Christmas

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, He is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11)

Prior to the observance of Christmas, the 25th of December was already a day of celebration in the Roman world.
Roman citizens observed the birthday of the unconquerable sun, honoring the sun god, Mithras.
Pope Julius I formally declared it Christmas in 349 A.D.
After the 4th century, Christians began to celebrate Jesus’ birth although it was not until the 12th century that St. Francis of Assisi added much to the modern conception of the tradition with presentation of the crèche — the crib — in which he presented the birth surrounded by live animals within a church.

Today, Christmas is a day to remember those you love and love those you cherish.

The Night Before Christmas

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

The Caribbean Atlantic

Witnessing the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean meeting the Caribbean Sea in St. Kitts with Nevis two miles way.

Paradise, indeed.

Winter Travels

A Journal Home

Getting home during a major snow storm can be quite a feat especially when the airlines repeatedly cancel your flights and hopes of getting home. One day of DELAYS eventually leads to further DELAYS the following day with re-routing and holding patterns more than a possibility. Exploring all of my limited options from one specific city always make me find alternate routes through neighboring cities that are within a days drive. I have now driven from one airport city (SAF) to a neighbor (ABQ) in hopes of better options, not necessarily my first choices, to get home within the same day albeit the next full day. I have begun my journey ay 5:30 a.m. in hopes of being home before sundown. Information, provided by the airlines, is always limited and not always 100% honest or accurate.

Creative Recovery

I have been told that these 3 strategies make up the core of creative recovery. They apply to any situation and are universally applicable. They are:

* Caring for self

* Networking with others

* Personal growth

I Hate Good-Byes

"Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos."

- Charles M. Schulz

Unforgettable

"Unforgettable, that's what you are,
Unforgettable though near or far,
Like a song of love that clings to me,
How the thought of you does things to me,
Never before has someone been more,

Unforgettable in every way,
And forever more, that's how you'll stay,
That's why, darling, it's incredible,
That someone so unforgettable,
Thinks that I am unforgettable too.

Unforgettable in every way.
And forever more, that's how you'll stay,
That's why, darling, it's incredible,
That someone so unforgettable,
Thinks that I am unforgettable too."

Thanksgiving

"For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Follow our Bliss

"Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be." - Joseph Campbell

It Will Come True

"Hope is wishing for a thing to come true;
faith is believing that it will come true."

- Norman V. Peale

Breaking the Cycle

"Breaking the cycles of alcohol and abuse is one of the most difficult things a man can face and embrace. Living in the shadows of an abusive father and grandfather is daunting. My commitment to my boys is to end the cycle with my history so they do not have to bear the burden."

- Anonymous

Your Right to Grow

"No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow." - Alice Walker

I Can

I can stop drinking alcohol on weekdays.
I can stop drinking alcohol during the day at work.
I can substitute every second drink with water, non-alcoholic beer, coffee or a soft drink.

People Pleasers

"The irony is that people pleasers fail because it is impossible to please all the people all the time. They fail to meet their needs because they have ceased to be aware of them." - Anonymous

All the Time

"Many people find it hard to admit when alcohol is a problem. Often, people around you may see your problem before you do. Think about the things mentioned here. Think about what your friends and family say to you about drinking. Alcohol is a problem if it causes problems in any part of your life. This includes your health, your work and your life at home. You may have a problem with alcohol if you think about drinking all the time, if you keep trying to quit on your own but can't, or if you often drink more than you plan to." - Anonymous

Walk Away

"Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that's more productive. " - Donald Trump

The Things He Has

"The question for each man to settle is not what he would do if he had means, time, influence and educational advantages; the question is what he will do with the things he has. The moment a young man ceases to dream or to bemoan his lack of opportunities and resolutely looks his conditions in the face, and resolves to change them, he lays the corner-stone of a solid and honorable success."

- Hamilton Wright Mabie

Plant the Seed

"We plant the seed of an apple tree not so we can sit under the tree. We plant it so someone else can sit under the tree."

- Jim Tunney, "Dean of N.F.L. Referees"

Gut

"Gut reaction. Get instincts. Gut
Feelings. Gut checks. Gut.
Feelings. Waist Waste.
Gut wrenching.
Store, Hide. Pain. Neglect.
Tire. Tired. Sick and tired.
Gut less. Less Gut.
Got Gut ?
Get out. Gut."

- Anonymous

Saved by Hope

"Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

- Reinhold Niebuhr

The 12 Steps

The 12 Steps
Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable
Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God
Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
Step 5 - Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
Step 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
Step 7 - Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
Step 8 - Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
Step 9 - Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out
Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

Doing Nothing

"Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."

- Winnie the Pooh

Boys of Fourteen

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years".

- Mark Twain, "Old Times on the Mississippi" Atlantic Monthly, 1874

Genuine Love

"Although the act of nurturing another's spiritual growth has the effect of nurturing one's own, a major characteristic of genuine love is that the distinction between oneself and the other is always maintained and preserved." - M. Scott Peck

As without Light

"... without darkness
Nothing comes to birth,
As without light
Nothing flowers."

- May Sarton

Courage to Be

"f you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Compassion to Embrace

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. - Albert Einstein

Respect You

"When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you."

- Lao Tzu

This Has Been My Life

"Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living."

- Bertrand Russell

No Happiness without Action

"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." - Benjamin Disraeli

Step Out of Our Ruts

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."

- M. Scott Peck

What Happiness Consists Of

"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." - Albert Camus

A Life Worth Living

"It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Deep Satisfaction to the Mind

"Beauty: the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest)."

One Day at a Time

"The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time." - Abraham Lincoln

A Man of Value

"Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value." - Albert Einstein

Speaking Your Truth

"Living with integrity means:

Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships.
Asking for what you want and need from others.
Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension.
Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values.
Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe."

- Barbara De Angelis

Love is Kind

"Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails."

- I Corinthians 13:4-8

Curiosity

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

- Ellen Parr

Invective Against Graft

ABUSE:
1. misapply.
2. ill-use, maltreat, injure, harm, hurt.
3. vilify, vituperate, berate, scold; slander, defame, calumniate, traduce.
6. misapplication.
7. slander, aspersion. Abuse, censure, invective all mean strongly expressed disapproval. Abuse implies an outburst of harsh and scathing words against another (often one who is defenseless): abuse directed against an opponent. Censure implies blame, adverse criticism, or hostile condemnation: severe censure of acts showing bad judgment. Invective applies to strong but formal denunciation in speech or print, often in the public interest: invective against graft.

Sometimes I Feel Sorry For Myself

"Some people say that I am unlucky. I don't believe it. And I don't want to sound as if I am particularly brave or unusual. Sometimes I still get down, and sometimes I feel sorry for myself. Nobody is just one thing all the time. But when I look back I can't call myself unlucky." - Ernie Davis (1939-1963) in 1961 he became the first African American to be awarded the Heisman Trophy while attending Syracuse University.

Je Ne Regrette Rien

"Non Je Ne Regrette Rien

Non, Rien De Rien, Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Ni Le Bien Qu`on M`a Fait, Ni Le Mal
Tout Ca M`est Bien Egal
Non, Rien De Rien, Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
C`est Paye, Balaye, Oublie, Je Me Fous Du Passe

Avec Mes Souvenirs J`ai Allume Le Feu
Mes Shagrins, Mes Plaisirs,
Je N`ai Plus Besoin D`eux
Balaye Les Amours Avec Leurs Tremolos
Balaye Pour Toujours
Je Reparas A Zero

Non, Rien De Rien, Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Ni Le Bien Qu`on M`a Fait, Ni Le Mal
Tout Ca M`est Bien Egal
Non, Rien De Rien, Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Car Ma Vie, Car Me Joies
Aujourd`hui Ca Commence Avec Toi"

- Edith Piaf

The Tide Will Turn

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Exits and Entrances

"All the world is a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and entrances;
Each man in his time plays many parts.

- William Shakespeare

Greatness and Meanness

"What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great person is one who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Security and Independence

"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence."

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

In Ease and Quiet

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

- Helen Keller

A Time to Seek

"For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace."

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8