“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.” – Richard Bach

When I hang onto the past, particularly experiences where I was hurt or hurt others, I am stuck in a cocoon of darkness. No light gets in. But by really embracing the program, and inviting tons of loving, kind, optimistic, healing ideas into my mind, I begin to shed my old skin and come into the light, allowing me to share it with others. I become a butterfly and soar the sky. Today I will fly free because ILML! 

JamieQ

“When your heart has been closed in anger or fear, only the power of love can open it.” – Until Today
It’s easy for me to know if my heart is closed towards someone or even myself. When I think about them or myself do I feel upset? Sometimes my heart is closed in fear or anger because I’ve been hurt or made mistakes. But is the price worth it? When I am ready to stop being upset I can reconnect with source and give my thanks for the gifts in my life. I can read from books that invite gratitude, abundance and optimism. I can journal out all the stuff in my head and text out a gratitude list to others. Am I ready yet? When I use the tools to change my mind and open up my heart, once again, I’m ready to yell out “ILML!”

– JamieQ

“Today I accept myself (and others) as imperfect and allow myself (and them)  to make mistakes.” – Adapted from Hope For Today 

There’s a pattern that happens when I am discontent. I find someone to blame. Sometimes it’s me. Sometimes it’s them. When I react to this upsettedness instead of responding I end up with an emotional hangover. I believe my dis-ease, that voice that whispers (and sometimes yells) into my head, is always looking for mistakes and problems – things to worry or feel bad about. Today I’ll be aware who’s talking to me. If it’s my dis-ease I’ll treat him like a telemarketer and just hang up the phone. Life is too precious to waste time listening to him anymore. ILML!  

– JamieQ

“We are all a little wacky”. – In God’s Care

If you ask my wife or kids if I’m a nut they will all say “Absolutely!” I listen to loud music in the mornings while dancing and singing (sometimes Brittany Spears). I obsess about weird things like if my belly looks fat or not. I get upset if the Netfix show takes too long to start. And a million other weird things. But that’s what makes us all unique – we have quirky little quirks. Today I’m enjoying my nuttiness instead of being so rigid and serious. As the Middleton Group #1, Rule #62 said “Don’t take yourself too damn seriously.” And today I don’t intend too. ILML! 

– Jamie

“When we’re in touch with the wonders of life, we become aware of many conditions of happiness that are already there, and naturally we feel happy.” – Thitch Nhat Han

So many books are written about being in the moment? Living in the now. I used to feel that some of the moments I was in were causing me terrible pain and suffering. The truth was, I was usually creating a painful experience in that moment by focusing my attention on some hurt in the past or unrealized fear in the future. As a result, my living in the moment wasn’t really living in the moment. Today, when I look around to realize how truly blessed I am to be alive and healthy, when I let go of the past and stop fearing the future, I am living in the moment and ILML! 

– JamieQ

“… we abandon limited objectives…” – 12&12 p.69

Before the program I could never a acheive my objectives: to be successful, to have lots of amazing friends, to make a bunch of money, to have a lot of nice things, to do whatever I wanted, to fall in love, to have great kids, and to live happily ever after. So why now, only after joining the program and doing my rituals consistently have I been able to acheive all these goals? Because I work a great program, I love the man I’m becoming, I have a great core group of others who support me, I give back with no expectation of reward, and this giving is a great reward unto itself. And so abundance continues to rain down upon me as I put my program and service to others ahead of all else. Plus I receive the ultimate bonus, which is that ILML! 

– JamieQ

“… (they’ve) tapped an inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves.” – AA page 184
Today I have an amazing relationship with a higher power that is personal to me. But it took a long, long time for me to believe. I’m a hard headed intellectual who needs empirical evidence. One day on the radio I heard “God is a make believe friend for grown ups.” That night I wrote down the qualities I would want in a make-believe god/friend. Today my friendship with god is stronger than ever. So where is the empirical evidence? My life is way easier, I’m happier, and I feel more at peace with my higher power. I choose to believe, and as a result ILML! That’s plenty of evidence for me to keep believing. 

– JamieQ

“I will turn away from negativity, self-doubt, and fear, and celebrate life instead.” – Courage to Change

It’s so easy for me to see when I’m worried about something, doubting my capabilities or just being negative – and I’m never happy being in that place. The good news is that there is a solution. Once I’m aware of the problem I can choose to take action to realign myself with gratitude and instantly start feeling good again. I just grab my spiritual backpack, read out of a few books, share it with someone else and boom.. ILML! (It really is that easy 🙂

– JamieQ

“We’re fortunate to have the program to guide us…” – In God’s Care

The most important thing was to get, and keep, as much stuff as I could. Money, property, prestige. This would surely make me happy, right? Wrong. I was working the program backwards. There’s nothing wrong with stuff, provided it follows the most important objective: becoming a good, self-loving, other-loving and life-loving person. When I, first and foremost, focus on achieving this goal, and then do the footwork to create abundance, I get to be happy, joyous and free whether the stuff comes or not. This is a very important lesson the program taught me. Today, no matter how much (or how little) stuff I have, ILML! 

– JamieQ

“When you forgive, you in no way change the past — but you sure do change the future.”— Bernard Meltzer

I’ve discovered that the single most effective way for me to be unhappy is to refuse to forgive – in other words, to continue to be upset after the thing that made me upset has already happened. I am one of those super-duper sensitive people – my feelings get hurt all the time. Tailgate me, upset. Low in the bank, upset. Speak to me in that tone, upset. But forgiving isn’t easy if I’m not spiritually fit. By doing my daily inspired reading, writing and sharing in the morning, I’m less sensitive, less reactive, and forgive more easily. This makes me happier, and when I’m happy ILML! 

– JamieQ