More Recovery Thoughts and Quotes - April

[yukonm]

April 1

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did. - Pg. 52 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Things go wrong and they are not particularly anyone's fault. You can't expect every meeting to be perfect, all the words you hear perfect wisdom, your treatment center to meet every need, or court rulings in your favor. You will experience many imperfect actions and reactions. You know you can't control or fix everything that goes wrong and neither can 'they.'

I correct only the things that are under my immediate control and I allow other imperfections to be corrected by others, or not corrected at all. What a relief.

A Still Small Voice

I will have faith. I will follow that still small voice within me. When I have doubts, which of course I will have, I will reach down within myself and pull up something that I thought wasn't even there, I'll pull up faith that things will be all right. Whether or not things are going just the way I want them to, I'll have faith that they will somehow right themselves in the end. It will work out, or it won't work out, but still, all will be OK. I will give myself the gift of faith.

My faith sustains me

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Is your program powered by Will Power or Higher Power?

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I accept myself today and am grateful that I can grow from where I am. As I bring more and more love to myself, I continue to blossom and expand, growing to be the best of who I can be.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Don't miss this (AA). If you do, you won't miss what's coming. - Bruce from Manly Australia.

[bluidkiti]

April 2

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn't control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn't make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn't seem to be of real help to other people - was not a basic solution of these bedevilments more important than whether we should see newsreels of lunar flight? Of course it was. - Pg. 52 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

The darker the shadow, the brighter the Light. As we stop using and leave the shadow of drug addiction, we slowly begin to see the new light of our life. Sometimes its so bright, it hurts. We are not used to it.

God, as I understand You, as I clean up and the Light of recovery hurts, help me understand, adjust, and be grateful to leave the shadow.

I Have Faith

I rely on faith. Faith sustains me and guides me. Faith is my constant companion. It leads me through passages of terrifying darkness and blinding light. Faith allows me to weave my life into a coherent whole, to walk on a path that others have lit, to strike out on my own and cut my way through the underbrush. There is nothing in my life that faith doesn't make better. There is no day that faith doesn't give meaning and purpose to. There is no relationship that faith doesn't guide and sustain.

I need my faith to live

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Some people quote the Bible, Qur'an, Torah, or some other holy text claiming that it is your only road to recovery. You may or may not find that comforting. Whether or not it is comforting you, remember it is comforting them. Be tolerant and gracious.

I may not find something personally helpful, but I find it helpful to be personable.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

First we work the program because we have to. Then we work the program because we are willing to. Finally we work the program because we want to.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I wait in peace and rest in the knowledge that God is working for me while I am resting.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

The thing I have to do for my personal recovery is to apply the Steps into my life. But the thing I owe to future generations of suffering alcoholics - and maybe my own children - is to maintain the fellowship with the simplicity, purity and integrity that I found when I came in. And the only way to do that is to pay careful attention to the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. - Doug D.

[yukonm]

April 3

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Cling to the thought that in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have - the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them. - Pg. 124 - The Family Afterward

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Compulsion is a word you will hear a lot now that you have made the decision to begin recovery. You may often feel compelled to drink or use drugs again even when you don't want to. Compulsion is a symptom of our disease and we use all the new tools of our program to counteract compulsions.

Please help me understand that compulsion is a symptom of my disease and as such need not be acted upon. I offer my compulsive behavior to God, as I understand God.

Blessings

I can lose my blessings. If I don't appreciate them, they can disappear. If I feel overly entitled, if I take what is mine for granted, if I behave as if it is simply owed me and I don't need to notice or appreciate them, I am literally telling them to shrink. There is a wisdom, even a divine sort of self centerdness to gratitude, because what I focus on with appreciation has a way of expanding in my life. If I erase my blessings, I don't feed them with the grace of gratitude. If I give thanks for them, I show the creative force that brings forth all good things, that I am awake enough to appreciate what has been so generously given.

I know enough to say thank you

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

When things go wrong, they are not particularly anyone's fault. You can't expect every meeting to be perfect and your sponsor to have every answer. You know you can't control or fix everything that goes wrong and neither can 'they.'

When things go wrong, I don't let them get too far.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

To the mind that is still, the world surrenders.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am open to positive changes in my life today.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

This deal is as simple as A.B.C. - Accept, Begin and Continue. It doesn't take a lawyer or some intellectual gorilla to decipher that. And you can do it downtown or uptown or anywhere else. It doesn't make any difference. And if you'll hold on to the God of your understanding, the truth about yourself - namely that you cannot take one drink - and hold on to your AA friends, you'll hold on to total abstinence. And that's the name of this game. - John C.

[yukonm]

April 4

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. - Pg. 85 - Into Action

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

When we describe recovery as 'accepting a fate worse than death,' we don't understand the true nature of acceptance. This is called the 'sigh and die' syndrome. Rather than dwell on what can't be changed, we learn to do what is right at this moment, in this hour.

I don't want to be a part of the 'sigh and die' syndrome. Right this moment, I will pick up another book on recovery and read one page, any page, and that will break the spell.

Inner Peace

There is peace within me that I can draw on each and every day. I will remind myself to take a few moments today, to center myself. I will breathe. I will sit. And when I go about my day I will carry that lovely feeling of inner peace around with me. There is nothing in my day that is more important than my serenity. Today, I will pay attention to the myriad of ways in which I am thrown off balance. When I feel myself losing my serenity, I'll take a moment to center myself, to breathe, to connect with that part of me that is eternal and unchanging. I'll remind myself that when I can calm my body, mind and spirit, I interact differently with the people, places and things of my day. I am here. My spirit is here. My serenity is at my fingertips. I am in charge of my deeper experience of living. I connect with my divine self and the diving energy that is ever present.

I give myself the gift of inner peace.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

The diversity of people seeking recovery is extraordinary. Whether an old salty dog, young gang member, grandparent, or teen with attitude, we remember: as cancer is no respecter of victims, neither is addiction. Same disease, same recovery.

'We all came on different ships, but we're all on the same boat now.' ~Martin Luther King

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Talk to your sponsor first.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am hanging in no matter what. Even when my conscious mind wants to give up, I will reach for that healthy loving part deep within me and with the help of prayer and meditation and the good people in my life, I will find a rainbow.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

We can't discover new worlds until we have the courage to let go of the shore. - Anon.

[MajestyJo]

Love the quote
'We all came on different ships, but we're all on the same boat now.' ~Martin Luther King

So many of us look at the future and judge it by our past. We are on a new path in today. We have a new understanding of our God. We need to stay in today, and not project into the future. When we move forward with our life, one day at a time, we release the past and allow ourselves to heal.

[yukonm]

April 5

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. 'How can I best serve Thee - Thy will ( not mine ) be done.' These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. - Pg. 85 - Into Action

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it. What does this new life, seemingly full of discipline and deprivation, offer us anyway? There are many promises that only time can bring. Until then we must cherish our new freedom--freedom from the expense, cravings, and cost to our personal lives in that old chemical world.

Let me see the bondage of my addiction and remember not the questionable good times but the very real chains that bound me.

Shifting My Feeling States

When I shift my own thinking and feeling states, I shift my body states as well, because emotions travel through me as body chemicals. In a way, I am what I think about all day. I can shift what I am feeling by consciously changing my thoughts and I can shift what I'm thinking, by consciously evening out my emotional states. I will place my attention on my heart and imagine myself in a calm and serene state. As my heart calms, so does my body. When I can consciously breathe in and out of my heart zone, and imagine that part of me entering a state of ease and serenity, I actually contribute to my emotional, psychological and physical health.

I calm my heart

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

In our fellowship, there are always those who feel they have the ultimate wisdom to impart to you. These highly verbose people may set your nerves on edge with incredibly self-serving 'words of wisdom.' They may be full of themselves, but they are probably not trying to hurt you.

If I judge people, I have no time to love them.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

We came to AA to save our ass, and found out our soul was attached.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am open to all of who I am. As I bring my attention to all of me, without judgment, I grow in wisdom and freedom.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

If you can't turn over everything, turn over 'right now.' - Tom W.

[yukonm]

April 6

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol. - Pg. 84 - Into Action

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Vengeance sometimes seems the only way to get back at who've hurt us. But we've found the best vengeance is living well, practicing our principles, and letting our Higher Power take care of the offenders.

May I recognize and internalize that vengeance is an attribute of addiction, not recovery.

I Am Aware

Today, I see that my life is up to me. How I choose to live, what I will accomplish, how I conduct my intimate relationships, how I treat myself, all are in my own hands. They are gifts of awareness that I can give myself. I can process my most frustrating and difficult emotions and bring them into my conscious awareness so that I can put them into proportion. I can reframe and see things in a new and more helpful light. I can stop running from what clouds and confuses my inner being, what obscures my inner light. I am strong in the awareness that I can live as I choose to live. I am willing to walk a path of self discovery that, though difficult, builds a strength in me and a knowledge that I can survive my most difficult feelings. I do not need to be afraid of my life if I am not afraid of my inner world. I am comfortable in my own skin.

I am free to be who I am.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

In order to grasp recovery we must learn, not accumulate knowledge, but really learn. Accumulating knowledge is moving from the known to the known, but learning is moving from the known to the unknown.

Each time I say, 'Thy will, not mine, be done,' I move from the known to the unknown and I can learn.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

When things go wrong don't go with them.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am breaking out of old patterns, rewriting old tapes and letting my life flow with joy and love.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

In the book 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest', the Indian man describes a vision he had watching his father drinking; He saw that as his father drank out of a spirit bottle, the bottle was drinking the spirit out of his father. That resonated with me - a lot. - Trip S.

[yukonm]

April 7

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Once an alcoholic, always and alcoholic.' Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. - Pg. 33 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

You may be angry with God at some point in your process of withdrawal and recovery which in turn is going to lead to guilt. You may not be sure it's 'safe' to be angry with your Higher Power. It is, because God loves you just as you are and that includes your explosive emotions as well as the sweeter ones.

My God is a god of unconditional love and accepts me as I am today.

A Birthday Wish

Today I will make a wish. I will make a wish and trust that it will find wings. I will see it flying through the air, blown from a loving hand toward eternity. Birthdays are for wishing; wishing with a child's excitement, with an innocent faith that what I wish for can come forth. I will see my wish as already fulfilled, I will experience it as if it is happening right now, as if it is real. I am making my wish right NOW.

My wishes have wings

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

People are always blaming their circumstances for being what they are. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.' ~George Bernard Shaw

As long as I blame my past, I'm not free to claim my future.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

The Winners are stuck with me.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am moving towards my goals today with just the right energy that I need. My progress will be perfect and I have the faith an trust that all the steps I take along the way will become clear when it is necessary.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I never drank to get drunk. I never got up in the morning and said: 'God, it's gorgeous outside. I think I'll just get drunk and pee all over myself, maybe I'll just shame my family - Y'know what? It's so pretty, I'll just pass some bad cheques too.' - Charlie C.

[yukonm]

April 8

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol. - Pg. 33 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Many times non-program people will go off on tangents of what religious, spiritual, or philosophical paths we now take. We do not engage with this type of conversation. We simply know that we will not drink or use drugs this hour and we will hang around other people who are doing the same thing.

I don't need to figure anything out right now. It is alright to not engage in any confrontation and simply be in recovery.

Learning from Life

There are no 'buts' today. I am what I am, others are what they are, life is what it is. I will not parenthesize my growth with a 'but,' or hold back my forward-moving spirit with second-guesses. For today, I am living with things as they are. As I give this gift to myself I feel relieved. I am exactly where I am meant to be, learning what I need to learn. All I need do is move through situations with willingness to learn and openness to feel. When feelings are brought up, I can accept them as what is happening within me-no need to resist and analyze them. I can witness, allow, observe, share and process rather than shut down and hide. I can tolerate the intensity of my own inner world. I trust that my life is unfolding in such a way that what I need to learn will be before me. I am willing to learn.

I see the 'table prepared.'

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

People will tell you to 'work' the steps and that may lead you to believe that the steps are our work in recovery. Working the steps is not doing our work, they are the foundation for doing our work. Our work is getting into the trenches and helping others.

When my life is not working the way I want it to, I find I may not be doing my real work.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

It gets worse, so you have to get better.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I can make peace within myself without needing the approval and agreement of others. Today I can love and respect people who do not always share my view of the world.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

We're blessed with a disease where we're forced to love people.
- Terry

[MajestyJo]

Look at the 12 Steps as a tool of recovery that allows me to heal, grow, and have something to give to others. The person that arrived at the door of recovery in 1991, isn't the person who is today. That person didn't have any knowing, was an empty vessel, very fragmented, and needed to be made whole. I also had to build a new relationship with my God, have a new understanding as to how He could work in my life, and help me to help others. The greatest message I can carry is to look and act like someone who has recovered from that hopeless state of mind and body as described in Step Two.

I found that my life was more unmanageable than I thought it was and that I was not sane, I was totally off the wall, crazy, and had been living a life of insanity for years.

[yukonm]

April 9

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

But it is clear that we made our own misery. God didn't do it. Avoid then, the deliberate manufacture of misery, but if trouble comes, cheerfully capitalize it as an opportunity to demonstrate His omnipotence. - Pg. 133 - The Family Afterward

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

By witnessing the miracle of recovery happening for others, we can come to believe that this miracle can happen for us as well. Look at the miracles around you, 1 month off drugs, 3 months, 6 months or years. You are surrounded by living miracles.

Let me know that all the living miracles around me once felt as desperate as I--and that I too am a miracle every hour I stay away from that first fix, pill, drink, toke, or snort.

Empowering My Own Day

There are no victims, only volunteers. If there is something I don't like in the way things are going for me, I will see what I can change. I can change the subject if someone goes on and on about things that I don't want to talk about. I can change my routines or change the way I get to where I am going, I can set boundaries with my time if I am feeling over scheduled. My time and what I do with it is precious to me, it is all I have to call my very own. I won't throw it away and then blame someone else gobbling it up. I have a right to protect the quiet and enjoyment of my day, to do more of those things that give me pleasure and fewer of those things that run me down. If I am living up to my responsibilities, that is enough.

I won't throw my time away with both hands

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

One of the joys of this program is the path it provides us with to do the right thing. Our steps don't give us a whole lot of room for justifications. There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

I learn to do the next right thing, not the next 'me' thing.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Whenever you try to get even, you get even worse.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

My heart is open to all that happens in my life today. There is such joy in being alive and feeling everything with a full and open heart.

'Sometimes we turn to God when our foundations are shaking, only to find out it is God who is shaking them.' -- Unknown

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I thought controlled drinking was; you drink all you can and then try to control yourself. - Sean A.

[MajestyJo]

Control was a big awakening for me. I heard, if you have to control it, it is already out of control. Control is an illusion.

I had a motto, "Do it with style and grace. When I met my second husband's mother, we were at a dance, and I was tossing down rye and coke and smoking wine tipped cigarillos, and wondered why she thought I wasn't good enough for her son. His father was the village drunk, my father drank but he was the preacher's son and I was the preacher's son's daughter. The things we tell ourselves, denial and justification keeps us sick. I was one of the really sick ones when I came into recovery.

[yukonm]

April 10

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house. - Pg. 98 - Working With Others

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

When we feel like we can't hold on for a whole day, we get a clock and hold on for an hour. When an hour is too long, we hold on for 10 minutes. At the end of 10, do another 10, and another and another, until it's OK.

Help me make it from hour to hour, or minute to minute if need be!

Beyond What I See

I want to know in my heart that life has meaning and purpose beyond what I see. I want to train my eye for seeing what is beautiful in life the way that a musician trains his ear. I want to know that each day is a gift, that I can't just expect it, that life is precious.

I say thank you for the gift of this day

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Forgive yourself because your Spiritual Source already has. Who are you to argue about this?

T.G.I.F.: Thank God I'm Forgiven.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

The wreckage of the past is environmentally safe and bio-degradable.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am attracted to positive people and I attract positive people to me. Today I continue to seek and find people who are positive, healthy and nurturing.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

If I don't let go, I lose my grip. - Anon.

[yukonm]

April 11

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Helping others is the foundation stone of your recovery. - Pg. 97 - Working With Others

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

To want a fix, pill, drink, smoke, or snort is not bad, it is a perfectly normal state of being for an addict. But each hour we stay clean eventually makes a day. Each day brings us closer to health of body, mind, and spirit. Eventually 'craving' our chemicals will not be normal, but a thing of our diseased past.

Let me know that the state of craving my drug of choice will one day be replaced with feeling my true emotions.

I Thank You God

For most this amazing day, for the leafy, greenly spirits of trees, and everything which is infinite, which is beautiful, which is yes. I who have died am alive again today and this is the sun's birthday.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Sobriety is a grant, not a gift. A gift is something we get to keep forever. A grant is contingent on us doing something to keep it.

I work steps because my recovery is 'contingent on the maintenance of {my} spiritual program.' (P 85, AA Book)

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Enforce the 'Respect-me rules'

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

The more I let go of my own suffering and self-pity, I can see those around me with the eyes of love and compassion. I am becoming more aware of other people's pain and unhappiness today and I will reach out to them in loving ways that heal me while helping them to heal.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I remember that first drink and feeling so surprised and amazed and delighted. And I think of how many alcoholics are dying right now trying somehow, some way to re-create that moment. - Charlie C.

[MajestyJo]

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Enforce the 'Respect-me rules'

I was told that respect had to be earned, and not always freely given. Good manners and old tapes say, ¨Respect your elders.¨

In Jamie Sams Book Animal Medicine, the animal that represents respect is the Skunk. Respect your space and that of others.