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July 04, 2011
Freedom = Recovered Today we are all celebrating freedom in the United States with BBQ’s, parades and fireworks.  For those of us in recovery it seems natural that we celebrate our sobriety (freedom) from alcoholism and addiction today too. “We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.  To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book”.  First Edition Forward, Alcoholics Anonymous Talk about FREEDOM, I get chills every time I read this!     (photo via)

Freedom = Recovered

Today we are all celebrating freedom in the United States with BBQ’s, parades and fireworks.  For those of us in recovery it seems natural that we celebrate our sobriety (freedom) from alcoholism and addiction today too.


“We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.  To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book”.  First Edition Forward, Alcoholics Anonymous


Talk about FREEDOM, I get chills every time I read this!    

(photo via)

Tags: 4th of July recovery

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July 01, 2011
5 notes

NA message from Dwayne M.

 Who Is an Addict?


p.4, Narcotics Anonymous
When our addiction was treated as a crime or moral deficiency, we became
rebellious and were driven deeper into isolation. Some of the highs felt
great, but eventually the things that we had to do to continue using
reflected desperation. We were caught in the grip of our disease. We
were forced to survive any way we could. We manipulated people and tried
to control everything around us. We lied, stole, cheated and sold
ourselves. We had to have drugs regardless of the cost. Failure and fear
began to invade our lives.
One aspect of our disease was our inability to deal with life on life’s
terms.

Before I found the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous, I had learned how to
survive by trying to make the world around me conform to the life I was
living. Therefore, when I read this in the Narcotics Anonymous basic
text it helped me to see through my denial and begin to see how deep the
disease of addiction had taken me. However, even more than that, it
showed me that I was not the only person that had experienced this and
that there may truly be some help or even a solution to my new found
problem.
Dwayne M.

(photo via me, taken with Instagram from my iphone)

Tags: recovery narcotics anonymous

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May 13, 2011
2 notes

You expect me to work where??!!

I love Ed, he is so kind and wonderful.  I had the pleasure of having lunch with him the other day and he told me a story from the early days of his sobriety.  So many of us do not come into the rooms with a fabulous work situation.  I myself had not been fired, but I did get demoted early in recovery (ouch.)  There are so many people that have turned these less than desirable work situations into really positive experieces.  I love hearing people humbling themselves and doing the next right thing even though it may seem “beneath them”.  Ed has one of these stories.   

After trying to sober up many times “my way” I finally realized I was powerless over my addiction and surrendered.  I then made a commitment to participate in the 12-step program of AA.  One of the biggest changes I did different this time was that I realized that I could not continue to work for myself so I took a job working in a Grandy’s Chicken Restaurant as a cook.  At that time I was fifty years old and I found myself working with a bunch of teenage kids.  To this day I have some of the best memories of my life, and I learned great lessons.  One of the lessons was that I must first learn to accept responsibilities from others before I could become a responsible person.

Ed


Tags: staff recovery

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May 12, 2011
6 notes
Have you seen Intherooms.com? It is like a private Facebook for people in recovery.  You “join” a 12-Step fellowship, list your anniversary date, and everyone is talking about recovery.  They also have recovery blogs you can follow and speaker tapes to download.   You can connect to people all over the country doing the deal!  If you sign up for the Daily Meditation you will have inspiration waiting for you when you log on in the morning.  Is music your thing?  There are lots of links to recovery radio stations and featured recovery music artists.  A nationwide event list is posted so if you travel a lot you could check and see what 12-step events are in the area.   It really kind of opens up a whole new world. Disclaimer: La Hacienda does not endorse everything that is represented on Intherooms.com.  As always, take what you want and leave the rest.

Have you seen Intherooms.com? It is like a private Facebook for people in recovery.  You “join” a 12-Step fellowship, list your anniversary date, and everyone is talking about recovery.  They also have recovery blogs you can follow and speaker tapes to download.   You can connect to people all over the country doing the deal!  If you sign up for the Daily Meditation you will have inspiration waiting for you when you log on in the morning.  Is music your thing?  There are lots of links to recovery radio stations and featured recovery music artists.  A nationwide event list is posted so if you travel a lot you could check and see what 12-step events are in the area.  

It really kind of opens up a whole new world.

Disclaimer: La Hacienda does not endorse everything that is represented on Intherooms.com.  As always, take what you want and leave the rest.

Tags: fellowship recovery life after treatment

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May 11, 2011
What are you putting your focus and energy into??  Are you taking action in your program of recovery?  I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.

What are you putting your focus and energy into??  Are you taking action in your program of recovery?  I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.

Tags: la hacienda recovery la ha rocks

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May 05, 2011
Good morning all, It’s such a joy to get all the calls and emails from you Alumni out there “Doing The Deal”!  Man, some of you were so broken with so many issues and no hope of ever solving them.  Now you are on the firing line of life!!  You found a good SOLUTION based meeting, got a sponsor, worked the 12 steps, and are carrying the message! Oh, and let’s not forget, the obsession to drink and use has been lifted because you are now tapped into the power of God. We know that working and reworking the Twelve Steps provides us a guaranteed spiritual experience. Our lives change when we take the action!  What doesn’t work??Thinking, especially since “the main problem of the alcoholic and addict centers in our mind, not in our body.”  You can’t fix the problem with the problem.   Arguing, talking, rationalizing, and just going to meetings won’t do it either.  I see people, over and over again, wasting massive amounts of time, energy and money by seeking answers in all the wrong places.  They never understand that what they need is patiently waiting for them through the 12 step programs (GOD).  If we are to be free, there’s no way of getting around the work, trust me, it is the easier, softer, way!  Come join us, and live as spiritually awakened human beings. Peace and love, Joe

Good morning all,

It’s such a joy to get all the calls and emails from you Alumni out there “Doing The Deal”!  Man, some of you were so broken with so many issues and no hope of ever solving them.  Now you are on the firing line of life!!  You found a good SOLUTION based meeting, got a sponsor, worked the 12 steps, and are carrying the message! Oh, and let’s not forget, the obsession to drink and use has been lifted because you are now tapped into the power of God.

We know that working and reworking the Twelve Steps provides us a guaranteed spiritual experience. Our lives change when we take the action!  What doesn’t work??Thinking, especially since “the main problem of the alcoholic and addict centers in our mind, not in our body.”  You can’t fix the problem with the problem.   Arguing, talking, rationalizing, and just going to meetings won’t do it either.  I see people, over and over again, wasting massive amounts of time, energy and money by seeking answers in all the wrong places.  They never understand that what they need is patiently waiting for them through the 12 step programs (GOD).  If we are to be free, there’s no way of getting around the work, trust me, it is the easier, softer, way!  Come join us, and live as spiritually awakened human beings.

Peace and love,

Joe

Tags: recovery 12 steps life after treatment cup of joe

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April 18, 2011
4 notes

Introducing…Dwayne

Dwayne has been so helpful in providing me lots of good recovery information from the NA program.  I am so grateful that he has been so willing to step up to the plate and spread the message of NA recovery through our blog.  I have gotten to know Dwayne just a bit more because of this and he is a great guy.  I thought it would be fun for you to get to know him a bit more as well.  I caught him in action at work in the Inquiry Call Center!

“I have been working for La Hacienda for a little over 3 years. My employment at La Ha has been totally the workings of my Higher Power; all I do is suit up and show up. My experience working for La Hacienda has been one of growth and faith.

I have been clean and serene for 16 years (not always serene); my clean-date is 3/12/95. I am a person that has a loving passion for Narcotics Anonymous literature. I have not been able to find anything that can describe the way I think, feel, and act so precisely. Through the process of recovery I have been able to evolve into a fully whole and wholly free human being. I use to live to use and use to live. By working the Steps and Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous I have been able to learn how to live a new way of life. (The NA Way)” - Dwayne M.

 

DJQT2CKZVUPE

Tags: narcotics anonymous na recovery staff

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April 15, 2011

Cup of Joe

Good morning Alumni and Friends,

The last couple of days have been beautiful here in the Hill Country with chilly mornings, warm sunny days, and cool evenings.  I sure wish it would stay this way.  I just got back from our Alumni in Recovery Day in Beaumont.  What a hoot!  We had a great turn out. There was good food, speakers,  fun, and fellowship.  Thanks again to all of you who helped make this happen.

Coming up on April 29th and 30th, the Austin Alumni Group is having a Spring Fling at Emma Long Park/City Park which is located at 2222 and 360.  There will be a Friday night camp fire meeting at 8:00pm, a Saturday morning meeting at 11am, and lunch will be provided at 2pm.  We will finish the day with FELLOWSHIP and FUN with an 8:00pm meeting. Please bring a side dish or desert. I hope to see you there.

We have a lot of other Alumni events in the works. If you haven’t already registered and would like to get information via email, please go to our website at www.lahacienda.com.  Register your email address at the bottom of the homepage. You can also get information on other upcoming events.

Well, until next week, here is a different version of the Serenity Prayer.

God grant me the SERENITY to accept the people I cannot change, the COURAGE to change the one I can, and the WISDOM to know it’s me!

Peace, Love, Joe

(photo via)

Tags: cup of joe recovery

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April 13, 2011
3 notes
  From Office 88 I once had a man in my group who was from far West Texas.  He drove a tractor to work and talked of coming in from the cold and sitting beside the “farplace” instead of “fireplace” as most people would say.  Another patient came from New Jersey. He wrote software for big business, took a taxi to work and had never owned a car. Their Spiritual upbringing was as different as day and night.  I had major anxiety worrying about these two men and if they could possibly get anything out of being in the same group.  I completely missed seeing the “beauty of the forest.” In less than a week these two men were sharing their experience, strength and hope with each other and the community.  The History Rowland Hazard was a businessman from Vermont and was told he was an alcoholic of the “hopeless variety”.  After finding God, he carried the message of hope and spiritual principles to Ebby Thatcher.   It changed his life.  Ebby, in turn, inspired Bill Wilson, who was never a member of any church.  In Bill’s zeal to carry the message he was put in contact with the second AA, Dr Robert Smith.  Dr. Bob was a doctor with roots in New England and grew up with the Bible, Sunday school, and Christian studies.  The “man on the bed” that Bill and Bob considered AA # 3 was a lawyer from the Midwest.  He was desperate to do whatever was recommended.  The Lesson From this first handful of AA men that were as different as the two guys in my group, we see one of the first principles of the program played out over and over.  It is so simple.  I myself often miss it.  It is to “Trust God” and “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”.  
Whether it be in the Bodega, the Gym, or in one of the offices on Therapy Row, La Hacienda is fertile ground for the Spiritual healing that comes from these principles. I have been privileged to see many people receive the healing that God offers to the likes of us and to those that may have given up. At this writing, we are loading up the old van with towels, blankets and people.  We are headed for the river to see a couple of guys take step 3 to the next level by doing the Rite of Baptism on the Guadalupe River. Thank you La Hacienda for letting God be present in this place.  Lee Roy

 

From Office 88

I once had a man in my group who was from far West Texas.  He drove a tractor to work and talked of coming in from the cold and sitting beside the “farplace” instead of “fireplace” as most people would say. 

Another patient came from New Jersey. He wrote software for big business, took a taxi to work and had never owned a car.

Their Spiritual upbringing was as different as day and night. 

I had major anxiety worrying about these two men and if they could possibly get anything out of being in the same group.  I completely missed seeing the “beauty of the forest.” In less than a week these two men were sharing their experience, strength and hope with each other and the community. 

The History

Rowland Hazard was a businessman from Vermont and was told he was an alcoholic of the “hopeless variety”.  After finding God, he carried the message of hope and spiritual principles to Ebby Thatcher.   It changed his life.  Ebby, in turn, inspired Bill Wilson, who was never a member of any church.  In Bill’s zeal to carry the message he was put in contact with the second AA, Dr Robert Smith.  Dr. Bob was a doctor with roots in New England and grew up with the Bible, Sunday school, and Christian studies.  The “man on the bed” that Bill and Bob considered AA # 3 was a lawyer from the Midwest.  He was desperate to do whatever was recommended. 

The Lesson

From this first handful of AA men that were as different as the two guys in my group, we see one of the first principles of the program played out over and over.  It is so simple.  I myself often miss it.  It is to “Trust God” and “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”.  
Whether it be in the Bodega, the Gym, or in one of the offices on Therapy Row, La Hacienda is fertile ground for the Spiritual healing that comes from these principles. I have been privileged to see many people receive the healing that God offers to the likes of us and to those that may have given up.

At this writing, we are loading up the old van with towels, blankets and people.  We are headed for the river to see a couple of guys take step 3 to the next level by doing the Rite of Baptism on the Guadalupe River.

Thank you La Hacienda for letting God be present in this place. 

Lee Roy

Tags: spirituality recovery staff

Text
April 08, 2011
2 notes

“One too many….”

Did you know that April is Alcohol Awareness Month? The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, NCADD, founded and has supported this initiative since 1987. In fact, this year they are celebrating their 25th anniversary. By highlighting this month, NCADD hopes to encourage people to reach out and provide information on the disease of alcoholism, treatment and recovery. The hope is that people try to go 72 hours without drinking. If they find they are having difficulty then it is recommended they contact Alcoholics Anonymous or Al-anon for more support and information. Follow the link above for more information and to learn more about the “One too many…” theme for this year as well as the work that NCADD is doing.

(photo via)

Tags: recovery alcoholics anonymous