The Recovery Guy Podcast

Episode #192 – Friday The Checkup: Fear vs. Faith

When we first come to recovery most all of us have been living in fear for many years. Matter of fact if it were not for fear we would not know how to act.

For many of us, removing a substance, one would think, would be sufficient for moving us from fear to a position of faith. However, merely not doing one thing doesn’t automatically ensure something else. We must actively dismiss fear as we are acquiring faith. Let’s go ahead and look at fear and faith side by side. Remember fear is “false evidence appearing real”. Fear is usually based on an external reaction or response from our past. Faith is something acquired on our journey moving forward.

As we begin taking the 12 steps, begin learning from our recovery material and relating to those who have come before us we start to believe that maybe this recovery thing can work for us, we are taking our first steps of faith.

Daily we must renew our commitment to our self to become well. Wellness is only accomplished as we move from fear to faith. We learn to trust our Higher Power, the program of recovery and even others as we “Trudge the Road to Happy Destiny” (AA Big Book).

“Above all take it one day at a time." - Bill W. page 11 of How It Works

Episode #191 -Tuesday The Fix – Principals to Live By

When we speak of Principals, we speak of things that come first or are the highest in rank. These are words associated with a high degree of importance and value. They are considered to be foremost in our life. Each of the Twelve Steps have Principals assigned to them.

1. Acceptance
2. Hope
3. Faith
4. Courage
5. Honesty
6. Willingness
7. Humility
8. Responsibility
9. Love
10. Discipline
11. Awareness/Growth
12. Service

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Episode #190 – Friday The Checkup: A Firm Foundation

One of the most wonderful things about what I do as a person committed to personal recovery is working with others along the way. One of the most important things I convey to everyone is the importance of a firm foundation. If one is to build anything a foundation is required. It has been said “If the foundations are destroyed what can one do.” I’ve also heard “a house divided against itself cannot stand.“ So not only does the foundation need to be firm but an indicator of its firmness is it singleness of purpose. To paraphrase the Gandhi, Life is an indivisible whole and it must lack internal conflict.

 

Building a firm foundation is required to establish personal recovery. A foundation is: the basis or groundwork of anything also the natural or prepared ground or base on which some structure rests.

This is a test

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Episode #189 -Tuesday The Fix – Stepping into Recovery

Like any decision we make, certain steps are going to be required to accomplish that decision. Very rarely does anything worthwhile happen through osmosis. The 12 steps of recovery are exactly that. The step is defined as a movement made by lifting the foot and setting it down again in a new position. It is accompanied by a shifting of the weight of the body in the direction of the new position, as in walking running, or dancing. This is an amazing metaphor for what we are doing when we apply the steps of recovery to our life. We need to do them one at a time and we need to make sure we have our weight properly shifting as we are moving forward so as we do not lose balance. I hope this helps in your understanding of why The steps are vital to personal recovery.

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Episode #188 – Friday The Checkup: Promises You Can Count On

One of the most beautiful things about the plan of recovery are the promises that are made. They are made to give us hope. They are exclusively for those who decide to apply the plan of recovery to their life. I was so encouraged when I came into the program of Alcoholics Anonymous because I was told “that if I worked the plan of recovery as it was outlined, I could expect these things to occur.“ They were 100% correct. I hope you have found this to be true for you.

Episode #187 -Tuesday The Fix: Step Twelve - Ready, Set, Go

Step Twelve is filled with calls to action. These are three of them.

1. First of all, understanding the meaning and the purpose of having had a spiritual awakening. It is inconceivable to me that you could thoroughly do the previous 11 steps and not have had a spiritual awakening.
2. Secondly, we carry a message of hope, sobriety, and the life we could never dreamt about prior to our AAA membership and the subsequent result of the steps. The newcomer is not the most important person in the room. The fact of the matter is those of us who are in recovery need to do the best we possibly can for ourselves for if we do not recover there is not going to be anyone here when the newcomer arrives.
3. Thirdly, we must then practice these principles in all our affairs. Practice is an ongoing lifestyle that we must work on daily to improve our relationship with God. It is within improve in this relationship that we become a greater value to those who might serve seeking to recover.

I hope you find yourself growing in Step Twelve as others will grow as a by- product

Episode #186 – Friday The Checkup: Keep Coming Back

When a piece of iron is repeatedly rubbed against another it will naturally become sharper. The more time this iron spends being rubbed, the sharper the object will be. The same principle applies in our lives. We will always seek the level we are on or ascribe to be. Like it or not, when we spend time with the friends, we have also chosen their opinions, their habits. Their actions will begin to shape and sharpen our lives. That is why it is so important we choose friends who are sold out to and committed to personal recovery. We, as well, have a responsibility to sharpen our friends. lives toward a godly vessel. The practical principal of iron sharpening iron is a good reminder for me to continue to examine my personal associations and what I am putting into them. Have you ever heard that “water seeks its own level?” We are the same as water. We will seek our own level and sharpen or become dull. This will occur because of those we choose to associate with along the way.

1. Time is our friend
2. Find others who are aligned with us
3. Be willing to listen more than we share
4. Remember it is practice not perfection
5. Share who we are and what we are doing
6. Be honest with self as a person looking from the outside
7. Develop and grow your relationship with God
8. Keep coming back

Episode #185 -Tuesday The Fix: Step Eleven- From Powerless to Powerful

Step Eleven is the 2nd of the daily maintenance steps in the plan of recovery. Without this step, it is near impossible to gain the spiritual insight needed to live a full life and be of maximum help to others.

First of all, Step Eleven is Designed to be taken daily as an avenue to the personal power available to me. It is a positive affirmation that God wants to make a positive contribution to my life. This power derived is designed to aid me in my assistance to others.

Secondly, the meditation suggested in this step helps us free our minds to find a place of contentment we found lacking in our active addiction. Meditation is the process to finding a place to release and reflect and then define inspiration required to move forward in our life. Meditation slows my spirit and my mind down to see what I otherwise might miss.

Thirdly, as we raise our mind and our spirit toward God, He then reveals His design, direction and purpose for our lives on that day. We become His ambassador in our recovered life. We are given power to not only be of maximum power to others, but we are often directed to whom they may be. God will direct us. We now have a renewed sense of belonging.

Please join us on this Recovery Journey. Also, please check out Amy’s book, My Fair Junkie https://twitter.com/AmyDresner

Episode #184 - Friday The Checkup: A Way Out

Recovery is the goal and the process. To be recovered should be the goal of every person who enters recovery. I know that seems extremely basic, but not everyone who enters treatment or recovery is looking to recover. Some are just doing it to get the pressure reduced so they can get back to their destructive way of living. Recovery is available to everyone who pursues it. I hope you have gone down the path of despair, discouragement, and distraction long enough to know that there is an easier way to go about it. The easier way is Recovery. I hope you join me and countless others on this path.