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Ask4Recovery – 6/14/13 – How do I achieve balance in my recovery? by Ask4Recovery



Hello friends! Today’s ‘Ask’…

How do I achieve balance in my recovery?

Let’s start with the definition of balance, ‘stability of one's mind or feelings.’ Before I entered recovery, I had no idea what balance was. What stability was. I think I tried to justify and rationalize in my head that I was living a life of balance, but in reality, I was living a life of insanity. So balance is a pretty new concept for me, but also one that I strive for in my mind, body, and soul. It is a learning process as I begin to retrain myself and understand what balance truly means for me. It is different for each person and we are each on our own unique journey.

In the past, I lived in extremes. In black and white. All or nothing. Now, that I am living a life of recovery, the grey area is where my healthy mind and heart want me to live. This grey area means sitting with discomfort. Uncertainty. Frustration. I like having things my way and the reality is, things do not always go the way I want them to go. I can’t force my will onto others or have expectations of others. The only thing I can control is myself. My thoughts. And my actions. Learning balance requires learning myself. Learning what I want out of life. Out of relationships. And that all is possible because I have soundness of mind. Recovery has brought me a miracle and that is my sanity. And with that sanity come the ability to understand what balance means for me. One day at a time.

How do you achieve balance in your recovery? Let us know and join the movement!

Sending love,

Lauren
Ask4Recovery | June 14, 2013 at 11:43 am | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p3wKKk-5a


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PRO-ACT Recovery Walks! 2013   Saturday, September 21 Beautiful Penn's Landing, Philadelphia  Have you registered your Team? Thought of a good name? Given your team ideas for fundraising?         We're here to help you as we have helped hundreds of teams before you.            Ask your associates, family members, and friends to join your team and to learn more about why we walk. Spread the word that recovery is real and alive! Do your part to fight stigma. Recovery Walks! 2013 is the Pennsylvania/New Jersey area's largest National Recovery Month event.         Most important for your team to remember is why teams collect donations. Those donations, large and small, make it possible for us to continue to provide recovery support services, as we have since 1997.         Our recovery community centers and a training center provide sites for training, support services, and a place to volunteer for committees. Trained recovery coaches, certified peer specialists and mentors provide tools for sustaining recovery; financial planning; employment consulting; health, education and housing information and encourage participation in community service.           Those who benefit reclaim lost lives and improve their well-being and the well-being of the community while giving invaluable assistance to others seeking to access and sustain long-term recovery.          For help with your team, or to ask a question, contact Annika by clicking here or calling 215-788-3738 x 110

Team Captains: You Can Win This Award!            We are pleased to announce that PRO-ACT will award a prize at Recovery Walks 2013 to the Team Captain whose team raises the most in donations. They will earn: The rare honor of throwing out the first pitch at the 2014 National Recovery Month Baseball Game A pre-game tour of Citizens Bank Park for four people Four complimentary field-level seats Their picture on Phanavision An electronic disc showing them throwing the first pitch in September 2014          The deadline for the winning team donations total is the day of the Walk, September 21. The winning total will include all donations made up to and including the day of the Walk.               The names of the winning team captain and team will be announced from the stage on September 21.    REGISTER NOW FOR THE WALK Go to our Recovery Walks Web Site to register yourself or your team, to make a donation, sign up for Honor Guard, or to see a video of last year's walk TEAM CAPTAINS Did you see the useful tools in our Recovery Walk Kit? Click here to see what's available and to download them

The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania, Inc. 252 West Swamp Road, Unit 12 Doylestown, Pennsylvania 18901 215-345-6644 www.councilsepa.org

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Ask4Recovery – 6/13/13 – How do I stay positive when the negative pull is so strong? by Ask4Recovery



Hello friends! Today’s ‘Ask’..

How do I stay positive when the negative pull is so strong?

I have to be honest, I am struggling with this as we speak. It is so easy to get caught up in the victim, why me, self-pity party. Our addictions thrive off of that. Our thinking becomes skewed, self-centered, selfish, ego-centric when living in the negative. We become angry, resentful, judgmental and end up beating ourselves up. Why do we do this? Well, we have a disease. And, we are creatures of habit and pattern. Most of the messages that lie within us today were sent to us in our childhood. This becomes part of our subconscious, and about 95% of the time we are living in our subconscious. So we are working against a lot to get to that 5% level of consciousness. But, it is possible to regain consciousness. To connect with our true and authentic self that innately is positive. That self that embodies hope, patience, compassion, and love infinitely. The negativity sucks this out of us.

For me, it is important during these times to take a step back. Reflect on my current status and the amount of spiritual, emotional, mental growth that has evolved during my time in recovery. And begin discerning between my diseased mind and my healthy mind/heart. When I do this, I slow down the thought process. I allow for my higher power to enter and guide me towards doing the next best thing. Which is admitting powerlessness. Surrendering and asking for help. My disease wants me dead. Wants me stuck in negativity. I do not though. And when I am being pulled toward the negative, I have to remember all the times I was able to escape that pull. All the strength I innately have inside of me. I am deserving of everything and more. That helps me. Connecting with others helps me. Releasing the destructive thoughts helps me. I am not alone. And never have to be again. When I remember this, an attitude of gratitude takes over and a mental shift towards the positive occurs as well. It truly is a miracle.

How do you stay positive in recovery? What do you do when the negative energy comes in? Let us know and join the movement!

Sending love,

Lauren
Ask4Recovery | June 13, 2013 at 11:52 am | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p3wKKk-55


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Walgreens Agrees to Pay $80 Million in Prescription Painkiller Settlement

By Join Together Staff | June 12, 2013 | 1 Comment | Filed in Government, Legal, Prescription Drugs & Prevention

Walgreens on Tuesday agreed to pay $80 million in civil penalties, in order to resolve allegations by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that the company violated federal rules regarding the distribution of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone.
The settlement was the largest in the DEA’s history, Reuters reports. The DEA said Walgreens, the nation’s largest drug store chain, allowed controlled substances such as oxycodone and other prescription painkillers to be diverted for abuse and illegal black market sales.
“National pharmaceutical chains are not exempt from following the law,” Mark Trouville, special agent in charge in the DEA’s Miami Field Division, said in a statement. “All DEA registrants will be held accountable when they violate the law and threaten public health and safety.”
According to the DEA, Walgreens’ Distribution Center in Jupiter, Florida was the largest supplier of oxycodone to retail pharmacies in the state. The DEA said the distribution center failed to comply with agency regulations that required it to report suspicious prescription drug orders that it received from its pharmacies.
Six retail pharmacies in Florida that received suspicious drug shipments from the Jupiter Distribution Center filled customer prescriptions that they knew, or should have known, were not for legitimate medical use, according to the DEA. As part of the settlement, the six pharmacies and the distribution center will be banned for two years from dispensing various controlled substances. Walgreens admitted it failed to uphold its obligations as a DEA registrant.
In a statement, the company said, “As part of the agreement with DEA and our continuing desire to work with DEA to combat prescription drug abuse, we have identified specific compliance measures – many of which Walgreens has already taken – to enhance our ordering processes and inventory systems, to provide our team members with the tools, training and support they need to ensure the appropriate dispensing of controlled substances and to improve collaboration across the industry.”

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HAMMERED by April Pfrogner Hammered Hammered My first sponsor was a hammer.  She defied the definition of sponsor as we know it from recovery literature. Because I had no idea what the “next right thing” was, I did whatever she told me to do. She had three years clean and sober, so to me, she knew everything. I met her while in a recovery home. She defied the rules by secretly becoming my sponsor and friend. Then I left the place at three months clean, against the advice of the director, to move into her apartment. I had a crappy job at the time and she told me I had to split the rent. I did. The woman had next to nothing but what she had, she appreciated. I felt blessed that she would trust me to live there too. She put a 10pm curfew on me and said if I broke it, I was OUT! When I whined, she told me to shut the hell up and go to a meeting. When I was bored, she found me something to do. When I lacked spirituality, she told me to pray and get my ass to church. She was there that fine day when step one “happened” to me. People thought we were lesbians because we were always together. I really didn’t give a crap. She didn’t sugar coat it. Most sponsors give “advice” nicely, as not to offend. Being offensive was this woman’s middle name. I needed it though. I was a know-it-all who knew nothing. Compliments were few and far between but when she gave them, she meant it. After a few years I moved back to my hometown. Something was going on with her and I didn’t like it. At five years clean she was slipping back into old behaviors. I got another sponsor. This woman who was a HAMMER of a sponsor, who went over and above the call of duty, relapsed. Our mutual friend called me one morning to tell me the bad news. This woman had had a spiritual awakening?! How could she just throw it all away? I was crushed to think she went back out. Situations like these remind me that I am never well enough to do without the program of recovery. The day I’m well enough will never come. I think of her when I don’t want to go to a meeting or work steps. I remember the hammer that she was, but also that she GOT hammered. She fell of the pedestal I had created for her. Her final lesson to me was that no one is immune from relapse, not even the best and brightest of the crowd. --Anonymous April Pfrogner | June 12, 2013 at 1:49 pm | Tags: Addiction, addiction recovery, addicts, Alcoholics Anonymous, Challenging Addiction, Drug, drug addict, drug addiction, drug dependence, drugs, early recovery, heroin addict, NA, Narcotics Anonymous, Recovery, Relapse prevention, Sponsorship, Substance dependence, support, Support group, Twelve-Step Program | Categories: Addiction, Fan Submissions, Recovery | URL: http://wp.me/s30O03-hammered Comment    See all comments

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Having trouble viewing this email? View as a Web Page “My son, now 24, was addicted to heroin and cocaine for a couple of years. He became addicted while a sophomore at college. By the end of his junior year…grades slipped, he lost his job…totaled his car and dropped out of school. I want to say to everyone that there is HOPE, there is SUPPORT, and there can be SUCCESS. My son has been clean for over two years…He is now involved in law enforcement and hopefully provides encouragement and support to those who are addicted that he comes across at his job.” Charlie, as posted on The Hope Share. Dear Joseph, What does Father's Day mean to you? For Charlie, Father’s Day may provide an opportunity to appreciate how far he and his son have come as a family. It’s a special time to reflect on the knowledge that addiction is treatable, and recovery is possible. We are so grateful for the help and hope you’ve given families like Charlie’s. Joseph, we hope you will express your love and support once again this holiday, in two unique ways: First, send a free Father’s Day eCard to a loved one and recognize him for being an amazing dad. Second, click below to Donate and help The Partnership at Drugfree.org be there for even more parents.

 

Thank you for your support and Happy Father’s Day.

Stephen J. Pasierb, President and CEOThe Partnership at Drugfree.org

P.S. To see read more inspiring stories like Charlie's, visit The Hope Share

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