:wiggle: Just for today,.....I need guidance, support, and a Power beyond my own. I will go to a meeting, reach out to a newcomer, call my sponsor, Pray to my God----and I will surrender....Just for today, I will have a program.:wave:

:wink3: "For us, to use is to die, often in more ways than one."Basic Text p.78


Today and everyday I am so grateful, that God didn't take me in my insanity days. I was so sick. I did anything and everything to get high and drunk. I feel better about myself today. I am good. Everyday is a blessing, and to those who are still in the madness: Please....get help,..you are worth so much more....live,love, and praise your God....He will lift you up and help you, all you have to do is surrender....:wave:

:) It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment, leads only to futility and unhappiness.To the presise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worth while.But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, the business of resentment infinitely grave.We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, TO DRINK IS TO DIE!!!!!! The Big Book p.66:wave:

:wiggle: When we discovered that we could not live with or without drugs, we sought help through NA, rather than prolong our suffering. The program works a miracle in our lives.We become different people.Working the steps and maintaining abstinence give us a daily reprieve from our self-imposed life sentences. We become free to live.....Basic text p.11:wave:

"Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Step12, Basic text p.48-51

The steps are guidelines for our life. We can practice each one every day. By living a good clean life. They will teach us: honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness, and how to really live. There is no set time to do the steps. They are here to teach us everyday. I try and apply the steps in my everyday living. There is no wrong or right, when you are living a honest life....:wave:

The 1st Promise: We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness....

Today I take the first step toward my new life by allowing myself to believe that I have a right to be free and happy, no matter what.

If you don't know the Promises get the book:
Gifts of Sobriety by Barbara S. Cole:wave:

:) The 2nd Promise:We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it...

I wil bring myself ot a place ot willingness to stop running from the past so that I can begin to grow into my own serenity, peace, and wisdom.:wave:

The 3rd Promise:"WE WILL COMPREHEND THE WORD SERENITY AND WE WILL KNOW PEACE."

Please help me to stop trying so hard to find serenity.Deep inside myself I know that it is sitting there, waiting for me to join with it.I no longer need to struggle to get it.It is my birthright to have...:wave:

:hello2 The 4th Promise: No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others...

I know that I have worth, both to others and to myself. Today I will take notice of even the smallest feeling of self-worth and value it more highly than ever before.:wave:

The 5th Promise:

That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
"I remember looking into the sky, looking around,feeling the coolness of the air and thinking just how much at peace I was with myself.I was finally at peace with God.I felt that God was beginning to forgive me and that I was beginning to forgive myself.It was very important to know That this was beginning to happen for me.Before this moment, it was all uselessness and self-pity.After this moment, it was peace." - by, A grateful new one,
Gifts of sobriety by Barbara S.Cole:wave:

The 6th Promise:

We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interrest in our fellows.
I am a good, kind, giving person.The gift of my sobriety is that for today, I can reach beyond my protective wall and connect with others meaningfully.I feel worthy of knowing about others and being known.I am now able to see and appreciate my own goodness because I see it reflected in the goodness of others.:wave:

The 7th Promise:

Self-Seeking will slip away...

Today I will enjoy the7th prominse by giving up my desire to serve the needs of addiction.I will make a conscious choice as many times as it takes in this day to question everything I think is best,knowing that the disease would have me thinking that I , not another, knows what is best for me.I will stop feeding addictive behaviors with isolation and with feeling one-down or one-up. I will begin seeking ways to connect with others on any level possible.I know if I do this that gradually my habit of manipulating people, places, and things ,to get them just how I want them, will slip away..:wave:

The 8th Promise

Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change...
I will enjoy the slow but sure evolution of my attitude from negative to positive, letting go of the need to take myself too seriously in this process. I am will ing to see irony and humor in areas of my life that had not occured to me before. I am willing to admit to myself that my perception of the world, above most other things, has a powerful effect on my everyday experience of life.As my perception changes, so will my experience of the world. I will delight in my newfound ability to enjoy this most powerful gift.:wave:

:kitty: 9th Promise:

Fear of people and economic insecurity will leave us...
Today I vow to live cleanly-in the sense that I will enjoy the feeling of lightness that comes from having made things right between me and others who have been in my life.I will use today to continue to live without fear of being caught or found out, for there is nothing to discover as I live openly and honestly.I will enjoy the sense of security that I feel knowing that as a part of humanity, not special or separate from it, all of my needs will be taken care of in their right time.:wave:

10th Promise:

We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us....
Today I am grateful for the gifts of my sobriety that have increasingly come to me over time: the return of my own wisdom and clear intuition....
Without humility-there can be no growth....:wave:

11th Promise:

"We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we couldd not do for ourselves...
God, today I am admitting my powerlessness over this disease.I am praying for knowledge of your will and asking for the power to carry it out....:wave:

12th Promise:

These promises will always materialize if we work for them.
Today I will take a single,positive action that is completely supportive of my sobriety.And today I will take no action to undo the good that I have already done.:wave:

The promises are for those who want them. The only requirement is the desire to stop using....its that simple...only you know when you are ready to live...thats what it boils down to...I want to live...so therefore, working the steps, the best I can, will give me the world I deserve...all you have to do is ask....:wave:

:lumpy With our friends and God joining with us to form a "triple-braised cord", we will not be easily broken or turned from the path of recovery.

The life recovery bible,NVL,Step 8 p.797

Today....I choose to live....what do you choose????:wave: