Sober Skaters

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

If I were given the opportunity to present a gift to the next generation it would be the ability of each individual to learn to laugh at himself.
--Charles Schultz

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

Today I will do one thing more than I think I can do.

If I'm too tired or depressed to get out of bed, I will not only get up but also take a shower.

If I don't have the energy to go to work, I will get dressed and drive to the parking lot of my job.

If I just can't face the world, I will walk to the end of the street and back.

I will reach a little further than whatever I believe my limitations to be. Usually, when I take that little extra step, it seems easier than I thought it would, and I feel better too.

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

Over and over, we begin again.
--Banana Yoshimoto

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.
--George Eliot

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

You had better live your best and act your best and think your best today: for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow.
--Harriet Martineau

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

If there's a harder way of doing something, someone will find it.
-- Ralph E. Ross

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

Happiness consists of a solid faith, good health, and a bad memory.
--Clare Boothe Luce

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

We are better than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less.

-- Anonymous

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

All of my life I been like a doubled up fist... poundin', smashin', drivin' - now I'm going to loosen these doubled up hands and touch things easy with them.
--Tennessee Williams

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

A big shot is just a little shot who kept on shooting.
--Zig Ziglar

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

Going Easy

Go easy. You may have to push forward, but you don't have to push so hard. Go in gentleness, go in peace.

Do not be in so much of a hurry. At no day, no hour, no time are you required to do more than you can do in peace. Frantic behaviors and urgency are not the foundation for our new way of life.

Do not be in too much of a hurry to begin. Begin, but do not force the beginning if it is not time. Beginnings will arrive soon enough.

Enjoy and relish middles, the heart of the matter.

Do not be in too much of a hurry to finish. You may be almost done, but enjoy the final moments. Give yourself fully to those moments so that you may give and get all there is.

Let the pace flow naturally. Move forward. Start. Keep moving forward. Do it gently, though. Do it in peace. Cherish each moment.

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it as it is, is the only way of being happy.
--Jennie Jerome Churchill

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
--Winston Churchill

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

. . .we may surprise ourselves by discovering a treasure.

Not all secrets are bad. Some secrets are more like unspoken, unacknowledged mysteries than sinister destructive forces. We may quietly know what it is like to be a man or a woman in an intimate relationship, but we may never have told anyone in words. We may have a sense of how our lives have changed as a result of our relationship, but we may never have stopped to fully express it, even to ourselves. A piece of music may touch a place within us that does not have words. Those secrets are valuable and worth guarding like a precious treasure.

When we try to find words for these secrets, we may surprise ourselves by discovering a treasure. They may give us a sense of power or join us with others who understand us. These treasured secrets are an adventure for a couple to reveal to each other. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned about intimacy since you first met? What would you reveal to your son or daughter about the ways to gain the greatest happiness in love? How would you choose to live the last day of your life?

--Anonymous

Roger "Doc". Cool

soberskater · Head Ex-Lush In Charge

In me there is darkness. But with you there is light.
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A speaker at a meeting said, "To continue something when I'm making mistakes takes emotional courage." She was talking about making a decision to turn her will and life over to her Higher Power, and how it works in her life. To keep turning our wills and our lives over to God's care moves us into unknown territory. We will make mistakes, which is why we need God's care as we experience it in the Third Step.

It's hard to keep going after we stumble, especially when we keep stumbling over and over again. With abstinence comes the clarity and awareness to look honestly at ourselves and our mistakes. We want to stop making them. We want to be perfect. We're impatient to change. But change doesn't work that way. Instead, a caring God cushions us when we fall, loves us without conditions, and gives us everything we need. If God can forgive us when we make a mistake, how can we not do the same?

If I fall today, I will fall into the arms of my Higher Power. And then I'll get up again.

Roger "Doc". Cool