My Prescription for Happiness in Recovery

Suggested Dose to Make Life Better: 

Do everything on the list everyday for a minimum 30 consecutive days (or like me, forever).

Upon Awakening:

Open eyes. First thoughts about gratitude for being alive and sober/and or in recovery. Force yourself to smile – fake it if necessary.. As you wake up keep that smile while thinking of things you are grateful for.

Upon Getting out of Bed:

Do not let the soles of your feet touch the floor. Rather, slither out of bed onto you knees. Use this time for more gratitude. If alone (or comfortable) say the things you’re grateful for out loud. End your gratitude with stretching and/or meditating.  Then throw hands in the air and say out loud:

• I invite abundance into my life, in every form. I love the man/woman I’m becoming and I love my life.

Before leaving home or going into your work area:

Shower, Clean your home and area, make your bed. Your surroundings should reflect how you want your life to look.

On your way to to work, or prior to starting:

Figure out what meeting you’re going to.

Set two alarms on your mobile phone to remind you of your meeting.

Call or text your wife/girlfriend or husband/boyfriend (if you have one), making it a point to say these three things every day (in these or your own words):

• You are so beautiful/handsome – I love you
• I’m so grateful you’re in my life
• Thank you for choosing me, and all you do to make my life so much better

Allocate at least 15 minutes before starting work to do the following:

• Read out of at least two books, one being the Big Book. Read a minimum of one paragraph. Use a highlighter and pen. Highlight what you think is very important, write something somewhere on the page to remind you what’s on this page, like “Making Amends”, or “Spiritual Axiom”.
• Write in your journal every day, starting with the date and where you are physically at the moment. Write down a summary of things you’ve done and felt since the last entry. End with a gratitude list of at least 10 things.
• If you’re working the steps, spend at least 5 minutes actively doing the step work you’ve been given.

Call your sponsor, let him know the following:

• Where you are
• How you feel
• What you’ve done in the program
• Any amends you need to make or have made
• What the rest of your day looks like
• Ask how your sponsor is doing, and listen. It’s very important to take genuine interest in, and care how, your sponsor is doing.

During the day/evening:

Get to a meeting. Shoot for 4 meetings/week minimum, at least one of them being Alanon. Make them regular meetings.

Reconnect to source constantly. Shut off the voice of the dis-ease by saying to yourself “

• I’m not interested in that. I don’t want to feel bad. Thanks for sharing but I’m focusing on gratitude, and I have tons of that in my life.

Call your sponsees, asking them:

• Where they are
• How they feel
• How their day went
• Any amends you need to make or have made
• What the rest of your day looks like
• Give them your experience, strength and hope with recovery suggestions if they seem disconnected.

If you’re having difficulties in any communication with another, do the following:

• Make sure you’re not trying to control, dominate, nag or scold. If so, immediately apologize.
• Make sure you’re not in fear. If so, take a break and reconnect with source. If that doesn’t work, make an outreach call to sponsor or program person.
• If you feel attacked, try letting them know how you feel, and see if that helps. If it doesn’t, let them know you need to do something and you can talk about it in a little while. Make an outreach call to sponsor or program person. You may need to set boundaries.

Remember that it’s much easier for you to change than expect others to. That means, if you’re the problem in the relationship, you should be happy – it’s easy to fix that by stepping up your program, etc. In other words, we would rather US be the problem as we can fix that.

At meetings:

Get there early enough to sit in the front row where you have eye contact with speaker/secretary.

Raise your hand early to share if a sharing meeting. Don’t give up until you are called upon.

Share as follows:

• Identify only as an alcoholic if in AA (by first name only in Alanon)
• Share a problem you encountered recently and haven’t’ shared about in that meeting
• Share about the feelings that came up, and temptation to act out in old behavior
• Share about the program tool you applied
• Share about the success that happened as a result of working the program

If you have less than 5 sponsees, raise your hand as a sponsor if they ask for them.

If you have less than 5 sponsees, go up to those people who identified as new or needing a sponsor and give them your number. Ask for theirs too and call them.

On the way home:

Call or text your wife/girlfriend, making it a point to say these three things every day (in these or your own words):

• You are so beautiful/handsome – I love you
• How was your day? Listen attentively – do not fix or offer advice/suggestions unless asked. 
• Is there anything I can do for you to make you happy?

Call your sponsor, let him know the following:

• Where you are
• How you feel
• How your day went
• Any amends you need to make or have made
• What the rest of your day looks like
• Ask how your sponsor is doing, and listen. It’s very important to take genuine interest in, and care how, your sponsor is doing.

After work/at home:

Make time for recreation, hobbies and fun.

Spend time with people that make you happy, being sure to bring light into their lives.

Eat healthy and don’t eat too late. No caffeine or sugar late if this keeps you up or interferes with sleep.

Before getting into bed:

Next to the bed, get onto you knees. Use this time for gratitude from your day. If alone (or comfortable) say the things you’re grateful for out loud. End your gratitude with stretching and/or meditating.  Then throw hands in the air and say out loud:

• Thank you for all the abundance in my life. I love the man/woman I’m becoming and I love my life.