tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33507799149130506692024-09-06T11:06:07.527-07:00Posts, discussions and thoughts from Milkman MikeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13140075095506486380noreply@blogger.comBlogger193125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3350779914913050669.post-26950509656142179862012-05-28T07:29:00.001-07:002012-05-28T07:29:51.971-07:00

Milkman's Reflections in Recovery: Journey Beyond the 12 Steps: This book is intended for people in recovery from alcoholism and addictions that wish to pursue their recovery to find out some of the “whys” of their addictions and to give some direction to find solutions, giving them a better ....

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Just for Today - May 23 - Amends And Sponsors Amends And Sponsors "We want to be free of our guilt, but we don't wish to do so at the expense of anyone else." Basic Text, p. 39 Let's face it: Most of us left trails of destruction in our wakes and harmed anyone who got in our way. Some of the people we hurt most in our addiction were the people we loved most. In an effort to purge ourselves of

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twenty-four hours a day for May 22 A.A. Thought for the Day What impresses us most at an A.A. meetng is thw willingness to share, without holding anything back. And pretty soon we find ourselves sharing also. We start telling our own experiences and by so doing we help the other person. And when we've got these things off our chest, we feel a lot better. It does us a lot of good to share with

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daily reflections for May 22-STEP ONE Step One WE... (The first word of the First Step) Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,p.21 When I was drinking all I could ever think about was "I,I,I," or "Me,Me, Me." Such painful obsession of self, such soul sickness, such spiritual selfishness bound me to the bottle for more than half my life. The journey to find God and to do His will one day at a

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Just for Today - May 22 - Symptoms Of A Spiritual Awakening Symptoms Of A Spiritual Awakening "The steps lead to an awakening of a spiritual nature. This awakening is evidenced by changes in our lives." Basic Text, p. 48 We know how to recognize the disease of addiction. Its symptoms are indisputable. Besides an uncontrollable appetite for drugs, those suffering exhibit self-centered,

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Just for Today - May 22 - Symptoms Of A Spiritual Awakening Symptoms Of A Spiritual Awakening "The steps lead to an awakening of a spiritual nature. This awakening is evidenced by changes in our lives." Basic Text, p. 48 We know how to recognize the disease of addiction. Its symptoms are indisputable. Besides an uncontrollable appetite for drugs, those suffering exhibit self-centered,

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Just for Today - May 21 - Keep Coming Back! Keep Coming Back! "Meetings keep us in touch with where we've been, but more importantly with where we could go in our recovery." Basic Text, p. 54 In many ways, addicts are different. When we came to Narcotics Anonymous we found others like ourselves, people who understood us and whom we could understand. No longer did we feel like aliens, strangers

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Just for Today - May 19 - A Growth Inventory A Growth Inventory "We review our past performance and our present behavior to see what we want to keep and what we want to discard." Basic Text, p. 29 As each day winds to a close, many of us reflect on the past twenty-four hours and consider how we can live differently in the future. It's easy for our thoughts to remain trapped in the mundane:

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Spiritual Measurement Our moment-to-moment spirituality can be easily measured by our ability or, inability, to offer love and tolerance to others. Of course we must also walk a bit of a tightrope in that we should not allow ourselves to be abused verbally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually lest we find ourselves in co-dependency. We not only have the right, but also the human and

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twenty-four hours a day for May 18 twenty-four hours a day for May 18 A.A. Thought for the Day We're in A.A. for two main reasons: to keep sober ourselves and to help others to keep sober. It's a well-known fact that helping others is a big part of keeping sober yourself. It's also been proved that it's very hard to keep sober all by yourself. A lot of people have tried it and failed. They

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daily reflections for May 18- FREEDOM TO BE ME daily reflections for May 18- FREEDOM TO BE ME Freedom To Be Me If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.                   Alcoholics

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Just for Today - May 18 - Friends And Amends—Keeping It Simple Friends And Amends—Keeping It Simple "We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others." - Step Nine In every relationship, we don't always handle things the way we would have hoped. But friendships don't have to end when we make mistakes; instead, we can make amends. If

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twenty-four hours a day for May 17 A.A. Thought for the Day A lot of well-meaning people treat alcoholics like the priest and the Levite. They pass by on the other side by scorning them or telling them what low people they are, with no willpower. Whereas, they really have fallen for alcohol, in the same way as the man in the story fell among robbers. And the member of A.A. who is working with

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daily reflections for May 17-...AND FORGIVE ... And Forgive Under very trying conditions I have had, again and again, to forgive others-- also myself. As Bill Sees It,p.268 Forgiveness of self and forgiveness of others are just two currents in the same river, both hindered or shut off completely by the dam of resentment. Once that dam is lifted, both currents can flow. The Steps of A.A. allow

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Just for Today - May 17 - Defects "Defects" "We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character." Step Six After taking the Fifth Step, many of us spend some time considering "the exact nature of our wrongs" and the part they'd played in making us who we were. What would our lives be like without, say, our arrogance? Sure, arrogance had kept us apart from our fellows

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twenty-four hours a day for May 16 A.A. Thought for the Day In the story of the Good Samaritan, the wayfarer fell among robbers and was left lying in the gutter, half dead. And a priest and a Levite both passed by on the other side of the road. But the Good Samaritan was moved with compassion and came to him and bound up his wounds and brought him to an inn and took care of him. DO I TREAT

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Just for Today - May 16 - Our Higher Power's Will Our Higher Power's Will "God's will for us becomes our own true will for ourselves." Basic Text, p. 46 The Twelve Steps are a path to spiritual awakening. This awakening takes the form of a developing relationship with a loving Higher Power. Each succeeding step strengthens that relationship. As we continue to work the steps,

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daily reflections for May 16-WE FORGIVE We Forgive ... Often it was while working on this Step with our sponsors or spiritual advisors that we first felt truly able to forgive others, no matter how deeply we felt they had wronged us. Our moral inventory had persuaded us that all-round forgiveness was desirable, but it was only when we resolutely tackled Step Five that we inwardly knew we'd be

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Just for Today - May 16 - Our Higher Power's Will Our Higher Power's Will "God's will for us becomes our own true will for ourselves." Basic Text, p. 46 The Twelve Steps are a path to spiritual awakening. This awakening takes the form of a developing relationship with a loving Higher Power. Each succeeding step strengthens that relationship. As we continue to work the steps,

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twenty-four hours a day for May 15 A.A. Thought for the Day In A.A. we find a new strength and peace from the realization that there must be a Power greater than ourselves that is running the universe and that is on our side when we live a good life. So the A.A. program really never ends. You begin by overcoming drink and you go on from there to many new opportunities for happiness and

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daily reflections for May 15-KNOW GOD; KNOW PEACE Know God; Know Peace It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. ... But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave.               &

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Just for Today - May 15 - Fear Of the Fourth Step Fear Of the Fourth Step "As we approach this step, most of us are afraid that there is a monster inside of us that, if released, will destroy us." - Basic Text, p. 27 Most of us are terrified to look at ourselves, to probe our insides. We're afraid that if we examine our actions and motives, we'll find a bottomless black pit of selfishness

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daily reflections for May 14-IT'S OKAY TO BE ME It's Okay To Be Me Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. ... they have turned to easier methods. ... But they had not learned humility. ...                Alcoholics Anonymous,pp.72-73 Humility sounds so much like

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twenty-four hours a day for May 14 A.A. Thought for the Day Having gotten over drinking, we have only just begun to enjoy the benefits of A.A. We find new friends, so that we are no longer lonely. We find new relationships with our families, so that we are happy at home. We find release from our troubles and worries through a new way of looking at things. We find an outlet for our energies in

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Just for Today - May 14 - Oops! Oops! "Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results." Basic Text, p. 23 Mistakes! We all know how it feels to make them. Many of us feel that our entire lives have been a mistake. We often regard our mistakes with shame or guilt—at the very least, with frustration and impatience. We tend to see mistakes as evidence that we are still

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