Sobriety Survival101

May 24 Risking vulnerability “As we grow, we learn to overcome the tendency to run and hide from ourselves and our feelings.” Basic Text, p. 85 ––––=–––– Rather than risk vulnerability, many of us have developed habits that keep others at a safe distance.  These patterns of emotional isolation can give us the feeling we are hopelessly locked behind our masks.  We used to take risks with our lives; now we can take risks with our feelings.  Through sharing with other addicts, we learn that we are not unique; we do not make ourselves unduly vulnerable simply by letting others know who we are, for we are in good company.  And by working the Twelve Steps of the NA program, we grow and change.  We no longer want or need to hide our emerging selves.  We are offered the opportunity to shed the emotional camouflage we developed to survive our active addiction. By opening ourselves to others, we risk becoming vulnerable, but that risk is well worth the rewards. ...

Prayer does not use any artificial energy, it doesn’t burn up any fossil fuel, it doesn’t pollute. —Margaret Mead When you are hungry, you eat. When you are tired, you sleep. When you feel bored, you seek stimulation. When you injure yourself, you give your body time to heal. When you do not understand something, you seek knowledge. You can take care of such things without really thinking about them. But how well do you take care of your spiritual needs? More often than not, you may ignore them as they do not cry out for attention like your other needs do. But without prayer, you may not be able to handle stress as effectively as you could. You may be able to cope with life and do well in remaining free from your habit, but you may not be able to develop a sense of inner peace. Prayer is something as essential to you as eating. It provides you with nourishment that develops a feeling of being fulfilled. It restores your soul and provides healing energy. It offers answers that can help...

"The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness. Through twelve-step recovery we are coming to believe in happiness where's many faces. It is a state of mind we can choose. It is within us when we get our ego and negative thoughts out of the way and discover that are higher power is our companion. We can join got any time we see Joy, serenity, and security. Early in our recovery serenity probably didn't feel like happiness. It was too quiet to mellow and calm. It did not make our heart race. Our addiction have sent is soaring, and we define that hires happiness. We discover in our program the true happiness feels more like contentment. In time will come to appreciate the quieter longer lasting happiness. Just knowing that God is within me will make me happy today.

AI cannot ascertain the spiritual with my intellect. I can only do it by my own faith and spiritual faculties. I must think of God more with my heart than with my head. I can breathe in God's very spirit in the life around me. I can keep my eyes turned towards the good things in the world. I am shut up in a box of space and time, but I can open a window in that box by faith. I can empty my mind of all the limitations of material things. I can sense the Eternal. Prayer for the Day I pray that whatever is good I may have. I pray that I may leave to God the choice of what good will come to me.  From Twenty-Four Hours a Day © 1975 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.