Courage to Change with Karen Gardinier

Take the Body and the Mind will follow. Action and more Action!!!

Your daily habits and routines disclose a lot about your mental, physical and spiritual state.

Play the hand you were dealt. If you learn to be ok with yourself and acknowledge what is going on in your world and your the part you play in it, then you can change what you don't like and keep the rest.

Willingness is key! Step six is simply me being willing to change. I admit I need help every time I go to an Al Anon meeting, I pick up this book, I pray. These are all sign to the universe or to my higher power that I am willing to receive new ideas and new information.

Enlarging your spiritual condition on a daily basis is necessary for long term happiness and recovery. Practicing Steps 10, 11 & 12 give me a simple daily routing to keep moving forward and continue my spiritual growth.

Thank God I don't have to figure out everything myself. When I get overwhelmed and life gets to be to much I can ask for help and trust that God can do for me what I can't do for myself.

Resentments cut me off from the sunlight of the spirit. They just aren't worth it. They steal my joy and slow me down on my journey of joy.

If I was to sum this reading up in one sentence, I think it would be "Live and Let Live". I'm not everyone's cup of tea, and I don't have to be. What Freedom!!!

Life is a journey not a destination. My experience, good and bad, is best used to help someone on their journey of recovery and nothing else. Re living the past, dwelling in guilt, remorse & shame only keeps me stuck. I must move forward and to do that I must forgive myself and grow.

Just like the Steps are the answer to the individual the Traditions are the answer for the group. Learning to be one of the spokes in a wheel and not driving the entire car has been a huge lesson for me. God is the ultimate authority in all of our groups. Encouraging us to place principles before personalities.

Boundaries or Walls? 

Al anon is a spiritual program.  It's not something you can force, study or "wrap your mind around".  It is an amazing shift in perception that happens sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly if you are consistent and open minded.  

I have my own life and my own destiny, 

Working hard and producing results were a sociably acceptable way to deny my feelings.

Allowing new people in the program time to adjust to a new way of thinking can sometimes be very difficult.  Patience, understanding and time is necessary to help someone make their own progress.

Making amends is a way of righting a wrong, even if the other person is no longer living or reachable.

Today I will try to stay in the moment, accept life on life's terms and respond with courage and grace.  Perhaps my experience will help someone else.

I can love and support others I care about and still take care of myself.  Just because someone I love is unhappy doesn't mean I have to be unhappy.

Learning to have feelings and match them with the appropriate reactions has been one of my biggest gifts of this program.  Realizing I can pause and pray has changed everything for me.  

By Letting fo of old ideas, I have a fighting chance to learn, grow and discover wonderful things about myself.  

In recovery we must learn to look at the entire situation with as much honesty we can muster.  

Learning to Live One Day at a Time.  Taking the cues from nature to just try and go along.  

Sometimes people disagree, all conflict is not bad.  Conflict and blame can be an excuse to keep me distracted so I don't have to feel my powerlessness.  

I am learning to understand instead of trying to be understood.  

I can detach without losing compassion.