“Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne You deserve happiness, yes you deserve to be happy. Happiness is an inside job. Happiness can come from outside sources but true joy that leads to lasting contentment and … Read more
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Buddha Obviously, I am not a Buddhist, but this spiritual guru had an enormous amount of wisdom. That word “health” could … Read more
“Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead.” – Louisa May Alcott When I first got sober the term “Happy, Joyous and Free” would totally rub me the wrong way. Here … Read more
“Once the ‘what’ is decided, the ‘how’ always follows. We must not make the ‘how’ an excuse for not facing and accepting the ‘what.’” – Pearl S. Buck Many years ago, I would hear folks share in a meeting that they “took their will back” usually this was in response to a recent relapse. They were … Read more
“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it.” — Margaret Thatcher Over the years it has become a habit to reflect on my day. Some days I sit and think … Read more
Throughout our lives, leading up to our active addiction, we chose to wallow in all of the negativism that our lives held; worshiping our own self pity. Today, if we truly desire recovery, we must choose to rejoice in the positives, regardless of how loud the negatives are sounding to us. Insanity is doing the … Read more
“Hope is a light diet, but very stimulating.” – Honoré de Balzac Faith, hope, and love. The three emotional needs we all have. Without these needs being met, dysfunction abounds. For those of us that choose alcohol or other mind altering drugs to fill this gap, real life recovery is the answer. Positive meaningful recovery … Read more
“Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.” – Storm Jameson If I could sum up happiness in one sentence I would go with Storm’s definition. Happiness is not a byproduct of things, although when we are deprived we repel happiness. Happiness is … Read more
“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” – George Horace Lorimer Life is worth enjoying every minute of every day. Of course that does not mean that we will not face adversity. In fact quite the opposite. We will be confronted with challenges however … Read more
Life is meant to be enjoyed and not to be endured. Jack Jackson 1) To truly enjoy life you must change the way you think. We must become possibility thinkers. We need to look for the positive first! How do we accomplish this in such a negative world? One way is to study, read, and … Read more