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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.”

New post on Challenging Addiction

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

P.P.S. Text DRUGFREE to 50555 and reply YES to make a one-time $10 donation to The Partnership at Drugfree.org.
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352 Park Avenue South | Ninth Floor | New York, NY 10010

IF YOU LOVE ME, LET ME FALL

Dear Valued Member,

I had to share this with you my Addict's Mom Family..

Shared on the Addict's Mom Facebook Group reshared with permission https://www.facebook.com/groups/theaddictsmom/

IF YOU LOVE ME, LET ME FALL

IF you love me let me fall all by myself. Don’t try to spread a net out to catch me, don’t throw a pillow under my ass to cushion the pain so I don’t have to feel it, don’t stand in the place I am going to land so that you can break the fall, (allowing yourself to get hurt instead of me).
Let me fall as far down as my addiction is g...oing to take me, let me walk the valley alone all by myself, let me reach the bottom of the pit....trust that there is a bottom there somewhere even if you can’t see it.

The sooner you stop saving me from myself, stop rescuing me, trying to fix my broken-ness, trying to understand me to a fault, enabling me.....The sooner you allow me to feel the loss and consequences, the burden of my addiction on my shoulders and not yours....the sooner I will arrive....and on time....just right where I need to be...me, alone all by myself in the rubble of the lifestyle I lead...resist the urge to pull me out because that will only put me back at square one.
If I am allowed to stay at the bottom and live there for a while, I am free to get sick of it on my own, free to begin to want out, free to look for a way out, and free to plan how I will climb back up to the top. In the beginning as I start to climb out....I just might slide back down, but doesn’t worry I might have to hit bottom a couple more times before I make it out safe and sound. Don’t you see?? Don’t you know?? You can’t do this for me...I have to do it for myself, but if you are always breaking the fall how am I ever supposed to feel the pain that is part of the driving force to want to get well. It is my burden to carry, not yours. I know you love me and that you mean well and a lot of what you do is because you don’t know what to do and you act from your heart and from knowledge of what is best for me....but if you truly love me, let me go my own way, make my own choices be they bad or good. Don’t clip my wings before I can learn to fly....nudge me out of your safety net....trust the process.

Where else you can find the Addict's Mom?


Just a reminder you can find the Addict's Mom on Facebook



Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/theaddictsmom/

Facebook Fan Page https://www.facebook.com/#!/addictsmom (please like there is so much power in numbers, together we can make huge changes)

Also check out our blog:

www.addictionandfamilies.org



The Addict's Mom is dedicated to helping mothers of addicts heal on their journey to becoming healthy addict's moms..



Much love,

Barbara


Visit The Addict's Mom at: http://addictsmom.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Ask4Recovery – 6/12/13 – How do I deal with ‘living life on life’s terms’ in recovery?

New post on Ask4Recovery

Ask4Recovery – 6/12/13 – How do I deal with ‘living life on life’s terms’ in recovery? by Ask4Recovery



Hello friends! Today’s ‘Ask’…

How do I deal with ‘living life on life’s terms’ in recovery?

This has been a hard concept to grasp and I am learning something new about it each day. For 26 years, I lived life on MY terms. My way or the highway. I wanted things done exactly when I wanted them done. I wanted an answer exactly when I wanted an answer. I wanted control. And when things did not go my way, I went into my selfish and self-destructive thinking and engaged in some form of maladaptive behavior to disconnect and numb out. My form of control.

Now that I am no longer active in my addictions and a paradigm shift has happened in the way I perceive people, places, and things, I am beginning to live life on life’s terms. This means accepting things exactly as they are. Not resisting. Not controlling. Acknowledging my mind and my thoughts. Accepting them. Not acting impulsively, which my mind still likes to convince me to do at times. And making a choice to do the best thing I can possibly do in that moment. And most of the time, it goes against what my previous patterns and habits were. But with those previous habits I was living a life of self-destruction, sadness, anger, and disconnection. So my way was obviously not working. I now have a connection to something bigger than myself. A life force that is guiding me and connecting me to my true purpose. My reason for being here. When I was active in my addictions, I was soulless. Spiritually and emotionally bankrupt. And that all happened on ‘Lauren’s terms.’ Today, ‘Life’s terms’ is a whole lot more fun and fulfilling so I am coming back to life, one day at a time!

How do you live life on life’s terms in recovery? What has worked for you? Let us know and join the movement!

Sending love,

Lauren

P.S. Check out my friends over at http://www.sobernation.com, the #1 National Recovery Resources and Addiction Treatment Centers Database on the internet. They are spreading the message!
Ask4Recovery | June 12, 2013 at 11:03 am | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p3wKKk-50


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