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Recovery Wisdom

On this page I have posted thoughts, sayings, and quotes that have come from friends and other uncopyrighted sources and I have posted them without attribution in order to protect the author's privacy.

Life is going to happen
Life is going to happen, regardless of how I feel about it.

Live for other people
If you can live for other people you will be happy. [Catherine Hepburn - in an interview with Dick Cavett]

Cunning, baffling, powerful, and patient
We say of the addiction that it is cunning, baffling, powerful and patient. But in reality, the it is me and my ego. It awaits moments when I am in HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired) and then it asserts itself.

COUNT TO TEN!
I heard someone say that he counts to ten before saying something. For example, when someone is nasty to him or when someone criticises someone else and he is tempted to join in the gossip, instead, he counts to ten and then he decides if he wants to speak and if so, what he wants to say.

More habit than necessary
Often we think that the addiction or addictive behavior is necessary. I "need" to gamble, drink, use, have sex with her, etc. etc. But in fact, it is usually more habit than necessary. It is temporary salve on the wound.

"Normal?"
One recovering addict, realizing that addicts have disordered thinking patterns, asked her therapist: "Well, what do normal people do and think about?" The therapist said: "They go to work, they think about their kids, what they need to buy at the store, what they are going to do for their spouse. In other words, they are responsible. They participate in LIFE!"

Daily treatment necessary
Addicts have an uncurable disease that, with DAILY treatment, can be arrested. one day at a time. It requires courage to make the choice. One guy said that it is eating the elephant one bite at a time. You can't eat (read "cure) the whole elephant (read "disease") all at once, but we can do so, one bite (read "day or minute") at a time.

image: stimulation

Stimulation: Why do I think that I need constant stimulation? What is wrong with a little peace in my life?What would be wrong with 30 minutes of extra time with nothing to do when I arrive at a destination?

  
   What God does with me is none of my business.

 

It takes thought and effort to participate in life.


    We were addicted to the unreal. IMAGE: UNREAL

    
    I haven't been cured of the disease but I have gotten better with the management of it. 

 

 If I go somewhere else I am going to take myself with me.

    Distorted thinking: "I can get it without paying for it."

  Distorted thinking: "The only way to be rid of it is to do it."

 

Faith and Love: Faith and love are inseparable. When I am in Love I am in God. When I am in God I am in Love. What is faith but being in God?

Knowing God: There are different kinds of knowing. Knowing can be so much more than mere intellectual assent. The Bible speaks of a man "knowing" a woman. That kind of knowing implies something deeper than awareness or sexual intercourse. It implies intimacy. Union in thought, feeling, action, a moment of transcendence in which two persons are beyond their own egos and separation. It is communion. It is a sacrament. It is a taste of heaven.

From a sermon: This is from a sermon I heard when I went to Mass with my cousin Rita Rae at St. Peter's Catholic Church in New Iberia, Louisiana on Sunday May 21, 2006:
We can love thos who have hurt us only with God's love - husband and wife can love their children because of their sacrament.

God is love - this is the greatest truth in the scriptures

"By dying he destroyed our death." By giving up his power he showed us how to conquer our own death.