“No I’m no angel
no I’m no stranger to the street
I’ve got my label…
let me show you my tattoo’s.”
(Greg Allman)
Although Greg Allman may have written the lyrics to “I’m No Angel” in regard to the persuasion of a woman’s affection; those paraphrased lyrics also convey my current dilemma in regaining a “normal“, nine to five lifestyle within the eyes and laws of employers and the state of North Carolina or the USA as a whole perhaps.
What I am ever so slowly learning is to stay calm and persevere. “PERSEVERANCE“… it’s funny how I have that word tattooed from my wrist to my upper arm facing me so that I may read it and remember why and how to do this thing called alcoholic recovery.
WHO KEPT US SOBER TODAY..? FUCK YOU MONEY PIGS WHO USE THIS AS A MEANS OF INCOME…
YOU ARE TAKING OUR CHOICE TO STAY SOBER AWAY FROM US FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS…
I DIDN’T GET SOBER TO PLEASE YOU MOTHER FUCKERS AND I’LL BE GOD DAMNED IF I’M GOING TO PAY YOU FOR IT NOW…
SUCK IT… YOU FUCKIN’ BASTARDS IN RALEIGH, NC
For all you new comers…here’s how it works…”initial installation fee of $75, and the daily monitoring fee of $12 per day”
August 26, 2008 by Mark
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
The Eleventh Tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous
Certainly we can all agree that there is no controversy surrounding this Tradition just like there is no controversy about “Conference Approved Literature” right?
Well, I thought it would be interesting to hear what the moderator at the AA History Lovers Group at Yahoo! has to say regarding “Attraction Rather Than Promotion;”
‘Might I say that Tradition Eleven, which says that “Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion,” is talking about maintaining PERSONAL ANONYMITY in ads and posters and so on.
It’s not saying you can’t do it, just that you should not put up a poster with a photo showing the face of a living AA member, and that person’s full name, as an advertisement for AA.
It is the same issue that shows up in the Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions, pp. 147-149, in the story of Rule No. 62. Alcoholics tend sometimes to be “promoter” types who want to start grandiose projects with the alcoholic appearing in public as a “famous person” and having tons of money to spend, and with all sorts of other people running around doing all the work (while the alcoholic takes all the public credit).
The phrase about “attraction rather than promotion” is targeted at that same kind of egomaniacal, arrogant, bullying, power-mad alcoholic. We have enough problem with them already in AA committees, intergroup offices, and Area Assemblies, without letting them go public! Please spare us all from that!
But in old time AA, it certainly never meant that you could not put up notices, posters, ads, and so on. They even held public meetings (which were advertised in their local newspapers) where speakers (including clergy and judges and other people who were neither alcoholics themselves nor AA members) would talk about the AA program and how it could save people’s lives.’
Funerals of family members are hard. Funerals of young adults your children grew up with and considered close friends? Just as hard. As I sat there that day and watched my son and his friends carry the casket of a close friend he had cared about all through junior high and high school, I hurt for his loss and the parents of the young man.
Some kids consider themselves fortunate to have one or two close friends. My David was part of a group of seven close male friends with plenty of female close friends and girlfriends along the way. A lot of times, Super Bowl parties and sleepovers were at my house. Sometimes they were at Jacob’s house.
Jacob lived right down the street from us. He was the only one in the group of seven who still had mom and dad married to each other. The rest of the boys were living with mom or dad in divorced homes. I always felt guilty when I would pick up David from Jacob’s house. He could see one of his best friends with a full family experience. Many times I heard the boys all talk about how lucky Jacob was.
So why were we at Jacob’s funeral?
Because Jacob committed suicide. The one member of the seven who seemed to have it all left it all one night. As the others went off to college and work, Jacob stayed in our small town. I asked David once where Jacob was and he said that they had grown apart. For while David and the others grew up, Jacob discovered heroin and stayed home stoned and feeling no pain. Or so one would think. But instead, Jacob was filled with pain and one night took a gun and ended it all.
It has been over a year and I know the boys still miss Jacob. They are all still in college and make sure to get together on special occasions. It still boggles my mind that the one of the seven who seemed to have it all was the one who felt the most alone. Out of fear, I asked David one night if he had ever felt like Jacob. Had I let him down in any way?
David told me that he knew times were tough for us when he was younger but he always felt rich because I always cooked enough for not just him but his friends as well. He never felt like an only child because his friends even called me Mom sometimes. There was no arguing in our house and he knew when he woke up, I would be there.
To this day I feel for Jacob’s parents. I can not imagine losing David, especially to suicide. I am thankful that I was able to be there for him the first time he suffered a major loss. I am also thankful David and the others did not fall victim to heroin use like Jacob did. The boys learned the most painful lesson there is about substance abuse. It is a lesson I don’t believe they will ever forget.
A few days ago, acclaimed British actor and writer Stephen Fry, upset about Twitter posts directed to him, first posted this tweet in reply to someone who called his tweets “boring”: “You’ve convinced me. I’m obviously not good enough. I retire from Twitter henceforward. Bye everyone.”
Just a few minutes later, Fry posted, “Think I may have to give up on Twitter. Too much aggression and unkindness around. Pity. Well, it’s been fun.” His next tweet, after supporters began to rally round him: “Well maybe I’ll see how I feel in a few days. Very low and depressed at the moment and any drop of meanness makes it so much worse. Sorry.”
And that evening, he tweeted: “Arrived in LA feeling very foolish. Wasn’t the fault of the fellow who called me ‘boring,’ BTW. A mood thing. Sunshine will help. So sorry.”
Fry, who has been candid about his struggle with bipolar disorder and has campaigned to raise money for mental health charities, later said he felt “sheepish” about the exchange. There was an avalanche of supportive messages in response to his “I’m leaving” message, and he urged people to “be nice” to the person who said he was boring.
Do you Twitter about bipolar disorder? Do you mention it on Facebook or MySpace? If so, what sorts of responses do you get? I have many Facebook friends through games who don’t know me at all, but when I post about my bipolar ups and downs, those who respond are always kind and encouraging. Is that your experience, too – or do you get nasty remarks?
~Marcia
This week’s featured BLOG is titled”TheSwarmiteREHAB; Checking Out London Lifestyles, CODEPENDENCY & Urban Addictions”SOBERBONESBXXX.COM would like to thank TheSwarmiteREHABfor his contributions to recovery and the prevention of drug and alcohol addictions.Look him up at TWITTER & FACEBOOK also.
I started keeping a gratitude journal several years ago, and, though I go through phases where I write more often or skip a few nights, I’ve found that I tend to drift to sleep more easily and happily after I’ve gotten myself into the ‘warm and fuzzy’ place that comes from counting my blessings. That’s why I wasn’t completely surprised when I ran across this research study about gratitude journaling: researchers have found that differences in gratitude levels actually affect sleep quality!
Researchers assessed 186 men and 215 women (40% of which had clinically impaired sleep), and measured their level of gratitude, their quality of sleep, and five main personality traits (to see if differences in sleep quality could be tied to personality differences). (The five personality traits, which have been generally accepted as definitive to personality, are: openness to new experience, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism.)
Researchers found that gratitude predicted better self-reported sleep quality, as well as duration of sleep, and less ’sleep latency’ (the amount of time it takes to fall asleep after the lights have gone out) and daytime dysfunction. The relationship between gratitude and each of these variables was mediated by the thoughts people had before falling asleep: more positive before-sleep thoughts and less negative ones. All of these results were found to be unrelated to personality traits, including neuroticism, (which one might expect to affect sleep quality and ability to fall asleep).
This research is pretty big news for those who need better quality sleep, and those who need more of it (which, according to a sleep poll on this site, includes the vast majority of us)! We can use this information to help ourselves and our children in many areas of our lives, since sleep deprivation affects not only our stress levels, but our daytime functioning. (See this article on the importance of sleep.) Here are some things to try:
Gratitude Journaling
I recommend keeping a gratitude journal for general stress relief and overall happiness, but now that we know this practice can lead to better sleep, I consider it a must. See this article for tips on maintaining a gratitude journal, where you’ll have a record of all that you have to appreciate in your life–great for reading when you’re feeling blue.
Gratitude With Kids
If you have children, and if you’re not doing this already, it’s a great idea to get in the habit of reviewing three things that you have to be grateful for before you tuck them in and turn out the light. This can be done in the form of a sharing conversation, a prayer, or a family gratitude journal that you keep together. You may find bedtime reluctance diminishing and daytime moods and productivity improved.
Tweet Your Gratitude Join me on Twitter, where I’ve started a daily gratitude practice–you can maintain a daily gratitude announcement there, where you ‘tweet’ three things for which you’re grateful at the end of each day, and can see what others are grateful for. (You can also share your list on this blog or in the Stress Management Forum if you’re still working up to making it a nightly habit.)
This is a screening examination for adult ADD. It is not a diagnostic test. Scores over 70 are associated with a high probability of ADD. The diagnosis of ADD can only be made on the basis of a detailed history and mental status examination. High scores on this examination may result from anxiety, depression or mania. These conditions must be ruled out before a diagnosis of Adult ADD can be made.
To take the questionnaire, please click the radio button next to the selection which best reflects how each statement applies to you. The items below refer to how you have felt and behaved during most of your adult life. If you have usually been one way and recently have changed, your response should reflect how you have usually been.
This week’s featured BLOG is titled “Women & Substance Abuse”
“The Women & Substance Abuse blog is written and maintained by Crossroads for Women,
a nonprofit substance abuse treatment facility for women
with programs in Portland and Windham, Maine.”
SOBERBONESBXXX.COM would like to thank the Women & Substance Abuse ladies
for their contributions to recovery and the prevention of drug and alcohol addictions.
Join their FACEBOOK Fan Club too!
Pine Tree Creations: Wooden Rocking Horses, Toys, Gumball Machines and More.
Pine Tree Creations has been designing all types of custom woodworking for over 30 years and we are now offering some of our most popular designs worldwide.
Our pride stands out in our work as you can see; everything we make is completely handmade from the finest, most select, pine woods of North Carolina.
All of our orders are SHIPPED FREE within the Continental USA..!
Imprisoned celebrity motorcycle builder Billy Lane wants a judge to give his fatal crash victim’s family another chance to say what kind of punishment he should receive, in hopes of getting his six-year prison sentence reduced.
Lane, 39, was sentenced in August to six years in prison after pleading no contest to one count of vehicular homicide for crashing his pickup truck head-on into 56-year-old Gerald Morelock’s motorcycle while speeding past slow traffic in a no-pass zone on Sept. 4, 2006.
During sentencing, the victim’s brother and nephew declined to recommend a punishment, but asked the judge to impose a sentence that would use Lane’s celebrity status to help save the lives of young people through a foundation they plan to create in Morelock’s name.
However, Lane’s attorneys recently filed a motion claiming the men have since expressed that intense media and public scrutiny caused them to be “vague” about their feelings on a prison sentence for Lane. “They were sufficiently overwhelmed by the experience that they did not fully express their feeling that Mr. Lane would better be able to benefit society if he were not incarcerated,” the defense motion says.
The attorneys want Circuit Judge Robert Burger to give the Morelocks another chance to be heard and to reduce Lane’s sentence if he sees fit.
""No I'm no angel
no I'm no stranger to the street
I've got my label...
let me show you my tattoo's."
(Greg Allman) " http://bit.ly/3ttNrKI read it..>5 hours ago
A comprehensive guide for job placement concerning the ex-criminal offender or others with a low past employment recor… http://bit.ly/2Tr26gI read it..>6 hours ago
Bonding Services Coordinator
NC Employment Security Commission http://bit.ly/3ttNrK In memory of
Indian Larry & Little JohnI read it..>11 hours ago
"Double shot >> 2 week's featured BLOG has been titled
"TheSwarmiteREHAB" http://bit.ly/2dbeGt lol...well worth the extra billingI read it..>13 hours ago
"What I am ever so slowly learning is to stay calm and persevere. "PERSEVERANCE"..." http://bit.ly/3ttNrKI read it..>13 hours ago
