Sobriety Rocks

Aloha and welcome to the Sobriety Rocks Podcast from Recovery HQ, today we’re going to talk about How Spiritual Do You Want to Be?

Sadhguru said, “Spirituality is not about becoming special—it is about becoming one with everything." 

When I was a little baby, I didn’t have any fear, doubt, guilt, shame, or judgement. My spirit was whole, I was happy, joy filled, free and full of love. My spirit shined and I felt one with everyone and everything. I was a beaming spiritual being, living from my spirit!

But I was placed in traumatic situations and wasn’t taught how to keep my spirit whole, free, and strong. Eventually I wasn’t living from my spirit, but from fear and doubt, and was no longer one with everyone and everything. 

Alcohol and drugs made fear-based living okay for far too long. Thankfully, one day it no longer did, and I was brought to addiction recovery. Here I found people who were living from their whole, happy, joy filled and free spirits like I used to.

I wanted to be free again, so I took the actions they did, and over the course of my first year in recovery, my spirit healed to a place of strength it hadn’t been in years. So, I continued taking the spiritual actions they taught me, and over the next eight years, my spirit healed to the same place of wholeness, happiness, and freedom it had been when I was a baby. Once again became one with everyone and everything.

Over these last eighteen years I’ve always taken enough action to keep my spirit at least as whole and strong as it was after my first year in recovery. But I haven’t always taken the enormous amounts of sincere, consistent, spiritual action I learned to keep my spirit whole, happy, joy filled, free, full of love, and one with everyone and everything. 

I’d like to think it’s an 80/20 split, but I believe it’s more likely a 60/40 split. Just to be sure, I went to my ultimate sources of truth, my wife and daughter. My wife said it’s been 80/20 since she met me, and my daughter said it’s probably 90/10 right now, and 75/25 nearly all the other time.

What’s your percentages? Are you taking enormous amounts of the sincere spiritual action you were taught 80% of the time, 60% of the time, more or less?

I don’t know about you, but I truly love when my spirit is whole, I’m happy, joy filled, free, full of love, and I feel at one with everyone and everything. 

So, today I choose enormous amounts of sincere, consistent, spiritual action! How about you?

Today we’ll close with a freedom meditation.

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Aloha and welcome to the Sobriety Rocks Podcast, today we’re going to talk about Being the best version of yourself.

Maurice Strong said “Don't accept that you can't make a difference. Because if you can't make a difference, you won't make a difference.”

My dreams and goals are so big, that my own individual power source isn’t big enough to power them. But, when I connect to the power of the universe, and all your power, I get enough power to make a very positive difference and make all my dreams and goals come true. I even have extra power to help you make a positive difference, and make your dreams and goals come true too!

Today, I think of friends and loved ones who once made a huge difference in many peoples’ lives. But, at some point, they placed other things in front of their recovery, are now suffering, not being the best versions of themselves, and not making a positive difference.

The main question I have for myself is: what can I do to make a positive difference and be the best version of myself?

 Well, my recovery must come first. I have to take daily, consistent action in the three main areas of addiction recovery: unity, recovery, and service. From this foundation, I then take action in the other main areas of my life, and the result is I become to be the best version of myself, make a positive difference, and my dreams and goals start coming true.

I know there are many people who don’t want to be the best version of themselves, don’t want to make a difference, don’t have any goals or dreams, and/or don’t want to do the work required. If that’s you, wonderful. Close this email and have a great day!

But, if you do have goals, dreams and want to be the best or a better version of yourself, my questions for you are: What are your goals and dreams? What can you do today to help make them come true and be the best version of yourself? What can I do to help?

Whatever your answers are, I hope you take positive action today to help them materialize and reach out to me directly if there's anything I can do to help.

Have an amazing day!

Aloha,

Today we close with the 11th Step St Francis Prayer meditation which is a great tool to help get me closer to being the best version of myself.

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Aloha and welcome to the Sobriety Rocks Podcast, today we’re going to talk about Living Aloha

Duke Kahanamoku said “We greet friends, loved ones and strangers with Aloha, which means love. Aloha is the key word to the universal spirit of hospitality, understanding and fellowship. I believe it and it is my creed. Aloha to you.” 

People ask me why I always say Aloha. True be told, I don’t only say Aloha, I try to live Aloha with every breath I take. I spent time in Hawaii in early recovery and was taught that Aloha means hello, welcome, we care, we’re family, we’re here to help, everything is possible, live your dreams, be well until we meet again, we love you, and so much more.

It’s the same thing we share with struggling new members when they arrive at the doors of 12-step recovery. Hello, welcome, we care, we’re family, we’re here to help, everything is possible, live your dreams, be well until we meet again, we love you, Aloha! 

Aloha also means living in harmony with the people, land, and animals around you with compassion, love, light, harmony, peace, mercy, sympathy, kindness, understanding, respect, grace, and joy, all rolled into one. Aloha is choosing love in every moment, showing up and being lovingly present no matter what it looks like. Giving to others and caring for one another with no obligation to receive anything in return. Aloha is Life.

Despite horrible things happening across the globe, I believe the spirit of Aloha is alive and well. Aloha can be found in the most surprising places at the most unlikely times. You just have to have an open heart and mind to recognize it!

Aloha is not something that is spoken, it is something that must be experienced.

Enjoy the weekend, and please be the Aloha you wish to see in the world!

Today we’ll close with a brief Aloha meditation to help us give more Aloha to our hearts and to the world. 

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Aloha and welcome to episode 28 of the Sobriety Rocks Podcast, today we talk about Acceptance is Not the Answer

Brian Tracy said, The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance. 

In A.A. we often hear Dr. Paul’s famous “Acceptance is the answer” paragraph from the Big Book quoted and recited at the end of meetings. If acceptance was the answer to all our problems, recovery would be easy. We wouldn’t have had to go to all the meetings, do all the prayers, meditations, reading, service, self-examination, and making amends.
 
 Many of us had to accept unacceptable behavior from others, and from ourselves just to survive. Alcohol and drugs helped us to rationalize, justify, deny, get through and often times accept what should have been unacceptable conditions and events.
 
 So I say acceptance is not the answer!
 
Fearlessly and thoroughly going through all twelve steps with a sponsor to uncover, discover and discard all the wreckage from our past, followed by consistent meetings, prayer, meditation, self-examination, and service IS the answer. And when we do that, a new acceptance is one of the many by-products of this new action.
 
When we take the action, we begin to accept people for who they are, and stop engaging with people who don’t respect our physical, emotional, sexual, material, intellectual, and scheduling boundaries. We also stop accepting our own unacceptable behavior, begin to take action to change it, and find that we're treating ourselves and others much better than we had in years.
 
As we progress, other wonderful by-products of this new action begin to grow within us including hope, faith, courage, honesty, patience, humility, willingness, brotherly-love, compassion, integrity, authenticity, adaptability, reliability, trustworthiness, authenticity, self-discipline, tolerance, forgiveness, service, peace, freedom, happiness, and love.
 
So, once again I say, acceptance is not the answer. Fearless, thorough, and consistent 12-step recovery action is the answer!
 
 Here’s to taking the action and having a new acceptance be one of the many wonderful by-products.

Today we close with a brief AA meditation to help us be more accepting.

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Aloha and welcome to episode 28 of the Sobriety Rocks Podcast, today we’re going to talk about Regeneration, Rejuvenation and Restoration

Joseph S. Spence Sr. said “Always take time out for rejuvenation and redirection.” 

How many times have you prioritized others’ wants, cravings, and desires before your needs and said, I’ll take time for me later? For many people, this is commonplace. We get into a pattern where we don’t properly prioritize our needs in accordance with other areas of our lives.

When this happens, it may call for a time of regeneration, rejuvenation, and restoration. This simply means being more aware and taking time for self-care, which is vital to our quality of life. Self-care increases the quality of everything we do including family, career, finance, relationships, social, mental, emotional, and physical health. 

Sometimes taking a break for the daily grind for a few moments of quiet and calmness rejuvenates and heals us while providing clarity, wisdom, and peace. 

Other good ways to rejuvenate the mind, body and spirit include meditation, breathwork, exercise, reading, creating, cooking, traveling, spending time outdoors, and many other activities which help your spirit thrive. But know, there is no one best way. Refinement is a constant process, with many paths and many solutions. 

I encourage you to please, set aside time each day, week, month and year for regeneration, rejuvenation, and restoration. I promise; your heart, mind, body, and spirit will greatly benefit, and you will greatly appreciate that you did!

Today we’ll close with a brief meditation to regenerate, rejuvenate and restore.

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Aloha and welcome to episode 27 of the Sobriety Rocks Podcast, today we’re going to talk about Living the life of your dreams.

Napoleon Hill said “Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.” - 

Before I arrived in addiction recovery, I had dreams, but they didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted. When I got here, I thought my life, and the fun, was over. Then I heard all these people talking about how they were living their dreams, and that I could live mine too.

So, I did what they did, went to meetings, read the books, took the steps, went to more meetings, took commitments, prayed, meditated, started helping people in little ways, wrote down my dreams, and wouldn’t you know it, things started to change, a lot! Before too long, I had achieved those first small dreams and started writing new ones. I took more of the same actions and the new dreams began to come true. So, I wrote new, bigger dreams, took the same actions and, you got it, those new dreams came true too. 

Now, 30 years later, my life in recover has been about writing down my dreams, taking enormous amounts of action that have nothing to do with my dreams, and watching my dreams come true. I’m currently in the middle of another dream, and it’s materializing. Not in the way I thought it would, but in a really special way I still can’t see.
 

So, if you want to live the life of your dreams, do as I did. First start by having big dreams. Dreams that when you set them, you think they're impossible. Then take more action in the program than you’ve ever taken before, and work towards those dreams every day. I guarantee if you do that, remarkable things will happen, and one day you’ll find that some amazing version of the dream you wrote down and worked towards has come true.

So please, stay true to yourself, yet always be open to learn. Work hard, stay focused on your path, and never give up on your dreams, even when nobody else believes they can come true, but you. 

Here’s to dreaming big and living our dreams!

Today we’ll close with a brief Love meditation.

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Aloha and welcome to episode 26 of the Sobriety Rocks Podcast, today we go to talk about Love with No Price tag.

Charles Dickens said, “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” 

The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something for someone else. Particularly someone less fortunate than we are. Don’t wait for good things to happen. If we go out and help make good things happen, we fill the world with hope, and we fill ourselves with hope.

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to make some difference that we have lived well.”

The best antidote I know for any problem I may have is being of service to others. The best cure I know for weariness is helping someone who is even more tired. 

One of the great ironies of life is: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.

Here’s to all of us being of service and helping to ease the burden of others!

We close with the 11th Step St Francis Prayer Meditation from Alcoholics Anonymous

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Aloha and welcome to the Sobriety Rocks Podcast. Today we’re going to talk about Freedom.

Peter Marshall said “May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.”― 

Freedom: To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.

In the truest sense, Freedom cannot be bestowed, it must be achieved. 

Is freedom anything else than the right to be who we want to be and live how we wish to live? If so, then freedom lies in being bold, and is the byproduct of consistent action, discipline, and perhaps, some fortune.
   
The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says before we are halfway through cleaning up the mess of our lives, we will know a new freedom and a new happiness. That’s my experience. By taking the steps, I did find a freedom and happiness which was elusive to me for years.
 
How free do you want to be? My heart sings with and for freedom. Not just for me, but for everyone!
 
I will continue this path of being of maximum service to God and my fellows, and I am confident that no matter what happens, I will continue to know both freedom and happiness.
 
No one can take your freedom, but no one can give it to you either. Here’s to helping others be free, so we too can be free!
 
We close with a brief mindfulness meditation to get us centered to know we are free!

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Aloha and welcome to episode 24 of the Sobriety Rocks Podcast, , today we’re going to talk about turning the impossible into the possible!

I’ve learned that everything is possible. Neither age, nor race, education, gender, nationality, economic status; absolutely nothing is a barrier to making anyone’s dreams come true. 

I’ve been able to go through incredibly challenging times in recovery without drinking, using, or acting out, with confidence, strength, grace and dignity I didn’t possess before I got to recovery.

If you’re having self-doubt or confidence issues, I encourage you to re-establish or establish consistent, daily spiritual, physical and mental practices, write down your goals and dreams, and put together an action plan to achieve them. 

Continue with you daily spiritual, physical and mental practices, then begin doing what is necessary, let that lead into what is possible, and if you continue being consistent, all of the sudden you’ll find you’re doing what you may have previously thought was impossible.

What do you want to accomplish, achieve, or become? Whatever it is, it’s right here for the taking!

If you’re having trouble getting started, please reach out to me directly and I’ll help you begin.

Here’s to turning the impossible into the possible!  

We close with a brief positivity meditation.

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Aloha and welcome to episode 23 of the Sobriety Rocks Podcast, in this episode we talk about when the going gets tough, the tough pray, meditate and serve!

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says “It is a design for living that works in rough going”.

So, how’s your week going so far? Well, I hope! But if it’s not going as planned, there’s plenty of time to turn things around. Let’s make today be the foundation for the rest of the week by doing these three simple things; pray, meditate, and serve!

In this episode we give you simple tools of prayer, meditation, and a few easy examples of how to serve.

That’s it! I promise, your week will turn around and be the best week you’ve had in a long time if you take even a little bit of time to the three things above.

Here’s to making a difference and being the calm in the storm, wherever we may go.

We close with a brief 9th step meditation.

Visit our website at https://www.recoverhq.com/ 

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