Gratitude
 

A grateful alcoholic doesn’t drink. If you’re not feeling grateful get grateful. One of the most powerful tools in the recovery box.

What are you grateful for?

Grateful to be sober and grateful to be a recovered alcoholic. Grateful to be an alcoholic so I was able to experience the life of recovery and the promises of AA. It really is an amazing thing. Shame about all of the pain and suffering that led me here but I wouldn’t change it; that’s my story. There’s always something to be grateful for even if it’s just being alive; if you’re not grateful for that then it’s likely that’s because you’re unwell.

How can you tell if you are truly grateful? By what you are feeling or what you are doing?

Being greatfull I believe comes from comparison.

As we say in my language "a ungreatfull person has not hit his teeth on the pavement yet"

I am grateful to be alive today. So many people went to sleep last night and didn't wake up. So many more people who are more deserving of life than me, and here I was wasting it away by pouring poison down my neck.

Tomorrow is never a guarantee. I am grateful I got to see another day.

Gratitude is apparent in my reaction to life; thought processes and behaviour. There’s always a positive and a negation way to look at any situation and when I’m grateful I look at it in a positive way.

For me being spiritually fit is to have gratitude. When my gratitude slips so does my spirituality and I become more self consumed and more likely to not notice the beauty in my life e.g. nature.

That great thing about gratitude is it works even if you fake it.

Sit down each morning and recognize three things you can say ‘I’m grateful for...’.

Even if you don’t FEEL it... by simply saying it. Writing it down. Repeating it through the day....

You will find it will open your heart to sincere gratitude. It will guide you to more gratitude. It will bring you into new, light, beautiful areas of life and will help you get sober, stay sober and deepen your sobriety and your life.

To be grateful you must have perspective. To have perspective, you must first understand who you are by being truly honest with yourself. When you admit that you are indeed an alcoholic/ addict, you're just beginning to be honest with yourself.

Absolutely; contented sobriety has to be built on total honesty. It all comes back to living spiritually for me: dishonesty is certainly not.

The more years I get of sobriety the simpler my recovery has become. Treat others with love, tolerance and respect, have humility and gratitude, and accept my powerlessness over things I cannot control.