Recovery quotes that resonate...
 

Like many in recovery, I'd suggest I keep a notepad to jot down things I come across or people say, sometimes anonymously that resonate with me and my recovery, here are two,

'I've made mistakes in my life. I've let people take advantage of me, and accepted way less than I deserve. But I've learned from my baad choices and even though there are some things I can never get back and people who will never be sorry I'll know better next time and I won't settle for anything less than I deserve.'

'Sometimes walking away has nothing to do with weakness and everything to do with strength. We walk away not because we want others ton realize our worth and value, but because we finally realize our own.'

Love this! I am an old school paper planner type and my husband and I call my big old book the "Holy Day Planner." The HDP gets a million notes scribbled on it, along with day's and month's plans - I love all the boxes and places to make notes.

One of my favorite quotes EVER is not about recovery but it resonates with me in relation to it, and to always having hope in my life, no matter what-
"Hope is the thing with feathers/
That perches in the soul/
And sings the song without any words/
And never stops, at all"
Emily Dickinson

I read the Friar Richard Rohr/CAC daily email and often get snippets and quotes from it. Recently, one that jumped at me was
"...Find the golden thread which is moving toward inclusivity, mercy and justice"
A lot of his writings have recovery and even specific 12 step tones and references

I love quotes and re-read my pages in the HDP a lot for emotional sustenance!

Nice to know I'm not alone...
 

Thanks for your response, it's nice to know I'm not alone in my musings, love the idea of hope perching on your shoulder when, for someone like me at least, it's all you have left...:tyou

Thanks for the Emily Dickinson poem, August.

Facing up to adversity
 

Thanks for this,not least because with, come 15th Feb., ten years of recover behind me and accepting that my sobriety remains my primary objective in life I now see myself as a Stoic philosopher. Bearing in mind that Stoicism is not what some people misguidedly think about repressing emotions, it is about transforming emotions.

'Man is not disturbed by events, but his view of events,' - Epictetus.

On which basis,like many other Stoics, I have little time for those who haven't faced up to adversity and even less respect for them. How can you tell a person's strength of character if they no nothing of adversity? Other than,perhaps what they see or hear about in the media?

There are many people who play at life and don't recognise reality until it slams them in the teeth!

Not so for those in recovery ... from alcohol or drug addiction,alcoholism speaking from my more recent experience the events I described in opening this thread.

'Adversity is a training exercise' - Seneca,and as I'm sure many of those competing in the Winter Olympics would concur,'Practice makes perfect.'

Besides the quote I have as my signature I find saying this to myself, in moments of weakness, fear, confusion or anger re: my addiction somehow straightens my back and fills my lungs:

No one is coming to save you.

'Adversity....is a training exercise.'
 

For myself my recovery is the priority, that said as part of it and inpursuit of making spiritual progress I now see myself as a self directed student of Stoic philosophy, first attracted to it because of its links to the Serenity Prayer. Mentioned in three of my growing collection of books on the subject.

Stoicism is not what any misguidedly think, it is about transforming emotions NOT repressing them!

As Seneca,one of the most notable Stoic philosophers along with Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius said,'Adversity and the pressure that often accompanies it, my words is a training exercise.'So you're right in what you say in your signature, that's Stoic philosophy:c011::c011: