Sobriety Survival101

 Day By Day-® Sharing feelings Many of us just did what other people did: We took drugs. But we felt so different from “normal” people. Why? Because of the way we did drugs and because drugs were so unfulfilling for us. It’s a joke among us recovering addicts that we tried so hard to look normal. Nonaddicts didn’t know our torment, didn’t know that we lived in another world. While high, we felt moments of euphoria and false well-being. When the drugs wore off, we suffered centuries of misery. Both are feelings that “normal” people did not experience. In the fellowship, however, we share all our feelings because we know that we are among friends, we know that we are finally home. Do I share my true feelings with others? Higher Power, I pray for the willingness to see my true feelings more clearly and to share myself with my fellow addicts. The feelings I will share today are God help me to stay clean and sober today!

From Life With Hope© - STEP SIX Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.  p.25  The spiritual principle of Step Six is willingness . At first, this step seemed to be an impossible undertaking until we realized that we were talking about a lifelong process. Our newfound awareness of our defects of character, as well as the realization that the removal of them might take the rest of our lives, was, for some of us, difficult and painful. But all that was required was to become entirely ready to let go of the defects of character that were blocking our relationship with a Higher Power. What we needed was a readiness to let go, and an openness to allow our loving God to do deep and lasting work in our hearts and minds. Character defects are, by their very nature, expressions of self-will. We realized that by practicing them it was impossible to practice spiritual principles. We could no longer afford to deny or suppress our defects with drugs or self-will. We b