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23 DECEMBER 2006

We live for the nights we'll never remember with the people we'll never forget.

(BEST VIEWED FULL SCREEN...TAKE WHAT YOU NEED & SHARE THE REST...)
RECOVER...A New Beginning

TODAY IS: Saturday, the 23rd Day of December 2006

HAPPY CLEAN & SOBER HOLIDAYS

WELCOME TO: All...
So GLAD! you could join us...hope to hear from you soon...

*********************************************************************
To Post A Message To The List You Have Joined:
EMAIL - YAHOO GROUP: recover@yahoogroups.com
POST TO MSN COMMUNITY BOARD: http://communities.msn.com/RecoverANewBeginning

OUR OPEN CHAT ROOM: http://pub24.bravenet.com/chat/show.php/1993527402

SCHEDULED CHAT: Wednesday Evenings, 7 pm Central

HOSTED BY: Soberly Sherry

OUR PURPOSE: To carry the message...
OUR SPIRITUAL MASCOT: The Wild Goose
OUR MOTTO: Rule 62 - Don't take yourself too seriously...

A MESSAGE FROM THE EDGE...

Come to the edge, Life said.
They said: We are afraid.
Come to the edge, Life said.
They came.

It pushed Them...
And They flew."

- Guillaume Apollinaire
1870-1918

FIRST THINGS FIRST

A MOMENT OF SILENCE: for those who still suffer...
A PRAYER: Today, please, help us stay clean and sober during the holidaze...
Thank You.

OUR DAILY TASK:
"Practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty."

--Anne Herbert

SURF'Z UP!

SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER (SAD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder

SOBER CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL KIT

http://shopping.guardian.co.uk/christmas2003/story/0,,1103209,00.html

THE DANGERS OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/holiday/a/aa991208.htm

STAYING SOBER DURING THE HOLIDAYS

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/holiday/a/aa121097.htm

LINK UP

NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS - HELPLINE PHONE NUMBERS BY AREA

http://www.na.org/phonelines/phonelin-toc.htm

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS - HOW TO FIND A MEETING

http://www.aa.org/en_find_meeting.cfm

ALANON-ALATEEN-HOW TO FIND A MEETING IN US/CANADA/PUERTO RICO

http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/meetings/meeting.html

CODA - MEETING SEARCH

http://www.codependents.org/meeting-search-english.php

GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS - INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/mtgdirTOP.html

SEX ADDICTS ANONYMOUS - FIND A MEETING

http://www.sexaa.org/meetings.htm

HOLIDAY STEPS

FROM: http://ezinearticles.com/?Alcoholism-Recovery:-12-Steps-to-Stay-Sober-Over-the-Christmas-Holidays:&id=357317

One of the most difficult times of the year for those recovering from alcoholism is the Christmas holidays. If you find yourself struggling during the Christmas season, please remember that you are not alone. Help is only a phone call or a meeting away! Here are some helpful and practical tips to keep you from taking that first drink.

1. Plan Each and Every Day of Your Holiday

Plan to spend the majority of your time with friends and family who are supportive of your recovery. If you are required to be present for a social gathering where alcohol is being served, bring a fellow AA member with you. Plan fun events and outings to replace your old drinking rituals.

2. Find an “Alkathon” in Your Area

During the Christmas season, some AA groups hold a marathon of meetings called an “Alkathon.” It is a time when the members of Alcoholics Anonymous gather together to celebrate their recovery from alcohol addiction. Many AA groups have meetings on the hour every hour to share their experience, strength and hope. If you are a member of the fellowship or think that you might have a problem with alcohol, you are welcome to attend. Check the local papers for an “Alkathon” in your area.

3. Ask for Support from Your Family and Friends

Those who are truly supportive of your recovery will be happy to help you throughout the holidays. Be up front and tell them your concerns.

4. Have a List of at Least Ten People you can call if you feel the Urge to Drink

Make a list and check it twice. Carry your cell phone and your list of names at all times. The urge to drink is very powerful and can happen at any time.

5. Don’t Forget about Regular Exercise

Regular exercise is an essential component of any balanced recovery program. If you have extra time on your hands, it is a great idea to get out and exercise. Examples include running, skating, cross country skiing, stretching, yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates or water aerobics. Instead of napping on the couch after dinner, go for a walk around the block.

6. Stay Away from Slippery Places

There is absolutely no reason to ever check out your former favorite drinking establishments. It is very likely that your old drinking buddies are still there and are still telling the same old stories.

7. Create New Traditions to replace your Old Drinking Patterns

Try something totally different during the holidays. Buy a new board game; take the family on a sleigh ride; prepare a family power point presentation. Use you imagination, be creative and have fun.

8. Write out a Daily Gratitude List

The quickest cure to get you out of the holiday blues is by counting your blessings. Be grateful for what you have by writing out a gratitude list every morning. Don’t stop writing until you have at least 10 items on your list.

9. Volunteer your Services to a Charitable Organization

There are many people in your community who are homeless and hungry. Why not volunteer to work at a soup kitchen or at a special Christmas dinner for those less fortunate than you? You will be helping not only the needy but yourself!

10. Write a Letter to yourself. How I Stayed Sober over Christmas.

The act of writing your ideas on paper is very powerful. Write down all the activities and events that will help you have healthy happy sober Christmas. Now take action on them and make this letter come true!

11. Avoid H.A.L.T.

H.A.L.T. stands for:

• Hungry

• Angry

• Lonely

• Tired

There are very simple solutions for all of the above items. If you are hungry, get something to eat. If you are angry, talk to somebody about it. If you are lonely, go to a meeting or call a friend. If you are tired, get a good night’s sleep.

12. Live One Day at a time and Enjoy your Sobriety!

Stay in the moment. Have present time consciousness. Be in the now. These are all different ways of telling you to live 1 day at a time. Never mind about what happened or what could happen. Enjoy today. Live today. Celebrate your sobriety!

If you follow these simple steps, it is totally feasible to stay sober over the Christmas Holidays. Take action now! Print out this article and plan a Happy and Healthy holiday season.

NOTABLE QUOTEZ

A boy is invincible. Then he drinks and drives and he finds out that his friend isn't.
-Anonymous

Sir, I have no objection to a man's drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt to go to excess in it, and therefore, after having been for some time without it, on account of illness, I thought it better not to return to it. Every man is to judge for himself, according to the effects which he experiences.

--Samuel Johnson

We live for the nights we'll never remember with the people we'll never forget.

--Anonymous

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

Sobriety Cartoons

http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/s/sobriety.asp

BY THE BOOK

FROM: The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous
BIG BOOK SEARCH ENGINE: http://www.whytehouse.com/big_book_search/

http://www.whytehouse.com/big_book_search/book/ch3p38.html

However intelligent we may have been in other respects, where alcohol has been involved, we have been strangely insane. It´s strong language-but isn´t it true?

Some of you are thinking: "Yes, what you tell is true, but it doesn´t fully apply. We admit we have some of these symptoms, but we have not gone to the extremes you fellows did, nor are we likely to, for we understand ourselves so well after what you have told us that such things cannot happen again. We have not lost everything in life through drinking...

WINTER HOLIDAY ROUNDUP

WINTER SOLSTICE - MIDWINTER FESTIVALS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Solstice_Celebrations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winter_festivals

HANUKAH - Dec 15 - 22

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hanukkah.html

CHRISTMAS - Dec 25

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/christmas1.html

BOXING DAY - Dec 26

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/boxingday1.html

KWANZAA - Dec 26

http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml

THOTZ FOR THE DAZE

HOW TO RESIST DRINKING AT SOCIAL EVENTS

from http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/relapse/ht/resist.htm

Not drinking when everyone else is can be very difficult,

but it can be done with careful planning and determination.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: All day

Here's How:

If you are unsure if non-alcoholic beverages will be available, bring your own.

Stay away from the bar area.

If offered a drink, just say, 'No, thank you.' You do not have to explain.

If there is food available, be sure to eat, so that you are not hungry

If you feel that you are becoming tempted to drink, leave early.

Stay busy. Talk to others, dance, etc. Don't give yourself time to think about the fact that you are not drinking.

Don't drink, no matter what!

Tips:

If others at the event are drinking, chances are they will never know that you only have cola in your glass.

If you are new to sobriety and are concerned about attending an event where alcohol will be served, arrive late and leave early. Take a sober friend, or at least their phone number.

You are probably not the only one at the party who is clean and sober. Find the winners and hang out with them.

Don't even think about trying the NA beer and yes, the Egg Nog is spiked.

If someone has told you that you are "codependent" don't end up going home with the one who wears the lampshade or dances on the table. Allow them the dignity of learning from their own mistakes, don't "rescue" them from hitting bottom, and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction.

What You Need:

A desire to quit drinking.

THE LAST WORD

HAPPY, SOBER HOLIDAZE!!!

===========================
EVERY END A NEW BEGINNING
===========================

Been There, Done That...But NOT TODAY!
@(^o^)@
Gayle H. (Alcoholic/Addict/ListModerator)

RULE 62 LIVES!

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost;
that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
--Thoreau

===UNABASHED MEMBER PROMOTIONS===

Please Support your local List Member...

NEW! Meeting Wisdom In A Mug

Program sayings, acronyms, anniversaries, and wisdom heard in the rooms printed on coffee mugs to start your Today of right...

reasonably prices...all proceeds to support this newsletter and the Online Recovery Library

Kai's Jewels

Custom jewelry & special gifts for awareness, recovery, support and special occasions, ...

to find the best and finest selection of jewelry which promote awareness, education and support for causes ...

come in a beautifully packaged jewelry box ...
www.kaisjewels.com

*******************************************************

Check out the "Stay Clean and Sober" Bar

soapsbypatricia.com

******************************************************************
Bird's Serenity Shop
http://www.recoveryusa.net/services8.html
"Where you come for a Peace of Mind"
Specializing in Dual Diagnosis Items...

*********************************************************************
Lumpy'z Karma's Online Recovery Library
http://lumpykarma.com/
Lumpy'z Amazon.com Associate Bookstore
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/onlinerecoveryli

*********************************************************************
Powerfully Recovered!
A Confirmed 12 Stepper Challenges The Movement, by Anne Wayman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1581128762/onlinerecoveryli

========RECOVER...A NEW BEGINNING=======

NEW GOOGLE GROUP

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/recover-a-new-beginning

YAHOO GROUPS: MIGRATING TO GOOGLE GROUPS ABOVE

MSN COMMUNITY: MIGRATING TO GOOGLE GROUPS ABOVE

============END TRANSMISSION============
© 1998-2006 Lumpy Karma Enterprises

DON'T GIVE UP UNTIL THE MIRACLE...

"In the end, we will only conserve what we love,

we will only love what we know,

and we will know only what we are taught."
-Baba Diom, Conservationist, Senegal

Teach your children well...
-CSN&Y

17 DECEMBER 2006

..Adolescent drug use has been rising steadily since 1991...

(BEST VIEWED FULL SCREEN...TAKE WHAT YOU NEED & SHARE THE REST...)
RECOVER...A New Beginning

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN....

TODAY IS: Sunday, the 17th Day of December 2006

WELCOME TO: All, especially the Newcomers...
So GLAD! you could join us...hope to hear from you soon...

********************************************************************

OUR OPEN CHAT ROOM: http://pub24.bravenet.com/chat/show.php/1993527402

SCHEDULED CHAT: Wednesday Evenings, 7 pm Central

HOSTED BY: Soberly Sherry

********************************************************************

OUR PURPOSE: To carry the message...
OUR SPIRITUAL MASCOT: The Wild Goose
OUR MOTTO: Rule 62 - Don't take yourself too seriously...

A MESSAGE FROM THE EDGE...

Come to the edge, Life said.
They said: We are afraid.
Come to the edge, Life said.
They came.

It pushed Them...
And They flew."

- Guillaume Apollinaire
1870-1918

===FIRST THINGS FIRST===

A MOMENT OF SILENCE: for those who still suffer...
A PRAYER: Today, please, help us to lead our children on the path of sobriety
Thank You.

OUR DAILY TASK:
"Practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty."

--Anne Herbert

===MODERATOR'Z NOTE===

MERRY CHRISTMAS

HAPPY HANUKAH

HAPPY KWANZAA

The Official Kwanzaa Website graphic

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE

Howdy, All...I'm gettin' another day...hope you are too!

Ok, still experimenting with the capabilities of the new Google Group...

Have done this newsletter in html hoping it will post correctly...

if not, you can access it at

http://lumpykarma.com/newsletter.html

ALSO, posting this to the old group just in case...we don't want to leave anybody behind, right?

So far our numbers on the new list are up to 14...only 300 more to go

NEW LIST AT

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/recover-a-new-beginning?hl=en

===PLEASE TO PUT A PENNY===

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIST MEMBERS...

SEE ===UNABASHED MEMBER PROMOTIONS=== BELOW...

===SURF'Z UP! ===

DEFY

http://www.donhq.navy.mil/defy/

FACTS FOR YOUTH

http://www.acde.org/youth/Default.htm

PARENTS: THE ANTI-DRUG

http://www.theantidrug.com/

===ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT===

Ignorance, when voluntary, is criminal,

and a man may be properly charged with that evil

which he neglected or refused to learn how to prevent.

--Samuel Johnson

===NOTABLE QUOTEZ===

Education is not the piling on of learning, information, data, facts, skills, or abilities--that's training or instruction--but is rather a making visible what is hidden as a seed...
To be educated, a person doesn't have to know much or be informed, but he or she does have to have been exposed vulnerably to the transformative events of an engaged human life...
One of the greatest problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated.

--Thomas Moore

It is by studying little things that we attain the great knowledge

of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

--Samuel Johnson

===CLASSICAL WISDOM===

One must learn by doing the thing,

for though you think you know it,

you have no certainty until you try.

--Aristotle

Knowledge is the food of the soul.

--Plato

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.

--Diogenes

===NATIVE WISDOM===

We can get over being poor, but it takes longer to get over being ignorant.

--Jane Sequichie Hifler, Cherokee Book of Days

===POETIC WISOM===

THE FIFTH SEASON

In the spring of life, in the flower of youth,
Everything is bright and new.
In the summer of life,
Time of growth and change,
Each day brings new dreams to pursue.
In the autumn of life,
There’s a settling down -
Contentment and sureness in what we do.
In the winter of life,
Comes peace and wisdom,
Time to relax and reminisce, too...
But with the passing of these seasons,
Life is still not done, not through,
For there is yet another season,
When each spirit is renewed.
And it is in this calm fifth season,
In this hopeful second spring,
A time of cleansing and rebirth,
A time of new awakening.
Each person’s life will come full circle,
Even as the seasons do,
To start another, different life,
Much better than the one we knew.

--C.A. Schlea

===BY THE BOOK===

FROM: The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous
BIG BOOK SEARCH ENGINE: http://thebigbook.org/

Page 33

We, who are familiar with the symptoms, see
large numbers of potential alcoholics among young people everywhere.

But try and get them to see it!

===SOUL FOOD===

MY GUARDIAN ANGEL

http://nickscape.net/recoveryzone/barb_f.htm

===THOTZ FOR THE DAZE===

DRUG ABUSE AMONG YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULTS...

Rationale: Our nation should focus its efforts on fact-based education as well as programs to dissuade adolescents from the use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs. Adolescent drug use has been rising steadily since 1991, which is the longest sustained increase in adolescent drug use since the Monitoring the Future Survey began. After the release of the 1998 Monitoring the Future Survey,¹⁷ the ONDCP issued a surprising press release which stated "Second Straight Year of No Significant Increases, Many Categories of Youth Drug Use Fall Significantly." General McCaffrey is quoted as saying, "The 1998 Study shows that we have turned the tide of youth drug use." ¹⁸ Unfortunately, a review of the actual survey data shows a sharply different result. Survey data indicate that modest declines in the use of the traditionally popular drug marijuana comprised the major portion of lowered numbers. This decline masked a continuing rise in hard drug use by our youth. For instance, the percentage of high school seniors reporting lifetime marijuana use dropped by 0.5%, but the percentage of high school seniors reporting lifetime crack use increased by 0.5%. Twice as many students reported using heroin by the 8th grade in 1998 as was reported in 1991. Nearly three times as many students reported using crack by the 8th grade for the same time period. Exchanging marijuana use for crack and heroin is clearly not the type of trade-off that most parents would like to see. The ONDCP's failure to mention any of these significant issues in their official press statement cheats parents, educators and journalists out of their ability to understand the dimensions of adolescent drug use.
Figure 9 Adolescent use of crack and heroin. Source: 1998 Monitoring the Future Survey, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
Recommendation 1: TRIPLE the current National Drug Control Strategy budget share for reducing youth and young adult drug use.
Despite claims that the War on Drugs is being fought to save future generations of children from being hooked on drugs, and despite Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey's promise to focus his office's efforts on youth drug use prevention, the ONDCP is budgeting less than 12% of the $100 billion it is planning to allocate between 1998 and 2003 for reducing youth drug use. ¹⁹ This number is appallingly low and should be significantly increased. For an effective drug control strategy, we believe that at least one-third of the budget should be focused on reducing youth drug use; therefore we recommend that the ONDCP TRIPLE its budget share to 34% for reducing youth and young adult drug use. Recommendation 2: Focus funding and efforts on strategies that have documented success in reducing youth drug use. According to SAMHSA, "alcohol and drug use tends to be a chosen activity engaged in during unstructured and unsupervised time." ²⁰ Therefore, existing and expanded funding should not be spent on simplistic anti-drug advertising campaigns, but rather should be invested in youth. Programs which provide positive and enriching activities, "offset the attraction to, or otherwise meet the needs usually filled by alcohol, tobacco and drugs." ²¹ Researchers have noted that "adolescence is a period in which youth reject conventionality and traditional authority figures in an effort to establish their own independence… drug use may be a 'default' activity engaged in when youth have few or no opportunities to assert their independence in a constructive manner." ²² Moreover, twice as many youths from low-income families are unsupervised for more than three hours per day than youths from high-income families. ²³ In an independent study of the Big Brother/Big Sister Program, researchers found that "Little Brothers and Little Sisters were 46% less likely to start using illegal drugs, and 27% less likely to start drinking." Little Brothers and Little Sisters also did better in school, had better attendance records, and felt slightly better about how they would perform in school. ²⁴ Constructive activities and mentoring programs provide a strong environment for youths and young adults to reject all forms of drug use and provide benefits across a wide array of indicators, such as school performance and self-esteem. These kinds of strategies should be central to our efforts to reduce youth and young adult drug use because they actually work. Recommendation 3: Use facts, not scare-tactics to educate youth. Education is a key component of any plan to change self-destructive behavior. In order for it to be effective and not undermine its purpose, education must be completely factual and rational. By relying on scare-tactics and unfounded assertions, the current drug policy has failed to achieve its purpose. Nowhere can this be more clearly seen than where exaggerated claims about marijuana lead youth and young adults to disbelieve information about harder drugs as well. ²⁵ Statements like the one shown at right by Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, can confuse children. Since half of all kids try marijuana before graduating from high school, there is a great deal of informal knowledge about the drug among youth. Being told by public officials that there is no substantive difference between marijuana and other drugs like heroin and cocaine, can "send the wrong message" to kids – leading to experimentation with more dangerous drugs. By focusing educational campaigns on information which is scientifically accurate, we can achieve our educational goals and become a more credible force with the younger generation. Recommendation 4: Redirect DARE funding into more productive and effective programs. Support for the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) ²⁶ program must to be reconsidered. Federally funded research conducted by the Research Triangle Institute found that DARE had no effect on youth and young adult drug use, and that DARE students were no less likely to use drugs than students who were not involved with the program.²⁷ A key aspect of DARE's failure to be effective stems from the program's basic premise – the idea that police are appropriate teachers of health information. Police do not teach children about sex education, hygiene or dental care, so why are they teaching children about drugs? It sends the wrong message that drugs are a law enforcement issue, rather than a public health issue. More importantly, a police officer may intimidate adolescents who have experimented with drugs from asking lifesaving questions out of fear that they will get into trouble. In spite of DARE's documented lack of success and its inherent weaknesses, the federal drug education budget provides a 'set aside' for DARE, ensuring that it continues to squander the few prevention dollars this country spends on adolescent drug education. This a failure on the part of our government to protect children from the dangers of drug use and drug abuse. At the very least, DARE should be required to compete with other drug education programs and prove that it can be effective. Furthermore, since federally sponsored studies indicate that nearly 50% of all students try an illegal drug before they graduate from high school, and 85% of students try alcohol, ²⁸ the goal of drug education should be broadened to include reducing the harms related to alcohol and other drug use, as well as preventing adolescent alcohol and other drug use from the outset. Recommendation 5: Be responsible with the provision of anti-drug messages. The ONDCP's newly launched $2 billion advertising campaign to make children aware of the dangers of drug use has been approached in an unscientific and irresponsible way. There is no evidence that advertising is likely to prevent drug abuse, and in fact highlighting drug use may have the reverse effect. In the 1960s, media stories which promoted the dangers of using glue to intoxicate oneself only served to inform children that the common substance could produce a high, and "to popularize rather than to discourage the practice." Prior to 1959, glue-sniffing was virtually unknown, but with its publicity, the number of high school students who reported trying it at least once rose to about 1 in 20 by the mid to late 1960s.

===THE LAST WORD===

Lumpyexitzsinging:

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

--Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, "Teach Your Children Well"

===========================
EVERY END A NEW BEGINNING
===========================

Been There, Done That...But NOT TODAY!
@(^o^)@
Gayle H. (Alcoholic/Addict/ListModerator)

RULE 62 LIVES!

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost;
that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
--Thoreau

===UNABASHED MEMBER PROMOTIONS===

Please Support your local List Member...

NEW! Meeting Wisdom In A Mug

Program sayings, acronyms, anniversaries, and wisdom heard in the rooms printed on coffee mugs

to start your Today of right...

reasonably priced...proceeds to support this newsletter and the Online Recovery Library

KAI'S JEWELS

Custom jewelry & special gifts for awareness, recovery, support and special occasions, ...

to find the best and finest selection of jewelry which promote awareness, education and support for causes ...

come in a beautifully packaged jewelry box ...
www.kaisjewels.com

*******************************************************

Check out the "Stay Clean and Sober" Bar

soapsbypatricia.com

========RECOVER...A NEW BEGINNING=======

GOOGLE GROUPS

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/recover-a-new-beginning?hl=en

YAHOO GROUPS: (being discontinued)
URL to this group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/recover

MSN COMMUNITY: (being discontinued)
MSN Community - Recover...A New Beginning
http://communities.msn.com/RecoverANewBeginning

DON'T GIVE UP UNTIL THE MIRACLE...

3 DECEMBER 2006

(BEST VIEWED FULL SCREEN...TAKE WHAT YOU NEED & SHARE THE REST...)
RECOVER...A New Beginning

WHO ARE YOU?

TODAY IS: Sunday, the 3rd Day of December 2006

WELCOME TO: All of you who EVER you are...

So GLAD! you could join us...hope to hear from you soon...

********************************************************************

OUR OPEN CHAT ROOM: http://pub24.bravenet.com/chat/show.php/1993527402

SCHEDULED CHAT: Wednesday Evenings, 7 pm Central

HOSTED BY: Soberly Sherry

********************************************************************

OUR PURPOSE: To carry the message...
OUR SPIRITUAL MASCOT: The Wild Goose

OUR MOTTO: Rule 62 - Don't take yourself too seriously...

A MESSAGE FROM THE EDGE...

Come to the edge, Life said.
They said: We are afraid.
Come to the edge, Life said.
They came.

It pushed Them...
And They flew."

- Guillaume Apollinaire
1870-1918

===FIRST THINGS FIRST===

A MOMENT OF SILENCE: for those who still suffer...
A PRAYER: Today, please, help us to know who we are...
Thank You.

OUR DAILY TASK:

"Practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty."

--Anne Herbert

====MODERATOR'Z NOTE===

Howdy, All...I'm gettin' another day, hope you are too!

Well, The Season is upon us...

we're rapidly approaching the Winter Solstice...

the world is gearing up for Retail Peace and Joy...

Santa Claus is Coming To Town...

Time to make a new list of Resolutions...

and so forth...

and I just can't take ANY of it too terribly seriously.

But, then, I'm finding I can't take too much of anything too terribly seriously lately...

I've just finished a particularly heavy round of discussions on an Addiction Treatment Academic/Scholarly list originating out of a major U.S. University...and it's begun to scare me who's out there intellectualzing about OUR recovery ...shudder...

I'm positively giddy with exhaustion from this past school semester's efforts...I think I'm gonna finally lose my Perfect 4.0 GPA (THAT will be a bit of a relief, actually...it's Pure Hell trying to be Perfect)

It's too chilly (for me) to ride my motorcycle...and my car is getting ready to die on me...

Just when I'm on the very verge of catching up on my bills, my hours have been cut at work...

I've developed an thoroughly unpractical Obsession with traveling to England to do an ancestor search...

I've been drinking ENTIRELY too much coffee, and as a result

My Kat is acting even more demented than usual...

i.e., Life on Life's Terms goes on...as usual

So, in the Holiday vein, I've donned my bright red reindeer socks,

and I'm going to go haring off (again) after the Recovery Philosophy to be found in children's books...

THIS WEEK: The writings of Lewis Carroll (I know, I just DID Alice, but his stuff is often sooo apt...)

Got any childhood favorites you want me to include?...let me know...

@(^o^)@

Gayle H. (AKA Lumpy Karma)

Addict/Student/List Manager

===SURF'Z UP! ===

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DIFFERENT?

http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/en_is_aa_for_you.cfm?PageID=16

THE ORIGINAL ALICE MANUSCRIPT (ONLINE AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY)

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html

WHO ARE YOU? QUIZILLA.COM

http://quizilla.com/users/thelumbymon/quizzes/Who%20are%20you%3F/

===ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT===

While the laughter of joy is in full harmony with our deeper life,

the laughter of amusement should be kept apart from it.

The danger is too great of thus learning to look at solemn things in a spirit of mockery,

and to seek in them opportunities for exercising wit.

--Lewis Carroll

===LEWIS CARROLL QUOTEZ===

FROM: Alice in Wonderland

Caterpillar:

Who are YOU?
Alice:

This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. I -- I hardly know, sir, just at present -- at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.

The Duchess:
I quite agree with you. And the moral of that is: Be what you would seem to be, or if you'd like it put more simply: Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.

* * *
Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop...

The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today.

There comes a pause, for human strength will not endure to dance without cessation;

and everyone must reach the point at length of absolute prostration.

Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

===BY THE BOOK===

FROM: The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous
BIG BOOK SEARCH ENGINE: http://www.whytehouse.com/big_book_search/

BIG BOOK-FOWARD TO THE FIRST EDITION PXIV.HTML
We simply wish to be helpful to those who are afflicted.

We shall be interested to hear from those who are getting results from this book...

BIG BOOK-CHAPTER EIGHT P111.HTML
... a full and useful life, though your husband continues to drink. We know women who are unafraid, even happy under these conditions.

BIG BOOK-CHAPTER FIVE P58.HTML
...l not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way.

BIG BOOK-CHAPTER ELEVEN P157.HTML
...stared glassily at the strangers beside his bed. Who are you fellows, and why this private room?

===SOUL FOOD===

I have had prayers answered - most strangely so sometimes -

but I think our heavenly Father's loving-kindness has been even more evident in

what He has refused me.

--Lewis Carroll

===THOTZ FOR THE DAZE===

FROM:

WHO ARE YOU WHEN NO ONE'S LOOKING? by William Hybels(Bookstore Link)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0877849455?ie=UTF8&tag=onlinerecoveryli

ENDANGERED CHARACTER QUALITIES

People give evidence of strong character in hundreds of ways every day

A woman confronts her terror of public speaking so she can tell her church congregation

about her miraculous answer to prayer.

That's COURAGE

A man vows to get up twenty minutes early each morning to jog around the block

and he keeps his vow.

That's DISCIPLINE

A high-school teacher patiently draws out an inattentive student

and discovers she is a gifted writer.

That's VISION

A college student, overwhelmed by tests and term papers, considers dropping out,

but decides to stay and study instead.

That's ENDURANCE

===THE LAST WORD===

LUMPYEXITZSINGING:

Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?

I woke up in a Soho doorway
A policeman knew my name
He said "You can go sleep at home tonight
If you can get up and walk away"

I staggered back to the underground
And the breeze blew back my hair
I remember throwin' punches around
And preachin' from my chair

chorus:
Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
'Cause I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

I took the tube back out of town
Back to the Rollin' Pin
I felt a little like a dying clown
With a streak of Rin Tin Tin

I stretched back and I hiccupped
And looked back on my busy day
Eleven hours in the Tin Pan
God, there's got to be another way

Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
I really w