🤔 Can you be mindful in this moment?

Good Morning! We're the DailyFix...the easy way to get recovery support and humor to start your day right delivered straight to your inbox.  

Plus, we keep it short and sweet so you're not late for work. 

Here’s what's in store for you today:

• 🎯 Daily Motivation: To Succeed, You Must Fail

• 🧐 Let's Learn: Mindfulness for Recovery

• 🧘🏽 Daily Meditation

• ❓ Recovery Riddle

• 😂 Meme of the Day

🎯 Daily Motivation: To Succeed, You Must Fail

Everybody fails...Don't let your shortcomings define you. Instead of feeling like a failure, use your failures to achieve greater success!

🧐 Let's Learn: Mindfulness for Recovery

During recovery, many of us use the mantra "One day at a time" as a focal point. It's very helpful for many, including me, simply because it seems a lot less daunting to give up drugs or alcohol for one day than to think you will never drink or use drugs every again. 

But some days are just bad.

Those bad days can trigger cravings and distract you from your goals as the stress piles up.  Then the day seems to drag on FOOOOREEEVEEER (as said by Squints in The Sandlot). When this happens, it can be much harder to take it one day at a time because that one day just plain sucks.

But mindfulness can help you live not only one day at a time, but one moment at a time. It slows down the day, gives you a break to relax, and promotes a peaceful perspective. 

When you are mindful of your emotions, thoughts, situation, and setting, your mind will be less likely to stray toward drugs and alcohol. Then, you can simply focus on making it through that single moment. In addition, mindfulness can help you understand the way you react to triggers. You may learn more about your addictive behaviors and unhealthy thoughts so that you are prepared to respond in a healthy way the next time you encounter something stressful.

The best part? It takes you off your auto-pilot mode and can be used anytime, anywhere. Plus, it's super easy to do and only 5 or 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation per day can be helpful for inspiring a more mindful attitude. 

So, here's what I want you to do (I know, I know...homework sucks...but you'll thank me later!). Find 5 or 10 minutes of peace and quiet every day, where you can eliminate distractions. It doesn't have to be perfect, but somewhere that you feel comfortable and won't have people calling you, knocking on your door, or asking you to do mindfulness homework (again, sorry...). 

Then, close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Watch yourself inhale and exhale, but don't try to turn your mind off. If you start thinking about something, simply refocus your attention to your breathing patterns. Don't judge the thoughts that pass through your mind, simply acknowledge them and then concentrate on your breathing again.

That's it! Do that for a few minutes every day, and you can train your mind to focus on the present moment, recognize and redirect negative thinking, and start taking recovery one moment at a time. 

🧘🏽 DAILY MEDITATION 🧘🏽

There was a time when I always felt that life was out to get me. I always looked on the "dark" side of life. I was forever being negative and pessimistic I would always be surrounded by sick and destructive human beings. Whenever people offered hope or tried to help me, I turned away and rejected them. For years I created the pain and misery in my life.

Then a close friend forced himself into my life and gave me a dose of "tough love". He made me see that I was wallowing in self-pity. He cared enough to intervene and tell me what I did not want to hear. Today I have some years of recovery from alcoholism, and I carry the message.

I pray that I may always love myself and others enough to take a risk.

If you want to join a private group that reflects on these meditations, reply back to this email and we'll put you on the list!

 ❓Recovery Riddle❓

A man goes out drinking every night, returning home in the wee hours each morning. No matter how much he drinks, he never gets a hangover. This drink is very well known, but rarely consumed. It's served warm and taken straight from its source. The man is a sucker for a free drink, especially since he can't live without it. What is the man's favorite drink? 

See Answer After the MEME OF THE DAY!

😂 MEME OF THE DAY 😂

Riddle Answer: Blood...the man is a vampire! Although before I got sober, if he drank my blood, he probably would have had a hangover anyways!