THE TWELVE STEPS REVISITED

1. Acceptance – I’ll be me and you’ll be you. We will walk, talk, laugh and cry and all the while I’ll be me and you’ll be you. Know thyself!

2. Faith – God is good and for this reason alone all things will turn out for your good. Faith rolls out the red carpet to a content life.

3. Surrender – Entertain thoughts which bless. Lay down the arms. The struggle is there no more if you let it go.

4. Honesty – Make yourself willing to look at you without the rose-coloured glasses of self-justifications & self-righteousness. Personal sincerity opens doors to growth and peace.

5. Courage – You let well alone. On the things given to you to do and do it well. Listen without judgment. Focus on the essential.

6. Willingness – Go the way no matter what. To change the things you can. First things first.

7. Humility – Acknowledge your mistakes without rationalization. Love yourself as you are. Actively practice gratitude in all things.

8. Forgiveness – Let off the hook first yourself and then others. Believe in the good and make amends wherever possible.

9. Freedom – Choose what to do and what not to do. At times be still. Favor calm over chaos. Act with courtesy.

10. Perseverance – Do the things to change one-self alone. Discard all desire to change another. Resolve to choose a sane way of living. Keep it simple!

11. Patience – With oneself as changes brings into effect many benefits. Empathy with others in their journey of self discovery. Waiting time is never wasted time. Easy does it!

12. Charity – Love towards fellow beings in similar situations and propaganda by example alone. If your motive is right you can never go wrong.

Love always

Joscelyn

HORNS & HALOS

Dolly Parton the well known country song writer and singer had a
smash hit concert named ‘All is well’ long ago. [Just saw it again for
the umpteen time on DVD]

And now ‘All izz well’ is made famous here in India by Aamir Khans ‘3
Idiots.’

Well done, to both enterprises.
All is well.
It’s just a state of mind. Peace.

When you believe that everything that has happened, is happening and
will happen is for your good alone. Believe me with this belief reality
just falls into line. It has no choice because your state of mind creates
your reality. Simple!

Dolly’s songs identify with real human emotions and feelings thus
making it so expressive and easily identifiable. It tells me that these
feelings are experienced commonly the world over.

How else would songs be written on something one thinks is personal and singly confidential and related to only them? It’s because it’s not as one of a kind but more frequent and relative than one can imagine.

So don’t allow the finger pointers to make you feel isolated and alone.
“Sometimes we wear halos and sometimes we wear horns” sings Dolly!
Then, we make a choice to exchange our horns for halos.

So carry that burden no more. No dent is permanent unless you want it to be.The circumstances and choices that build lives cannot be judged by anyone.

So all you lovely people out there do not paralyze your
thoughts with the ray gun of hurt and traumatic disbelief but go on
your way. You have everything you need to be and do a marvelous job
with the rest of your life.

Journey forward to a better life make it happen only as you can.
Everyone has a saving quality.
Find it and make it your position.

Stagnation is and never has been my strong point. No matter how
deeply I feel or am affected, eventually I get fed up of the sorrow and
move forward. Then each day becomes the day I am up in arms.
With a vow to put my best foot forward.

I write what I learned.

So kindness can spare the horror finale. I took the turn and there was
no boogie man there just a welcoming peace and comfort.

I am free. You are too!

Choose Life!

Love always,
Joscelyn

FEAR! MY CHAMPION. MY FRIEND.

Harrowing emotional days popped up every other day.

I should stop.

Many painful physical conditions challenged me sometimes morning, sometimes night.

I could stop.

Fear gripped the mental faculty on seldom occasions but the time it did it left me horrified.

I can stop.

But sanity reigned with a conscience choice

to think differently and

do things in my own way that being

one step at a time,

one day at a time.

Each day I dressed up and showed up for 20 days.

By the goodness of God ….

TODAY I AM a HOLDER OF AN INTERNATIONAL DRIVING LICENCE.

Just 6 months short of my lucky birthday 55/55.

2010 is my kind of year.

Challenging situations and full of ups and downs is a life worth living.

I realized as the day unfolds and things happen and

if I slow down I can see that

every situation is a way to find out who I am.

If things are going my way how does that make me feel,

how do I react and

what is my behavior in such an environment.

What is my personality when mud wheels turn

spitting its delights with no concern

for me or my sensibilities and sensitivities?

How does the moment tick when I am blamed for something I did not do?

What is my mind gripped with at a time like this?

Life talks, life lives, life is present always,

but am I present in the present?

Open your mind to the wonders of what life has to offer

and let it impact your life and affect your thinking.

Years ago I took to heart the saying “Do it afraid”.

It was a great step forward to know that

you don’t have to be brave first and act later.

Everything does not have to be right before

you endeavor or embark on a project.

You just have to do it !

I did!

Yes, I am on my feet.

It’s true you heard right fear can be zapped right out of existence.

Here is how you can do it.

Make fear your friend when it knocks asks questions…

Be persistent if it’s persistent.

Don’t back down…stare it in the eye.

Don’t blink.

You are in charge, do not freeze or it will lead you by the nose.

Fear, is my Champion, my friend when I ……..

F…..Follow my belief

E…..Enact my faith

A…..Accept and dwell in the

R…..Righteousness of God

Love always

Joscelyn

What Would Sherlock Holmes Find?

When time is over and life is done.
I invite Sherlock Holmes to the scene of my life.
Let’s see what would he find?
Just off the cuff, maybe ….He’d see the corn on the middle finger of my right hand and say..
‘Used a writing instrument a lot…a teacher or a writer’
He open my mouth and one look at my set he’d say..
‘She sure was not in love with the dentist, rarely visited’
My wardrobe would tell him
‘Took pride in dressing. Enjoyed giving a good impression’
One look at my books he’d conclude
‘Reading was for learning not pleasure”
And so on and so forth……..

But would he be able to gauge:

My realizations which pointed the way in the direction of self discovery:
How far away I was from the reality of this world. How little I used my intellect and how much I let my emotions rule and take decisions for me. How stubborn and fixed I was in my ways of dealing with problems. How ill-equipped I was in dealing with the blows life dealt. How small and rigid my vision of life and the world. How small and non-existent were my dreams. How dominating and crippling were my negative thoughts.

My happiness
The picture of my Janelle as I brought her home from the hospital is etched in my being. Her cute face perfect in prettiness and wonderfully sweet. Her most beautiful eyes looking at me calmly. Her palm curled into a fist each perfect finger opening now and again. The warmest feeling washed over me then and every time I think of that moment.
“She’s mine, she IS mine” swirling in my mind. My heart overwhelmed with happiness, contentment and purpose.
It never fails to thrill.
It never fades in intensity.
She is my treasure. She is my wealth.


My desire:
To improve my life by changing the things I can.
When I found it, it was to be powerfully effective in thoughts, words and deeds.

My effort:
To do my best in every situation. To acknowledge mistakes and make amends.
Try in every waking moment to be the best possible me. To always hope.
To always dwell in faith. To know that charity begins with me being kind to myself.

NO, I don’t think he would be able to tell the whole me!

In the actuality of life one is never seen in ones’ entirety. I am defined by the choice I make in the prevailing circumstance. My dealing makes me be seen as a devil or as an angel. Both perceptions are wrong. I am neither this nor that. I am both. At any given time I have both in me. It’s what I choose to do in a situation that highlights either or. I have it in me to do the right thing and I have it in me to do the wrong thing. Believe me. You do too. We all do.

In contemplation I faced myself today and in that moment I was neither and angel or a devil. I saw me in colours. Many bright and brilliant. Some faded and dusty. Some murky and dirty. But colours nevertheless. And definitely the colour black out lining some or running right through the colours elsewhere. Sometimes the role of Mr. Black was to give definition and other times to blur.
It’s very interesting to observe yourself as an onlooker.
It gives a new perspective.
Try it sometime. It’s great, really!

Joscelyn