What kind of action are you taking in your life today?
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Books in the La Ha Store!
Wow, it has been awhile since I have highlighted some books from the Store! Judy is always finding more and more great reads for our patients, their families and our alumni. Here are few that caught my eye last week.
By: Shelly Marshall
By: Barbara Cole
You can also write your own gifts of sobriety book. It was recommended to me to keep a journal of all my “God stories”. As you know, we alcoholics have a short memory span. So, when I am feeling like nothing ever happens in life I can go back to this book and be reminded of all my personal gifts of sobriety. I love this idea, although, to be honest, I am not always that good about writing everything down. :(
NA message from Dwayne M.
What Is the Narcotics Anonymous Program?
p.9
“We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using. We suggest that you keep an open mind and give yourself a break. Our program is a set of principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives. The most important thing about them is that they work. The newcomer is the most important person at any meeting, because we can only keep what we have by giving it away.”
My experience was that the only time that I was able to stop using was when I attended those darn meetings. After a few relapses and reading this chapter a few times—I must say I had passed over it with a minimum of concern—I finally became open-minded enough to want to know what it was that I was getting myself into. So, for the first time I began to read the Narcotics Anonymous text like it was talking about me. These few sentences helped me to get an idea of what NA was about and made me feel welcome. Being a newcomer at the time, I needed to feel important and I had to be told that this program worked. It took me a while to get the part about the principles, which today I personally find to be the most important part of my recovery.
Good ol’ alcoholic movies
I was listening to the Crazy Heart soundtrack the other day; it always reminds me of being in the throes of alcoholism. I thought about other movies that portray addiction and recovery and thought it might be neat to highlight here. In some of the movies, the characters get recovery and in others they don’t, kind of like real life.
Websites we LOVE
Joe hands out a flyer with these websites to the patients, but if you guys are anything like me most of my La Hacienda pieces of paper ended up in a file cabinet. I thought this would be a great reminder of the resources on the web. I will post more in the coming weeks!
Here is some great experience, strength and hope from our DFW alumni representative, Julie Harvey.
How cool it is to be sober and awake! I was on a trip recently to Colorado where I did some mountain biking. We rented bikes, took off, and not knowing where we were going, we stumbled onto a pretty hairy path. It was a thin trail that was winding down the mountains with lots of tree stumps and rocks. I had never done anything like this before! I had gone on trails but they were mostly flat. I eventually did crash. I wiped the blood off, made sure my helmet was still on, and continued to trudge along.
I caught on quickly that there was something about keeping your eye on the path and not getting side tracked. There was also a momentum to stay with, otherwise, if you slowed down too much you were more likely to spin out. If you stopped for too long you would most likely get hit by the biker coming up from behind you.
I compare this experience to working the Steps and staying on the spiritual path with a great momentum. When we start to work the Steps it seems a bit hairy, but once we get going there is no turning back if you want the results. There should be no hesitation in working the Steps and applying them to our lives. Once we stop or take a break, the momentum stops and we are off the path and most likely looking for alluring shortcuts! Having done the shortcuts of self sponsoring, not working with others, not working ALL the steps (in order), not confessing my shortcomings, just hanging out in the meetings…I could go on, they never worked for me like diving into and staying on the path of the first guys that it worked for.
Today it is so nice to be able to go on a vacation and do new things, to experience them and not just be on the sideline of life. Being sober isn’t about just hanging out, it’s about living and being awake to what is going on around you. It’s about being able to handle each situation with a new attitude and outlook. I urge you not to be a bystander! Hop on and take the ride! I promise you will not want to miss it! It’s the coolest!!
Julie Harvey, DFW Alumni Relations
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Gift of AA
This is a letter that has been going around AA for a very long time; Ed recently reintroduced it to me. I have seen it before and always knew it was written anonymously, however, I did a little research online to see if I could find some more information on its origins. I only found one site that claims this speech was given by Judge John T. at the 4th Anniversary of the Chicago Group on October 5, 1943. Every other site said author unknown.
“God in his wisdom selected this group of men and women to be the purveyors of his goodness. He went not to the proud, the mighty, the famous, or the brilliant; he went to the humble, the sick, the unfortunate. He went straight to the drunkard, that so-called weakling in this world. Well might he have said to us:
‘Unto your weak and feeble hands I have entrusted a power beyond estimate. To you has been given that which has been denied the most learned of your fellows. Not to scientists or statesmen, not to wives or mothers, not even to my priests or ministers have I given this gift of healing other alcoholics which I entrusted to you.
It must be used unselfishly for it carries with it grave responsibility; sometimes the difference between life and death. No day can be too long; no demands upon your time can be too urgent; no case too pitiful; no task too hard; no effort too great. It must be used with tolerance for I have restricted its application to no one race, no creed, and no denomination. Personal criticism you must expect; lack of appreciation will be common; ridicule will be your lot; your motives will be misjudged. You must be prepared for adversity for what men call adversity is the ladder you must use to ascend the rungs toward spiritual perfection. And, remember, in the exercise of this power I shall not exact of you beyond your capabilities.
You are not selected because of exceptional talents. Be careful always, if success attends your efforts, not to ascribe to personal superiority that to which you lay claim only by virtue of My gift. If I had wanted learned men to accomplish this mission, the power would have been entrusted to the physician and the scientist. If I had wanted eloquent men, there would have been many anxious for the assignment, for talk is the easiest used of all the talents with which I have endowed mankind. If I had wanted scholarly men, the world is filled with better qualified men than you, who would be available.
You have been selected because you have been the outcasts of the world and your long experience as drunkards has made or should make you humbly alert to the cries of distress that come from the lonely hearts of alcoholics everywhere.
Keep ever in mind the admission you made of your profession in A. A. – that you are powerless and that it was only with your willingness to turn your life and will unto My keeping that relief came to you.’”
CIRCA 1940 – Origin unknown
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We do NOT have a “choice”
There are so many opinions on whether or not alcoholics and addicts choose to do what they do. There are so many differing views from across the spectrum:
- Medical/psychiatric - The American Medical Association (AMA) recognized it as a disease many years ago.
- Religious - Through proper prayer and devotion the addict should be able to reform.
- Forensic - This view assumes if you deny access to the drug you can eliminate the problems related to that drug.
- AA - “The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 23)
This can be quite confusing. La Hacienda decided to develop an accurate summary of our stance. It is great tri fold that explains all the different views and where we have agreed as a faciltiy to stand.
Addiction is a disease not a matter of willpower or choice. The latest research shows that addiction is linked to a dysregulation of neurotransmitters in the medical forebrain bundle of the brain.
There is a great deal of scientific evidence indicating a genetic component of addiction. However, La Hacienda is more concerned with teaching addicts to live with and overcome the problems that result from addiction rather than focus on the cause.
Once an addict/alcoholic has been introduced to a program of recovery which is the solution for their disease a limited power of choice is restored. They then not only have a choice (to work the program or not) but also a responsibility to work the program to the best of their ability.
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Who is an Addict…by: Dwayne
Certain things followed as we continued to use. We became accustomed to a state of mind that is common to addicts. We forgot how to work; we forgot how to play; we forgot about social graces. We acquired strange habits and mannerisms. We forgot how to feel. -Narcotics Anonymous book, pg. 6
We had to reach our bottom, before we were willing to stop. We were finally motivated to seek help in the latter stage of our addiction. Then it was easier for us to see the destruction, disaster and delusion of our using. It was harder to deny our addiction when problems were staring us in the face. - Narcotics Anonymous, pg.7
When I first began this journey called Recovery, I wandered into the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous thinking that I just had a drug problem and if I could just get my drug use under control I would be all right. That misinformation was dismissed the first day that I stepped into treatment, however, I can’t say that my belief around that whole thing was changed. When I first read these paragraphs, and probably numerous times of reading them afterwards, I just didn’t get it.
At the age of 26, when I finally decided that I needed some help with my drug problem, I didn’t notice that I was unable to hold a job. I didn’t notice that not everyone’s morning began at noon after not sleeping at night. I didn’t notice that there were people that didn’t use while drinking to have fun or play. I also didn’t notice anyone or anything outside of the 10-block radius I called my hood. Feelings were a waste of my time and energy and had no place in my life.
Once I started working the 12 steps of Narcotics Anonymous and stopped using drugs, I was able to see that the drugs were just a symptom of my problem. My real problem was the disease of Addiction. By practicing the principles in the steps, I was able to experience a spiritual awakening. For me that is what happened when my spirit was awakened, I began to have more than just three emotions, I got better at expressing myself and became more Honest. I started to understand that Humility really only meant that I am human. I began to have fun and laugh again. Slowly I began to develop a work ethic and became Open-minded. As I look back at those early years in the beginning of my journey (Recovery), the literature planted the seed in those chapters before the steps. I needed to know what it was that I was dealing with before I began the spiritual transformation.
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In spite of the great increase in the size and the span of this Fellowship,
at its core it remains simple and personal.
Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins
when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic,
sharing experience, strength, and hope.
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. xxii
We are so lucky today, we have a purpose. We don’t have to “figure it out” anymore. Our primary purpose is to say sober and help another alcoholic. It is as simple as that. As our lives get better, some decide to help in other ways; save the rain forest, save the polar bears, get involved in church, etc. Don’t get me wrong, all of these do need saving, but we have to be careful, we can’t veer to far from our path.
Late last year I had an urge to do something to help the homeless where there is a huge need and lots of options. I could feed the homeless, volunteer to do something with children, or I could just help in an office. I thought of my primary purpose, there are plenty of alcoholic homeless people, I have to be sure to work with that population. I ended up bringing a big book study to Sally’s House in Houston, a long term treatment center for indigent women. It was one of the biggest gifts of my recovery.
My life has since changed dramatically and I have passed it on to another La Ha alum. However, I will never forget those women and the lesson that I can follow my heart and maintain the integrity of my purpose.
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