Phone call-read your messages

  Recently several people have talked about their moment of weakness when they picked up.  For some reason it has really scared me.  I have not really had an overwhelming desire to pick up, and I don't know how I would cope.  I called someone on program and she gave me great advice.

"When Hashem causes you to hear something over and over you should take it as a warning.  Right now you are fealing strong on the program, but you should not think that you are invincible.  Everyone has their moments of weakness and if you don't work your tools enough, you will not be strong enough to resist."

Your loose your tools long before you pick up.

I have heard this from many people and it is a very powerful message. No one wakes up and says, "Today I am going to cheat", "Today I am going to pick up".

First you get busy and you miss a meeting, then you find a reason to stop making phone calls. Then you stop calling your sponsor.

Its what we call a slippery slope. Once you start to fall it is hard to stop.

Don't let your tools get weak, they are the "fence" around your abstinence.

Use your writing for growth

I am very careful about my writing, but I never realized the spiritual power that it contained until Hashem opened my eyes this weekend. I was speaking to someone who shared that she uses her writing as more then just the 4 g's (Grateful, Good, Glitches, Goal). She views her Good entries as her spiritual victories, and her glitches are areas that she needs to improve, and her goals are the ways to emulate Hashem.

Then I listened to two shiurim by Rabbi Berkowitz about Chesbon Hanefesh and it all tied together. Between our writing and our sponser we have an amazing opportunity to do Heshbon Hanefesh daily.

Insight from a phone call

Today someone shared with me the importance of keeping your gaurd up after the stress is over. She told me that her ninety days ended on Purim-needless to say a rough day. She had no problem making it through Purim, but then she picked up on Shushan Purim when she let her guard down.

Phone Calls

The more phone calls I make, the more I appreciate their importance. When I speak to someone who is strong, I grow from their strength. When I speak to someone who is struggling, I gain so much from being Mechazik them.

I never would have made it through Chanukah without the help that I got from the phone calls. At first I thought that it would be too much for me to find the time on Chanukah to make the calls, but instead I found myself holding on to the Chizuk that they gave me like a lifeline, with white knuckles.