What I'm grateful for today

[irisblue]

-I'm here.
-My mom came home from from the hospital, that's a big thing when she is 83. And she's as crabby as ever.
-I have heat, safe drinking running water with a plumbing system. ( last NYE-not so well)
-Cat food & litter for the cats
-Good coffee and cream
- Many meetings today I can go to
-This room
-Friends, near and far.

I am richly blessed

[no_hypocrisy]

1. You are indeed blessed.

Enjoy your day!

[vlyons]

2. Excellent!

I'm thankful for Buddhism. It has changed my life and enabled me to find a path to happiness. I have survived an earthquake, 2 hurricanes, and a tornado -- and so far heart disease.

I'm thankful for a worldclass liberal educations in letters and fine arts.

I'm thankful that Dems will take control of the House. Maybe we can begin to make a difference for the better.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. I'm grateful that I'm not drinking and my love is here with me...

...and her dog and cat, and my pups.

[marble falls]

4. Its always more productive to count what you have.

[Hotler]

5. I'm thankfil for this wild ride called life.

Hugs for everybody.
Peace

[calimary]

6. Wonderful! Those meetings are seriously life-saving and life-sustaining.

Congratulations on all the progress you’ve made! Hug that mom of yours for all of us.

[Stuart G]

7. Thank You for a terrific and wonderful post...Thank You again..

We are often blessed, and we do not see the blessings..You have given us a view we all need to see..



hat is off for you...

[Stuart G]

8. I am grateful today for getting up reasonably healthy, and also for...

running water, flush toilets, and the running water is clean, pure and totally drinkable.

125 years ago, the water in the area I live was not clean. There was some kind of epidemic that killed thousands of people due to unclean water.. You can read about it in history, but the purification of our drinking water, probably, (no I do not know for sure) has done more to increase lifespan than anything else..

The very first thing that people need after a catastrophe like a tornado, earthquake, etc. is clean drinkable water. And after that, clean sanitation facilities where people can poop & pee without hurting the water supply and the rest of the environment. Most people...like me, take these everyday gifts that we have for granted. We have gifts that were totally fiction one hundred fifty years ago. We are blessed. Oh, I forgot one. Electricity used to operate machines, (like the one I am using now) and water treatment centers, and all the other stuff we depend on for good health. 150 years no one knew how much good electricity could do for all of us...In fact, most people in the world didn't even know what it is.

............ Hope you are well.......

[irisblue]

9. I just read the thread in the lounge...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181154014
I've heard those types of "how it was" in the rooms before.
And I'm pretty sure Floyds is a joke, Florida man is true.

I'm glad I didn't do that

[stevil]

11. Help.

[irisblue]

12. Whatta ya need? I'm up.

[stevil]

13. A smile and I'm ok

I'm fighting.

[irisblue]

14. 😊

Cravings?

[stevil]

15. Only to be able to sleep.

Yes.

[irisblue]

16. Ahhh.

Hope you find what you need.

[stevil]

18. Trying

Thanks

[stevil]

21. A Golden Retriever and John Lennon will save my life.

[stevil]

17. I don't like being worried.

Want to get better,

[KY_EnviroGuy]

20. Stevil, just a suggestion....

Try to learn some very basic meditation techniques. They will both help you rest, and to deal with your everyday trials.

For me, the first and most important method was simple quietening of my mind - which was running like a squirrel cage and I had to stop it just to survive. I figured that one out on my own and it has been key to my life since then.

Don't let the word meditation scare you - it simply is what you make of it for YOU.

Those simple things saved my ass when I first got sober and have kept me that way for nearly 30 years.


.........

[stevil]

22. Thank you.

Extremely helpful suggestion.

[stevil]

23. Thank you.

Someone who attends meetings likes to meditate. Works wonders daily.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

24. You're very welcome, and you are helping me too!

I started traveling for my work a couple of months after getting out of detox, and another one of those "little things" that kept me going was to carry a copy of the AA book "As Bill Sees It" with me and read something from it each day.

There's a lot of wisdom for almost anyone in that book since it's based on real-life experiences.

Each person in recovery has to develop a set of tools to use that works for them because we all have different personalities and history.

............

[Stuart G]

25. Thank You for your wisdom..

"Each person in recovery has to develop a set of tools to use that works for them because we all have different personalities and history."

..Some people meditate twice or three times a day. Some meditate after exercise. It is up to each of us to figure out the best course of action and use of the tools to stay sober. What works for someone often does not work for someone else. Yet the bottom line is "Keep Coming Back." When we isolate, we get into our own heads, and often that is not the best place to go. It might be a very difficult place to go.

..When we go to meetings, we are forced to listen and watch. That gets us out of our own self thinking prison. Listening and talking to others helps us in ways that each of us appreciates and understands. Sometimes, it is not easy just to listen.

...Often it takes time to develop the use of the tools that works best. But in today's world, many of us are looking for an instant answer to our problems. The same instant answer that we used to get when we used our substance of addiction. I took a long time to develop the tools that work for me. Most of us take some time to develop those tools. For me, I think about two ideas..."If it were easy, it would be easy " Also, "If it were easy, really easy, then everyone would be successful in recovery." Do not give up, Good Luck, and "Keep Coming Back"

[KY_EnviroGuy]

26. And, thank you for yours, Stewart. I enjoy sharing E, S, and H with others.

During my first few years when traveling, the AA books went in the suitcase before underwear and coffee pot, LOL. They went to Germany and Canada, too. Many times on jobs, the construction crews I was there with were our partying their asses off every night, while my No. 1 purpose in life was to find a local meeting. It worked - I stayed sober and many of them wound up in jail.

Some very important contexts and deep meaning started coming to me after around 5-years, and then I started seriously learning to understand my personality and history. I'm still learning.

Sponsorship helped me tremendously because I always insisted they share their life story with me, and I shared mine with them. Thereby, I was able to see what makes us humanoids tick...and why many of us screw up. Those things have helped me stay bullet proof through some hard times, and the challenges keep coming as I'm into the old age zone and with health issues.

One of the things that helped me connect the dots was reading As Bill Sees It and AA Comes of Age, so that I could feel connected with what the founders went through and see the differences in their backgrounds and drinking history. Those two books made a lot of new light bulbs come on for my spiritual journey, obviously along with the Big Book and 12 & 12 book. Bill W. and I have some things in common in the mental department, for example.

I'm a bit of an oddball in that I'm a scientific-minded soul and have to understand everything as thoroughly as possible. I finally learned that I could use that nature as a tool for understanding myself, and thereby finally accepting myself and others - warts and all!

Amazing how all the old tools still seem to work! Thanks for the opportunity to share.......

[stevil]

10. I'm grateful that you share

And I can try to have the things you do. And I will.

[stevil]

19. I'm new

Green and trying to find a way.

[Anon-C]

27. Gratis, and we are blessed to have you on DU, Irisblue.

Keep shining!

[irisblue]

28. So 3/5/19 gratitudes

The usuals, running safe water, hot & cold, flush toilets.
enough Cat food & kitty litter for them & TP for me.
Coffee & cream in it. Food.

Heat in the house
Choices of meetings
Another day, clean & sober.

Always good things to be grateful for. I am richly blessed



And Anon-