Pause For Thought

[MajestyJo]

Sometimes in life, you find a special friend;
Someone who changes your life
just by being part of it.
Someone who makes you laugh
until you can't stop;
Someone who makes you believe
that there really is good in the world.
Someone who convinces you that there
really is an unlocked door just waiting
for you to open it.

This is Forever Friendship.
This is the sacred RED ROSE.

[MajestyJo]

The Serenity Prayer Broken Down (a bit differently)

GOD ....
With the saying of this word I am admitting the existence of a Higher Power; a being far greater than I.

GRANT...
With the repeating of this second word I am admitting that this Higher Power is an authority who can bestow and give.

ME....
I am asking something for myself. The Bible states that if I ask, I shall be given. It is not wrong to ask for betterment of myself for with the inprovement of my character, people around me will be made happier.

SERENITY..
I am asking for calmness, composure, and peace in a life which will enable me to think straight and govern myself properly.

TO ACCEPT..
I am resigning myself to conditions as they are right now.

THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE..
I am accepting my lot in life as it is. Until I have the courage to change any part of my life I don't like, I must accept it and not accept it grudgingly.

COURAGE...
I am asking for conditions to be different.

TO CHANGE...
I am asking for a quality of spirit to face conditions without flinching.

THE THINGS I CAN..
I am asking for help to make the right decisions. Everything is not perfect in my life. I must continue to face reality and constantly work towards continued growth and progress.

WISDOM..
I am asking for the ability to form sound judgments in any and all matters.

TO KNOW..
I want to be able to understand clearly, truths of facts.

the DIFFERENCE...
I want to see things differently in my life so there can be some distinction. I need to sense a definite value in love over selfishness.

~ anonymous

[MajestyJo]

The Spirit-filled home

"How do you remember your childhood home? Was it a loving and welcoming place? Maybe there were evidences of kindness and generosity-fresh homemade cookies, a dollhouse or model planes you and your dad built together, a warm welcome always waiting for you, an old couch to be shared with brothers and sisters.

Perhaps you don't have such wonderful childhood memories. Not everyone does. Homes can be places of cruelty as well-places full of criticism and humiliation, places characterized by conflict, jealousy, and pain. Loving homes don't just magically appear. They are the result of a husband and wife's commitment to letting God's Spirit control their lives. When you follow the Spirit's leading, God produces kindness, goodness, patience, and love in your lives. Then the home a marriage creates can become a light to the neighborhood, a place where friends and neighbors can experience genuine love and acceptance. If you are married, what type of home do you want your marriage to create? Ask God today to plant the seeds of loving kindness in your life, your marriage, and your home.

[MajestyJo]

"Having trouble, Piglet?"

"The lid on this jar is stuck," gasped Piglet.

"Yes, it...is, isn't it. Here, Pooh, you open it."

(Pop.)

"Thanks, Pooh,"said Piglet.

"Nothing, really," said Pooh.

"How did you get that lid off?" asked Tigger.

"It's easy," said Pooh. "You just twist on it like this, until you can't twist any harder. Then you take a deep breath and, as you let it out, twist. That's all."

"Let me try that!" yelled Tigger, bouncing into the kitchen. "Where's that new jar of pickles? Ah, here it is."

"Tigger," began Piglet nervously, "I don't think you'd better - "
"Nothing to it. Just twist and - "

CRASH!

"All right, Tigger," I said. "Get those pickles off the floor."
"Slipped out of my paw," explained Tigger.

"He tried too hard," said Pooh.

"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."

"And he has a Brain."

"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has a Brain."

"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."

"Ouch!" said Pooh, landing on the floor.

"That's what happens when you go to sleep on the edge of the writing table," I said. "You fall off."

"Just as well," said Pooh.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"I was having an awful dream," he said.

"Oh?"

"Yes, I'd found a jar of honey....," he said, rubbing his eyes.
"What's awful about that?" I asked.

"It kept moving," said Pooh. "they're supposed to sit still."

"Yes, I know"

"But whenever I reached for it, this jar of honey would sort of go someplace else."

"A nightmare," I said.

"Lot's of people have dreams like that," I added reassuringly.
"Oh," said Pooh. "About Unreachable jars of honey?"

"About the same sort of thing," I said. "That's not unusual. The odd thing , though, is that some people live like that."

"Why?" asked Pooh.

"I don't know," I said. "I suppose because it gives them Something to Do."

"It doesn't sound like much fun to me," said Pooh.

No it doesn't. A way of life that keeps saying, "Around the next corner, above the next step," works against the natural order
of things and makes it so difficult to be happy and good that only a few get to where they would naturally have been in the first place -Happy and Good- and the rest give up and fall by the side of the road, cursing the world, which is not to blame but which is there to help show the way.

Those who think that the rewarding things in life are somewhere beyond the rainbow----

"Burn their toast a lot," said Pooh.

~~~~~

Inspiration Plus

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Remain open.
There is something bigger than you know going on here."
-- Iyanla VanZant

[MajestyJo]

For me, it is about listening to that voice, those little messages, thoughts, and direction I get on a daily basis and how God works in my life.

Thursday night I went to the Women's Group because I felt I really needed a meeting after having a using dream. I not only dreamt about alcohol but other addictions and defects of character such as men, food, anger, resentments and looking for attention.

At the end of the meeting, the women all join hands and say The Promises and they give out Hope Stones which vary in shapes, sizes and colours. There is nothing more powerful that joining together in that circle. I saw a shape and said to the lady beside me, "that has my name on it and picked it up to find that it was an empty snail shell. I love earth tones and that attracted me to it. I looked up snails on the inter net and found that they were good for skin problems. I have cirrhosis, and a skin disorder that I don't know the correct spelling of - it is when your skin is dry and turns red.

On Friday when I went to the market, I got the thought to buy squash. It isn't one of my favorite vegetables but decided to night to add maple syrup and butter to it when I mashed it. After dinner, I looked up the booklet from Shaman Wisdom Cards and it reads as follows:


Quote:

I am Squash. I am Gourd. I grow well unattended. Let things be. Do not try to control situations or events. My vines spread out to encompass all. I help you create your abundance through my diversity. I am the Sustenance of your life. Combined with Beans and Corn, we are the life force.


Nothing like a subliminal message to someone who has control issues.
Definitely a spiritual cast iron frying pan.

Many times I get thoughts and discount them, only to find that I should have listened to them. Take something out for supper and I allow mysefl to get interrupted and don't take action on the thought. When supper time comes, nothing taken out for dinner. Often when playing bridge, I get a thought and don't follow through only to find that it was the only way to make a contract.

Get the thought of someone, say a little prayer for them, and often I get a call from them or meet them on the street or at a meeting. The light will change and go red so I will walk in a new direction instead of waiting for the light to change, and often I will meet someone or as my friend says, perhaps it was to avoid something or someone I wasn't suppose to meet.

Thanks for letting me share.

From my site JoAnne's Sacred Space

Those signals where coming through today, they always do, when I start my day with the Step Three Prayer and Seventh Prayer.

It always give me the warm fuzzies, when I see an old post, and seeing it at work in my life today.

[MajestyJo]

We can act ourselves into right thinking easier than we can think ourselves into right acting.

~Anonymous~

The best thing for us to do in our 12 Step Program is to be honest in how we act and think. We must be true to that belief.

We can't think for others, and they can't think for us. Friends can tell us the lessons they have learned from their experiences. If those lessons fit us, we can use them to help guide us and our thinking. We often hear, "Take what you need and leave the rest."

As good for us as our ideas are, we must not force them on others. We can only offer them. And we won't be true to ourselves if we are jealous of other people's ideas. We never know what we can do until we try, and we can't be sure what ideas are best for us until we test them.

Am I dedicated to the beliefs that are best for me in my recovery?


You are reading from the book:

Easy Does It by Anonymous

It was so important for me to learn that all I could do was share my experience, strength, and hope. That what was good for me, might help someone and it might not help others. What works for one person, may not work for another, or it may work in part. Just because someone is in recovery, doesn't mean there word is law and truth. It is their truth. It is their ESH, but you need to find what is your ESH and what works for you.

[MajestyJo]

A friend asked me to bring up the topic of substitution.

How often we substitute other (people, places and things) for our drug of choice. This can materialize in many forms but it all leads to the same soul sickness.

I was told that anything that came between me and the kind of person God wants me to be and becomes an obsessive, compulsive action in my life and it becomes the 'god' of my life

Sobriety for me means soundness of mind. Anything that takes me out of that state puts me at risk, and I may pick up. I can be clean and sober and not have sobriety.

It has materialized in many forms for me:

1) My bed (hiding from reality and life as a whole

2) Food - stuffing feelings I don't want to deal with or I have allowed myself to become empty and I am looking for something outside of myself to 'fill' me up.

3) Work - redirecting my energies so I don't have to stop and look at myself. An outlet for the emotions I don't want to acknowledge and takes away from time I need to work on my recovery.

4)My compuer - this is a biggy for me. Even though a lot of the work I do on the computer is recovery it is generally to help others, and often I am copy typing, or reading other people's material, and even if I can identify, I need time to process that material. If I don't take that time, then it doesn't do me any good if I don't apply it to my life. I don't like to admit it, but a couple of times I have had friends say to me, "Practice what you preach!" Apply what you know to yourself! Take time for you, this is a living program. All I have is today. Am I living or am I back existing?

5) People, a biggy for me who has been Ms. Caretaker for many years. It is always so much easier to focus and help someone else rather than look at myself. There is also that old "If you don't love me, then I will find someone else who does" Syndrome, along with that "What's good for the goose is good for the gander" Solution which generally hurts everyone.

6) Things like chocolate (sweets are good when you first come into recovery and the cure becomes a curse), pills (depression and nervous disorders which are common to detoxing becomes treated with the "almighty" pill and becomes like "dried-up" alcohol to our system, meetings (go to 90 meetings in 90 days - then what do you do? Stop? I don't think so! Yet they can be a dependency too, and you don't want to leave the safe stronghold and step out into the real world.

Maybe that is why this is called a "One Day At A Time" program. We have to live it, each moment, each hour of the day.

Maybe you have some substitutions you would like to share? We can't know what we haven't been taught or experienced!

[MajestyJo]

GOD'S HOTEL



I checked you in again last night, my child,

Because it hurt me so bad to see you out there running wild.

All tired and sucked up you appeared to me

But put a mirror in front of you, and you can't even see;

That you are a number among the walking dead,

Sores all over your body, confusion in your head.

Jail is not the place you want to be

But it's my hotel, where I can work on thee you see.

You weren't just arrested, you were rescued from yourself.

I had to bring you back here, to put your habit on the shelf.

Give you some rest, some food, and some talk

Encourage you and love you, before I let you walk.

Don't be like a mule that's led around by a bit,

Just listen to your warnings, and I can help you quit.

This could be the last time you have to come into this place,

Just listen to me the Creator Of All with tears upon my face...


Original Source Unknown - posted on FB's Addict's Mom

[MajestyJo]

The Book of Rememberance

"The Book of Remembrance is written in God's Presence for those who Love the Lord and who meditate on The Name". (Malachi 3:16)

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat." (Isaiah 55:1)

aspire.com

Quote:
Hello Friends of Reiki,

The entire contents of the Book of Remembrance (over 300 pages) is now printed on our website for everyone to read.

http://www.AscensionReiki.com

We share the information in this Reiki Manual freely as a
service to the Reiki Community and all of humanity.

The purpose of this book and website is to bring about an awareness that there is a great outpouring of the Spirit of Love on this Earth and that it is all around us.

In Love and Light,
Jayson

Received with thanks from my friend Lordès
Spiritual Vibrational Paintings

Spiritual Alternative Healing and Counselling for the body, mind and soul.

From The Five As

[MajestyJo]

Tip of the Day for March 08, 2004 from the Five As

Still sounds usable in March 25, 2013

Nothing soothes like a hot rice pack on the back of your neck or
wherever aches you most. The simplest way to create one is with an intact tube sock or pillow case. Just pour in several cups of dry, raw rice--any rice except instant rice works fine. Tie the sock or pillow case closed with a good knot.

Toss your sack in the microwave for about two minutes or so, until it reaches the perfect hot temperature to relax any muscle spasm.

Heating time depends on the size of your sack and the strength of
your microwave. When it begins to cool, place it directly on your
clothes or skin. Rice sacks heat up more intensely than electric
heating pads and are much safer. Their flexible consistency is
particularly soothing.

(Source: "Ten Tips on Living with Fibromyalgia Syndrome" by Deborah A. Barrett, Ph.D.
www.paintracking.com.) This tip provided courtesy of
ImmuneSupport.com

[MajestyJo]

Exercise: A Healthy Habit to Start and Keep



How much exercise do I need?
Talk to your doctor about how much exercise is right for you. A good goal for many people is to work up to exercising 4 to 6 times a week for 30 to 60 minutes at a time. Remember, though, that exercise has so many benefits that any amount is better than none.

How do I get started?

Sneak exercise into your day

a.. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

b.. Go for a walk during your coffee break or lunch.

c.. Walk all or part of the way to work.

d.. Do housework at a fast pace.

e.. Rake leaves or do other yard work.

Start by talking with your doctor. This is especially important if you haven't been active, if you have any health problems, or if you're pregnant or elderly.

Start out slowly. If you've been inactive for years, you can't run the Boston Marathon after 2 weeks of training. Begin with a 10-minute period of light exercise or a brisk walk every day and gradually increase how hard you exercise and for how long.

How do I stick with it?

Here are some tips that will help you start and stick with an exercise program:

· Choose something you like to do. Make sure it suits you
physically, too. For instance, swimming is easier on arthritic joints.

· Get a partner. Exercising with someone else can make it more fun.

· Vary your routine. You may be less likely to get bored or injured if you change your routine. Walk one day. Bicycle the next. Consider activities like dancing and racquet sports, and even chores like chopping wood.

· Choose a comfortable time of day. Don't work out too soon after eating or when it's too hot or cold outside. Wait until later in the day if you're too stiff in the morning.

· Don't get discouraged. It can take weeks or months before you notice some of the changes from exercise.

· Forget "no pain, no gain." While a little soreness is
normal after you first start exercising, pain isn't. Stop if you hurt.

· Make exercise fun. Read, listen to music or watch TV while riding a stationary bicycle, for example. Find fun things to do, like taking a walk through the zoo. Go dancing. Learn how to play tennis.

Making exercise a habit

a.. Stick to a regular time every day.

b.. Sign a contract committing yourself to exercise.

c.. Put "exercise appointments" on your calendar.

d.. Keep a daily log or diary of your activities.

e.. Check your progress. Can you walk a certain distance
faster now than when you began? Or is your heart rate slower now?

f.. Ask your doctor to write a prescription for your exercise program, such as what type of exercise to do, how often to exercise and for how long.

g.. Think about joining a health club. The cost gives some people an incentive to exercise regularly.

How can I prevent injuries?

Start every workout with a warm-up. That will make your muscles and joints more flexible. Spend 5 to 10 minutes doing some light calisthenics and stretching exercises, and perhaps brisk walking. Do the same thing when you're done working out--until your heart rate returns to normal.

Pay attention to your body. Stop exercising if you feel very out of breath, dizzy, faint or nauseated, or have pain.

Benefits of regular exercise
a.. Reduces your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, diabetes and obesity

b.. Keeps joints, tendons and ligaments flexible so it's
easier to move around

c.. Reduces some of the effects of aging

d.. Contributes to your mental well-being and helps treat
depression

e.. Helps relieve stress and anxiety

f.. Increases your energy and endurance

g.. Helps you sleep better

h.. Helps you maintain a normal weight by increasing your metabolism (the rate you burn calories).

What is a target heart rate?

Measuring your heart rate (beats per minute) can tell you how hard your heart is working. You can check your heart rate by counting your pulse for 15 seconds and multiplying the beats by 4.

The chart to the right shows the target heart rates for people of different ages. When you're just beginning an exercise program, shoot for the lower target heart rate (60%). As your fitness improves, you can exercise harder to get your heart rate closer to the top number
(85%).

What is aerobic exercise?
Aerobic exercise is the type that moves large muscle groups and causes you to breathe more deeply and your heart to work harder to pump blood.

It's also called cardiovascular exercise. It improves the health of your heart and lungs.

Examples include walking, jogging, running, aerobic dance, bicycling, rowing, swimming and cross-country skiing.

What is weight-bearing exercise?
The term weight-bearing is used to describe exercises that work against the force of gravity. Weight-bearing exercise is important for building strong bones. Having strong bones helps prevent osteoporosis and bone fractures later in life.

Examples of weight-bearing exercises include walking, jogging, hiking, climbing stairs, dancing and weight training.

What about weight training?
Weight training, or strength training, builds strength and muscles. Calisthenics like push-ups are weight-training exercises too. Lifting weights is a weight-training exercise. If you have high blood pressure or other health problems, talk to your family doctor before beginning weight training.

What is the best exercise?
The best exercise is the one that you will do. Walking is considered one of the best choices because it's easy, safe and cheap. Brisk walking can burn as many calories as running, but is less likely than running or jogging to cause injuries. And it doesn't require any training or special equipment, except for good shoes.

Walking is an aerobic and weight-bearing exercise, so it is good for your heart and helps prevent osteoporosis.

O M S H A N T I

Love, Samuel

Please include a link back to The Antesian Road To Enlightenment in forwarded material, Thank you.

EXPANDING CONSCIOUSNESS

I know what to do, I know what is best for me, but sometimes the intentions are there, the thought comes to mind, but for the most part, I allow fatigue and pain to intervene.

[MajestyJo]

The Year 1905


This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!

The year is 1905, more than one hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes!


Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year 1905:

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee! were each more heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,

a dentist $2,500 per year,

a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and

a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.

Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had no college education.

Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, ! was only 30!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores.

Back then pharmacist said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
(Shocking!)

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

Now I forwarded this from someone else without typing it myself, and sent it to you in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

Sometimes time seems to just mark time, other times it just disappears. If we don't live in today, we miss out on so much, before we know it, it is gone.

[MajestyJo]

DON'T EVER...

Don't ever try to understand everything,
some things will just never make sense.

Don't ever be reluctant to show your feelings
when you're happy, give into it!
When you're not, live with it.

Don't ever be afraid to try
to make things better,
you might be surprised at the results.

Don't ever take the weight of the world
on your shoulders.

Don't ever feel threatened by the future,
take life one day at a time.

Don't ever feel guilty about the past,
what's done is done.
Learn from any mistakes you might have made.

Don't ever feel that you are alone,
there is always somebody there
for you to reach out to.

Don't ever forget that you can achieve
so many of the things you can imagine,
imagine that!
It's not as hard as it seems.

Don't ever stop loving,
Don't ever stop believing,
Don't ever stop dreaming your dreams.

- author unknown to me

[MajestyJo]

[MajestyJo]

When You Need God The Most



His strongest grace
is for your weakest moment;

His sweetest fellowship
is for your loneliest journey;

His richest supply
is for yur neediest hour;

His closest embrace
is for your deepest sorrow;

His brightest light
is for your darkest day.

-Unknown