November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

[Lavande]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Good evening friends!

Long, busy day for me as well Sooty - accomplishing next to nothing.......oh well!

Red, nice to see you back! I'm sure you'll have no problem returning to your AF life, you know what to do

Greetings Lil & lodestar! MM, hope your day 4 went well for you!

Finding, the Amish farmer has agreed to take any hens off my hands that give me trouble. I'm just too much of a weenie to turn them over. I'd never make it as a real farmer!

LBH, you stone wall sounds lovely! Please help yourself to all the Lavan-ittude you need to glue it together, OK?

Well, I need to call it a day. Have lots to do on my list tomorrow.
Wishing everyone a good night!
Lav

[ladybirdheart]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Goodness am I tired and sore from prying/carrying/rolling rocks. I have the general pattern laid out. Lav, you are a cornerstone (literally). It was a really hard rock to move and it?s not going anywhere now! Welcome home Red. Goodnight everybody, I had huge cravings earlier (heavens I am sick of them!) but they are dead gone and now I?m off to a big soaky bath and a sober rest listening to a loop of ?Sleepy Ocean?. Love, Ladybird.

[redhibiscus]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Good morning. Boy it is hard to be excited about going back to work after having time off. I will be enthusiastic though. I am very grateful to have a job, close to home, so busy that my days fly by.

I read a wonderful spiritual practice that I wanted to share. It is called the examen by St. Ignatias. It does not matter if you are Catholic, you can tweak this to your own beliefs. I just thought it was a lovely way to end your day, AF,and feeling close to God.
1. Ask God to be with you.
2. Think of what you are grateful for. It definitely includes the little things.
3. Review your day. When did you accept or experience God's grace? When did you turn away?
Examples: You purposefully were kind or caring. You accepted God's grace. You were disrespectful to someone. You turned away from God at that point.
4. Think of your sins or things you regret and ask for forgiveness.
5. Ask for God's grace, help and presence for the next day.

I was really touched by this and plan to make this part of my spiritual practice. It is so important to me to have a better relationship with God, being AF. I felt apart from everything good when I drank often and heavily. Alcohol was something that separated me from my true self.

Any thoughts about spirituality and alcohol? This is always an interesting topic. Take care and have a great day.

[dill]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Greetings!
Red, it's wonderful to have you back. We missed you. Your trip sounds lovely, except for the hurricane part. But at least that added a little drama. Thank you for sharing The Examin with us. I think it sounds like a wonderful practice and I shall try to do it tonight. I will have to print it out. Since choosing to eliminate alc from my life, I have turned toward searching for spirituality and meaning as a part of my toolbox. I agree that spirituality is important in gaining and maintaining life free of alc.. Your suggestion prompted me to look up the origin of the word "sin". I am kind of a geek about language and words. Here's an interesting bit:

"As a result, many modern translators prefer to use the straightforward sin. The word sin may be related to the Latin sons, meaning guilty, although this is by no means certain. Of the three choices, this is the oldest in terms of English. The word is used in the Vespasian Psalter from c.825, which contains the oldest extant translation into English of any portion of the Bible.

There is a belief that sin comes from some archery term meaning to miss the target. This tale stems from confusion and misunderstanding of preachers giving Sunday sermons. The English word sin has no such etymology. The Greek hamartia, however, can literally mean to fall short or miss, especially in the archery context. Since hamartia is often the word being translated, preachers sometimes use this Greek etymology as a sermon illustration and people confuse it with the etymology of the English word. The sermon illustration, however, is somewhat flawed. By the time of Christ the archery sense of hamartia was obsolete, so the sermon illustration is anachronistic. To Christ and his contemporaries hamartia would simply mean a violation of God?s law and would not have conveyed a metaphorical sense of falling short, as an arrow falls short of its target. "

I put that bit in bold because I thought it was really intesting. You try to live a good life and do good deeds, but often "miss the target".

Here's a link if you want to read more: Wordorigins.org

Lady Bird Heart, I feel so honored to be part of your Sea Wall!

Shuffle board was fun, Lil. What would you like to play today? Thanks for the picture! Was that one of your daughters?

Lav, I think you should take your murderess to the Amish farmer. It's the natural order of things, and I don't think you can cure a hen once they start that bad habit. Plus, it's quite possible the other hens will pick up the bad behavior when they find how tasty those eggs are! Just my opinion.

Sooty, when we get to Africa, will we have time to disembark and go on a safari?

Hello, Finding, Lodestar, Mighty, GFO, Scrubbly and all else who stop by. Off to get ready for another day at work!

[Lavande]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Good morning November friends,

Dark & damp today - waiting for a Nor'Easter to blow thru, ugh!

LBH, I'll be happy to lend you a hand moving the larger rocks - think cyber strength

Red, I was raised Catholic, no longer practice the faith but admit to still thinking like a Catholic, more often than not. I do firmly believe in incorporating gratitude in our daily lives.

Dill, I've just read some suggestions on handling my egg eating hen. I will make every effort to change her behavior before I hand her over to Farmer Ike for his dinner.........I think I am a real 'bleeding heart' if you know what I mean!

I really NEED to get some work done today.......yesterday I was way too distracted.
Wishing everyone a productive, AF Thursday

Lav

[sooty]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Afternoon all, just got back from getting some food shopping done and meeting an old friend for lunch at the same time.
Big panic in Sootyland this morning as my laptop crashed and just would not work ..so the first thing I did on getting back home from shopping was to spend a very pleasant ten minutes on the phone to a very nice young man who talked me through getting it going again and here I am!!!
I thought I was going to have to share Mr Sooty's computer and that would never do ....I like having my own.
Horrible day here wind and very heavy rain. Our weather sounds so similar Lav, its uncanny!
Scrubbly I love the idea of us individually being rocks but together being a strong wall - what a lovely way to put it thankyou.
Well the ship is steaming on we must be nearly at the Bahamas and then off to Africa and a safari - what will Dill think of next!
I'm off to my first rehearsal with the ladies only choir tonight, la la la la :H:H
I'll sing one for all of you
love Sooty

[mighty mouse]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Hi everyone, Day 5 AF for me.It feels good this morning. Feel like kicking butt to those demons. LBH I'm feeling the wall. maybe one of those rocks can be AL and it can be drown in the pond forever.
Thanks to all, MM

[1morechance]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Hello everyone day 5 for me too MM. Red thank you for sharing the examen, I really needed something like this. I know what you mean about alcohol and spirituality. sometimes i feel like it robbed my spirit because i have no motivation to pray but i know God wouldn't let that happen. i will practice this starting tonight. i grew up catholic but at this point in my life i prefer not to be part of organized religion but rather be spiritual in other ways.

it's nice to be back and read all these positive messages. have a great afternoon everyone

[girl_from_oz]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Morning,
Just checking in - have survived day 4 and woken up to day 5. Just arrived at work and gotta say it's GREAT not to have my usual hangover that makes Friday at work even more of a chore!
Will be back tonight to post and get some much needed strength to get me through Friday night... :eeks:

[changemeforever]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Hello guys! Just off to bed after day 1 af! Looking forward to tomorrow! This site is inspirational. Thank you all so much for sharing your thoughts. Well good night and see you all in the morning. X

[lilmea]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Hello All,

LHB-How sweat to include me in your Sea wall. Truely an honor.

Lav-Ugh on that cold and damp weather. We were suppose to have rain all week but it's actually been pretty nice.

Dill-No, not a pic of my daughter. I found the pic on photobucket.

Red-Welcome home. It's always had to get back into the swing of things after a 'get away' isn't it?

Finding-How was your day? You always seem so busy. Do you mind if I ask if you have any kids at home? I've been an empty nester for a long time now.

Sooty-Glad you were able to get your computer fix so fast. I'm still having trouble with mine after that total system restore a couple of weeks ago.

MM, 1more & GFO-congratulations on 5 days. Keep up the good work!

Welcome :welcome: changemeforever. and congratulations on day 1.

I'm having a mini remodel going on in my kitchen. I've spent this week amoung drywall dust and paint fumes. I've spent today washing furniture and trying to get things cleaned up a bit. Hopefully the guy will be done in a couple of days and I can really get things back together.

I hope everyone has a peaceful evening.

[redhibiscus]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Dill, Lavande, and 1morechance, thanks for responding to the spiritual practice. It is so important to get right with yourself and explore spirituality honestly once AF. I have always examined my behaviors, and I think that is why I was so tortured when drinking. I felt so apart from anything good. Hey, I already said that....it was so hard for me to be so sick spiritually. Now, I have hope again.

Work was OK except for the end of the day...I need to make some changes at work. I am working on it. It is better to handle problems and challenges AF, but still not easy. I am grumpy tonight, sorry.

[mighty mouse]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Hi all, Great job at 1 day changeme forever. I'm trying to change me forever too. It hasn't been as difficult as i thought because of all the support here. I would have liked to have given you one of those smilie guys but I still can't figure out how (computer nerd).

GFO Ihope you have a great day 5, I'll be going to bed and moving on to day 6! My head feels so much lighter. how bout yours.
Dill I like the definition of sin. Falling short of the target. Kind of puts a lot of theological ideas into one easy to envision sentance. It's hard to see where the target is when theres to much AL. Thanks for the research

Red Thanks for sharing the practice. It is a good one.

1more chance, Great day 5. how did you feel. i felt pretty great all day. got grouchy this evening so I left and went to the library. I read things there untiil it past then came home. On to day 6. wishing you the same.

Hi to lil, lav and sooty.
good night and thanks for the support, Love MM

[Lavande]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Good evening friends,

This was one very long but productive day for me!

Sooty, you're in a choir? Yuo can sing for me anytime
The wind is howling tonight - brr!

MM, 1morechace, GFO - congrats to all you on 5 days - you rock! Keep going girls, it gets better & better, honestly

Hello to changemeforever - welcome & congrats on your day 1. Stick with us & share the strength!

lil, I've been through remodeling in our first 3 houses. This house was built new 6 years ago - I'm not changing a darn thing!!!! My cold or whatever it was is gone, thank God! I was worried about passing it on to my grandson.

red, it's perfectly OK to have a grumpy day - we're all still human here (I think)! The good thing about mood swings is that they keep us humble.......tomorrow is another day!

Dill, only 1 broken egg today - things may be improving on the canibal front

Have a good AF evening everyone!
Lav

[ladybirdheart]

November Navigators ~ AF -Week 2

Welcome changemeforever. Mighty Mouse, you are certainly starting to shine through, and 1 More and GFO as well, the three of you are moving right along splendidly. I did not get to work on the/our wall as much as I had intended today but did put aside three sparkly stones for the likes of you! Lil, I know the dust dance; when I work on the walls of this old house (plaster), sanding them smooth creates clouds of talc which somehow end up in my underwear drawer four rooms away. I chose a rock for you and one for Dill as well today, unique and elegant reddish ones with natural basins that can hold a bit a water for bird bathing (yours) or pretty small stones (Dill?s). Sooty has a sweet rock, bright in the rain, standing out a bit when it?s dreary. Lav already has the cornerstone and tomorrow I shall start looking for the rest of us. In the meantime, sleep well, wake up happy, and let your love/truth/spirit shine. Love, Ladybird.