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Mark S

Sleep and Early Recovery – Recovered 456

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We are about the solution here at the Recovered Podcast.  So we are going to talk about sleeping tips. What has been your experience with sleep in early recovery and what are some of the things that have helped. Also, what are some of the things that have not helped.

What is your experience?

Here are 12 Sleeping Tips during Early Recovery 


1. Create a good sleeping environment, e.g., bed comfort, quietness,
darkness, comfortable temperature, and ventilation
2. Consider a white noise generator if there is a problem with noise in the
environment.
3. Set a consistent time period for going to bed and getting up, including on
weekends
4. Avoid daytime naps
5. Eliminate or reduce caffeine intake (particularly after 3 pm)
6. Get exercise early in the day, but avoid exercise in the evening
7. Keep a sleep diary by your bed, noting sleep patterns, troublesome
thoughts, dreams, etc. and discuss troublesome dreams with your counselor,
sponsor or others in recovery.
8. Learn and utilized relaxation techniques, e.g., progressive relaxation,
visualization, breathing exercises; use recovery prayers and self-talk
(slogans) as an aid in getting to sleep.
9. Minimize activities other than sleeping in your bed, e.g., eating, working,
watching television, reading, etc.
10. Avoid large, late meals; have a light snack before bedtime—some that
can actually aid sleep, e.g., small turkey sandwich, warm milk, a banana, a
cup of hot chamomile tea
11. Create a consistent bedtime routine and stick with it.
12. If you can’t get to sleep within 30 minutes, get out of bed and do
something relaxing in low light until you feel sleepy.

Check out this episode!

Joe K Returns to the Recovered Studios!

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Tune in on Monday December 16 as Joe K returns to the Recovered Podcast Studios! We couldn’t podcast last week, but we will be ready this week. Our recovery topic will be Sleep and Early Recovery. Tune in on Monday at 6:30 pm EST (-5 GMT) and listen live, just click http://recoveredcast.blogspot.com/p/chat-room.html Call in and leave a message for Joe at 734-288-7510

Help Us Prepare For Our next Show on Sleep and Early Recovery

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Our next show is on Monday, December 16, 2013 at 6:30 pm EST (-5 GMT).  The Recovery Topic will be Sleep and early Recovery.  Take the survey and join us live!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Serenity – Recovered 455

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1. Where does serenity show up in your life?  How do you know you have it? Is it important?  Why? Peace shows up inour hearts. Tranquility is the quiet within that gives us access to our higher selves. By tapping into the quiet of our hearts, we experience space, flow and possibility – core ingredients that help us to live peacefully.

Other places that peace shows up is in our physical space, our relationships and in our spirituality. We find peace in the purpose of our lives and we experience peace in our careers. Additionally, we experience peace in our families and in our communities. We find peace in our communication and in who and how we are.

2. Is serenity the absence of conflict, or is it a state of mind (and being) unto itself? If peace and serenity is some-thing more than the absence of conflict, what is it? What are the core ingredients of peace? What qualities help to generate peace — both internal tranquility as well as peace between adversaries?

3. Is serenity maintainable over time? If our lives are in a constant state of flux and forward momentum, how do we maintain our composure and equilibrium? How does one live from one’s center when there are constant obstacles coming our way and which serve to keep us off balance, and which destabilize us? How does one live in tranquility when flux is all around?

4. Is it possible to orient one’s self and life around the quality of serenity?  That is, can you situate your life to maximize your serenity?  How do you do this? If so, what commitment would you need to make in order to do so? What would this look like? How would your life look or be different?

5. What is your experience of serenity? When was the last time you paid attention to peace and tranquility, and your experience of it? What’s not conscious is often elusive. Focus on the quality and the role of peace in your life in order to increase it.

6. What elements contribute to the creation of continued peace and tranquility? If we understand what contributes to the creation of peace and tranquility, we’ll be better equipped to generate it in the future. We’ll be able to summon the creation of peace through conscious thought and action.

7. Is peace quantifiable? We count the wars between nations, but do we count or appreciate the days of peace? We name and count our adversaries, but take for granted our friends and loved ones. How do we quantify something we all too often take for granted?

8. What does inner serenity provide us access to? If peace is the gateway to a higher state of being, such as love, compassion and gratitude, how can we harness the power of peace and utilize it for the betterment of our lives? If peace provides us access to choice, opportunities and possibility, how can we build upon the foundational elements that generate growth built upon peace? What DOES peace provide us access to?

9. Does tranquility live anywhere but the present? We might build upon the past and we might use our vision for the future as a source of inspiration, but tranquility exists only in the present moment. Understand this profound but simple concept and transformation becomes possible! Each moment becomes a new opportunity to create peace and harmony.

10. Can peace and tranquility live without compassion? Compassion is an underlying tenet of peace. “Compassion is the sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) While our motivation to seek peace might not always emerge from compassion, compassion is required for peace to hold.


Final Thoughts


http://anonpress.org/bb/

http://aa.org/twelveandtwelve/en_tableofcnt.cfm

http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/thought.view?catId=1901

Check out this episode!

Help Us Prepare For Our Next Show On Serenity

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Our next show is on Monday, December 2, 2013 at 6:30 pm EST (-5 GMT).  The Recovery Topic will be Serenity.  Take the survey and join us live!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Thanksgiving- Recovered 454

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In the United States, on the 4th Thursday of November, we have a national holiday called thanksgiving.  It’s a time that we take the opportunity to gather with friends and family and celebrate the things we are thankful for.  So this episode is also set aside to talk about the things that we are thankful for.  

We also want to acknowledge that this can be the most difficult time of year for us alcoholics and al-anons. So we’d like to practice our program with one of our basic recovery tools, the gratitude list. To kick off the show, let’s take a look at what our listeners are grateful for.  We asked the question, “What difficulties can you be grateful for? What thoughts do you have about being able to look at past difficulties as blessings in disguise?

Let’s turn our discussions to you our hosts.  Let’s start this discussion with people in our lives

1. Who do you appreciate? How has recovery affected your attitude toward the people in your lives?
2. How are you fortunate?  How has recovery played a part in your ability to be grateful about your circumstances?
3. What material possessions are you thankful for?
4. What abilities do you have that you are grateful for?
5. What about your surroundings (home/neighborhood/city/etc.) are you thankful for?
6. What experiences have you had that you are grateful for?
7. What happened today/yesterday/this week/this month/this year that you are grateful for?
8. What opportunities do you have that you are thankful for?
9. What have others in your life done that you are thankful for?
10. What have others done that you are benefiting from in your life (even if you don’t know who those people are)?
11. What relationships are you thankful for?
12. What are you taking for granted that, if you stop to think about it, you are grateful for?
13. What is there about the challenges/difficulties you have experienced (or are currently experiencing) that you can be thankful for? (e.g., What have you learned? How have you grown?)
14. What is different today than it was a year ago that you are thankful for?
15. What insights have you gained that you are grateful for?

Final Thoughts

Check out this episode!

Help Us Prepare For Our Next Show on Gratitude

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What difficulties are you grateful for?  Take our survey and help us prepare for our next show on Tuesday, November 26 at 8:00 pm EST (-5 GMT).

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Recovery on the Road – Recovered 453

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How do you maintain your recovery program when away from your home group.  Whether it be vacation, away to school, or on business trips, what do you do to stay in touch with recovering people when you are separated from your immediate community?

First, what did you used to do when on the road before the program?

What do you do now?

what literature?

How do you find meetings?

What was your experience at these meetings?

Describe the best

Describe the worst

Phone calls Prayer?

Call sponsor? How do you do it?

Call friends? Any different than at home?

Hotline?

Skype? Internet?

other What sites

Listen to Other?

podcasts?

speaker mp3s?

books?

other

Watch

netflix

broadcast tv

other

Final Thoughts

http://anonpress.org/bb/

http://aa.org/twelveandtwelve/en_tableofcnt.cfm

http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/thought.view?catId=1901

Check out this episode!

Days of Wine and Roses Movie Review – Recovered 452

150 150 Mark S

Last week we attended the Traverse City Fall Round Up.  Which is a regional AA conference.  I spoke on Sunday and gave my Open Talk with an emphasis on my spiritual journey.


Following our reflections, we will play an episode we participated in with The Recovery Show.  We all watched the movie Days of Wine and Roses and then we recorded an episode on our reaction to this movie about alcoholics, recovery, and relapse.


I’m attending a suicide survivors support group with victims that range from 14 to 35. The time since death ranges from 30 years to 3 months. Just like AA, there is no other place where you can talk about these feelings. The question of why, why didn’t’ we see it? We are haunted by the thought that we could have prevented this disaster.


I’ve been working in Toronto and commuting back and forth with my co-worker. He’s a faithful Muslim, he’s from northern Africa and has a green card.He also has French nationality. Try to explain this gracefully to the boarder patrol when trying to cross the border. I’m always terrified when I try to re enter the USA, I just imagine getting my car searched .


Now we are going to play an episode we participated in  from The Recovery Show….

Check out this episode!

Help Us Prepare For Our Next Show

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On Monday, November 18 at 6:30 pm EST (-5 GMT) our Recovery Topic will be:
Recovery On The Road – How Do You Work a Program?
So help us prepare by taking this survey.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.