Wer'e Making a Difference Foundation (People in recovery)

Wer'e Making a Difference Foundation (People in recovery) This site has been donate for people like myself, to post, learn, discuss anything related to recover. A 12-Step outlet! check out the Info page!

This committee is AA based, but everyone is welcome... Thank you for your support & God Bless!

08/11/2025

Boredom
Isn't life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?

Boredom is a form of conceit. When we are bored, we are saying, "Okay, life, you are not doing your job of keeping me entertained." To think that life or those around us or the world itself is here primarily to keep us amused and entertained is "Stinking thinking."

This thinking can screw up our attitude and take us back to the point where our addiction seems like the only way out of that boredom. We may be miserable, but at least we aren't bored, we think.

Those who learn to work the program find that life is far from boring. Each day brings many quiet moments of joy, compassion, and insight. Rich serenity replaces the empty landscape of boredom.

I am not in recovery just to be abstinent; I am living to learn, to help others, and to keep busy through positive action.

08/10/2025

The words "I am..." are potent; be careful what you hitch them to. The thing you're claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you.

Today is our chance to leave the past behind and live in the present. It doesn't matter what we did as a practicing addict. If we're abstinent today, if we're working our program today, if we're doing the best we can today, that's all that counts.

It's easy to live in the shame and negativity of the past without even realizing it. But those days are over - we don't live that life anymore. We can forgive ourselves or someone else today, and let our changed life be our amends for the past.

Forgiveness, gratitude, intimacy, gentleness, honesty: these are the gifts we give to ourselves and others when we live in the present.

How do I feel right now? Do I feel serene, or is something bothering me? Being honest about what's going on with me is a good way to live in the present.

08/09/2025

If you were going to die soon and had only one call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

When we were in the depths of our addiction, we could not be truly present in our relationships. We could not do the work of being caring and responsible. We were too focused on using alcohol or drugs to change our own feelings.

Now that we are sober, we can change. We clean up our messes when we work Steps Eight and Nine. We list the people we have harmed, reflect on our actions, and then make amends to them.

Cleaning up our old messes makes us free to start over. We keep a better eye on our own behavior as we take our inventory every day in Step Ten, and we become decent, real human beings. We make real friends. Family members begin to trust us with their love. Our new sober life gradually fills up with people.

Prayer for the Day
Higher Power, help me be a real human being today. Help me understand my importance to others and treat my relationships with the respect they deserve.

Today's Action
I will imagine that I don't have long to live and have only one call I can make. Who will I call, and what will I say? And why am I waiting? I will make that call today. If I need support, I will get it from a friend.

08/08/2025

Patience, that blending of moral courage with physical timidity...

All beautiful things take time, their own time, to grow. They run on their own clocks, not on ours. Why do we have such unrealistic expectations about progress? Why are we always so sure we know how long it should take? It is extremely common to hear an adult child at a meeting say something like this: "I don't know what's the matter with me. I must be mentally ill or something. I keep taking one step forward and two steps backward. I don't think I'm changing at all. Why do I keep forgetting what works?"

But how fast should it be? Whose clocks are we timing with? How long did it take us to develop our character flaws? How quickly do we imagine they can be overcome? A big job takes a while to accomplish; it's as simple as that. We have no legitimate reason for such impatience. There's no such thing as being late. The time it takes is the time it has needed. We'll get there.

Today, I will be conscious of the growth that is already mine and continue to patiently work my program.

08/07/2025

I have loved, and I have been loved, and all the rest is just background music.

What we accomplish, own, or collect is less important than having people in our lives whom we truly care about and who genuinely care for us. They are the people who are close to us and with whom we can share ourselves. They are the people with whom we can be vulnerable. They help when we are sick or in trouble. They nourish our self-esteem and the life force flowing through us. They are lovers, friends, members of our biological families, or our families of choice. We have loving relationships, too, with our Higher Power, with animals, and with members of the extended communities and support networks that give us feelings of familiarity and safety.

Loving feelings not only enhance life and health; they are necessary. We need never complain that we lack love; the love we impart to others is as valuable and healing as the love we receive. If we want more love in our lives, all we need to do is give it.

Today, I am healed by giving and receiving love.

08/06/2025

Why go to meetings?

The first time we hear that our program is not about getting people clean and sober, we question the point of going. But what we soon learn is that the program is for us, not for the addict or alcoholic. We learn that we deserve peace.

We'll think with greater clarity because Step One will help us give up our obsession with the alcoholic. From Steps Two and Three, we'll develop a trust in a Higher Power and thus give up our fear. We'll finally give up a burden we've carried far too long when we come to believe it's not our job to get anyone sober. Our job is to find happiness and offer love to others. Nothing can better us more than this.

Time spent at meetings is never wasted. My happiness will be strengthened each time I use some part of the program.

08/05/2025

Reflection for the Day
We sometimes hear someone say, "He is standing in his own light." A mental picture then clearly reveals that many of us tend to shadow our own happiness by mistaken thinking. Let us learn to stand aside so the light can shine on us and all we do. For only then can we see ourselves and our circumstances with true clarity. With the program and the Twelve Steps, we no longer need to stand in our own light and try alone to solve our problems in darkness. When I am faced with a seemingly insolvable problem, will I ask myself if I am standing in my own light?

Today I Pray
May I not get in my own way, obscure my own clarity of thought, stumble over my own feet, block my own doorway to recovery. If I find that I am standing in my own light, may I ask my Higher Power and my friends in the group to show me a new vantage point.

Today I Will Remember
If all I can see is my shadow, I'm in my own light.

08/04/2025

The Price You Pay If You Want to Play
There's no proper way to prepare for going to war. You're over there - Afghanistan, Bagram, Iraq - and it's 24/7 constant fear. No matter where we'd go, to chow hall or wherever, we were getting mortared or rocketed.

So a lot of us used alcohol to cope. Not exactly a healthy coping skill, but it's what was available at the time. After a night of drinking, you'd wake up the next day and try to do your job, but you're still in this drunken haze. A lot of us were doing the same thing. I guess we just figured it was the price we had to pay if we wanted to play.

I just wanted to feel normal, and the only way I could was to get slightly intoxicated. It takes away some of the anxiety. It kind of brings you to the point where you don't care about much of anything. So it changed the experience by letting you escape reality. You'd get a buzz on and just sort of numb out. At the time, I didn't know how dangerous that was.

Today I celebrate my "new normal" - a life free of the bonds of alcohol, in which I can safely feel again.

08/03/2025

Sharing our sobriety
We cannot give away something we don't have. And since the people closest to us forced us to see our inadequacies, our inability to love, most of us resented them. Although aware of the problem, we hated having it shown to us regularly. We were empty and scared. And there was no hope in sight, so we blamed our problems on those around us.

But in the program things change: first we get hope; then we get strength and experience to share with other alcoholics and non-alcoholics. We learn that in order to keep what we've been given so freely, we must give it away.

Do I share my sobriety with others?

Higher Power, help me be ever aware of the source of all the good things I've been given, and show me each day how to share them with others.

Today I will share my sobriety with...

08/02/2025

Be Yourself, Unapologetically

I think that recovery is in large part about getting to that place where we accept who we are so fully that we stop apologizing for who we aren't. Not that we claim perfection, but rather we live our lives knowing that our imperfections are what make us interesting and what make us unique. The brilliant actor Viola Davis is quoted as saying, "You can't be hesitant about who you are."

Yet, we do hesitate, don't we? We don't always bring our full, imperfect selves to the party of life. Or when we do, we feel obliged to apologize for not being or doing enough—or, for some of us, for being too much. How many times a day do you say "I'm sorry" for something? No, seriously, I think you should do the count one day. And then reflect on how many times you said "sorry" because of something you believe you are or did that needed an apology. Write about it.

I'm sorry, not sorry, for being me.

08/01/2025

When a man's self is hidden from everybody else...it seems also to become hidden even from himself, and it permits disease and death to gnaw into his substance without his clear knowledge.

A man's recovery is in knowing himself honestly and learning to have loving relationships with others. Many of us have had close calls with death as a consequence of our addictions or codependency. We ignored the dangers in our lives, and many of us neglected our health. We wore ourselves out and wasted our energies.

Spiritual recovery and physical health go hand in hand. In recovery, moving toward fullness in life, our selves are returned to us. We leave behind our old learning and habits because they were lethal. We are becoming men who tune in to ourselves and to others around us. We are looking at ourselves and saying, "I'll work with it!"

I will not hide myself; I will continue to be open with myself and others.

07/31/2025

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure 'til you know there is no hook beneath it.

Pleasure is important in recovery. But at times we think pleasure is the answer to life's pains. Alcohol and other drugs were what we liked best. We need to watch out so we don't switch to another addiction - such as gambling, food or work.

The real answer to life's pains is in having a strong spiritual center. It is also our best way to avoid another addiction. As we find our connection to our Higher Power, our spiritual center strengthens. We no longer have to hold our pain inside ourselves; we can give it to our Higher Power and focus on healing. Our program can help us with our problems too. Recovery is a three-way deal - Higher Power, program, and us.

Prayer for the Day
Higher Power, help me avoid another addiction. When I have problems, have me come to You and to my program before anything else.

Action for the Day
Today I'll set aside time and ask the question "Am I headed for another addiction?" I'll also ask my sponsor this question.

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4733 E Palm Canyon Drive
Palm Springs, CA
92264

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+18183224611

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