Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul Daily Inspirations (Chicken Soup for the Soul) (51 page)

Rokelle Lerner

The kindest way of helping yourself is to find a friend.

Ann Kaiser Stearns

Footnotes for Life

D
ECEMBER
8

A
s I began the wonderful journey into recovery, I realized the paradoxical beauty of my “powerlessness” over alcohol. I was unaware of the exacerbating factors that fueled my familial predisposition to alcoholism; my declaration of my “powerlessness” was replaced with a vigorous sense of responsibility to myself and my family generations to come. As I kept a daily journal, I developed a great deal of insight, which increased my desire to do my part in breaking the devastating cycle of addiction within my family. It was high time for me to become an advocate and leave behind the role of victim forever.

Brenda L. Petite Ridgeway

Sobriety and recovery are not just about abstaining from alcohol, but more importantly about taking responsibility.

Brenda L. Petite Ridgeway

Footnotes for Life

D
ECEMBER
9

I
t was a stress-filled time and I was happy to have a cup of tea with my friend George. Being ninety-five years of age, he held the answers to all my unspoken questions. Sculptor and artist, George had escaped the Russian Revolution, leaving behind a home of considerable wealth. His family had been murdered by the Bolsheviks and he had fled by foot across Europe, carrying only memories.

Sensing my despair, George took my hands and, with deep emotion, boomed, “Look out another window! If you don’t like what you see in your life, then find another view!”

Since that afternoon I have been looking through other windows, and I like what I see.

Irene Budzynski

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

Bhagavad-Gita

Footnotes for Life

D
ECEMBER
10

A
nger was fashionable in the seventies. Otherwise-normal people spent hours screaming at and punching pillows. Fortunately, encounter groups soon went the way of disco. Letting go of unhealthy behavior is difficult work. Getting a handle on anger, with its delicious rush of self-righteousness, is particularly hard. Many of us cling to a kind of quiet fury, and at its worst, it batters the heart, sullies the soul and is altogether enervating. I don’t know how much anger contributed to my own bad health, but it surely hurt my recovery. Practicing not getting angry a day at a time has been a tough job. I have found only two antidotes to anger: forgiveness and walking away.

Nancy Burke

I internalize everything. I can’t express anger; I grow a tumor instead.

Woody Allen

Footnotes for Life

D
ECEMBER
11

S
ometimes when we’re scared, all we want to do is hide from the world. But when we do this, our fears just get bigger. Isolation doesn’t nurture recovery. Stay connected to people in simple ways; go to the mall, make light conversation with someone in a coffee shop, take a class or attend a free lecture at a bookstore. Come out of your shell so the world can show you love and how much you deserve happiness.

Lisa Jo Barr

When you are alone you are all your own.

Leonardo da Vinci

Footnotes for Life

D
ECEMBER
12

I
believe in the dignity of every soul. Like a fine antique, addicts have a patina. They may be broken and need a bit of salvaging, but there is beauty under the surface, qualities that endure hardship and abuse, and a presence born of history and value. By showing compassion and kindness, by seeing the potential, not the past, I can make a difference in the life of every person I encounter.

PeterVegso

To laugh often andmuch; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived–this is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Footnotes for Life

D
ECEMBER
13

T
he catharsis of laughter can be just as powerful and transforming as the catharsis of tears or anger. To laugh with my entire being–to really get the joke and the joy of it all–is an unforgettable experience, one that leaves me forever a little different. Laughter is a symphony to the soul, and those we truly laugh with become special kinds of friends. When I cannot laugh, I cannot be. It means that I am so rigidly locked within myself that no air can get in. When I laugh, everything sort of loosens up inside, flies around and settles back down in an easier place. I remind myself that it is important to cry and equally so to laugh.

Tian Dayton

No man who has once heartily and wholly laughed can be altogether irreclaimably bad.

Thomas Carlyle

Footnotes for Life

D
ECEMBER
14

I
keep wishing and hoping that someone I know and love will change. Whatever I want them to do, I have no power over their choices. I cannot change anyone but myself. Only by taking care of my own “stuff” can I make a difference in my world thus becoming a happier, healthier person. Just for today, God, I’ll try to keep my side of the street clean; they’ll have to sweep theirs all by themselves.