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Mark S

Call Recovered About “The Grouch and the Brainstorm”

150 150 Mark S
On Tuesday, May 24,  2016, The Recovery Topic is “The Grouch and the Brainstorm”
 
“The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison.”
Let’s talk about this solution.  Tap Speakpipe (especially if you are outside the Unites States) or call 1-734-288-7510 and answer the following question(s):
What does “The Grouch and the Brainstorm” mean to you?
Why are these poison for you?
Recovered Podcast is live online every Tuesday at 6:30 pm EDT as we record the show.  Join the fun and be part of the show.
If you would like to listen to the live stream of the show, just tap Recovered Chat and Live Stream.  We give away an Amazon gift card each week, you could win if you join us on Tuesdays.
 
Click Show Notes so you can prepare for this week’s show!

Joe and Charlie History Part 4 – Recovered 704

150 150 Mark S

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email at mark@recoveredcast.com

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The Big Book

The 12 and 12

24 Hours a Day

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Trusting Yourself – Recovered 703

150 150 Mark S

Starting out our new life in recovery involves taking chances, making decisions that can be life-altering, trying out healthier behaviors and working the 12-steps to firmly ground ourselves in sobriety. It’s an incredible undertaking, a journey that is ongoing. We are never done with recovery. We are at it forever, one day at a time.

What about being able to trust yourself to do the right thing? Well, since most individuals in recovery have a difficult time with this, let’s talk about learning how to trust yourself again.

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Step 1 – Start With a Clean Slate

When you came in, did your slate need cleaning?
What is your experience with this?
How do you “drop the rock”?
How do you forget the past?
How do you focus on the positive?

NOTES
First and foremost, there’s no point in carrying a lot of baggage from the past now that you’re in recovery. Having gone through treatment and made the decision to live your life clean and sober, you have a new chapter in front of you. Forget about the mistakes that you made in the past. You are not your past. It doesn’t define you or dictate your future. Only you can do that, and you’ve already decided that you’re going to live to the fullest of your ability and be in effective long-term recovery.

Starting off with this clean slate will make it easier to concentrate on healing and growing more self-confident. As your self-confidence increases, you’ll find that making decisions becomes a little easier as well.

Step 2 – Build Upon Your Successes

What does this mean to you?
How can this help?
Do you have experience with this?
How do you do this?
How do you “remember” your successes?

When you’re just starting recovery, there’s so much to do all at once. The tendency is to either go gung-ho and try to do it all or sink back on the couch in despair because you don’t think you can tackle all that you feel you need to do. The key thing here is to embrace recovery and work it slowly, thoughtfully each day. When you experience a success – such as your first week of sobriety, first month, and so on – think of this as a building block. One successful achievement leads to another and another and so on.

Successes can be anything that you deem important. It could be that you’re finally able to have a meaningful conversation about your newly-won sobriety with your spouse or that you’ve worked out a realignment of your workload with your supervisor to accommodate your attendance at 12-step meetings and gradually ramping up you job responsibilities. It could be successfully overcoming cravings by using the coping mechanisms you learned during treatment. Perhaps you find that being able to go to work each day is a success – especially if you had great difficulties with this prior to treatment.
However you define success, when you achieve it, build upon it. You will be making it easier to learn how to trust yourself again.

Step 3 – Ask for Help

When you were new, was this difficult? Why?
How did you do it early on?
Do you ask for help now?
Why is this important?
Who do you ask for help?

No one expects you to go it alone. In fact, no one recovers alone. You need the support and encouragement of others. Two of your most important support networks are your family and your 12-step groups. Naturally, you’ll feel raw and confused when you first begin recovery. Go ahead and ask for help from your loved ones as well as your 12-step sponsor.
Your loved ones already know about your past problems – they’ve lived with them. Of course they want you to move forward in recovery. If you feel reluctant to discuss your fears with them, that’s understandable. But don’t miss out on the opportunity to open the lines of communication at home. Give it some time and bring up the subject when you feel comfortable. Ask for support from your spouse or loved ones.

It may be easier to go first to your 12-step sponsor – once you find one. After all, that’s what the sponsor is there for, to help support and encourage newcomers like you to recovery. The sponsor has been where you are, felt what you’re feeling, and knows all about how difficult it can be to trust yourself again. The advice and counsel you receive from your 12-step sponsor and fellow group members can make all the difference in the world when you’re learning how to trust yourself again.

Step 4 – Regaining Self-Trust Requires Action

What actions do you take to regain trust in yourself?

It’s important to note here that the ability to trust yourself again requires that you do something. You can’t just sit back and expect or hope that you’ll regain your self-trust. It just doesn’t happen that way. Self-trust never occurs in a vacuum: it results from actions that you undertake.

Look at regaining trust as a process of self-discovery or rediscovery, as it more appropriately is. Once you possessed some measure of self-trust. You probably didn’t think much about it until you lost your self-respect, until you sunk so deep in your substance abuse or other addictive behaviors that you and others doubted your word. Your actions then were anything but trustworthy. But back to regaining the trust you lost in yourself, it can be done. But you do have to make conscious decisions in many areas of your new life in recovery in order to learn how to trust yourself again.

Step 6 – How Do You Know You Trust Yourself Again?

When you’re going along in recovery, doing the things on your daily schedule, crossing off goals on your list, taking care of yourself in the best way you can, how do you know if you really trust yourself again? That’s a good question. The truth of the matter is that you probably won’t think about self-trust as a general rule. It’s not a subjec that springs automatically to mind on a daily basis. It’s not like getting up, eating breakfast, getting ready for work, going to work, attending 12-step meetings, spending time with the family, or going to bed. It’s not on your daily schedule. Trust isn’t a topic you sit around analyzing for hours on end. Trust, especially trust in yourself, is something that develops over time and results from self-accomplishment of goals and belief in your own abilities to do what you need to do in recovery.

You might go for several months without ever thinking about whether you trust yourself or not. However, the fact that you’ll be able to weigh and balance different options and make a decision as to what is right for you in various situations will be evidence that you have begun to trust yourself again. You look at what’s available to you, sift through the pros and cons of each course of action, and make a determination as to your course of action. And trust, remember, requires action. When you are actively involved in decision-making regarding your recovery, you’re building your reservoir of self-trust.

Other Tips to Learning How To Trust Yourself Again
What other tips do you have?

There are many ways to learn how to trust yourself again. For each individual in recovery, there may be hundreds of things that work or just a significant few. Experiment. Be bold. Take what works and do more of it. Try some things that are new.
Buy or download literature, brochures, pamphlets, FAQs and other resources from the various 12-step groups. Take out books on recovery from the local library. Watch programs that deal with overcoming substance abuse or process addictions. Become as knowledgeable as you can about recovery and realize that there’s always something new in the field that can prove helpful to you in your journey.

One day, when you’re ready – when you’ve been in effective recovery for at least a year – you may wish to consider becoming a 12-step sponsor to another newcomer. When you reach the point where you are able to handle with confidence the challenges and opportunities that come your way with confidence, you’ll know that you’ve learned how to trust yourself again. Being in recovery doesn’t mean that you’ll always have all the answers. It does mean that you’ll be armed with the tools you need to be able to make the determination about the right thing to do – and then do it.
Recovery is an exciting journey. It’s all about discovering – and rediscovering – who you are, who you intend to be, and what you’re willing to do to get there. Learning how to trust yourself again is part of the evolotion of the brand-new you.

We have calls

Ollie
https://www.speakpipe.com/messages

Jen from Maryland
https://www.google.com/voice/fm/00557165274674955804/AHwOX_Cf7LdJ095S1uviryq9EHIz_2hJ-8Y4V6OffvT2xePBflu1kTr_nJjI19SR6Ecv5oIMXmng_mjOyjbPIxi-cpPaieea7JCU9VUBJ7PjLRoYMXfieZCLn1Fzlb5QgThcTAyXCXBKIC9PS7vvMwiwwG5aLcxdOw

What would you say to the new guy?

What would you say to the new guy about this topic?

Check out this episode!

Don’t Forget to Call Recovered About Trusting Yourself

150 150 Mark S
On Tuesday, May 17 at 6:30 pm EDT, we will be discussing Trusting Yourself
Call in and add to the program with your voice.  Just tap Speakpipe or press 1-734-288-7510 and answer the following questions:
Do you trust yourself? What have you done to help regain trust in yourself? How do you “forget” the past?
Recovered Podcast is live online every Tuesday at 6:30 pm EDT as we record the show.  Join the fun and be part of the show. We give away an Amazon gift card every week to someone in the chat room, it could be you this week.  If you would like to listen to the live stream of the show on Tuesdays, just tap Recovered Chat and Live Stream
Click Show Notes so you can prepare for this week’s show!

Call Recovered About Trusting Yourself

150 150 Mark S
On Tuesday, May 17,  2016, The Recovery Topic is Trust is a Must
 
What about being able to trust yourself to do the right thing? Well, since most individuals in recovery have a difficult time with this, let’s talk about learning how to trust yourself again.
Let’s talk about this solution.  Tap Speakpipe (especially if you are outside the Unites States) or call 1-734-288-7510 and answer the following question(s):
Do you trust yourself?
What have you done to help regain trust in yourself?
How do you “forget” the past?
Recovered Podcast is live online every Tuesday at 6:30 pm EDT as we record the show.  Join the fun and be part of the show.
If you would like to listen to the live stream of the show, just tap Recovered Chat and Live Stream.  We give away an Amazon gift card each week, you could win if you join us on Tuesdays.
 
Click Show Notes so you can prepare for this week’s show!

Joe and Charlie History Part 3 – Recovered 702

150 150 Mark S

Call us at 1-734-288-7510 or tap Speakpipe

Join the Chat Room, Tap Live stream and Chat Room

email at mark@recoveredcast.com

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The Big Book

The 12 and 12

24 Hours a Day

Check out this episode!

Interview With Zach G. – Recovered 701

150 150 Mark S

Tonight, the topic is
Well, it’s you Zach

Zach, today we will do the Recovered Podcast a little different. Zach is a regular host on the Recovered Podcast, but today I want our listeners to know you Zach in a more complete way. I want our listeners to be inspired by your story.

So, today Zach, I want you to share with our listeners your story. Your story of challenge, rising to success, then crushing defeat, and then rising again from the ashes to a new story of recovery. Finally, Zach, I want our listeners to know what your latest adventure has been.

Each step we practice includes a recovery principle we need.

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Is this ok with you Zach?

Where were you born, tell us your early story

When did you first drink
When did you first drug
What was that like?

Story of wrestling
How did addiction affect this

How did you end up at hazelden?
Describe rehab?

What was the most important thing you learned in rehab?

How did you put your recovery life back together

How did you put your professional life back togather

How did the tools of recovery help?

What has been the biggest challenge in the latest re-invention of Zach the wrestler?

You recently auditioned for American Ninja Warrior

The action-packed series follows competitors as they tackle a series of challenging obstacle courses in both city qualifying and city finals rounds across the country. Those that successfully complete the finals course in their designated region move on to the national finals round in Las Vegas, where they face a stunning four-stage course modeled after the famed Mt. Midoriyama course in Japan. The winner will take home a grand prize of $1,000,000. Although many have come close, no competitor has yet to achieve total victory and claim the prize.

Tell us about your experience.

What did you learn?
What have you achieved so far?
What do you hope to accomplish by participating?

How can our listeners get in touch with you?
How can our listeners support you?

How can our listeners watch you on TV?

 

Thank you for joining us in studio

Check out this episode!

Practicing Principles – Recovered 700

150 150 Mark S

My sponsor taught me that we don’t think our way to right action, we act our way to right thinking.

If we habitually do right things, we change because they become second nature. So we need to practice right things. This is where the 12 steps are our guide and teacher.

The 12 Steps of AA ARE the Principles of the Program that we practice. The principles are listed on Big Book pages 59 and 60 in the form of the 12 steps! Over the years many lists of virtues that correspond to each of the Twelve Steps and their underlying spiritual nature have been published. The origins of these lists are unknown, although they are used by many Twelve step members.

So, this is what we are going to talk about tonight, the principles we practice in recovery

Each step we practice includes a recovery principle we need.

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So here they are:
The AA Principles in the steps

In Step 1, the Principle is Honesty
Step 1 We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

In Step 2, the principle is Hope
Step 2 Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Hope: Step 2 is the mirror image or opposite of step 1. In step 1 we admit
that alcohol is our higher power, and that our lives are unmanageable.
In step 2, we find a different Higher Power who we hope will bring
about a return to sanity in management of our lives.)

In Step 3, the principle is Faith
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Commitment: The key word in step 3 is decision.)

In Step 4, the principle is Courage
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Honesty: an inventory of self.)

In Step 5, the principle is Integrity
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Truth: candid confession to God and another human being.)

In Step 6, the principle is Willingness
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Willingness: choosing to abandon defects of character.)

In Step 7, the principle is Humility
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Humility: standing naked before God, with nothing to hide, and asking that our flaws – in His eyes – be removed.)

In Step 8, the principle is Brotherly Love
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Reflection: who have we harmed? Are we ready to amend?)

In Step 9, the principle is Justice
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Amendment: making direct amends/restitution/correction, etc.)

In Step 10, the principle is Perseverance
Continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Vigilance: exercising self-discovery, honesty, abandonment,
humility, reflection and amendment on a momentary, daily, and periodic
basis.)

In Step 11, the principle is Spirituality
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.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Attunement: becoming as one with our Higher Power.)

In Step 12, the principle is Service
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
How do you practice the principle in this step?
How do you practice this principle in the world?

(Service: awakening into sober usefulness.)

We Have Calls!
Kurt
https://www.google.com/voice/fm/00557165274674955804/AHwOX_DfqnLYge2I5AfvWt0GY7DC_yi2Wrc-fYSnZu-mTp84IA74fdz28UNvsgS_fjBhsKRgdgd1kjfiWO-uulSaSOVbLbC3Qki1L3QYYTL1eGE1rByTK9znV4GfIqFILlJ73yEwMwlE9nCJr9jjUmSpMJ8FyZShKg

Marty
https://www.google.com/voice/fm/00557165274674955804/AHwOX_D2ZDN4JwTGNMGUqMolD8e16Ye4clkmEZvtfCV-8EUJdWYP4Zh-ntxUEbnPbocNTkwNWR95bW_UMioL8X8_cTluqQz-DmFo6sRXUP-vryecqQf7uJQ1HhfSzDdragnqA_Xfa9_IU5UDpSx9nIMOsaHBHlwcJQ

Clyde
https://www.google.com/voice/fm/00557165274674955804/AHwOX_Do6Eb40VgkwC0wgyE5qPFT4ozjWddghxri6LTeHk0mQUx3u1cF6rgSQq90D085J3Juox_Sk_rJeKXvVQBtUK5AwjRG3NzrdJlJYMs_da05L6s3ttiMeaAUpyKStEROHFBLC6FwLBpM81uBn5YrlP_TXuHzrg

 

What would you say to the new guy about this topic?

Check out this episode!

Joe and Charlie History Part 2 – Recovered 699

150 150 Mark S

Call us at 1-734-288-7510 or tap Speakpipe

Join the Chat Room, Tap Live stream and Chat
Room

email at mark@recoveredcast.com

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Premium

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messages Daily AA
Emails
.  

The Big Book

The 12
and 12

24
Hours a Day

Check out this episode!

Daily Inventory – Recovered 698

150 150 Mark S

The purpose of this daily inventory is to keep track of who we
are and what we are doing today.
I try to remember that a daily inventory is not a test;
I try to remember that there are no right or wrong answers.
I try not to get upset when I know I could have done better.
During my daily inventory if I discover that I have failed to live
up to my expectations, I try to remember that this is a program of
growth and recovery, progress not perfection.
I know that if I stayed clean today, I did something right.

Call us at 1-734-288-7510 or tap Speakpipe

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Room

email at mark@recoveredcast.com

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Emails.
 

We asked our listeners a question and they responded.
We asked “When you do a daily inventory, do you reflect on the good
things you do?”
What percentage of our listeners do you think said yes, I think
about the good stuff I do?
https://www.surveymonkey.com/analyze/e2t2JO8kZ3zEAQXgGRxFlPEVTSWOIStpZuZqMdd1b44_3D

Do you reflect on the good stuff?

Why is a daily Inventory important?
How is this different/same as Step 10?
How is this different/same as Step 11?

One thing we should consider during a daily inventory are the
major events of the day. Why?

Feelings (good and bad) that come up during the course of the
day and how i dealt with them are important and worthy of review.
Why?

Minding my own business is important in my recovery and should
be part of my reflection. Why?

I make mistakes during the day and acceptance is part of this.
Why?

Talk about fear and faith in daily inventories.

Talk about the relationship between wrongs done, pride and
fear.

Why is avoiding conflict bad? How can that upset recovery?

Talk about when to make amends and when not to?

have i done something difficult or particularly well today? how
can i appreciate myself for it?

We Have Calls!

Nic
https://www.speakpipe.com/messages

Clyde
https://www.google.com/voice/fm/00557165274674955804/AHwOX_AY8xqfF8RZvvJ4VrHseWEGg3JqtTcKlP8B0qjR1Gz2Zvd2fQeNff_fW3jAPJEssLfCqwPsubCkkY7_AMHWXZkCC0RtOE2l_D_BX_fgElurbER4gxRn922fBgYWR9j4TFnxhFIGxHP3LQl50yvNUaTxUUiiyw

Tony
https://www.google.com/voice/fm/00557165274674955804/AHwOX_BS_0bn1NUoV4swW_peQlrav56BGS_uPJP7rlMzU8zpuy6hCrHqywcRhvXxGL_Mebq48nnCBrXy5tpIYdhuOj2nyHRAKsCIUeMLPIy7OlckTDL9W-ipJhv8Edvj-epLubao-NkBONH7dLx2jjLoUc5XjuYgSA

What would you say to the new guy about this topic?

Check out this episode!