CASA Link: Brother Jeff T. =Friday, March 31, 2006

Brother Jeff T. is a promising nice 'newcomer' to sober recovery. I hope he does well as time goes by

Last Friday, we got together for a Spiritual Workshop Session at the Christian Science Reading Room to discuss his Fourth Step and it went well as we both learned! Sharing is caring and iron sharpens iron as we learn from each other!

Once we make a firm decision to stay sober and get into the 'real deal' of recovery we must work on it with due diligence one day at a time yet with our eyes filled with hope for a bright future ahead for us.

Progressive sober recovery from drug addiction is a protracted healing process that develops in succeeding stages. It is our hope that we continue to progress in our recovery with love, attention and patience.

Sometimes sudden slips or severe relapses happen to us. Indeed, shit happens! When such incidents happen we must learn our lessons from them, continue to work on our recovery and keep coming back! To prevent slips and falls we must stay alert, be on guard and keep ourselves surrounded by people, places and things that benefit our Spirtual Progress!

Naturally, a big part of one's recovery is to remember the CASA Basics:

1. Conscious contact with the Creator in a Christian Group.
2. Working on our Spiritual Growth through study, prayer and meditation.
3. Building up our Recovery Support Network with our families, our friends and in all our relations.

We must do what we can to help our people who are drug addicts {always including alcohol} get into progressive recovery, welcome them to get involved as a member of our recovery family and help others by our personal participation in constructive community action!

The typical dope fiend {including the drunkard{ is scared, selfish and self-centered. This selfish mentality keeps one locked into drug addiction and its demons.

If our existence seems to be all dark, gloomy, stinky, slimy and a downer, then, we need to get our heads out of our ass and get into the 'real deal' of progressive recovery.

Self-pity is a demon that keeps us feeling sorry for ourselves instead of counting are blessings. There are always others who are worse off than us, no matter how difficult our individual situation may be at the time. Think of others and how we can help them, which in turn helps us because it makes us feel better about ourselves and raises our sense of self-respect. It is good to be helpful without expecitng anything in return except doing our duty of carrying the Message.

Depression in early recovery is common. We mourn the lost of our favorite fix, our baby bottle, our dirty dope! In early recovery, we should appreciate the elation of waking up without a hangover, without having to go out into sinister streets on the hunt for the 'high' which keeps us down. Count your blessings, not your curses!

The present clean date of sobriety {DOS} for Brother Jeff T. is Monday, March 6th, 2006. We wish him well in his continued progressive recovery!

Peta S. Lopez ~ CASA Field Coordinator
Christians Against Substace Addiction
Sacramento, Califas
Email: sacranative@yahoo.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://casa-12steps.blogspot.com/2006/04/casa-link-brother-jeff-t.html