Essays of alternative programs

Old 12-11-2005, 03:58 AM
  # 1 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Northern CA
Posts: 1,432
Essays of alternative programs

A friend of mine on these forums asked my privately for links to essays that I felt represented some of the programs considered to be alternatives to AA (SMART, WFS, SOS, LifeRing, possibly RR).
I could have provided them privately, but I figured others might benefit from reading them as well.
So here goes...
Don S is offline  
Old 12-11-2005, 04:01 AM
  # 2 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Northern CA
Posts: 1,432
SMART Recovery, REBT: Who Controls You?

This is one of the most popular essays at the SMART Recovery web site. It is a great overview of applying REBT. I received permission to post it in this forum in the Friday Affirmation thread over in the Alcoholism Forum.


Who Controls You? How Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy can help you change unwanted emotions and behaviours

By Wayne Froggatt


Copyright Notice: This document is copyright © to the author (1990-97). Single copies (which include this notice) may be made for therapeutic or training purposes. For permission to use it in any other way, please contact: Wayne Froggatt, PO Box 2292, Stortford Lodge, Hastings, New Zealand. (E-mail: [email protected]). Comments are welcomed. This document is located on the internet site: http://www.rational.org.nz Reprinted here with permission


Most people want to be happy. They would like to feel good, avoid pain, and achieve their goals. For many, though, happiness seems to be an elusive dream. In fact, it appears that we humans are much better at disturbing and defeating ourselves! Instead of feeling good, we are more likely to worry, feel guilty and get depressed. We put ourselves down and feel shy, hurt or self-pitying. We get jealous, angry, hostile and bitter or suffer anxiety, tension and panic.

On top of feeling bad, we often act in self-destructive ways. Some strive to be perfect in everything they do. Many mess up relationships. Others worry about disapproval and let people use them as doormats. Still others compulsively gamble, smoke and overspend - or abuse alcohol, drugs and food. Some even try to end it all.

The strange thing is, most of this pain is avoidable! We don't have to do it to ourselves. Humans can, believe it or not, learn how to choose how they feel and behave.

As you think, so you feel.

People feel disturbed not by things, but by the views they take of them.' Ancient words, from a first- century philosopher named Epictetus - but they are just as true now.

Events and circumstances do not cause your reactions. They result from what you tell yourself about the things that happen. Put simply, thoughts cause feelings and behaviours. Or, more precisely, events and circumstances serve to trigger thoughts, which then create reactions. These three processes are intertwined.

The past is significant. But only in so far as it leaves you with your current attitudes and beliefs. External events - whether in the past, present, or future - cannot influence the way you feel or behave until you become aware of and begin to think about them.

To fear something (or react in any other way), you have to be thinking about it. The cause is not the event - it's what you tell yourself about the event.

The ABC's of feelings & behaviours


American psychologist Albert Ellis, the originator of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), was one of the first to systematically show how beliefs determine the way human beings feel and behave. Dr. Ellis developed the 'ABC' model to demonstrate this.


'A' refers to whatever started things off: a circumstance, event or experience - or just thinking about something which has happened. This triggers off thoughts ('B'), which in turn create a reaction - feelings and behaviours - ('C').


To see this in operation, let's meet Alan. A young man who had always tended to doubt himself, Alan imagined that other people did not like him, and that they were only friendly because they pitied him. One day, a friend passed him in the street without returning his greeting - to which Alan reacted negatively. Here is the event, Alan's beliefs, and his reaction, put into the ABC format:


A. What started things off:

Friend passed me in the street without speaking to me.

B. Beliefs about A.:

1. He's ignoring me. He doesn't like me.
2. I could end up without friends for ever.
3. That would be terrible.
4. For me to be happy and feel worthwhile, people must like me.
5. I'm unacceptable as a friend - so I must be worthless as a person.

C. Reaction:

Feelings: worthless, depressed. Behaviours: avoiding people generally.

Now, someone who thought differently about the same event would react in another way:

A. What started things off:

Friend passed me in the street without speaking to me.

B. Beliefs about A.:

1. He didn't ignore me deliberately. He may not have seen me.
2. He might have something on his mind.
3. I'd like to help if I can.

C. Reaction:

Feelings: Concerned.
Behaviours: Went to visit friend, to see how he is.

These examples show how different ways of viewing the same event can lead to different reactions. The same principle operates in reverse: when people react alike, it is because they are thinking in similar ways.

The rules we live by

What we tell ourselves in specific situations depends on the rules we hold. Everyone has a set of general
'rules'. Some will be rational, others will be self-defeating or irrational. Each person's set is different.

Mostly subconscious, these rules determine how we react to life. When an event triggers off a train of thought, what we consciously think depends on the general rules we subconsciously apply to the event.

Let us say that you hold the general rule: 'To be worthwhile, I must succeed at everything I do.' You happen to fail an examination; an event which, coupled with the underlying rule, leads you to the conclusion: 'I'm not worthwhile.'

Underlying rules are generalisations: one rule can apply to many situations. If you believe, for example:
'I can't stand discomfort and pain and must avoid them at all costs,' you might apply this to the dentist, to work, to relationships, and to life in general.

Why be concerned about your rules? While most will be valid and helpful, some will be self-defeating. Faulty rules will lead to faulty conclusions. Take the rule: 'If I am to feel OK about myself, others must like and approve of me.' Let us say that your boss tells you off. You may (rightly) think: 'He is angry with me' - but you may wrongly conclude: 'This proves I'm a failure.' And changing the situation (for instance, getting your boss to like you) would still leave the underlying rule untouched. It would then be there to bother you whenever some future event triggered it off.

Most self-defeating rules are a variation of one or other of the '12 Self-defeating Beliefs' listed at the end of this article. Take a look at this list now. Which ones do you identify with? Which are the ones that guide your reactions?

What are self-defeating beliefs?

To describe a belief as self-defeating, or irrational, is to say that:

l It distorts reality (it's a misinterpretation of what's happening); or it involves some illogical ways of evaluating yourself, others, and the world around you: awfulising, can't-stand-it-itis, demanding and people-rating;
l It blocks you from achieving your goals and purposes;
l It creates extreme emotions which persist, and which distress and immobilise; and
l It leads to behaviours that harm yourself, others, and your life in general.

Four ways to screw yourself up

There are four typical ways of thinking that will make you feel bad or behave in dysfunctional ways:

1. Awfulising: using words like 'awful', 'terrible', 'horrible', 'catastrophic' to describe something -
e.g. 'It would be terrible if …', 'It's the worst thing that could happen', 'That would be the end of the world'.
2. Cant-stand-it-itis: viewing an event or experience as unbearable - e.g. 'I can't stand it', 'It's absolutely unbearable', I'll die if I get rejected'.
3. Demanding: using 'shoulds' (moralising) or 'musts' (musturbating) - e.g. 'I should not have done that, 'I must not fail', 'I need to be loved', 'I have to have a drink'.
4. People-rating: labelling or rating your total self (or someone else's) - e.g. 'I'm stupid /hopeless /
useless /worthless.'

Rational thinking

Rational thinking presents a vivid contrast to its illogical opposite:

- It is based on reality - it emphasises seeing things as they really are, keeping their badness in perspective, tolerating frustration and discomfort, preferring rather than demanding, and self- acceptance;
- It helps you achieve your goals and purposes;
- It creates emotions you can handle; and
- It helps you behave in ways which promote your aims and survival.

We are not talking about so-called 'positive thinking'. Rational thinking is realistic thinking. It is concerned with facts - the real world - rather than subjective opinion or wishful thinking.

Realistic thinking leads to realistic emotions. Negative feelings aren't always bad for you. Neither are all positive feelings beneficial. Feeling happy when someone you love has died, for example, may hinder you from grieving properly. Or to be unconcerned in the face of real danger could put your survival at risk. Realistic thinking avoids exaggeration of both kinds - negative and positive.

The techniques of change

How does one actually set about achieving self-control and choice? The best place to start is by learning how to identify the thoughts and beliefs which cause your problems.

Next, learn how to apply this knowledge by analysing specific episodes where you feel and behave in the ways you would like to change. It is most effective to do this in writing at first, and later it will become easier to do it in your head. You connect whatever started things off, your reaction, and the thoughts which came in between. You then check out those thoughts and change the self-defeating ones. This method, called Rational Self-Analysis, uses the ABC approach described earlier, extended to include sections for setting a goal or new desired effect ('E'), disputing and changing beliefs ('D'), and, finally, further action to put those changes into practice ('F').

That final step is important. You will get there faster when you put into action what you have changed
in your mind. Let us say you decide to stop feeling guilty when you do something for yourself. The next step is to do it. Spend an hour a day reading a novel. Purchase some new clothes. Have coffee with a friend or a weekend away without the family. Do the things you would previously have regarded as 'undeserved'.

Overcoming obstacles

While change is possible, it is not easy - mainly because of a very human tendency known as 'low- discomfort tolerance'.

Most of us want to be physically and emotionally comfortable. But personal change means giving up some old habits of thinking and behaving and 'safe' ways of approaching life.

Whereas before you may have blamed others for your problems, now you start to take responsibility for yourself and what you want. You risk new ways of thinking and acting. You step out into the unknown. This could increase your stress and emotional pain - temporarily. In other words, you may well feel worse before you feel better.

Telling yourself that you 'can't stand it' could lead you to avoid change. You might decide to stick with the way things are, unpleasant though it is. You know you would be better off in the long run, but you choose to avoid the extra pain now.

Or you might look for a quick solution. Do you hope that somewhere there's a fancy therapy which will cure you straight away - without you having to do anything? I meet many people who try therapist after therapist, but never stay with one approach long enough to learn anything that will help. They still live in hope, though, and often get a brief boost from meeting new therapists or therapy groups.

As well as fearing discomfort, you may also worry that you 'won't be a real person'. You think that you will end up 'pretending' to feel and behave in new ways, and imagine yourself as false or phoney. Somehow, it seems, to choose how you feel seems 'less than human'.

You are, though, already choosing your reactions - even though you may not be fully aware of doing so. And using conscious choice is what sets humans apart from instinct-bound animals. It is also what makes you a unique person - different to every other. So give up the notion that it is false and machine- like to use your brain to avoid bad feelings. Getting depressed, worried, and desperate does not make you more human.

You might worry that learning self-control will make you cold and unemotional, with no feelings at all. This common fear is quite misguided. The opposite is true: if you learn how to handle strong feelings you will be less afraid of them. This will free you to experience a fuller range of emotions than before.

While self-improvement may be hard, it is achievable. The blocks I have described are all self-created. They're nothing more than beliefs - ideas you can change using practical techniques you can learn.

Rational thinking is not just academic theory. People from a wide range of social and educational backgrounds have already used it successfully. You will be able to as well.

It is true that human beings start life with a biological predisposition to irrational thinking, which they then add to by learning new and harmful ways of behaving and viewing life. But there is a positive side to human nature - we also have the ability to think about our beliefs and change the dysfunctional ones.

What about problems you can't sort out on your own? Some outside help may be a useful supplement to your self-help efforts. Whether or not you have such help, though, taking responsibility for your feelings and actions will be the key to success. You will also need some hard work and perseverance. But, happily, by learning how to identify and change self-defeating beliefs and attitudes, these things can be within your control - and happiness within your reach.

From Self-defeat to Rational Living

12 Self-defeating Beliefs

1. I need love and approval from those significant to me - and I must avoid disapproval from any source.
2. To be worthwhile as a person I must achieve, succeed at what ever I do, and make no mistakes.
3. People should always do the right thing. When they behave obnoxiously, unfairly or selfishly, they must be blamed and punished.
4. Things must be the way I want them to be - otherwise life will be intolerable.
5. My unhappiness is caused by things outside my control - so there is little I can do to feel any better.
6. I must worry about things that could be dangerous, unpleasant or frightening - otherwise they might happen.
7. I can be happier by avoiding life's difficulties, unpleasantness, and responsibilities.
8. Everyone needs to depend on someone stronger than themselves.
9. Events in my past are the cause of my problems - and they continue to influence my feelings and behaviours now.
10. I should become upset when other people have problems and feel unhappy when they're sad.
11. I should not have to feel discomfort and pain - I
can't stand them and must avoid them at all costs.
12. Every problem should have an ideal solution, and it is intolerable when one can't be found.


12 Rational Beliefs

1. Love and approval are good things to have, and I'll seek them when I can. But they are not necessities - I can survive (even though uncomfortably) without them.
2. I'll always seek to achieve as much as I can - but unfailing success and competence is unrealistic. Better I just accept myself as a person, separate to my performance.
3. It's unfortunate that people sometimes do bad things. But humans are not yet perfect - and upsetting myself won't change that reality.
4. There is no law which says that things have to be the way I want. It's disappointing, but I can stand it
- especially if I avoid catastrophising.
5. Many external factors are outside my control. But it is my thoughts (not the externals) which cause my feelings. And I can learn to control my thoughts.
6. Worrying about things that might go wrong won't stop them happening. It will, though, ensure I get upset and disturbed right now!
7. Avoiding problems is only easier in the short term - putting things off can make them worse later on. It also gives me more time to worry about them!
8. Relying on someone else can lead to dependent behaviour. It is OK to seek help - as long as I learn to trust myself and my own judgement.
9. The past can't influence me now. My current beliefs cause my reactions. I may have learned
these beliefs in the past, but I can choose to analyse and change them in the present.
10. I can't change other people's problems and bad feelings by getting myself upset.
11. Why should I in particular not feel discomfort and pain? I don't like them, but I can stand it. Also, my life would be very restricted if I always avoided discomfort.
12. Problems usually have many possible solutions. It is better to stop waiting for the perfect one and get on with the best available. I can live with less than the ideal.


This article has adapted and summarised from the book Choose to be Happy: Your step-by-step guide By Wayne
Froggatt, Published by HarperCollins New Zealand, Auckland, 1993.
Don S is offline  
Old 12-11-2005, 04:07 AM
  # 3 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Northern CA
Posts: 1,432
LifeRing: Three S Philosophy

The "Three-S" Philosophy

"Three-S" is short-hand for the fundamental principles of LifeRing Recovery: Sobriety, Secularity, and Self-Help.

Sobriety. "Sobriety" can mean different things in dictionaries, but in LifeRing it always means abstinence. The basic membership requirement is a sincere desire to remain abstinent from alcohol and "drugs." LifeRing welcomes alcoholics and addicts without distinction, as well as people involved in relationships with them. Please look elsewhere for support if your intention is to keep drinking or using, but not so much, or to stop drinking but continue using, or stop using but continue drinking. The successful LifeRing participant practices the Sobriety Priority, meaning that nothing is allowed to interfere with staying abstinent from alcohol and "drugs." The motto is "we do not drink or use, no matter what."

Secularity. LifeRing Recovery welcomes people of all faiths and none. You get to keep whatever religious beliefs you have, and you are under no pressure to acquire any if you don't. Neither religion nor anti-religion normally come up in meeting discussion. Participants' spiritual or religious beliefs or lack thereof remain private. Participants are free to attend both LifeRing and Twelve-Step meetings, but LifeRing supports recovery methods that rely on human efforts rather than on divine intervention or faith-healing.

Self-Help. Self-help in LifeRing means that the key to recovery is the individual's own motivation and effort. The main purpose of the group process is to reinforce the individual's own inner strivings to stay clean and sober. LifeRing is a permanent workshop where individuals can build their own personal recovery plans. Cross-talk is permitted within limits set by each meeting. LifeRing does not prescribe any particular "steps" and is not a vehicle for any particular therapeutic doctrine. LifeRing participation is compatible with a wide variety of abstinence-based therapeutic or counseling programs.
Don S is offline  
Old 12-11-2005, 04:12 AM
  # 4 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Northern CA
Posts: 1,432
SOS: The Sobriety Priority

The Sobriety Priority
excerpted from Unhooked: Staying Sober and Drug-Free by James Christopher, founder of SOS.



Sobriety is our priority. We don't use no matter what.
Getting Help

One comes to a program of recovery from addiction when one is most vulnerable, reaching out for help. This does not mean, however, that one must sacrifice intellectual integrity or compromise individuality in order to achieve and maintain a life of sobriety.

Studies of religions and cults havae consistently proved that people tend to convert at times of great stress or failure in their lives. These are times when promises of enlightenment and cures for pain are most appealing. People don’t look for proof or evidence or even coherence in belief. They see someone throwing them a life-preserver, and they grab it.

When you’ve lost faith in yourself, its only too easy to find it in something else.
Cognitive Sobriety

What is “cognitive sobriety?”

“Cognitive” means knowing, learning, perceiving. We look at the world and our lives in a rational way and try to understand the dynamics behind issues and events. The current “just say no” philosophy doesn’t help people very much. How could it? We are thinking beings. We need to know how, we want to know why. Simpleminded slogans don’t fulfill these basic human yearnings. Perhaps the pervasive repetition of such a slogan will convince a few that it is no longer popular to “get ripped;” then again, perhaps its dogmatic, self-righteous tone will have the opposite effect.

Traditional therapies, usually based on AA’s twelve step model, connect sobriety to God. New Agers or proponents of what is called “transpersonal therapy” would connect it to some mystical “unity” or “cosmic holism.”

Even those who are more rational often say, “If you get good, you can get sober,” meaning that if you make other positive changes in your life, sobriety will follow. Others will hedge: “Well, you have to learn coping strategies. You have to alter your life here, and take these certain steps to do such and such.”

All these things may very well be valuable and important, and I am not advocating that people just get sober and sit in a chair. But I am saying that one should not lose sight of the priority — which is sobriety, not goodness, not cosmic unity, not obedience to the will of a so-called higher power. It’s sobriety itself. Sobriety is a priority, but it’s not an obsession. It offers a kind of backdrop against which one can have a life, a meaningful life. If people want to just “be,” they can do that, too, and be sober; I have met such people. And I rejoice in their sobriety.

Some “experts” on alcoholism feel that alcoholics can “unlearn” drinking behaviors and thus modify their intake. This is a ludicrous idea. I wonder, do they plan eventually to apply this approach to cocaine and heroin use as well?

Even though some addicted persons may be able to control their drinking for varying periods of time, what have they gained in the process? In his Natural History of Alcoholism, psychiatrist George E. Vaillant writes, “Their situation [is] analogous to driving a car without a spare tire — disaster [is] usually only a matter of time.”

If an alcoholic chooses a life of sobriety, what has he or she lost in the process?
A Personal Perspective

A number of years ago I stood by the hospital bed of a close friend who had just died at the age of forty-seven. He had been “only a heavy drinker,” diagnosed as “nonalcoholic.” Yet he died of alcohol-related deterioration. The doctors in attendance said that he had simply “fallen apart” physically. I’ve known persons of all ages who have tried time after time to find a way to handle their “problem drinking.” I can’t think of a single case where sobriety would have brought them harm. I had a seven-month interruption in my seventeen years of consuming alcohol. That period of sobriety ended with a bizarre “celebration:” I was “able to drink again.” To “prove” it, I downed a fifth of premixed vodka martinis. When I related this to my therapist at the time, she agreed that “this, indeed, makes good sense.”

Several years later, when I got sober again, I had a more difficult time of it. To wit: screaming and shaking and sweating and thinking that I was dying. My alcoholism had deepened profoundly, and I had abandoned my nonchalant attitude as well as my agreeable therapist. By so doing I abandoned the alcoholic’s most persistent nemesis: denial.

Those seven months had merely been a “time out.” Visions of future drinks were dancing in my head. I had had no program, no strategies for (or commitment to) my sobriety. Now I do.

In 1978, when I began my new period of sobriety, I was scared half to death. I have wanted to retain the positive essense of this experience as a way of maintaining a healthy respect for my arrested condition. I wanted a life of sobriety this time, not dreams of future drinks. And I was willing to do whatever was required to achieve that.
Reflections and Research

During my first year of sobriety I questioned a number of sober alcoholics, searching for the common thread for their successes in maintaining a lasting sobriety. When I was about three years into my sobriety, I began to challenge some of the concepts of Alcoholics Anonymous, but felt that I stood alone in that endeavor. By the time I was sober for five years, I had compiled an extensive file of responses and, from four years ago to the present day I’ve collected data from more than two thousand “sobrietists.” Both from this research and from my own experience of recovery, I have put together a specific secular approach to achieving and maintaining long-term sobriety. I call it the “Sobriety Priority.” I wish to offer it here as a way (beware of anyone who offers the way) to achieve and maintain sobriety for life.

With the Sobriety Priority, arresting one’s chemical addiction and staying sober becomes the top priority. It is separate from everything else in one’s life, including religious or spiritual beliefs. Rather than turning one’s life and will over to an outside force or higher power, recovering alcoholics and addicts credit themselves daily for achieving and maintaining sobriety, empowering themselves, rebuilding self-esteem, and building the best possible protection against relapse. This is not a “spiritual” or “twelve step” program. And it’s not a package deal. Achieving and maintaining sobriety is approached as a separate issue, not as part of a larger mystic/holistic plan that requires fear of one’s human imperfections. The Sobriety Priority method works. Thousands have used it successfully, not only for drug and alcohol addiction, but for other addictions, such as overeating and gambling.
The Cycle of Addiction

the cycle of addiction

The Sobriety Priority approach for achieving and maintaining freedom from alcohol and other mind-altering drugs is a cognitive strategy. It can be applied, on a daily basis, as long as one lives, to prevent relapse.



The Sobriety Priority approach respects the power of “nature” (genetic inheritance, physiological constitution) and of “nurture” (learned habit, behaviors, and associations)by showing how to achieve the initial arrest of cellular addiction and stave off the chronic habits that result from this addiction.

The “cycle of addiction” contains three debilitating elements: chemical need (at the physiological cellular level), learned habit (chronic drinking/using behavior and associations), and denial of both need and habit.

The cycle of alcohol addiction usually develops over a period of years. Cycles have been found to be much shorter with other drugs, especially cocaine. In all cases, however, the addiction becomes “Priority One,” a separate issue from everything else. And as it progresses, it begins to negate everything else.
The Cycle of Sobriety

the cycle of sobriety

The cycle of addiction can be successfully replaced by another cycle: the cycle of sobriety. This cycle contains three essential elements: acknowledgment of one’s addiction to alcohol or drugs (you may have euphemistically called it “a problem”); acceptance of one’s addiction; and prioritization of sobriety as the primary issue in one’s life.

The daily cognitive application of a new “Priority One,” the Sobriety Priority, as a separate issue, arrests the cycle of addiction. It frees the sober alcoholic/addict to experience “everything else,” by teaching him or her to associate “everything else” with sobriety, not with drinking or using behaviors. The cycle of sobriety remains in place only so long as the sober alcoholic/addict cognitively chooses to continue to acknowledge the existence of his or her arrested addiction(s).

The Sobriety Priority, applied daily, gradually weakens booze and drug associations, halting the cycle of addiction, allowing time for new associations to form as one experiences life without addictive chemicals. As one continues to “make peace” with the facts regarding his or her arrested addiction—that is, as one continues to recognize alcohol and drugs as a non-option—one comes to prefer a sober life-style; one longs to preserve it, to respect the arrested chemical addiction, and to protect the new, sober life.
Don S is offline  
Old 12-11-2005, 04:15 AM
  # 5 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Northern CA
Posts: 1,432
Women For Sobriety: New Life Acceptance Program

"NEW LIFE" ACCEPTANCE PROGRAM

1. I have a life-threatening problem that once had me.

I now take charge of my life. I accept the responsibility.

2. Negative thoughts destroy only myself.

My first conscious act must be to remove negativity from my life.

3. Happiness is a habit I will develop.

Happiness is created, not waited for.

4. Problems bother me only to the degree I permit them to.

I now better understand my problems and do not permit problems to overwhelm me.

5. I am what I think.

I am a capable, competent, caring, compassionate woman.

6. Life can be ordinary or it can be great.

Greatness is mine by a conscious effort.

7. Love can change the course of my world.

Caring becomes all important.

8. The fundamental object of life is emotional and spiritual growth.

Daily I put my life into a proper order, knowing which are the priorities.

9. The past is gone forever.

No longer will I be victimized by the past, I am a new person.

10. All love given returns.

I will learn to know that others love me.

11. Enthusiasm is my daily exercise.

I treasure all moments of my new life.

12. I am a competent woman and have much to give life.

This is what I am and I shall know it always.

13. I am responsible for myself and for my actions.

I am in charge of my mind, my thoughts, and my life.

(c) 1976, 1987, 1993

To make the Program effective for you, arise each morning fifteen minutes earlier than usual and go over the Thirteen Affirmations. Then begin to think about each one by itself. Take one Statement and use it consciously all day. At the end of the day review the use of it and what effects it had that day for you and your actions.
Don S is offline  
Old 12-11-2005, 04:39 AM
  # 6 (permalink)  
Member
 
Mongo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 363
Thanks Don!

This info may give people some insight into how to help themselves with their unsatisfactory behaviour.

Mongo
Mongo is offline  
Old 12-11-2005, 05:05 AM
  # 7 (permalink)  
Doug
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Good read Don, thanks.
 
Old 12-11-2005, 05:35 AM
  # 8 (permalink)  
Belgian Sheepdog Adictee
 
laurie6781's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: In Today
Posts: 6,101
Thanks Don!!!!!!

Now I hope Chy puts a "sticky" on this so it stays available to all!!!!!!

You've been a busy bee this morning. I am up and down cause I have penumonia but am normally a night owl. And you are an hour behind me, so.......either you are having insomina or......... you are a night owl also.

Either way, this post is greatly appreciated and when I feel a little better, I will probably copy and paste and print them out for future reference for some of the people I work with that crave help other than AA.

Thanks again, Don. You are truly someone willing to pass "all messages" of recovery on to the growing numbers of those who need help.

Love and hugs,
laurie6781 is offline  

Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off




All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:46 AM.