Happiness is the choice I must make !!

COUNSELING FOR TODAY’S ISSUES (CFTI)


SANDRA FARRELL, MS,CADAC, DIRECTOR



FORGIVENESS AND HAPPPINESS



What does forgiveness and happiness have to do with

relapse prevention



A LOT !



When individuals stop using alcohol and drugs there are many concerns besides ‘just not using’.

A major obstacle for many recovering people is trying to forgive themselves for their behavior when using. They have hurt family members, let employers down, cheated friends and been generally irresponsible. Aspects of their previous lifestyle often causes them considerable pain and grief in early recovery.


In recovery you can’t forgive yourself by ‘just not using’. It takes work. You need to get help. You need someone to talk to that is impartial and supportive of you. It takes time.


Being ‘happy’ involves the same dynamics. You don’t get to be happy 100% of the time just because ‘you stop using’. You usually do gain some serenity and comfort, but deep and continued happiness has to be cultivated by you personally. To do this you need someone to talk to. Again, someone who is impartial and supportive of you.

I would like to talk with you and help you through these difficult times. It is not easy for some individuals to ask for help----but it is necessary.

At Counseling For Today’s Issues I have a developed a separate tract to address relapse prevention. Relapse prevention is possible. But it is necessary (or at least advisable), to have a specific plan and an understanding of the coping skills that must be learned and put into action every day.


I congratulate every person who is on the road to recovery. I know how difficult that can be. For those contemplating giving up drugs and alcohol I can heartily say, “Go For It”.


Wishing you all the promise of the Serenity Prayer. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” (Alcoholic Anonymous)

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LIVING A GOOD LIFE

GRATEFULNESS and LIVING A GOOD LIFE

For Everyone Who Wants To Feel Better –

Sandy Farrell

I have positive hope for my future and hope for the future. If I don’t count on me, I can never count on anyone else. Gratefulness is to know that you have your share, whatever that may be. Gratefulness is appreciating love. It is leaning toward the good, not the evil. Gratefulness is blind faith, believing in something you cannot see. It is circumstances that are forever changing and you know you can get through them. Sometimes it is helping others before you help yourself. It is inviting God to tea. It may be taking time to listen to God praying for you. It’s letting go after being bound, for a long time, by mental ropes and physical chains. It can be having new thoughts and making them exciting thoughts. It may be feeling one day younger and wiser every week. It may be having pure thoughts, standing straighter than you did 5 years ago or not having to worry about losing a special friend. It can be keeping a secret that is only important to you. It could be having hope and not quitting no matter what, (but coffee breaks are allowed). Gratefulness can be experienced as you limp through life with great strength.

You may have an imagination that could benefit others, share those feelings. Eating food and feeling nourished can bring positive thoughts and actions. Keep Sunday thoughts in your mind Monday through Saturday. Accepting differences in people will allow you to have a rewarding life. Let nature excite you. Do not accept lust but accept love. Know that growth means to listen and listen and listen and listen. Notice how hard everyone else works. Replace guilt with reality-based thinking. . Understand that the excitement of life makes life meaningful and full. Even the bad in life can be positive if it eventually leads you to do good deeds. A good life may mean helping a friend, helping a foe, helping yourself or giving-up so you may win. These all happen as the rain falls, the snowflakes flutter and the sun shines. Spread love like you are planting flowers –dig down and gently nourish the land, let the sun in and don’t confine yourself to a small growing place.

Love others while loving who you are. Stand on a chair and look around at life from a new prospective. Stay up there at least 4 minutes. Let a bad day be a microdot on your memory. Take time to feel your heart - then obey it. Take an elderly person to lunch. Push a child on a swing. These things can make you feel amazingly alive. Take someone where they’ve never been before (like STAR-TREK). Honor life - honor death - honor your parents - honor God. Go to God and sigh a huge sigh of relief. You made it safely home to him. Write down your thoughts and feelings so they may help someone else some day. Don’t keep a good thought, give it away. Plant a shade tree, knowing that you will not be alive to benefit from it. Then give more. Thank God for being able to appreciate your wonderful life.

Each time you read this page write a journal entry. It may be any particular thought or feeling that is meaningful to you at that particular time. Be sure to date it.

Living with gratitude and wishing the same for you, Sandy Farrell.

Counseling



Mashpee MA 02649

508-873-2132