hey everyone.... i was just sitting and thinking..... man i am gratitful for this na program.... you know i'm starting a new addition to my life. My hp found a way to get me back into college which i'm starting next week. There were a lot of barriers infront of me, including finances and mental health concerns, but through my hps will I kept the faith and now it's a reality. I'm gratitful to a lot of things like my parents who actually want me around and I enjoy being around; to my new friends in the na program who are teaching me what true friendship is; my boy friend who treats me like that lady that I am today; and I'm just gratitful not to be living on the streets anymore. You know someone was telling me that if i could not find gratitude in what i had I should find gratitude in what i have escaped from. On those low days I make sure I have a gratitude list handy to read... and everyday it seems like I can add another thing to it. Today I have a home, and I belong there and that home is na.
__________________
people who mind don't matter, and people who matter don't mind- Dr. Seuss
You know someone was telling me that if i could not find gratitude in what i had I should find gratitude in what i have escaped from. On those low days I make sure I have a gratitude list handy to read... and everyday it seems like I can add another thing to it. Today I have a home, and I belong there and that home is na.
Thank-you!
__________________
May your day be fashioned with joy, sprinkled with dreams, and touched by the miracle of love.
Thank you for that:) I had a stressful day today because I forgot to turn over my will. I was cranky to my kids and stuff. That sucks. I need to carry the gratitude list around! It's in my head obviously but to actually pull one out and look at it that is very cool. I needed to read this today
Making a daily gratitude list is one of the suggestions of my current Sponsor (I just got him as a Sponsor)... and yes, following this suggestion is helping me a lot to get out of my cynical and complaining self, and to realize the magnitude of the blessings that my Higher Power continues to bestow on me... amazing, I love continuing to do my gratitude list as doing so brings me to a point where I consciously and spontaneously feel grateful every now and then for the blessings, big and small, that transpire in my daily life.
One of the members here in my local fellowship always shares "I'm not grateful for everything... I'm grateful in everything."
__________________
"If we do an honest examination of exactly what we are giving, we are better able to evaluate the results we are getting."Chapter 10 - Emotional Pain - NA Way of Life.
Belief in a Higher Power can make all the difference when the going gets tough! When things don't go our way in recovery, our sponsor may direct us to make a "gratitude list." When we do, we should include our faith in a Power greater than ourselves on the list. One of the greatest gifts we receive from the Twelve Steps is our belief in a God of our own understanding.
The Twelve Steps gently lead us toward a spiritual awakening. Just as our addiction progressed, so does our spiritual life develop in the course of working the program of Narcotics Anonymous. The steps are our path to a relationship with a God of our understanding. This Higher Power gives us strength when our road gets rough.
Are we grateful for our deepening relationship with a Higher Power? Do we remember to thank God for each day clean, no matter what has happened that day? Do we remember that, no matter how deep our despair or how great our joy, the God of our understanding is with us?
Our recovery is a gift, a gift that we sometimes take for granted. Each day we stay clean, we can rejoice in our Higher Power's care.
Just for today: I am grateful for my relationship with a Higher Power that cares for me.
pg. 10
__________________
"If we do an honest examination of exactly what we are giving, we are better able to evaluate the results we are getting."Chapter 10 - Emotional Pain - NA Way of Life.
Thanks for posting Andrea, and congratulations on school! According to our literature our Program is a set of spiritual principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives. The most important thing about them is that they WORK! Gratitude is one of those principles and I believe it has a very special property. Gratitude has the power to transform any situation or set of circumstances merely by its' introduction.
For example, Gratitude can transform a lunchmeat sandwich sandwich and some chips into a FEAST. It can transform a bed in a shelter or room in a recovery house into a HOME. Gratitude can even transform a room full of societys' cast offs and misfits into a Fellowship, a loving and caring family!!! Gratitude is a must for recovering addicts because grateful addicts don't USE!!
For me, Gratitude also helped me learn to slow down in early recovery. When I became grateful, I found it easier to be content. Contentment was nowhere in my life when I used, it was all about "JUST ONE MORE." Contentment allowed me to curb my need for instant gratification and learn the value of "delayed" gratification. Good things are worth waiting for, worth working for, and worth cherishing.
I like the saying: Getting high never made me feel better, it just made me THINK I was going to feel better....in about five minutes!! But guess what? Everything that using drugs promised me, RECOVERY has delivered!! That's why I keep coming.
__________________
"With a sweet tongue of kindness, you can drag an elephant by a hair." ~Persian Proverb
