Walk Softly & Carry a Big Book: June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Interventionist InTheRooms » 12 Step

You think you don't need a sponsor? Read this.

Interventionist InTheRooms » 12 Step: "The Big Book says, “The alcoholic is an extreme example of self will run riot, though he usually doesn’t think so.” Having given up on self as the answer to my problems, and come into AA, I knew I was going to need a lot of help. I admitted that I didn’t know a thing about staying clean and sober, so it only made sense that I allow someone to guide me through the !2 Steps, and through the rough patches that would inevitably come up as I began the scary, unfamiliar, journey to wholeness."

Thursday, June 25, 2009

How Quit Smoking Slogans Could help you

This is a gem of a web site i found for slogans!!! check it out! It's not easy to stop all addictions at once, but many folks have done it--so if you want to s top smoking as part of your recovery--use these slogan.

How Quit Smoking Slogans Could help you: "Slogans are the most silent tools and the strongest weapon in the hands of those fighting for a cause big enough with a view to having a more privileged generation ahead."

“Health is wealth”, “Cancer cures smoking”, “Smoking and wrinkles are best friends”, “No smoke no life, but No life with smoke” -- All these slogans sound good enough. They are true, but need to be implied very seriously on the part of the smoker if he wishes to improve his health, environment, and people who surround him.

Slogans should be short and attractive, and should convey the main message directly. They can be sarcastic and a mocking tone should be used to make the concerned people ponder about it and connect themselves. Slogans to quit smoking can be very helpful to make a smoker quit his addiction as far as psychological impact is concerned. They can be publicized in such a way that it holds the attention of every person, be it a smoker or a non smoker, to prevent even those who can get addicted to it.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Author Central

Author Central: "Use your Pocket Sponsor like you would a cell phone
June 10, 2009 7:41 PM Edit
Ever wonder what would happen if you used your recovery material like you do the cell phone?

Take the Pocket Sponsor for example:
What if you carried it around in your purse or pocket all day?
What if you checked your recovery messages a couple times a day?
What if you turned back to go get your book if you forgot it?
What if you used it to enter numbers of your support group?
What if you treated it like you were lost without it?
What if you gave it to your recovering family as a gift?
What if you used it whenever you went out of town?
What if you used it in case of emergency?

Ask yourself if you place as much importance on your recovery as you do your cell phone? We guarantee you'll never get a dropped call with the Pocket Sponsor.
Pocket Sponsor, 24/7 Back to the Basics Support for Addiction Recovery"

WHERE DO SLOGAN'S COME FROM?

Traditionally, armies used rallying cries and military mottoes to mobilize troops and overcome the often paralyzing fear of the enemy. These war whoops usually had religious overtones and were designed to capture their troop’s commitment, not unlike encouraging a newcomer’s commitment to recovery. Today, those battle cries survive in what we call slogans, which originate from the Gaelic word sluagh-ghairm, translated as war cry.

WAR CRIES

Getting clean and sober often feels like war. War against a disease. Although we eventually learn to cease fighting anyone or anything, in the beginning we battle a ferocious enemy: the compulsion, obsession, and jonesing to pick up just one more time. To confront this fierce enemy, the old-timers gave us a very powerful tool in slogans, which often goes unrecognized. Most members, if we are honest, have grumbled at one time or another about the constant repetition of “mindless” sayings. Yet slogans, even if irksome, are a powerful way to reach the suffering alcoholic.

Slogans and Service Go Hand in Hand

Even if the twelve-step war cries don’t get the respect they deserve, slogans and service go hand in hand. We hear slogans are “simplistic” and “bumper sticker recovery.” All the same, old-timers and newcomers alike walk into meetings and Alano clubs everyday, walls bedecked in the classics: First Things First; Live and Let Live; Easy Does It.

Our slogan’s convey messages. They are brief, memorable and can capture our attention quickly. Whether begrudgingly or gleefully, we repeat a handful of these sayings meeting after meeting hoping to penetrate the resistant skull of the newcomer.

Practice for our Brains

Brain research tells us repetition is the most basic technique for learning. You know, the “practice makes perfect” kind of thing. So while it may be frustrating to hear, Keep coming back; it works if you work it after every meeting, that simple phrase is burning its way into the consciousness of the newcomer, slipper, depressed and forgetful. That war cry means that some alkie will get up in the morning and hear the enemy’s cry of “Just one won’t hurt,” and they’ll use their counter cry, “Keep coming back.”

Because you chanted the war whoop with them at the meeting yesterday, you are more likely to see them back in the room today, despite the presence of the enemy.

As I approach half a century drug and alcohol free, my brain circuits have healed, where once they were fried. When people shared around the tables, my mind dawdled between meeting thoughts. How would the rent get paid; could I take those pain meds after getting my wisdom teeth pulled; should I tell the group I dreamed about taking speed last night? Hmm, what did that guy say? Focus. Focus. Finally, something actually made it into my head, Learn to listen and listen to learn. Wow. I knew I wasn’t listening and also knew I wanted to. I could learn to listen and would listen to learn. That war cry gave me the strength to try harder.

In early recovery, my mother and I attended a meeting in San Pedro down by the docks. (Mom brought me to my first meeting and at this time we only had a few weeks each.) A huge display rack showcased hundreds of little cards with various slogans on them—free for the taking. Selecting which one we wanted to represent our innermost self was serious business back then. I chose several that had meaning for me while Mom deliberated a bit longer. Finally, she picked her perfect message: Be Humble and You Will Not Stumble. In later sobriety, we often remembered that slogan and laughed heartily, finding it all the funnier because at the time it seemed so profound.

Slogans Save Lives

Slogans are our method of capturing clean and sober insights in a compressed form. They are our weapons against the inner addict/alcoholic, the little itty bitty shitty committee upstairs, and the ever present disease doing push-ups in the parking lot while we attend meetings. For alcoholics and addicts who have a rough time focusing in early recovery, slogans save lives, literally. They are the Swiss army knives of the Twelve Steps. Give slogans their due respect when working with others for they remain the War Cries in the battle for recovery.