Steps on our Road to Recovery

Daily Steps On Our Road to Recovery for 11 to 15 October 1999.

Published Last Week. A daily hint published each day since June 1996. This is past my third year anniversary since starting my web pages. Page Down for the next days that are added a day at a time. I have moved to http://www.recoverybydiscovery.com and this daily page is now here at daily.htm . I would appreciate any feedback, questions and suggestions that you have.

11 October 1999

Feed a Fever

We have heard of the paradoxical wisdom of feeding our fever.

Here we have too much energy, and we add fuel to the fire. Perhaps

we can use the power of paradox in other areas of our lives. You see,

when we avoid our desires, we fan our flames of our desires. When

we overdo our desires, we add damping energy to them. When we

consciously do what we unconsciously were driven to do, we begin

to become more conscious. Paradoxical therapy has worked, but it

depends on the circumstances. Paradoxical therapy is just another

tool in our toolbox to be used when other tools are not working. Like

all the other tools in our toolbox, this tool is not a panacea, but like

all the other tools, it can be useful.

None of this is to be taken as information suggesting hurting yourself

or anyone else in any way! "First, do no harm."

11 October 1999

Starve a Cold

We have also heard of the paradoxical wisdom of starving

our colds. With a cold we have too little energy, and we take

away fuel. We are again making our symptoms worse. Like in

homeopathy, like can cure like. Making our symptoms worse

gets our spirit engaged in our healing. It is like when things

get really bad it gets our attention and we get going.

None of this is to be taken as information suggesting hurting

yourself or anyone else in any way! "First, do no harm."

12 October 1999

The Sound of One Hand Clapping

There is a Zen question that Zen masters ask. Their purpose

is to get our monkey mind out of our way and to hear and experience

more of reality. They ask: "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

You could ask the same question in a different way. You could

ask the Holy Spirit: "What are the sounds of one hand clapping?"

I could tell you what they are, but that would not do you any

good. Then your mind would think it knew, and then you would

stop from finding out for yourself, and experiencing the sounds

of one hand clapping. When you have ears to hear you will no

longer be the same. When you have ears to hear, you are on a

new adventure.

14 October 1999

False Expectations

The idea is not to expect anything. The idea is to explore for

sounds. The idea is to wonder what you might find. The idea is

to wonder what else you might find, after you find something.

The idea is to not disappoint yourself. The idea is to celebrate

any improvements and discoveries. The idea is to celebrate

just hearing. Some of us can not hear on the outside. What might

they hear on the inside?

Recovery is a process, a neverending process, not an event.

So any improvement in sensitivity to listening to others, to your

selves within, to your total environment is an improvement. Any

improvement helps in our recovery process.

15 October 1999

Solutions Can Be Challenging

When something happens, that tells us what one of our

problems is, that can be a time of challenge. That can be

also be an opportunity to see solutions to our challenge.

That can be an opportunity to see how we have created

our challenge. That can be an opportunity to see an ideal

scene, where we can work on our challenge. That can be

our time of excitement as we work out our salvation in

excitement and trembling. At least we can know have some

clues on where we need to go to solve our challenges.

BONUS:

The Internet is an metaphor for the changes happening.

You may have noticed that there is more free stuff all the

time. Of course with the free services comes the opportunity

to buy what you are interested in. Just like here, where you

can freely take the information I provide and use it to your

advantage. In fact, I want you to do that since we all get a

better world that way. But, when you are stuck and need

some temporary coaching to get free, call me.

Speaking of calling me, I have a new local number to

leave voice mail at or to send me a fax at:

(202) 777-2641,,6027.

The ,,'s are for pauses to go to extension 6027 when you send

me a fax. This service is provided free by OneBox.com. They

limit their storage to a reasonable 3Megs, but you do not even

have to use that space, you can use your present e-mail service

and space at your present Internet Service Provider.

I am adding this service on my free stuff page.

Very Respectfully,

Michael Foster, MA

Your Recovery Coach

https://www.recoverybydiscovery.com

Coachemail

"Learn HOW to recovery by discovering the blocks you need to remove and the actions you need to take and what you need to let go of as your blocks to your blessings."

From my book in process, The Spiritual Cookbook (Generic Recipes for a Better Life)

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I started my daily page, because it is useful for me to look for some recovery tip or secret each day for my spiritual growth. we and I only need one secret to work on and let it work on me each day. They are secrets because they are usually the opposite of what the majority of society teaches. They must be secret because they are not commonly used. A friend of mine once said "Common Sense is not much in Common.". Now that I have grandchildren I am also writing for them. I would have really liked for my grandparents to have passed on what they learned.

I am including Sunday as it is my formal day of learning the lord most high's secrets. If you would like ask questions, or contribute some of your wisdom, or want to make some comments or want to vote for which day to put on my tip of the month page or tell your success stories, click Michael Foster, M. A.