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justadrunk


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I'm so confused really? This reading - can anyone help?
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You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

The New Year

Make New Year's goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you're interested in fully living life in the year to come.

Goals give us direction. They put a powerful force into play on a universal, conscious, and subconscious level.

Goals give our life direction.

What would you like to have happen in your life this year? What would you like to do, to accomplish? What good would you like to attract into your life? What particular areas of growth would you like to have happen to you? What blocks, or character defects, would you like to have removed?

What would you like to attain? Little things and big things? Where would you like to go? What would you like to have happen in friendship and love? What would you like to have happen in your family life?

Remember, we aren't controlling others with our goals - we are trying to give direction to our life.

What problems would you like to see solved? What decisions would you like to make? What would you like to happen in your career?

What would you like to see happen inside and around you?

Write it down. Take a piece of paper, a few hours of your time, and write it all down - as an affirmation of you, your life, and your ability to choose. Then let it go.

Certainly, things happen that are out of our control. Sometimes, these events are pleasant surprises; sometimes, they are of another nature. But they are all part of the chapter that will be this year in our life and will lead us forward in the story.

The New Year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.

Today, I will remember that there is a powerful force motivated by writing down goals. I will do that now, for the year to come, and regularly as needed. I will do it not to control but to do my part in living my life.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990,



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justadrunk


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I thought that the slogan "I plan, God laughs" was real.

I thought control was written all over this.


I thought my intentions for the moment were my friend, loving compassion and kindness and leave the results and outcomes to God. No attachments to things, and prestige, status etc.

Help me understand people please...

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nezyb


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I look at it like this. I do the human leg work in my life. I don't try to control outcomes (ok, at least not as much as I used to). I do pray for knowledge of God's will in my life & then go where my heart & soul direct me to. I have goals, for me, my life. They give me direction & a sense of purpose. I don't always attain them, they evolve, change as the days go on. Sometimes literally as the day itself goes on. I'm not great at journaling on a daily basis, but that is one of my goals today. Take 5 minutes each day to write about it. So maybe this post can be my start. :) Happy New Year, my friend. Don't know if this helped or even touched on your question, but it's what I got at the moment. (((Hugs)))

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Zoomtopz


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I don't see it as Power or Control .

I see it as Empowerment - That magic energy that defies power or control .

As I GREW in AA . I was blessed with Many opportunities , the first , was a

Fantastic job . Which I had to say No to . Fantastic money , Great working

conditions , long . Very long hours . I said No .

The "Promises" started in my life . Within 5 minutes . Yes 5 min , of me saying

I would "try this" . I started "to Intuitively Know" what was Best - Remember ,

Good > Better > BEST . For Rick . I believe It IS part of Our Change .

Step One , we physically stop drinking alcohol .

Then we Are willing to Receive What Our HP has for us .

A brickies labourer told me . "You may as well get your 4th step done , it's 'running'

around in your head . By writing it down , IS The only way you will get rid of it".

Likewise with something we Want to attract to us , or just remember . Write it down .

at my 1st meeting a lady of 26yrs sobriety , who had been knitting th whole meeting

(most meetings in Aussie go for 90min) , she was th last speaker , said . "If I am not

at an AA meeting , I Know I will drink again". I thought if you have to bring your knitting

to the meeting , you must have a Boring life , if your life was mine . I would rather drink .

I came to "love" that lady . And yes she continued to knit at meetings . Who changed .

I Hope , "as confusing" as it may seem" , Helps.



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Rick.

@ 37 I was too young & good looking to be an alkie.

still too young , still got th good looks. still n alkie.
pinkchip


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I can have goals and ideals and rely on my hp to give me strength to follow through. For example, I'm not gonna have a specific job or career just by praying for it and leaving it all up to God. I have to go after it. Having some measure of control over yourself and your own behavior is not anti-program. Good orderly direction is also reflected in making better goals, and having the faith to get out of your comfort zone and start going after those goals utilizing support from each other and from HP. Imagining oneself as being 100 percent powerless over things and having no control over anything could lead to being an indecisive, unmotivated flake and I didn't get sober for that either. Goals are good and, as the reading suggests, so is self inventory work that might help you utilize god to recognize and rid yourself of defects and self sabotaging ways which hinder you from achieving those goals.

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Fyne Spirit


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justadrunk wrote:

I thought that the slogan "I plan, God laughs" was real.

I thought control was written all over this.


I thought my intentions for the moment were my friend, loving compassion and kindness and leave the results and outcomes to God. No attachments to things, and prestige, status etc.

Help me understand people please...

 I think you are right. It has control written all over it..."some" things happen that are out of our control" Absolutely nothing is totally within our power to control, in my experience. We may think it is, but it's only by Gods grace.

 

The confusion arises because this is a popular psychological concept, as opposed to the spiritual principles by which we try to live.

It suggests we adopt a self directed approach to life where as the twelve steps lead us to a God directed life. (whatever concept of God makes sense to you) . We ask in step 11 what is God's will for me today, where as this piece suggests we ask what is our will for our future.

This doesn't mean we can't dream or have goals, it simply means that in prayer and meditation we try and align our will with Gods will, praying for the power to carry it out. If we can do this, life runs pretty well on the inside, but if we run on self will alone... well wasn't that our problem in the first place?

 

 

 



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Walking with curiosity.
Pythonpappy


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Hey Tash, ...

The way I see it .... it's like planning a trip across the country ... 1st, I list all the places I want to see along the way to my main destination ... then I prepare my car for the trip, you know, have the tires, brakes, windshield-wipers checked and the oil & filter changed, etc. ... then I pack for the trip and set up for things to be taken care of here while I am away ...

I make sure the car has a full tank in order for me to get a good start ... then off I go ... my plans are coming together nicely ... but I make the trip one day at a time ... maybe one day I run over some debris and blow out a good tire ... then I adjust my plans, but my goal remains the same ...

My point is, is that there is nothing here that suggests 'control', to me ... just good planning for what you wish to achieve ... the 'man plans, God laughs' can be very true ... that's why I carry 'jumper cables and a tool box' with me ... just in case God happens to play a joke on me, LOL ...

the reprint you have above Sez: "Remember, we aren't controlling others with our goals - we are trying to give direction to our life."

I like the article, it seems good advice ...


Love ya and God Bless,
Pappy



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pinkchip


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I never strove for anything prior to AA. Part of it was because I didn't believe in myself or my HP. That was no way to live either. Having goals and striving to meet them has been a gift.

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justadrunk


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Thanks all. Happy New Year ☺️

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The Ghost of Tipsy


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12 years ago an addictions counselor I was seeing for my "drinking problem" had me write down what I wanted most in life. Not in vague generalities but in extremely specific detail. I wrote about the kind of woman I wanted to marry, the family we'd have together, the home we'd live in, the career I dreamed of, etc...it was quite the exercise and he made me keep working on it until the picture was so complete that it read like a novel.

I hadn't thought about it until a few weeks ago. I was lying in bed with my wife having our nightly pillow talk when out of nowhere the memory of that exercise popped into my head and I realized that by some miracle I had gotten everything I'd written down way back then. Not just close to it, everything exactly as I'd spelled it out.

I don't know what it is about taking your goals and your dreams putting pen to paper and writhing them out but I sincerely belive that something extraordinary happens when you do.

I think it's time I revisit that exercise and think about what I would like my next 12 years to bring. I really want a dune buggy :)

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Jerry F


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Happy with you Tipster...nice realizing the consequences of the plans....and work that we do.  

Sister I had a shocking awareness one night in a meeting when I realized that I had made it to the age of 36 only by chance.  I was awed and scared and sad because drinking had been the center stage paradigm for me from birth. 

Working with my sponsor on being responsible he told me "Why not choose the consequence you want and then do the work to get it"?   ROCKET SCIENCE...for me cause living by accident only involves itself in hindsight and accident.  I thought that my sponsor had a GREAT idea...so unique while others chuckled at my response to it.  Of course later on I came to ....understand that this is exactly what "normally sober" people do.  I also came to understand among many things that alcoholics are "risk takers" and that verified my inability and unwillingness to look before I leap or take the first step on a journey of miles.  The God part?...I don't have a choice on the God part..."God is" and "God is and has always been with me on this journey" and I know for sure was the instrument in getting me into my program of recovery.  I like Melody's lesson.  (((((hugs))))) smile



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