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Love Yourself
(Preview)
"It's surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you're not comfortable within yourself, you can't be comfortable with others."-- Sydney J. Harris&...
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Wren
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5
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754
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Being Honest
(Preview)
The other night, while leaving a meeting hall which is located behind a mini mart, one of my wife's friends saw me and ask what I was doing at "that meeting". I replied that I have some personal issues that this group helps me with. She said that it was an AA meeting. I responded that yes, I kn...
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Snopup
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6
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507
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Me...a complete newbie
(Preview)
Hi, I have seen several posts of people introducing themselves so I felt I should follow in kind. I'm Debra and I'm an alcoholic. (one of the hardest things I ever had to say in my life) I'm 38 and I live in Southern CA. I started drinking when I was 16 But I started having a problem with drinking (or not drink...
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Pdinkle
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9
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766
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Get your printer ready :-)
(Preview)
13th centuary monks prayer; Lord, thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing older and will some day be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from the craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thou...
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alligot
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2
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679
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One year later....
(Preview)
One year ago, i had a spiritual awakening and turned my will over to my HP. tonight, i celebrate one year of sobriety. it's a calm day - i wound up with the day off and spent most of it with the two people who love me the most in this world, my folks. i'm kind of glad there was no fanfare - for me, it's not like t...
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CAM
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6
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574
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Daily Reflections 9/28
(Preview)
LOVE WITHOUT STRINGS Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89 Sponsorship held two surprises for me. First, that my sponsees cared about me. What I had thought was gratitude was more li...
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Doll
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0
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509
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What is the "Higher Power" as referred to in AA?
(Preview)
In 1934, Bill W., cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, got a call from a former drinking buddy, Ebby T. "Rumor had it that he'd been committed for alcoholic insanity," Bill recalled. "I wondered how he had escaped." In reality, Ebby was two months sober. This disappointed Bill...
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Sick of being sick
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8
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3363
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Fall, Change and Moving Forward
(Preview)
With the seasonal transition into Fall, change is motivated by the movement of the earth around the sun; there is no getting around this. So as the world changes and the seasons pass, so must our lives in tandum with it. Change is inevitable. Our lives are made up of the building blocks of change. This ca...
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Wren
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0
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499
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Trying to understand.........
(Preview)
Unmanageability The reasons my life is unmanageable ; My thinking (past and present) eg my beliefs, perceptions that faulty filter My drinking and using My obsession to drink and use Finding ways and means to drink and use The consequences of the above solution......acceptance that all of the abov...
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alligot
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3
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792
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Good day...
(Preview)
Just on my way out to work and wanted to swing by to wish everyone a great day. Heres something my sponsor used to ask me every time he saw me.... What are you doing to stay sober today? :)
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miller2
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6
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508
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Temporary Setbacks
(Preview)
Sometimes, after we begin recovery, things in our life seem to get worse for a time. Our finances, our relationships, or our health may seem to deteriorate. This is temporary; this is a normal part of recovery and healing. It may be the way things will be for a time, but not for long. Keep working at recov...
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Quetzal
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1
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523
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Daily Reflections 9/27
(Preview)
WITHOUT RESERVATION When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, . . . . AS BILL SEES IT, p.37 While practicing service to others, if my successes give rise to grandiosity, I must reflect on what brought me to this point. What has been given joyfully, with love, m...
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Doll
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0
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457
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Seek Insights
(Preview)
"The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival."-- AristotleINSIGHTS happen only when we shift to a higher, more inclusive perspective. As we grow in wisdom and experience, we become less attached to the form of reality...
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Wren
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2
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1933
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Accept or Reject
(Preview)
Some people refuse to accept things as they are. Thats good! Some people accept things just as they are. Thats good, too! What? How can refusing to accept things and accepting things both be good? It depends on your views of what is good or not good for you to accept. In other words, it is important for you...
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Phil
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2
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629
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excuse or truth or what?
(Preview)
My mom is an A as some of you may know along with the fact that I'm 20 years old (almost 21 - which is legal age to drink). She has told me before (confirmed by a sober family friend) that she went to AA for a short while when I was little. The thing I'm questioning is whether or not her reason for why she quit goin...
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lanchas
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8
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779
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Excess baggage
(Preview)
Of all of the emotions in the human repertoire, hate, anger, and resentment are among the most powerful and self-destructive. They are awakened in you by the actions of those you perceive to have hurt you or those you love. You may think that you want and are justified to hate, or harbor rage agai...
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timverton
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3
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978
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Getting Into the Big Book
(Preview)
Hi, My name is Kirsten and I am an alcoholic. On September 20, 2007 I took my last drink. I had relapsed approx. 3 months prior. I continue to say, "yeah, that's me everytime I read the BB. I really saw myself today in reading "More about Alcoholism", "Then he fell victim to a belief...
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Kirsten
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4
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642
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Daily Reflections 9/26
(Preview)
OUR CHILDREN The alcoholic may find it hard to re-establish friendly relations with his children. . . . In time they will see that he is a new man and in their own way they will let him know it. . . . From that point on, progress will be rapid. Marvelous results often follow such a reunion. ALCOHOLICS ANONYM...
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Doll
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0
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463
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Went to the doctor today...
(Preview)
Well, I woke up first thing this morning with an asthma attack... inhaler wasn't quite enough, got it just under control enough to make it to the bathroom and start a hot shower, had to let the steam clear up my lungs... really tempted on asking for a nebulizer after that... cuz both asthma attacks I...
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ChicknLittle
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7
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1924
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Feeling Protected
(Preview)
Our task is not a naive one of feeling safe, of living and loving in a utopian world. One woman commented that our task is making ourselves feel safe while learning to live and love in a world that is unsafe. We do not want to dwell on the danger for that gives power to the negative. Neither do we want to ignor...
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Quetzal
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0
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873
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I Can't Do it Alone
(Preview)
Hi Everyone, my name is Kirsten and I am an alcoholic. AA saved my life in 1992 from total destruction. I attended meetings daily and was very involved. I WAS WILLING TO GO TO ANY LENGTHS. When I returned to the West Coast in 1999 I stopped going. I managed to stay sober of my own volition until June of this y...
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Kirsten
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10
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999
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Death wish....phone call......wake up call.
(Preview)
Saturday was like any other day, I went to work at 4am, got off around 10am, came home took a nap.Got woken up by a phone call from a friend I hadn't heard from in quite a long time, old drinking buddy. She didn't know I was in AA.......We were going to the mall. She showed up and she'd been drinking, next thi...
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Doll
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8
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838
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Daily Reflections 9/25
(Preview)
FIRST THINGS FIRST Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job -- wife or no wife -- we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 98 Before coming to A.A., I always had excuses for taking a dr...
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Doll
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5
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633
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Peace with the Past
(Preview)
Even God cannot change the past. -- Agathon Holding on to the past, either through guilt, longing, denial, or resentment, is a waste of valuable energy - energy that can be used to transform today and tomorrow. "I used to live in my past," said one recovering woman. "I was either tryin...
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Quetzal
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1
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481
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Tolerance
(Preview)
Practice tolerance. Tolerate our quirks, our feelings, our reactions, our peculiarities, and our humanness. Tolerate our ups and downs, our resistance to change, and our struggling and sometimes awkward nature. Tolerate our fears, our mistakes, our natural tendency to duck from problems, and...
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Quetzal
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2
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486
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Attitude of Gratitude
(Preview)
Good Morning to each and every one of you!! Down under, on this Monday morning at 10:17am the sun is bringing a lot of warmth, light and beauty to us Australian's. Yesterday, as in Sunday, I met up with some of my non-alcoholic friends for some coffee, cake and a chat....most enjoyable to hang...
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twoworlds
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3
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5228
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I'm insane! :(
(Preview)
I just got home from the ER a couple of hours ago.... my asthma's been worse all year, starting last winter when my exhusband and I were splitting up, I was smoking a LOT then, 3 packs a day, about killed myself with it, was waking up between 4 and 6 every morning with bad coughing fits for about a month, had a...
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ChicknLittle
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6
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633
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Conscious Brilliance
(Preview)
The birth of autumn is an event missed by many. Autumn reveals itself slowly, hovering on the edges of our consciousness until its crisp breezes are strong enough to pierce our summer clothing, and we notice for the first time the transformations taking place all around us. It is only when the last fru...
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Wren
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1
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463
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Allowing Ourselves to be Needy
(Preview)
We can accept ourselves as people who have needs - the need for comfort, love, understanding, friendship, and healthy touch. We need positive reinforcement, someone to listen to us, someone to give to us. We are not weak for needing these things. These needs make us human and healthy. Getting our nee...
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Quetzal
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1
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655
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Spontaneity
(Preview)
In recovery, we're learning to let ourselves go! We're learning to be spontaneous. Spontaneity may frighten some of us. We may be afraid of the loss of control involved with spontaneity. We may still be operating under the codependent rules that prohibit spontaneity: be good; be right; be perfect;...
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Quetzal
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2
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602
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30 days of soberiety
(Preview)
Yesterday I completed 30 days...My group celebrated my birthday and gave me a token, a key ring with message of AA inscribed.It was a touching moment for me.Not that I had not lived without alcohol for this long before.5 months back I had completed 45 days on my own...That was a time when I had become dis...
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Nisha
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8
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684
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Love Your Shadows
(Preview)
"There is that part of ourselves that feels ugly, deformed, unacceptable. That part, above all, we must learn to cherish, embrace, and call by name."-- Macrina WiederkehrEach of us has characteristics we define as good and those we define as bad. The parts of ourselves that we continual...
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Wren
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2
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524
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I want to Live
(Preview)
Hi There ! Iam Nisha, 30 years old. I am a recovering alcoholic.I live in a city in india which is not very open to the idea of women alcoholics. Last year I realised that I need HELP....I remembered AA from some article in newspaper, I surfed teh net to see if there is any group in my city.....I landed up in a...
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Nisha
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10
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744
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what do I do?
(Preview)
First of all, I want to thank those who responded to my last post. I found the advice and encouragement tremendously helpful. I would have had 10.5 weeks had I not slipped on Monday. But since I did, I only have 3 days. I have made the decision to just pick myself back up and try again...paying closer a...
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chappell_lm
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5
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620
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DANG ARE YOU GUYS SMART...AND GREAT
(Preview)
Well, the big dreaded "meeting" is over. Thank you St pete, tender, simple, doll and quetzal!! Your advice and prayers helped me thru!!! Alot of GOD too!!! Well. I was totally freaked out all day but kept busy and acted like no big deal going on here!! I said the serenity prayer(love that!!,...
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lani
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4
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688
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Trusting Ourselves
(Preview)
Many of us believed that heeding the words of God or our Higher Power meant following rigid rules, an instruction booklet for life. Many of us now believe differently. The rigid rules, the endless instructions, the exhortation to perfection, are not the words our Higher Power whispers. The words of...
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Quetzal
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2
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491
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Weight of the Past
(Preview)
Regret Holding onto regret is like dragging the weight of the past with us everywhere we go. It drains our energy, leaving less available for life in the present because we are constantly feeding an old issue. This attachment can cause illness the same way watering a dead plant creates decay. We know t...
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Wren
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4
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600
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Daily Reflections 9/22
(Preview)
A "LIMITLESS LODE" Like a gaunt prospector, belt drawn in over the last ounce of food, our pick struck gold. Joy at our release from a lifetime of frustration knew no bounds. Father feels he has struck something better than gold. For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself. He may n...
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Doll
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0
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511
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Letting Go of Urgency
(Preview)
One thing at a time. That's all we have to do. Not two things at once, but one thing done in peace. One task at a time. One feeling at a time. One day at a time. One problem at a time. One step at a time. One pleasure at a time. Relax. Let go of urgency. Begin calmly now. Take one thing at a time. See how everything w...
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Quetzal
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2
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468
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Mandatory down-time.
(Preview)
So I don't know if anyone would remember but way back in 2000 when I was in a stupid plane incident not only did my life take a few twists (shortly after the stupid plane incident) but my knee got pretty torked. My knee was threadbare from several dislocations that were the result of over rotations kickbo...
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TLH
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6
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603
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Making Space for Change
(Preview)
We want certain things to change in our lives, but we fear changes that we don't want. Sometimes we fear changes that we do want, because the familiar is more comfortable than the visionary, and because life is a three-dimensional, interconnected puzzle; if you change one thing, everything else shi...
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Wren
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0
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440
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New Relationship Behaviors
(Preview)
We talk much about new relationship behaviors in recovery: allowing others to be themselves without over reacting and taking it personally, and owning our power to take care of ourselves. We talk about letting go of our need to control, focusing on self-responsibility, and not setting ourselves u...
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Quetzal
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6
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2245
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Daily Reflections 9/21
(Preview)
THE LAST PROMISE We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84 The last Promise in the Big Book came true for me on the very first day of sobriety. God kept me sober that day, and on every other day I allowed Him to operate in my life. He gives...
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Doll
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1
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452
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Thank you everyone.
(Preview)
Just want to say thanks to everyone who replied to my post 6 months sober and struggling. Everything you lot said has helped. I feel great seem to have got through the rough patch without picking up!! Had a really good week my son has started school all day and my daughter is in nursery so I have some time to...
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trudi
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3
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573
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Rambling...
(Preview)
A good portion of my life I was a pretty good guy. I worked too much- and the funny thing is I paid the bills and thats about it. I had a wife and we had a daughter, we went on vacation now and then- camping in the desert or Disneyland or up the coast to Canada- mundane vacations that break up the monotony of life...
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TLH
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14
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972
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Feeling RAW
(Preview)
Well as usual, I am going to complain about work!! I think that messes w/ my sobriety more than anything!!I dont even know where to begin...Anyways, we're having a nursing meeting on Friday.. Comments Ive heard is "feelings are going to be hurt", "oh it will def be a bitch session&quo...
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lani
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7
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629
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Just saying "Hi" to everyone....and the new people too..
(Preview)
Blaming others for the pain we feel each time someone fails to live up to our expectations is no different than burning our tongue on coffee that's too hot to swallow, and then calling our cup an idiot! - Guy Finley Unfulfilled expectations always cause problems. Having expectations in our culture is...
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Phil
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1
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550
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Starving
(Preview)
I am going on my 8th day sober today and recently I have just been starving all the time. No matter what I eat I don't feel full. I was wondering if this is a normal physical reaction or am I mentally comensating for the loss of alcohol intake? I was told about the craving of sugar, how alcohol turns to sugar a...
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Pdinkle
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6
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528
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more
(Preview)
Just wanted to elaborate on what I said earlier I need to emphasise that I have a problem with revealing my real self because I HAVE NO IDEA whom I am!!! Also if this relates to anyone ??I am scared of getting OLD I am 38 and as a woman I feel like a failure!!!!!! I just compare myself to everyone else then so...
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trudi
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9
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573
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Daily Reflections 9/20
(Preview)
H.P. AS GUIDE See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164 Having a right relationship with God seemed to be an impossible order. My chaotic past had left me filled with guil...
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Doll
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417
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