Read more about the article The Key to Loving Again, After Tasting Betrayal’s Bitter Sting – Step 6

The Key to Loving Again, After Tasting Betrayal’s Bitter Sting – Step 6

"But does trust require that we be blind to other people's motives or, indeed, to our own? Not at all; this would be folly. Most certainly, we should assess the capacity for harm as well as the capability for good in every person that we would trust." (12 & 12, p. 52) "Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none." - William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), English "All's Well That Ends Well", Act 1 Scene 1   How have you dealt with issues of lost trust, lately?   Trust (Keyshia Cole, ft. Monica (4:27) Shakespeare Brief Bio (3:22) Cultivating Trust…

Continue ReadingThe Key to Loving Again, After Tasting Betrayal’s Bitter Sting – Step 6
Read more about the article “We Found the Great Reality Deep Down Within Us” – Step 6

“We Found the Great Reality Deep Down Within Us” – Step 6

"We found the Great Reality deep down within us." "... search diligently within yourself ... ." "With this attitude, you cannot fail. The consciousness of your belief is sure to come  to you." (The Big Book, p.55)   What alterations to your "inner motivations" have you noticed, lately?   Deep Inside You - Third Eye Blind (4:14) Rollo May on Revealing the True Existential You (2:53) Connect Mind, Body, Soul - Find Inner Peace Meditation LP (1:00:10)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PIBMLvcAzc   UNLEASH THE FORCE - "Our minds and bodies seem tired of it all, yet the dynamic forces of change or true…

Continue Reading“We Found the Great Reality Deep Down Within Us” – Step 6
Read more about the article How to Ease Tensions btwn Friends when They Rise to a Fever Pitch – Step 6

How to Ease Tensions btwn Friends when They Rise to a Fever Pitch – Step 6

"Addiction is a family disease, but we could only change ourselves." (IP No. 13, Youth and Recovery)With Twins "It's easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world."- Al Franken (1951 - ) U.S. Senator / satirist   What type of self-care have you practiced lately, when the going gets tough?   P!nk - Family Portrait (3:50) Sunset Over the Ocean Mediation LP (22:01)    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjciQMz_irU   The story of the Twins   an African folktale   A long time ago at the village of Serki, a woman gave birth to twins - both boys. They were very nice children.…

Continue ReadingHow to Ease Tensions btwn Friends when They Rise to a Fever Pitch – Step 6
Read more about the article The Place Where Sorrow and the “Ache for Home” can Finally be Relieved – Step 6

The Place Where Sorrow and the “Ache for Home” can Finally be Relieved – Step 6

"We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to better effect." (As Bill Sees It, p. 95)  "The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." - Maya Angelou (1928 - 2014) U.S. poet laureate   Where have you felt at home, lately,  and felt spiritually recharged, whether in a meeting or someplace else that warms your heart?   Maya Angelou Brief Bio (4:17) Coming Home Diddy feat. Skylar Grey  (3:55) Karunesh…

Continue ReadingThe Place Where Sorrow and the “Ache for Home” can Finally be Relieved – Step 6
Read more about the article Our Journey from the “Primordial Ooze” into a “Vast Cosmic Dark” * – Step 6

Our Journey from the “Primordial Ooze” into a “Vast Cosmic Dark” * – Step 6

"Before we admitted the truth about our addiction, we knew only the darkness of denial. But when we surrendered  ... a ray of light broke through the darkness, beginning our spiritual awakening." (It Works, How & Why, p. 83)   Try and describe one of your own "ray of light" moments out of the darkness of your spiritual awakening?   Whispering Wind - Moby (6:06)  *Pale Blue Dot - Carl Sagan (4:00)   Ambient Flow in the Darkness of the Universe Meditation (9:50) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lm6pEhykhs   We grow accustomed to the Dark - Emily Dickinson We grow accustomed to the Dark…

Continue ReadingOur Journey from the “Primordial Ooze” into a “Vast Cosmic Dark” * – Step 6
Read more about the article “Think like a Wise Man but Communicate in the Language of the People” – Step 11

“Think like a Wise Man but Communicate in the Language of the People” – Step 11

DO IT IN A WAY THAT WORKS FOR YOU - "... we communicate with our Higher Power in a way that is very tangible to us. OAs have been known to deliver prayer letters to God ... . We've mailed them to our sponsor, put them in a can we labeled our "God Can," made burnt offerings of them, hung them on a tree branch, or dropped them in a river." (Overeaters Anon 12 & 12, p. 95) "Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people." - William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939) Irish Poet…

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If You Seek Recovery, Try a Brand, New Way to Live as the First day of Kwanzaa Begins – Step 9

USEFUL WAYS TO BE - "We simply realize there is a force for spiritual growth that can help us become more tolerant, patient, and useful in helping others. Many of us have said, 'Take my will and my life. Guide me in my recovery. Show me how to live.' " (The Basic Text, p. 26) "You can use your life in a very useful and intelligent way. You can very well transform that negative energy into a positive energy that empowers you and makes life meaningful." - Thich Nhat Hanh (1926 - ) Vietnamese spiritual teacher/ author   Opposites Attract…

Continue ReadingIf You Seek Recovery, Try a Brand, New Way to Live as the First day of Kwanzaa Begins – Step 9

How an Open Hand and Mind Heals a Badly Wounded Soul – Step 9

STILL, WE CAN LEARN HOW NOT TO RUIN OUR DAY IN ANGER - "It mattered little whether our resentments were justified or not. A burst of temper could spoil a day, and a well-nursed grudge could make us miserably ineffective." (12 & 12, p. 90) "Anger in a home is like rottenness in fruit." Talmud Sotah 3 (200 CE) central text of Rabbinic Judaism   Two Secrets of the Torah to Free Yourself from Anger (2:32) Heartland - The The (5:17)  Magical Healing Mantra: Om Mani Padme Hum (9:29) How have you handled anger and frustration in a way that…

Continue ReadingHow an Open Hand and Mind Heals a Badly Wounded Soul – Step 9

One Special Gift that can Heal the Deepest Wound; Especially when the Cause was Our Own – Step 9

  THE GREAT HEALER - " ... humility had brought strength out of   weakness."   " [And] pain had  been the  price of admission into a new life."  "...  a measure  of  humility,  which we soon  discovered  to  be a healer of pain.  We began to fear  painless,  and desire humility more than ev- er."   (12 & 12, p. 75) "If thou desire the love of God and man, be humble, for the proud heart, as it loves none but itself,  is  beloved  of  none but  itself.   Humility  en- forces  where   neither virtue, nor strength, nor reason can prevail.  Francis Quarles (1592 - 1644) English poet Moby - (look at us; we are ) Beautiful…

Continue ReadingOne Special Gift that can Heal the Deepest Wound; Especially when the Cause was Our Own – Step 9

Rejoice in the Winter Solstice as We Dance in the Fleeting Light of Eternal Youth – Step 9

DISCOVERING OUR INNER BEAUTY -  "The most important results of the Ninth Step will be found within ourselves. This step teaches us a great deal about humility, love, selflessness, and forgiveness. We begin to heal from our addiction and no longer live with as many regrets." (It Works, How & Why, p. 67) "A man is not old until his regrets take the place of his dreams." - Yiddish proverb   No Regrets - Elizabeth Withers (3:57) Fountain of Youth Reiki Meditation (10:01) How does selflessness play a role in your recovery, lately?     Generosity : Mahatma Gandhi went…

Continue ReadingRejoice in the Winter Solstice as We Dance in the Fleeting Light of Eternal Youth – Step 9