Category Archives: Behavioural Addiction

Daily Reading from Recovery Days January 8th by Chris B

Posted on by
Reply

View VIDEO on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=A100094027278120

Follow on TikTok Videos at Tiktok.com/@recoverydays

Remember Mindfulness – relax your body

Asking for help

Help, I’ve got a problem! The simplified version of
Step One begins like that, with good reason.
Learning to ride a bicycle for the first time, you
would probably ask for help without shame or
hesitation. Yet something stops us asking for help to
learn sobriety. Once again, our pride is to blame.
People in recovery know that it does them good to
help others and clearly, they are the people to ask
because they are demonstrably getting it right. Step
Two is about asking for help because we cannot do
this alone. Do I see the sense in asking for help?

If I am rigorously honest, I will recognise the need
for outside help. When I am dealing with something
as powerful as addiction, I need to find the most
powerful help available – my Higher Power, which
works not by a flash of light, but through other
people. There is no easy way – I must swallow my
pride and ask for help when I am struggling.
Perhaps a phone call. It could be the most important
call I ever make. May I have the honesty to
recognise when I am struggling, so that I may
overcome my pride and reach out to ask for help.

Daily Reading from recovery Days January 7th by Chris B

Posted on by
Reply

View VIDEO on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=A100094027278120

Follow on TikTok Videos at Tiktok.com/@recoverydays

Remember Mindfulness – send positivity

Willingness to change

And Acceptance is the answer to all my problems
today. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s
world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism,
I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely
on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to
concentrate not so much on what needs to be
changed in the world as on what needs to be
changed in me and in my attitudes. AA Big Book.
Am I ready to ask my Higher Power to help me
change the things I can?


Accepting my powerlessness effectively means that I
need to look to a Higher Power for help. Handing
over control to something intangible like this feels
alien yet it must be done. I must now give up the
struggle and hand it over. Once I have done so, I
will feel relief. I am grateful to my Higher Power for
giving me this guidance. Today I hand myself over
to my Higher Power and give thanks for the help
given to me where I could not help myself

Daily Reading from Recovery Days January 6th by Chris B

Posted on by
Reply

View VIDEO on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=A100094027278120

Follow on TikTok Videos at Tiktok.com/@recoverydays

Remember Mindfulness – observe new thoughts
Self-love
Acceptance means loving yourself enough to take
action. It is one thing to see the benefits that begin
with acceptance, but quite another to love yourself
enough to believe the process is worth doing.
Feeling one is worthless is a device to avoid taking
responsibility for change. Do I value myself enough
to take responsibility for change?
Self-acceptance is about embracing all aspects of
ourselves – the positive and the negative because
nobody is one hundred percent perfect. When we
stop judging ourselves harshly, our self-esteem rises.
Self-love is about caring for yourself as you would
nurture a child – reassuring, validating, and
watching out for yourself so that you eat, sleep and
exercise properly. Personal growth happens when
the two go hand in hand. May I believe myself to be
a worthwhile person who grasps the second chance
at life offered to me, because I am worth it.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days January 5th by Chris B

Posted on by
Reply

View VIDEO on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=A100094027278120

Follow on TikTok Videos at Tiktok.com/@recoverydays

Remember Mindfulness – review expectations


Surrender


Acceptance involves surrender. This does not mean
allowing others to take advantage of you, it simply
means being realistic.
Surrender may be the necessary foundation for
recovery but sometimes we fight it. Most of us look
back after some clean time and wonder why on earth
we fought so hard to deny our powerlessness when
surrender is what saved our lives. Just For Today,
Narcotics Anonymous.
Have I truly surrendered?

The paradox of surrender is that it turns out to be
where recovery begins. Something in our ego
makes it seem shameful and weak to
surrender, the ultimate defeat in our constant yet
pointless inner struggle. But the perceived
surrender where it is true and comprehensive, is in
fact victory, over our self-indulgence, pride and yes,
our ego itself. Today I ask God for the grace to
surrender my ego and fully accept the things I
cannot change.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days January 4th by Chris B

Posted on by
Reply

View VIDEO on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=A100094027278120

Follow on TikTok Videos at Tiktok.com/@recoverydays

Remember Mindfulness – breathe calmly


Negative comfort zones


The barriers in the way to full acceptance are all of
our own making – denial, avoidance, pride and selfwill.
Many of us struggle with denial because we
cannot bear the emotional pain of the reality that
lies behind it. Our inflated egos are a part of the
negative comfort zone we have constructed to
protect us. Dismantling these barriers to reveal our
true selves may involve some short-term pain but,
finding the courage to do so is a step towards
emotional maturity. Have I left my negative
comfort zone?

Acceptance is about living with ourselves with all
our imperfections. But, before we get too negative,
we should remind ourselves that we are also good
people who are struggling with an illness that we
did not choose. Certainly, we have work to do but it
is our basic goodness and the help from our Higher
Power that will lead us to success, so that we
eventually become ‘better than well’. May I find the
honesty and courage to accept short-term emotional
pain, in order to receive long-term benefit.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days January 3rd by Chris B

Posted on by
Reply

View VIDEO on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=A100094027278120

Follow on TikTok Videos at Tiktok.com/@recoverydays

Remember Mindfulness – relax your body


Step One


Acceptance is an attitude of mind and without it, we
cannot find true serenity. Reinhold Niebuhr’s
Serenity Prayer has helped many people find inner
peace. Life can seem at times unbearably stressful
and unmanageable. Acceptance of Step One –
taking things exactly as they are – can be the key
that unlocks the door to lasting change and
contentment. Do I fully admit that my life has
become unmanageable?

Life is difficult, it always will be. How we deal with
life’s problems defines us. In the case of addiction,
the problem lies within us, not in the bottle or the
pill. It is a tragic fact that many addicted people go
to an early grave because they have not faced the
problem of themselves. They are stuck in denial and
unable to be honest with themselves. Acceptance
and honesty must go together, otherwise the
foundations of recovery will crumble. We are
dealing with a disease that brooks no compromises
and acceptance is where we must begin. May I fully
embrace the process of acceptance because it is the
key to a way of seeing that will bring me a new
freedom.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days January 2nd by Chris B

Posted on by
Reply

View VIDEO on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=A100094027278120

Follow on TikTok Videos at Tiktok.com/@recoverydays

Remember Mindfulness – sit comfortably


Letting down defences


When we fully accept ourselves and life on life’s
terms, we will no longer feel vulnerable because we
have nothing more to hide. By letting down our
defences, we feel a sense of relief. The important
thing is how we have responded. By showing to the
world how we deal with our faults and defects, we
become a power for good. Demonstrating how we
manage our imperfections is a far more effective
example to others than trying to portray ourselves as
faultless. Have I fully let down my defences?

One of the paradoxes of recovery is that when we let
down our defences and become vulnerable, we also
open ourselves to change. We must be completely
willing to change.
When you really want something, the whole
universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
Paolo Coelho.
The idea of change may seem daunting, but we only
need to take small steps because recovery is a
journey, not a destination. May I release myself from
the self-inflicted pain of my resistance to reality;
may I learn to see and accept life as it really is.

Daily Reading from recovery Days December 31st by Chris B

Posted on by
Reply

View VIDEO on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=A100094027278120

Follow on TikTok Videos at Tiktok.com/@recoverydays

Remember Mindfulness – sit comfortably

Mindfulness

Another year awaits us. How do we feel? Take a few
moments to reflect on the past year and focus on the
good that has come from it. Ignore the bad – be
grateful for the good. Where would we be today if we
were not in the programme? Recovery shows us a
different path, where we recognise the peace that
comes from doing our best and the contentment
that comes from a sense of belonging and
appreciating small things around us. Am I grateful
to be alive, clean and sober, just for today?

Take a moment of mindfulness, at the cusp of this
new year to be thankful for your life and reflect on
the beauty of your surroundings this present
moment, as the great American poet William
Stafford did:
Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
Sound from outside fills the air?
…What can anyone give you greater than now,
Starting here, right in this room,
When you turn around? William Stafford.
Today I thank my Higher Power for helping me to
appreciate all the beauty and wisdom in the world

Daily Reading from Recovery Days December 28th by Chris B

Posted on by
Reply

View VIDEO on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=A100094027278120

Follow on TikTok Videos at Tiktok.com/@recoverydays

Remember Mindfulness – breathe slowly


A quick fix is the goal of the immature person. A lot
of people are able to stop addictive behaviour while
outside pressures are not great, but when things get
difficult, they do not have the resources or the
maturity to handle the situation and the quick fix of
their drug or behaviour of choice seems to be the
only solution. That is why recovery from addiction
requires mental and spiritual adjustments as well as
physical ones. Just as crash dieting and hastily
cramming our heads with knowledge don’t usually
provide lasting solutions, so addiction recovery is
best when not rushed. Have I learned that the quick
fix is never an answer to my problems?

In recovery, I am establishing a new relationship
with myself – the most important relationship that I
have. I must proceed with care and insight. I must
learn to love myself because unless I do, I will not be
able to love others. I must be comfortable with my
own company so that I can travel alone with myself,
in perfect contentment. I ask my Higher Power to
guide me to be comfortable inside my skin.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days December 27th by Chris B

Posted on by
Reply

View VIDEO on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=A100094027278120

Follow on TikTok Videos at Tiktok.com/@recoverydays

Remember Mindfulness – sit comfortably


New ideas


Breaking old thought patterns, making new
connections and getting fresh perspectives all
sound exciting. There are so many new things that
we can try. The idea of spiritual growth can seem
strang – it may test our willingness to change. But
there is nothing to fear and the potential benefit is
huge – a whole new approach to life. Let’s face it,
our old way wasn’t so good. Am I ready to explore
new ways of living, through spiritual growth?


The feeding of the five thousand is one of the most
famous stories in the New Testament. It tells how
Christ miraculously fed a huge crowd of followers
with just five loaves and two fishes. It illustrates an
important point: normally when you share material
things such as food, the more recipients there are
the less each gets, including the person sharing. If,
however, you share truths and ideas (such as
Christianity or spirituality) there is no such
limitation – everyone gets as much as they need.
Perhaps Christ wanted to illustrate this point.
Exploring spirituality opens minds so that we want
to pass on ideas we like. Doing so costs us nothing.
For this, I give thanks.