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Class of August 2013 - Part 10

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Old 02-12-2014, 07:38 PM
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An Early Valentine

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Sobriety is sweet
And so are all of you.

Oregonians? We have two!
Advbike waits patiently to bike the trails
His gentle friendship never fails.
Elseware shines brightly, such spirit, such grace
She brings great encouragement to this place

Canada's sweet SheKnits delights with artistry in wool
Her works display mastery so full.
Oceanlady graces Maine's rugged and beautiful coast
If ever we all meet, she's nominated as host!

Among our globetrotters is one called JDooner
But his heart's in Bean Town -- may it return there all the sooner.
England's sweetest expat visits places that intrigue us
Sean's images and words give us a glimpse of his genius.

From the South, we're blessed with the belle known as Kadi,
Academic, friend and always a lovely lady.
To the North, W2R stays brave.
He's got the support of this disparate enclave.

His moniker from the mineral known as pyrite,
Foolsgold shows us why we fight the good fight.
George visits us from time to time,
On this mountain we must all climb.

We're never alone, we're in this together
We celebrate the good times, the storms we weather.
With help from Eternal Q, our beacon guides us from the land of Aus
Warm and wise, Dee is a tireless champion for our cause.

Since the dog days of August, six months now draw near
For those who left, come back -- this place, this life is so dear.
We'll walk alongside you, casting our pains further into the past,
The sober life? It can be a blast!

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
SR Class of August 2013,
Where would I be without you?
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Old 02-12-2014, 07:52 PM
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Oceanlady, I'm sorry about your awful cold. I hope you're better soon. Your trip to Florida sounds wonderful. I've never been there except for high summer and I bet it is much better this time of year. Will this be a challenge for you to be down there so long with girlfriends who drink? I think I understood you right. I hope that goes well for you. Do you have any plans to discuss this with them before you go? What kind of things do you plan to do down there? Facts, Gal, facts!

Sheknits, I am a big fan of exercise videos, too. I love them because you don't have to go anywhere or dress up nice or have anyone looking at you. All you need is the old shoes and the old bra and a couple of hand weights and you're off. I've been doing them for 25 years. It's been raining and with the melting snow there's about a foot of mud around here. So exercise videos it is. You sound like you're feeling a little better. Are you? I sure hope so!

I myself am feeling better, too. I don't know why but I'm not asking any questions. Just sitting here feeling better. What a relief to feel calm. Without despair or cravings. Being normal. Whatever that is for me! Peace is a strange feeling for me.

Hope your presentation went well JD, you worldly guy. Did you mention a while back something about the Today show doing a piece on your work or did I imagine that?
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Old 02-12-2014, 07:55 PM
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Bravo, Venecia! What a lovely poem! It describes are little group perfectly. You are so talented in writing.
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Old 02-12-2014, 07:58 PM
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Thank you Venecia - how awesome!

D
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Old 02-12-2014, 08:10 PM
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Venecia: such a wonderful poem! You are very talented!

Else: feeling a bit better. I made it halfway through work yesterday before I realized that I hadn't consciously breathed at all. Conscious breathing is my biggest symptom of anxiety. I start to feel like I am choking but it's happening less and less. Had a few episodes today, being home with the kids during a snowstorm with nowhere to go and nothing to do had me feeling pretty anxious, but I made it through and I can honestly say it was my first good day in a long time. Not sure that the meds are working yet or I'm just feeling better, either way I'm gonna stick with the meds for a while.
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Old 02-12-2014, 09:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Sheknits View Post
Venecia: such a wonderful poem! You are very talented!

Else: feeling a bit better. I made it halfway through work yesterday before I realized that I hadn't consciously breathed at all. Conscious breathing is my biggest symptom of anxiety. I start to feel like I am choking but it's happening less and less. Had a few episodes today, being home with the kids during a snowstorm with nowhere to go and nothing to do had me feeling pretty anxious, but I made it through and I can honestly say it was my first good day in a long time. Not sure that the meds are working yet or I'm just feeling better, either way I'm gonna stick with the meds for a while.
Presentation went well. Less people than I anticipated (roughly 1,000 not 10,000). But I nailed it - I was telling someone else that I actually have groupies that come to my talks now.

Yes, I have been on the Today show.

New book for our little club: A Million Little Pieces. I love it and I hate Oprah for trying to crush the author. I don't care if he embellished some of the scenes - he probably remembered them that way. Anyhow it simply speaks to me, as see much of myself in Frey just did not go as low as him but that is just time related.

Venecia - I love the poem. I am in my black car right now (they have Wifi here) and laughing with my headphones on listening to Lana Del Rey and reading your post. My driver keeps looking back at me like I am crazy.
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Old 02-12-2014, 10:39 PM
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Thanks for the great Valentines poem V! Ha ha our little group bravely soldiers on...
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Old 02-13-2014, 05:50 AM
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Venezia, love, love,love your poem! You are so talented..

Else, my timeshare sits right on the ocean in south Florida, hence , my days are spent on the beach...under an umbrella to protect my "cheap Irish skin".. In past years the hostess in me as created a monster from 4pm on! I organize pot lucks, cookouts,,omg..wine tasting! The resort people are the same every year from all over! I have a reputation as the deva! Have one dear friend who has been an inspiration to me and shared my sober life style since day one...Rita my loud Italian friend from the north end,bean town , doesn't drink and is full of fun. She will be there several weeks. So I will spend a lot of time with her...my sister is one of them normal drinkers,so no problem there...think I will break the news to CA. Friend before she comes.....
This might sound crazy to anyone ,but, my friends are so kind that I fear they won't drink and have there normal person drinking fun experience because of me...
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Old 02-13-2014, 09:25 AM
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Originally Posted by jdooner View Post

Venecia - I love the poem. I am in my black car right now (they have Wifi here) and laughing with my headphones on listening to Lana Del Rey and reading your post. My driver keeps looking back at me like I am crazy.
I loved this JD. Glad it went for you and that you're having fun now in your sobriety. This is where I think you have really nailed it. Thanks for the book tip. Carry on!
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Old 02-13-2014, 10:57 AM
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Originally Posted by advbike View Post
I loved this JD. Glad it went for you and that you're having fun now in your sobriety. This is where I think you have really nailed it. Thanks for the book tip. Carry on!
Thanks man...there is a thread I am invoked in in the 12 steppers section on spirituality. This is where I think I have had and continue to enjoy a profound change. By awakening and destroying my constructs of self and "I" then I have been able to better observe my life and the people coming in and out of it.

In short, I realized my life was not my life. It was a series of reactions based on preprogramed ideals of others that I stole and thought were mine. I was going through life sleepwalking. As I have awoken through mindfulness and conscious meditation it has allowed me a serenity and calm only experienced when I was truly high and in the moment. Given the unsustainable nature of the substance abuse, I am finding tranquility and serenity in my sober life.

Like a tuning fork, I am radiating a certain vibration which I am now able to observe people that are coming in and out of my life and share my experiences with them. I am finding these are the truly profound spiritual experiences that are allowing me to transcend my previous self.

AdVbike this is where I think I am nailing it but getting to this moment.

Thanks
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Old 02-13-2014, 03:19 PM
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I posted this in another section but it really speaks to our shared affiliations I think:

There is a story about an eagle, one of the most glorious and magnificent creatures. But one day the eagle's baby fell out of the nest and landed in a chicken pen. The eagle did not know any better and was raised by the chickens. He would cluck like a chicken and would flap his wings and fly a few feet bc that s the environment he was raised in. One day as the eagle was much older now, he looked up in the sky and saw this magnificent bird flying effortlessly in the sky hardly using a muscle. The eagle on the ground thought this bird looked so majestic and magnificent he wished he could be an eagle too. What irony.

Wouldn't it be sad to spend you life thinking you had to be a chicken if you could really be an eagle?
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Old 02-13-2014, 04:29 PM
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Originally Posted by jdooner View Post
In short, I realized my life was not my life. It was a series of reactions based on preprogramed ideals of others that I stole and thought were mine. I was going through life sleepwalking.
Thanks... I think this is why I am so stuck. With only a couple of exceptions, I spent my whole effing life living up to the ideals of others - and lost myself completely. Now that my employer is gone, my mom is gone, my last relationship is gone and I live by myself in two different cities, I have nothing left to guide me. I am left with myself. I am utterly lost and it is very disturbing.

Love the story about the eagle.
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Old 02-13-2014, 04:33 PM
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I was guided by people and things all my life adv.

Getting into recovery really helped me get in touch with myself, and to trust my own instincts.

I went through a period of feeling lost, but I found firm ground, and I found myself.

I'm sure you will too

D
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Old 02-13-2014, 04:39 PM
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((((((((((Hugs)))))))))). Xoxoxo oxoxox to you Adv
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Old 02-13-2014, 04:41 PM
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Thanks Dee, I appreciate that.

Thanks Else - great pic - double rainbow!

I feel better now
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Old 02-13-2014, 04:43 PM
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Brainwashing is taking someone else's beliefs and adopting them as your own without full understanding them. Hence my references, so I am not pontificating these as my own but I do tend to agree with them.

Paddy was walking down the street in Belfast and he discovers a gun pressing against the back of his head and a voice says, “Are you Catholic or Protestant?” Well, Paddy has to do some pretty fast thinking. He says, “I’m a Jew.” And he hears a voice say, “I’ve got to be the luckiest Arab in the whole of Belfast.” Labels are so important to us. “I am a Republican,” we say. But are you really? You can’t mean that when you switch parties you have a new “I.” Isn’t it the same old “I” with new political convictions? I remember hearing about a man who asks his friend, “Are you planning to vote Republican?” The friend says, “No, I’m planning to vote Democratic. My father was a Democrat, my grandfather was a Democrat, and my great-grandfather was a Democrat.” The man says, “That is crazy logic. I mean, if your father was a horse thief, and your grandfather was a horse thief, and your great-grandfather was a horse thief, what would you be?” “Ah,” the friend answered, “then I’d be a Republican.”
We spend so much of our lives reacting to labels, our own and others’. We identify the labels with the “I.” Catholic and Protestant are frequent labels. There was a man who went to the priest and said, “Father, I want you to say a Mass for my dog.” The priest was indignant. “What do you mean, say a Mass for your dog?” “It’s my pet dog,” said the man. “I loved that dog and I’d like you to offer a Mass for him.” The priest said, “We don’t offer Masses for dogs here. You might try the denomination down the street. Ask them if they might have a service for you.” As the man was leaving, he said to the priest, “Too bad. I really loved that dog. I was planning to offer a million-dollar stipend for the Mass.” And the priest said, “Wait a minute, you never told me your dog was Catholic.”


Mello, Anthony De (2011-08-31). Awareness (p. 49). The Doubleday Religious Publishing

Advbike finding ones self is about wakening. Many go through life, as did the eagle thinking they were a sum of their experiences or surrounding.

...you’ve got “I” observing “me.” This is an interesting phenomenon that has never ceased to cause wonder to philosophers, mystics, scientists, psychologists, that the “I” can observe “me.” It would seem that animals are not able to do this at all. It would seem that one needs a certain amount of intelligence to be able to do this. What I’m going to give you now is not metaphysics; it is not philosophy. It is plain observation and common sense. The great mystics of the East are really referring to that “I,” not to the “me.” As a matter of fact, some of these mystics tell us that we begin first with things, with an awareness of things; then we move on to an awareness of thoughts (that’s the “me”); and finally we get to awareness of the thinker. Things, thoughts, thinker. What we’re really searching for is the thinker. Can the thinker know himself? Can I know what “I” is? Some of these mystics reply, “Can the knife cut itself? Can the tooth bite itself? Can the eye see itself? Can the ‘I’ know itself?” But I am concerned with something infinitely more practical right now, and that is with deciding what the “I” is not. I’ll go as slowly as possible because the consequences are devastating. Terrific or terrifying, depending on your point of view.
Listen to this: Am I my thoughts, the thoughts that I am thinking? No. Thoughts come and go; I am not my thoughts. Am I my body? They tell us that millions of cells in our body are changed or are renewed every minute, so that by the end of seven years we don’t have a single living cell in our body that was there seven years before. Cells come and go. Cells arise and die. But “I” seems to persist. So am I my body? Evidently not!
“I” is something other and more than the body. You might say the body is part of “I,” but it is a changing part. It keeps moving, it keeps changing. We have the same name for it but it constantly changes. Just as we have the same name for Niagara Falls, but Niagara Falls is constituted by water that is constantly changing. We use the same name for an ever-changing reality.
How about my name? Is “I” my name? Evidently not, because I can change my name without changing the “I.” How about my career? How about my beliefs? I say I am a Catholic, a Jew— is that an essential part of “I”? When I move from one religion to another, has the “I” changed? Do I have a new “I” or is it the same “I” that has changed?


Mello, Anthony De (2011-08-31). Awareness (p. 49). The Doubleday Religious Publishing

You are not your thoughts or actions. Further without figuring out who you are, just like the eagle you will believe you are a chicken. This would be sad, as you are so much more. We shackled ourselves with our individual addictions but now through sobriety have the gift of clarity to be awakened and power to learn who we actual are. In addition to assisting in recovery, it is may fundamental belief that this is what contentment is about. I tried the other way with the houses, boats, Porsches, Range Rovers - where does it end? My colleague gets a hotter, younger wife...now my ego says JD you can't let him be better than you, trade in your wife and get a younger one it will only cost you 50% of your net worth you will make more. This is insane.

We all know these people, usually CEOs that we regard as brilliant but vilify the IV drug user. I am the CEO that sees no difference between me and that bum with a needle in his arm other than time and progression.

ADVbike - you saved my life. Literally...I believe In the Realm of Hugnry Ghost was a seed that germinated and saved my life. So let me try to return the favor. Since you love books, try Mindfulness for Beginners. Then Awareness by De Mello (its a harder read). Power of Now, Tolle, or A New Earth, Tolle.

None of this is easy and recovery does not occur through osmosis but I know this class has it in us to get to the next level!
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Old 02-13-2014, 04:58 PM
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I just ordered this book "The Realm of Hungry Ghosts". It sounds like something I need to read. Adv, I'm sorry you feel so alone and lonely. That is a sad place to be. I wish there was something I could say to make you feel better. All I can do is let you know I care. The rainbow was such a beautiful one. It reminds me that the sun does come out again.
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Old 02-13-2014, 06:32 PM
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Advbike , wish I could come pick you up and bring you to Florida , plant you on the beach with one of those books,and help fight your battle..
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Old 02-13-2014, 07:46 PM
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Originally Posted by jdooner View Post
Brainwashing is taking someone else's beliefs and adopting them as your own without full understanding them. Hence my references, so I am not pontificating these as my own but I do tend to agree with them.

Advbike finding ones self is about wakening. Many go through life, as did the eagle thinking they were a sum of their experiences or surrounding.

You are not your thoughts or actions. Further without figuring out who you are, just like the eagle you will believe you are a chicken. This would be sad, as you are so much more. We shackled ourselves with our individual addictions but now through sobriety have the gift of clarity to be awakened and power to learn who we actual are. In addition to assisting in recovery, it is may fundamental belief that this is what contentment is about. I tried the other way with the houses, boats, Porsches, Range Rovers - where does it end? My colleague gets a hotter, younger wife...now my ego says JD you can't let him be better than you, trade in your wife and get a younger one it will only cost you 50% of your net worth you will make more. This is insane.

We all know these people, usually CEOs that we regard as brilliant but vilify the IV drug user. I am the CEO that sees no difference between me and that bum with a needle in his arm other than time and progression.

ADVbike - you saved my life. Literally...I believe In the Realm of Hugnry Ghost was a seed that germinated and saved my life. So let me try to return the favor. Since you love books, try Mindfulness for Beginners. Then Awareness by De Mello (its a harder read). Power of Now, Tolle, or A New Earth, Tolle.

None of this is easy and recovery does not occur through osmosis but I know this class has it in us to get to the next level!
Thanks JD, for the references and for your thoughts - it means a lot to me that you took the time to do that. I have read The Power of Now but am working through it a second time as it didn't all stick. I have a very hard time being "in the moment" lately because I have a lot of decisions to make that are future-oriented, and I have almost unlimited options available to me as to what I CAN do, but I don't know what I WANT to do. I can't seem to get out of my head long enough to find my spiritual center, if that makes any sense.

As a result, this really resonated with me "You are not your thoughts or actions. Further, without figuring out who you are, just like the eagle you will believe you are a chicken. This would be sad, as you are so much more."

I think the mindfulness practice will do me good. It is so hard to really change our thinking - I really admire the way you took the bull by the horns and charged into it. It's one reason I realized I have to work on the steps - I'm caught in old patterns that keep me stuck and which kept me drinking for so long. I really need to figure out who I am before I can know where my path is headed. Thanks for that reminder.

I just went to yoga which always feels wonderful and centers me for awhile. Might have to start going every day.
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Old 02-13-2014, 07:50 PM
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I'm so sorry that you're enduring some difficult transitions, Advbike. I've put out an all-points bulletin for the Recovery Fairy, but -- let's be honest -- the chick does *not* have a good track record when it comes to showing up.

We, on the other hand, will show up for you. I really take such great heart in how we are all here for one another.

You've got us. We care about you. And I think Dee, as always, is on to something.
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