The Daily Llama Brings You The Word Of The Day For November 30th Through December 4th

The Daily Llama brings you the word of the day, short meditations for your complete wool-being (#seewhatwedidthere?) for Monday, November 30th through Friday, December 4th.

MONDAY, November 30th

WORD OF THE DAY: VISUALIZE

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Meditate on this:

Elite athletes and highly successful entrepreneurs both know the power of visualizing a positive outcome. They know this secret: that we become what we rehearse. The mind is the most powerful asset we have. Many of us, however, neglect to use it to our benefit. We’ve become quite skilled though on types of thinking that harm us:  assuming the worst of other people, rushing to judgments, beating ourselves for past mistakes. Everything we do in life begins with a thought about it. We can learn to stop visualizing failure and negative outcomes. We can learn to visualize things working out for the best, and by doing that we invite wellness and love to take root in our lives.

TUESDAY, December 1st

WORD OF THE DAY: PREPARE

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Meditate on this:

Visualizing ourselves succeeding at our goals is not enough to get us there. We have to become willing to do the hard work of changing our thoughts and behaviors. Visualization and preparation are key ingredients in succeeding at any goal we set for ourselves.

We can visualize ourselves staying sober through the holidays, and that’s a good start. But if we don’t prepare to stay sober by making plans that include connecting with sober support, setting boundaries with family members who trigger us, or avoiding high-risk places, then visualizing success is merely wishful thinking if it is not backed up with taking action.

WEDNESDAY, December 2nd

WORD OF THE DAY: ANTICIPATE

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Meditate on this:

Usually the reality of the holiday season does not live up to the hype we have in our heads about it. This can work both ways:  either the holidays end up not being as great as we had hoped, or not as terrible as we feared. Anticipation is a double-edged sword. When we are anticipating something wonderful, it almost brings as much (if not more) pleasure than the thing itself. But when we are anticipating something awful, the pain of waiting for the awful thing to happen is usually much worse than the thing itself (obviously, some exceptions to this).

Anticipation is an imaginary event going on in our heads. It is not the thing itself. When we notice we are anticipating something good or something bad, we realize we are no longer living in the present moment as it is, but are propelling ourselves into an unknown future that may never come to fruition.

THURSDAY, December 3rd

WORD OF THE DAY: COUNT

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Meditate on this:

Some of us may try to convince ourselves that the little things don’t matter. Perhaps we say to ourselves that nobody will notice, or it’s not important. Maybe we’ve created a whole (false) identity around not caring about the little things, or blame our behaviors on our personality type. But here’s the thing: everything we do adds up. This is both good news and bad news. If we’ve done a lot of bad stuff in our past, we may be tempted to feel really discouraged at this point.

However, the good news is that if we just start doing the little things right today, that stuff adds up too. One hour sober becomes one day sober. One day becomes one month, and one month becomes one year. A kind word becomes a good conversation. A good conversation becomes a friendship. A friendship becomes a community. Little by little, it all adds up.

FRIDAY, December 4th

WORD OF THE DAY: ASSURANCE

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Meditate on this:

Recovery is an act of bravery. Recovery asks us to come into a room full of strangers and be completely honest and vulnerable with no 100% guarantee that doing so will help us succeed at staying sober. Recovery asks us to listen to things that may be painful to hear about ourselves.

Recovery asks us to do a lot of letting go:  letting go of our egos, our expectations, our defenses, our lies and our excuses. But recovery gives more than it takes, and it heals more than it hurts. We just have to keep moving forward one step at a time.

Resources are available if you need them

If you or someone you know is experiencing difficulties surrounding alcoholism, addiction, or mental illness, please reach out and ask for help. People everywhere can and want to help; you just have to know where to look. And continue to look until you find what works for you. Click here for a list of regional and national resources.

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