Soulshine

“You will never be happy until you are happy with yourself.” Robert Holden, Happiness Now    Our personal happiness is not about people, places or things. No one on this earth has true power over our own happiness but us. No one on this earth is responsible for our happiness but us. No thing can make us truly happy. No place will bring us lasting happiness. And no trip or lottery winnings will ever make us happy forever.    Authentic happiness is found only in accepting and loving ourselves unconditionally. It is found in befriending ourselves and becoming the best thing that has ever happened to us. It is found in gratitude for our very lives.    In recovery we learn that no one else can MAKE us happy. And we learn that we cannot MAKE anyone else happy. Happiness is not e arned through caretaking or people-pleasing. We also learn that happiness cannot be achieved through accomplishments, or bestowed upon us as a reward for good behavi...

“You never know when things will turn to the better. Be prepared for the change you never expected.” Miami by Monostrip (2010) There are internal miracles that take place during recovery. Things suddenly “turn to the better” and we’re taken by surprise. It starts as soon as we say the First Step and admit that we are powerless over other people, or alcohol or sugar or whatever. The very moment I admitted that I was powerless over other people, that I could not control anyone or make them—or life for that matter—into exactly what I wanted, I felt immediate emotional relief. What I actually felt was the weight of the world being lifted off my shoulders. I wasn’t prepared for this positive change, and I certainly never expected to feel peace, freedom and an odd sort of contentment by admitting that I was powerless. I had been brainwashed to believe I only had power when I could control everything and everyone. The world told me to be powerless was to be a failure. So, ...

“This is the day your life will surely change. This is the day when things fall into place. You could've done anything -- if you'd wanted. And all your friends and family think that you're lucky. But the side of you they'll never see Is when you're left alone with the memories That hold your life together like Glue.” This Is the Day by The The Sometimes the memories that hold our lives together like glue are the same memories that hold us bound to our addictions like glue. And sometimes we’re able to hide those addictive memories and secrets very well; so well, that family and friends think we’ve really got it together or are actually “lucky.” Prior to entering recovery, I thrived at being an overachiever. It always seemed like an oxymoron to me: I thought I was a living piece of shit and yet I thrived at work in public and press relations. I edited award-winning publications; winning awards on local, state and national levels. I drove a beau...