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Pocket Sponsor
Posted on: 05/12/2007
If you meet more than three assholes in one day, you need a meeting. If you meet more than four, you need a meeting and to call your sponsor. Any more than that and you better be reviewing Steps One, Two and Three real hard.
When too many assholes get in my way, it means
I need a check-up from the neck up.
The Pocket Sponsor
By Shelly Marshall
The author of ' Day By Day' & other Meditation Books
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Today's Gift
Posted on: 04/22/2007
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Resolve to be thyself; and know that who finds himself, loses his misery.
--Matthew Arnold
Our need for approval compels us to try to look good - no matter what's going on. We imagine that somehow everything will be okay as long as it looks okay. Our hearts may be breaking from fear, disillusionment, and rejection, real or imagined, but we keep smiling so that no one will guess. Why do we do this to ourselves? Is it so hard to turn to a friend and say, "Hey, I'm hurting. I've been having a bad time and I need help"? Would the earth tremble if we said it right out, just like that?
We're not likely to get what we don't ask for. Instead of denying that our knees are shaking, our hands are sweating, and our stomachs are in torment, we can admit and share the truth. We don't have to say "Fine!" when someone in the program asks us how we're doing. Our real friends aren't impressed by stiff upper lips; they're impressed by personal honesty.
Today, I will tell someone the truth about how I feel. If I'm not fine I won't say that I am. You are reading from the book: 
Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty
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Today's Gift
Posted on: 04/06/2007
Fearful as reality is, it is less fearful than evasions of reality.
--Caitlin Thomas
We've become much less fearful of reality since we've come to know the principles of this program. Just about anything could have made us fearful in past years. No doubt practicing our addictions gave us a false courage for a while. But then we could no longer keep the fears away.
How do we keep fear at bay now that we're free of our addictions? Most of us have begun to rely on our Higher Power for courage, understanding, and acceptance. The challenges that we're offered are opportunities from God for our advantage. When we're in God's care these challenges are manageable, and we need no longer fear them.
We can conquer our fears as we take advantage of the help, guidance, and courage that come from God.
I know that God will be there for me through every challenge today. You are reading from the book: 
In God's Care by Karen Casey In God's Care by Karen Casey. Copyright 1991 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights r
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Today's Gift
Posted on: 03/28/2007
ORDINARY MOMENTS
Awaken to the ordinary beauty...
Our lives are filled with demands, responsibilities, expectations, places to go, people to see, things to do. We may get so caught up in the next task that we miss the golden moment happening right now. No matter where we are or what we are doing, if we stop to breathe slowly and notice our surroundings, we will find something to appreciate. We may see a glint of light reflecting off a pane of glass, the look in a friend's eyes, or a small thoughtful thing that our partner does.
Spiritual development is nourished by our senses. The sights, sounds, tastes, touch, and scents in our immediate surroundings are the doorway to awe and mystery. When we awaken to the ordinary beauty in our everyday lives, warm and loving parts of ourselves grow and extend out to those we love.
Quiet yourself for a moment, slowly breathe in and out, and focus on something you appreciate. You are reading from the book: 
The More We Find In Each Other by Merle Fossum and Mavis Fossum
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Taking care of ourselves
Posted on: 03/25/2007
Taking Care of Ourselves
It's healthy, wise, and loving to be considerate and responsive to the feelings and needs of others. That's different from caretaking. Caretaking is a self-defeating and, certainly, a relationship defeating behavior - a behavior that backfires and can cause us to feel resentful and victimized - because ultimately, what we feel, want, and need will come to the surface.
Some people seem to invite emotional caretaking. We can learn to refuse the invitation. We can be concerned; we can be loving, when possible; but we can place value on our own needs and feelings too. Part of recovery means learning to pay attention to, and place importance on, what we feel, want, and need, because we begin to see that there are clear, predictable, and usually undesirable consequences when we don't.
Be patient and gentle with yourself as you learn to do this. Be understanding with yourself when you slip back into the old behavior of emotional caretaking and self-neglect.
But stop the cycle today. We do not have to feel responsible for others. We do not have to feel guilty about not feeling responsible for others. We can even learn to let ourselves feel good about taking responsibility for our needs and feelings.
Today, I will evaluate whether I've slipped into my old behavior of taking responsibility for another's feelings and needs, while neglecting my own. I will own my power, right, and responsibility to place value on myself. You are reading from the book: 
The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie
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The Pocket Sponson 24/7 Back to the Basics
Posted on: 03/24/2007
Day Twenty-four/9:00 AM: It is all too easy to reject the suggestions of the program, people in the program, and even this pocket book. You may find practical and solid reasons for abandoning each opportunity to break out of the cycles of self-absorption. Yet your emptiness will increase with each missed opportunity. It is just as easy for me to find practical and solid reasons to accept helpful suggestions as it is to reject them.
The Pocket Sponsor Page -132-
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