gratitude Archives - The Recovery Show

Gratitude 2018 – Episode 269

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What are you grateful for in 2018?

Sure, I can write a gratitude list. I am grateful for those of you who sent in your expressions of gratitude.

Readings

I read from One Day at a Time in Al-Anon, May 5.

Kelly recommended a book, Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, by Lindsay C. Gibson.

Cristianne ordered Knock Knock Okay Fine, I'm Grateful! Inner-Truth Journal.

Please call us at 734-707-8795 or email feedback@therecoveryshow.com with your questions or experience, strength and hope. Or just leave a comment right here.
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What about Gratitude – Episode 267

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What about gratitude? How do you practice gratitude? Or, do you more often forget?

At two meetings this week, I was reminded of the importance of practicing gratitude in my life. Saturday morning, we were working from the Al-Anon 4th Step workbook, Blueprint for Progress. Once a month, we read a few questions from this book and each share our own responses. This month, in the chapter titled Character Traits, we examined our responses to the questions under the heading of Thankful / Ungrateful. The questions are:

Am I thankful for present blessings?
Have I ever made a list of things I am grateful for?
Do I take time to express my thanks to my Higher Power?

These questions made me stop and think, because I realized that I had fallen away from a daily practice of gratitude.
Some gems from the sharing: Gratitude jar, “Gratitude is an antidote to fear”

And then, Sunday night, we read from One Day at a Time in Al-Anon, the November 4th reading. (read it) For me, this reading highlights an opposite trait to gratitude. When I focus on the things that I am dissatisfied with, I find myself in a self-reinforcing attitude. Al-Anon gives me tools to move out of that place, if I choose to use them.

As we move into November, and the US season of Thanksgiving, my thoughts eventually turn to the things I am thankful for.

What are you thankful for? Are you thankful for present blessings? Do you make lists of thinkgs you are grateful for? Do you take time to express your gratitude to your Higher Power? Call or write us with your responses, and your sharing will be included in a Thanksgiving episode Gratitude 2018.

Please call us at 734-707-8795 or email feedback@therecoveryshow.com with your questions or experience, strength and hope. Or just leave a comment right here. Or visit our contact page for all the ways you can share in our conversation.

Your Gratitude 2017 – Episode 226

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I asked you to share your gratitude with me. Many of you did so, and this episode highlights your voices and your gratitudes.

I also put together a playlist on Spotify, included below, that doesn't even scratch the surface of the songs about gratitude and thankfulness. I'm sure I missed your favorite, so please email your suggestion (or comment below).

Next week's episode will mark 5 years of The Recovery Show. I will be looking back over the last 5 years. Please call us at 734-707-8795 or email feedback@therecoveryshow.com with your questions or experience, strength and hope. Or just leave a comment right here.
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Gratitude – Episode 224

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As we approach the US holiday of Thanksgiving, I naturally think about the things I am grateful for. What are you grateful for?

Here are some things I am grateful for

That I have a program of recovery.
Our dog is a sweetheart, so loving.
That my adult children choose to spend time with me and share their life with me.
Although it snowed Thursday evening, on Friday morning it was sunny and pretty.
That, as a sponsee reminded me, I have a roof over my head, a furnace that works, and a warm blanket.
That you share your experience, strength, and hope with me and with the other listeners of this podcast. You make the podcast better and stronger by your presence.

What are you grateful for? Call or email with one thing you are grateful for this year, this month, or just today. Or, if you wish, share a gratitude list with us. I will compile your responses into an episode to be published on the US Thanksgiving weekend (last weekend in November). Please send your contribution by November 25, 2017.

Please call us at 734-707-8795 or email feedback@therecoveryshow.com with your questions or experience, strength and hope. Or just leave a comment right here.

I read a bit from this Vox article about the Netflix show Jessica Jones, and its depiction of drug use and addiction.

3 P’s: Perfection, Procrastination, Paralysis – Episode 219

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Do you find yourself seeking perfection? Do you procrastinate because you can't achieve it? Or, maybe, you are paralyzed because of it.

We explore the 3 P's, guided by the questions below and with shares from listeners.

How do Perfection, Procrastination, and Paralysis connect to each other?
How have I experienced perfection(ism) in my life?
How (and why) do I procrastinate?
- What is the payoff from procrastinating?
When do I experience paralysis?
- What behaviors do I exhibit then?
How can I use the “6 P’s”(from our book Paths to Recovery) of Step six? Thanks to Cleaning Out the Old Toolbox blog for these reflections:
- Perspective: think of defects of character as “survival skills that no longer serve me”. Since my Higher Power wants more for me than mere survival, I can let them go and trust that I will develop healthy behaviors and thinking.
- Pain: Whenever the pain of staying the same hurts more than the pain of change, that’s the time when I will be ready.
- Prayer: My part is to pray for openness & willingness; God’s part is to do the removing.
- Patience: God gets to choose when and how fast He will remove my defects of character.
- Process: Quite possibly, this is a grief process of denial, anger, bargaining and depression.
- Payoff: The bottom line–what am I getting out of holding on to some of these defects of character? What is still good about it?
How can I let go of 3 P’s?
- Slogans
  - Progress, not perfection
  - First things first
  - How Important is it?
  - Do the next right thing.
  - Keep it simple.
  - Easy does it.
  - Let go and let God.
- Steps
  - Step 4 — identify my character traits
  - Step 5 — be honest about them!
  - Step 6 — become ready to let go of what is not helping me
  - Step 7 — Ask for the help (and practise new behavior)
- Acceptance that nothing is/will be perfect. Ever.
- Gratitude

Our upcoming topic is courage. The word courage appears in the serenity prayer, from which the title of one of our daily meditation books was taken: Courage to Change. How have you experienced courage in your recovery? Which steps required courage of you? How has recovery given you courage to change the things you can? Please call us at 734-707-8795 or email feedback@therecoveryshow.com with your questions or experience, strength and hope. Or just leave a comment right here.

Episodes mentioned in this show are: Episode 203, Adult Children of Alcoholics; Episode 200, Daddy's Medicine; and Episode 22, Parents' Roundtable.
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