have something worthwhile to share, regardless of where you are in your life. You’ve built a history and you’ve learned lessons along the way.

- Jane Powell

No matter what the substance, no matter where we are on our journey, we can share what happened to us, what it was like, and what it is like now.

It can be about still using and not being able to quit. It can be about having recovery and relapsing. It can be about finding recovery and sharing the change in your life and the joys you found in recovery.

This is what these boards are for. To share our experience, strength and hope with each other. When I do this, it also helps me. When I share, it puts some order into my own life and thinking.

It has been a long time since I drank and abused drugs. What I need to watch out for is my emotional sobriety. Sobriety according to my spiritual adviser means 'soundness of mind' and that is why I named one of my sites by that name.

Another is called "The Five As!" It is the five As of change that I needed for my own recovery. I became aware that I had a problem. I admitted to others that I had a problem, no matter what the addiction is or was. I accept the fact that I was an addict and that I could not do it on my own power and that I needed help.

The other two are interchangeable for me. I take action to change my attitude, or I change my attitude so I can take action. For me it was picking up the phone and calling the social worker at the YWCA. She got me into a treatment center. The treatment center introduced me to AA and NA. AA was what I needed because of my denial. NA was outside help because although my prescription pills were like dried up alcohol and I could relate to the people in AA, I knew deep down I was an addict. Some is good, more is better.

Right from the beginning of my recovery, I found Al-Anon. It helped me to discover where my old tapes were introduced and how I could identify them and deal with them. I had one reason to go to AA and/or NA. I had 3-33 reasons to go to Al-Anon. I am the daughter of an alcoholic father and a mother who used food to deal with her own emotions and died at the age of 40. I was married to an alcoholic who was very abusive and to another who I 'think' qualified for Sex Anonymous. He too was abusive. My son became an alcoholic/addict and got into things that I never tried.

As I was told, we had to go through what we went through to get to where we are today. We have a story to tell which will help others find their way.

My sponsor said, "You do not have the power to keep one sober and you don't have the power to keep them from using." What you do is have a story to tell and to share with others, a journey of how you got there and how recovery is helping you in today.

You can learn two things. How to work your program and how NOT to work your program. It is about finding what is right for you and the path you need to take for your own recovery. I was one of the really sick ones. AA gave me hope for a better tomorrow. I tried for eight years my way and my way didn't work. I walked into a room and found others who were not drinking. I walked into NA and found people who were not using.

For me, no matter what fellowship I belong to or don't belong to, it is about quitting everything. I have heard of people who quit smoking. My doctor put me on an inhaler because he said, "If you stopped, you would die. It took me until I was 7 years sober to find a willingness to give them up. I had to pray for the willingness to be willing.

Thanks for letting me share.

"The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem." -- Theodore Rubin My sponsor always said, "Don't call them problems, call them challenges. Challenges we can over come. Problems we can stay stuck in. There have been many over the years. There have been others that I have just had to accept that they are there and deal with them in the moment. Quite of the problem is me. As the Al-Anon slogan says, "Let it begin with me." AA says get over it, get out of self and help someone else.

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Butterfly Friendship

www.angel9oh7.com/gbbutterflyfrndship.html

The Parable of the Butterfly

http://www.joyfulheart.com/easter/buterfly.htm

How is a butterfly a symbol of Easter

http://www.springbranchpres.org/2012...ol-for-easter/

Though we be sick and tired and faint and worn--Lo, all things can be borne. --Elizabeth Chase Akers

God Answers Prayers

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When the idea is not right God says "No."

No - when the idea is not the best.

No - When the idea is absolutely wrong.

No - when though it may help you,

It could create problems for someone else.



When the time is not right God says, "Slow."

What a castrophe it would be if God answered

every prayer at a snapp of your fingers. Do

you know what would happen? God would

become your servant, not your master.

Suddenly, God would be working for you

instead of you working for God.



Remember: God's delays are not God's denials.

God's timing is perfect. Patience is what we need in prayer.



When you are not right, God says, "Grow."

The selfish person has to grow in

unselfishness.



The cautious person must grow courage.

The timid person must grow in confidence.

The dominating person must grow in

sensitivity.

The critical person must grow in tolerance.

The negative person must grow in postive

attitudes.

The pleasure-seeking person must grow in

compassion for suffering people.



When everything is all right, God says, "Go."

Then miracles happen:

A hopeless alcoholic is set free!

A drug addict finds release!

A doubter becomes as a child in his belief.

Diseased tissue responds to treatment, and

healing begins.

The door to your dream suddenly swings

open and there stands God saying, "Go!"

- Original Source Unknown

Believe In Miracles
"When things have gone wrong,
as they sometimes will do,
Or an obstacle
suddenly pops into view,
You've got to believe
This is merely a stop
And eventually you're bound
to come out on top...
So whatever you do,
Just Don't Quit!"

By...Emily Matthews


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A Poem That Gives You Goosebumps...


A drunk man in an Oldsmobile

They said had run the light

That caused the six-car pileup

On 109 that night.

When broken bodies lay about

"And blood was everywhere,"

"The sirens screamed out eulogies,"

For death was in the air.

"A mother, trapped inside her car,"

Was heard above the noise;

Her plaintive plea near split the air:

"Oh, God, please spare my boys!"

She fought to loose her pinned hands;

"She struggled to get free,"

But mangled metal held her fast

In grim captivity.

Her frightened eyes then focused

"On where the back seat once had been,"

But all she saw was broken glass and

Two children's seats crushed in.

Her twins were nowhere to be seen;

" She did not hear them cry, "

"And then she prayed they'd been thrown free, "

"Oh, God, don't let them die! "

Then firemen came and cut her loose, "

"But when they searched the back, "

"They found therein no little boys , "

But the seat belts were intact.

They thought the woman had gone mad

"And was traveling alone, "

"But when they turned to question her, "

They discovered she was gone.

Policemen saw her running wild

An d screaming above the noise

"In beseeching supplication, "

Please help me find my boys!

They're four years old and wear blue shirts;

"Their jeans are blue to match.""

"One cop spoke up, ""They're in my car, "

And they don't have a scratch.

They said their daddy put them there

"And gave them each a cone, "

Then told them both to wait for Mom

To come and take them home.

"I've searched the area h igh and low, "

But I can't find their dad.

"He must have fled the scene, "

"I guess, and that is very bad."

"The mother hugged the twins and said, "

"While wiping at a tear, "

"He could not flee the scene, you s ee, "

"For he's been dead a year."

"The cop just looked confused and asked, "

"Now, how can that be true? "

"The boys said, ""Mommy, Daddy came "

"And left a kiss for you."" "

He told us not to worry

"And that you would be all right, "

And then he put us in this car with

"The pretty, flashing light. "

"We wanted him to stay with us, "

"Because we miss him so, "

"But Mommy, h e just hugged us tight "

And said he had to go.

He said someday we'd understand

"And told us not to fuss, "

"And he said to tell you, Mommy, "

"He's watching over us."

The mother knew without a doubt

"That what they spok e was true, "

"For she recalled their dad's last words, " " I will watch over you."

The firemen's notes could not explain

"The twisted, mangled car, "

And how the three of them escaped

Without a single scar.

"But on the cop's report was scribed, "

"In print so very fine, "

An angel walked the beat tonight on Highway 109.

"The 7 Second Prayer, Just repeat this phrase and see how God moves.

"Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart, and bless my Family, my home, my friends, and me. Amen. "


" The love of God is like the ocean, you can see its beginning,
But not its end."

ANGELS EXIST but some times, since they don't all have wings, we call them FRIENDS.

Posted this in 2008 on another site.

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This angel picture will change daily.

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What we think of ourselves, we often project onto others. What we believe, often becomes 'Law" and we expect others to believe as we do.

Actions often speak louder than words. What is your body saying?
Do your words say who you really are? When people see you, do they see recovery.

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When we meditate, we begin to still the mind. As we get more and more adept at moving into inner silence, we come to know the peace of God in our entire being. We intuitively seek union with our generating Source. Silence, or meditation, is the path to that center. We can make conscious contact with God, transcend the limitations of a dichotomous world, and regain the power that is only available to us when we’re connected to the Source. This is what I call getting in the gap. It’s where we create, manifest, heal, live, and perform at a miraculous level. The gap is the powerful silence we can access through meditation. By entering the elusive gap between our thoughts, we can access the stillness that may have been unattainable in other meditation attempts.

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

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"Everybody needs a hug. It changes your metabolism." - - Leo Buscaglia

Tyrone Bartholdy Tabernacle III, was credited with the slogan "Do Hugs-Not Drugs", and was a big promoter of the slogan. He died on 10/2/09, the autopsy revealed the cause of death to be complications stemming from "acute hug overdose."