O is for Open your mind and your heart to believe that your God is loving and trust that your God will do for you what you cannot do for yourself.

P is for Purpose. What is your purpose in life? My primary purpose is to carry the message of recovery. I was told to share my experience, strength, and hope with others. If I didn't give away what I had, I couldn't keep it. Relapse is not an option for me, so it was important for me to do the do things suggested to me. I took them under perusal and took what was good for me and I was told to put the rest on a shelf. I found I needed things from that shelf, either for myself or to pass onto others.

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Q is for Quiet. Listen in the quiet and in the stillness, say the Serenity Prayer. It is important for me to quiet my thoughts, how can I hear the God of my understanding if my internal chatter is overshadowing my thoughts from Within.

As they say, "Actions speak louder than words." There is no need for talking, when you do the actions. As the saying goes, "Don't tell me, show me."

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R is for Remember When. Not only prior to recovery, but remember what it was like in early recovery. I know I never want to go through detoxing alone in a room with myself and unable to reach out for that crutch, to see me through the day.

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S is for Some. Some is good, more is better is not recovery thinking, unless you apply it to spiritual things like going to meetings, calling your sponsor, reading recovery literature, etc. Once I pick up that some thing, some person, or go to some place to help me get out of Self, then I am using them to get out of Self because I can't be alone with me.

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T is for Truth. Stand in your own truth. Make things right with your God, clean your side of the street, and trust that the program will work for you.

As they say, "The ball is on your side of the street," it is up to you with what you do with it.

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U is for Understanding. I had to come to my own understanding. I could get feed back from others, but the ultimate decision(s) were mine. I found most of my understandings were old tapes, and I had to look at things in today and what they meant to me.

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V is for Vow. Make a vow to stay clean and sober over the holiday. No matter what, I will not pick up a drug of any kind. I may have a lot of excuses, but no reason to pick up.

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W is for Watch out...

Watch out for anger and resentments
Watch out for EGO = Ease God Out
Watch out for complacency

X - eXtra time with God.

Y is for You. Only you can decide if you are an alcoholic/addict. You must be willing to stop and find a new way of life without the bondage of your disease. You do have a disease, it is an allergy of the body and an obsessive, compulsive that affects the mind and it tells you that you haven't got a problem. It tell you that this time will be different. The insanity of the disease is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

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Z is for Zip

Zip your lips and open your ears.

A is for Attitude. What needs to be changed within me and my attitude to bring about and aid recovery.

Make sure you wear the right hat through the Holiday and take an open mind and a compassionate heart with you.

Remember that attitudes often need to be adjusted. I found the best way to do that is go to a meeting. It also helps to find some gratitude, it isn`t always about me, myself, and I. Actions speak louder than words

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B is for Beautiful. See the beauty within. It shines through when you walk with the God of your understanding. Take a walk in the country or in a park and enjoy the beauty of His Creation. It is all around you, soak up the gift(s) that the Creator has given us.

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C is for Clean. Just for today, I choose not to use. I had to cleanse my mind, my body, and my spiritual well being in order to recover.

I had to clean away the old to make room for the new. I had to do an inventory to see what was, and what needed to be changed.

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D is for Divine Orderly Good. I can't do this program alone, I need Good Orderly Good from a group of drunks and drug addict to show me the way to stay clean and sober. Look for the Divine Orderly Good in things, stay in the positive instead of the negative.

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E is for Easy Does It, but do it! The do it is what I need to address, I can do it easy in a day, but not always able to align body, mind, and spirit. As they say, the mind is willing, but the flesh is weak. Each day is a new beginning, so I get a new day to practice, practice, practice. Not doing doesn't make us bad, we are not bad trying to get good. We are sick from the disease of alcoholism, trying to heal.

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F is for Friends. Be your own best friend. Friends are special, let them know it, don't take them for granted.

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G is for Growth. Growth in our awareness and in our program as a result of working the Steps in our life.

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H is for Have an escape plan. If you are going to an event that becomes hard for you to be there, have an escape plan to get out of the environment that is threatening your sobriety....for example: drive yourself so you can leave when you want or need to, call a friend to come get you, call a taxi, walk

I is for Identify. Identify not compare. Listen for the feelings, they are a good indicator that you are on the same page and belong here.

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I is for Insecurity. I can flush all my troubles down the drain and depend on my Higher Power or I can hang onto them and try to fix things myself. I can let things go or turn them over to my Higher Power and be secure in His love and protection.

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J is for Judge. Judge not yourself or others. Don't play God with the lives of others or your own. Just remember, you are a Child of God. Just stay in the moment.

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K is for Kindle. Kindle means to bring into being. When I picked up, I lost me along the way. Thanks to the program and the tools of recovery, I was able to put the fragmented soul back together again and become whole. I needed to find and rekindle the spark within.

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L is for Listen. Listen to learn. Learn to listen. Meditation is a good way to practice on.

As they say in the rooms of recovery, "Take the cotton batten out of your ears and put it in your mouth. Shut up and listen.

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M = Motives, if I check my motives I know whether or not I am moving in the proper direction

N is for Nobody. Nobody can tell you that you are an alcoholic/addict, it is something you have to decide for yourself. No one can change you, you have to change yourself.

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O is for Opinion. Everyone has one and has a right to their own, they don't have to agree with mine. I was told that my opinion didn't count and who asked for it anyway? In recovery, I found that I had a right to my opinion and I even had a right to express it. I also found out that there were times that I had to ask myself, "How important is it?" If it was going to cause waves and chaos, they were best left unsaid or just revealed to a select few.

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P is for Prosper. When I look at where I was when I came into recovery and what I have in today, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically, I can't help but be grateful. I try to look at what I have, not at what I don't have. I no longer eat off borrowed dishes, sleep on a mattress on the floor, or put up with blowing fuses because of my two burner stove, wouldn't let me put a kettle on. Prosperity isn''t just measured in $s and cents. When I get needy, I get greedy.

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Q is for Quick. This isn't a quick fix program. We didn't get this way overnight, so we don't change over night. What we need to do is to quickly get into the program. Go to meetings, get a sponsor, read the literature, work and apply the Steps and then you will find how quickly you change. Live doesn't always get better, but we become better equipped to handle it.

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R is for R & R. Some days we do need that rest and relaxation to restore not only our bodies, but our mental, emotional and spiritual health and well being.

Busy and working too much can be addictions, especially when they fill our lives and we have no room for anything else. How can we hear God's Good Orderly Direction if we are too busy to stop and listen.

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S is for Sobriety. My sponsor said that sobriety meant "Soundness of Mind." I also think it comes from a place of love. They say the longest journey we make is from our head to our heart.

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T is for Tension. It can cause a headache. Give it to your Higher Power. If I have tension, it is generally because I am living in the past or future tense.

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U is for Use. Just for today, I don't have to use people, places or things. Today I can utilize the wisdom of the people in the rooms to show me a new way of living.

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V is for Victory. One day at a time, I have victory of this disease that is cunning, baffling and powerful. I can turn my dis-ease over to the God of my understanding and ask for His Help on a daily basis. As the song I use to sing in Sunday School many years ago said, "Victory in Jesus." Victory in the God of your understanding.

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W is for be ever Watchful. Our disease can be cunning, baffling, and powerful. Just the fact that I lost all the pictures I posted has really begun to annoy me. I can accept it or continue to resent it. I need to watch out for my feelings, I have to remember that I don't have to act on them. As they say, "Watch, Listen, and Learn."

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X is for X-ray. I have to get one tomorrow to get to the root of the problem. I am getting an ultra-sound on my hip and ankle. I never thought to ask the doctor to get a picture taken of my feet. I am not sure if the problem comes from the top or the bottom. As they say, "X" marks the spot, I hope they find it. :D

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Y is for Yellow. Yellow is a sign for caution. You may be the only Big Book someone sees. When they look at you, do they see recovery???

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Z is for Zero. As they say in AA, when our score card read zero, we reached out and asked for help. AA was the last house on the block. Even mental institutions seemed preferable to admitting we were an alcoholic. Alcohol is a drug. Heaven forbid! Not wanting to compute that, after all Jesus turned the water into wine. That justified everything, forgetting that we don't metabolize alcohol the way normal people can.

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A is for Attitude. They often need adjusting. I take mine to my Higher Power and take myself off to a meeting. For me in today, it is either AA or Al-Anon.

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