Choose your own adventure

Long before Edward Packard wrote the popular paperback series that allowed you to choose the outcome of your story, our Higher Power had cross roads set up in our life were we would need to choose the next step.  This is our study on Day 45.

Left or Right?

Whatever decisions are before you, take the time you need to make the right choice.  Quick decisions may not be the best ones.

The Great Adventure

You may not feel like the life you are living right now is of great significance; take heart.  You are part of a grand design so big that neither myself or even the greatest scientist could fully explain the plan and purpose of the events to come before you.

There is a great adventure of life ahead that you would not believe if I could see into the future and tell you.

Have faith and you will not be disappointed!

Dan Davis is a licensed professional counselor in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He is available for speaking and training of groups, schools, and businesses. Follow him on Twitter at @dand78

The devotional 45 days of Recovery in the Old Testament is available at:
http://www.amazon.com/45-days-Recovery-Old-Testament/dp/1470046253

The Color of Envy

Perhaps you have heard of being green with envy.  It may describe how you feel at this moment.  We will discuss this on Day 44.

Origins

While Shakespeare gets credit for using the term, Greek poets before the time of Christ were using the phrase as well.  Regardless of its beginning, consider what envy can do to the soul.

Who’s Driving?

If we allow envy to take the driver’s seat, there is no place for gratitude and serenity to sit.  This will take us places that we normally would not go in a healthy, recovering state of mind.  We will act, say, and do things that we will regret and could lead to future needs for amends.

Do not let envy sow seeds of bitterness in your heart.  Take some time to turn envy over to your Higher Power when you first feel it taking a place in your thoughts.  Reach out to supportive people who will help you through these moments.

If we’re honest, we have all had envious times.  It is what you do with that green monster that matters.

Dan Davis is a licensed professional counselor in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He is available for speaking and training of groups, schools, and businesses. Follow him on Twitter at @dand78

The devotional 45 days of Recovery in the Old Testament is available at:
http://www.amazon.com/45-days-Recovery-Old-Testament/dp/1470046253

Choose your Consequences

Consequences are not a popular topic, but they will be our challenge on Day 43.

Playing the tape forward

If age is in your favor to be old enough to remember VHS tapes, you remember that to see how the movie ended, you had to let the tape play forward to the conclusion.  Well this is a similar challenge I give to clients when considering a situation that may yield them consequences that they might regret.  I ask them to think about how the how scenario might play out as if they were their life were a tape playing forward.  This may seem awkward at first, but the more you practice, it can be a helpful tool in choosing what consequences we want for our life.

Consequences don’t just happen to us.  They are a result of many factors in our life, with current decisions playing a major role.

Reaching Out

It is always good to run your plan by a supportive person if you’re not sure whether you should act on it.  We were created to be in community with others and live out life under the eyes of a Higher Power.  Pray and mediate on decisions; wait for guidance when needed.

Whether negative or positive, consequences will come.  Make good choices to honor yourself today.

Dan Davis is a licensed professional counselor in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He is available for speaking and training of groups, schools, and businesses. Follow him on Twitter at @dand78

The devotional 45 days of Recovery in the Old Testament is available at:
http://www.amazon.com/45-days-Recovery-Old-Testament/dp/1470046253

Honest and Happy

There is a level of honesty that goes beyond telling convenient truths.  This is our challenge on Day 42.

Rigorous Honesty

Telling the truth at all times, even when telling a lie would be easier or less conflict provoking; this is how I define rigorous honesty.  For people in recovery, telling lies may have been an every day part of life.  In early recovery, we learn that changing behaviors helps change not only the outward perception but also the inward person.

Happy?

So far, it doesn’t seem like honesty and happiness will walk down the same path together, but they can and they do.  A life of lies and deceit only lead one into despair.  It may seem easy to tell a white lie. I will challenge you that there is nothing easy about a non truth.  We are all guilty of this, thinking it will go away, but lies have a way coming into the light.

The path to happiness involves changing our behavior and telling truths.  While the truth may sometimes hurt for a moment, better to have that moment in the present than wonder what you have said that is following behind.

Make a commitment today to rigorous honesty. 

Dan Davis is a licensed professional counselor in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  He is available for speaking and training of groups, schools, and businesses. Follow him on Twitter at @dand78

The devotional 45 days of Recovery in the Old Testament is available at:
http://www.amazon.com/45-days-Recovery-Old-Testament/dp/1470046253

Little is Much

If you could only achieve one goal in your life, what would that goal be?  This will begin our discussion on Day 41.

To gain the whole world

Many of us feel like a mouse on a proverbial treadmill.  We run and run and run and run but the work is never done and their is always one more thing to obtain.  Maybe that’s where the term the rat race comes from. 

We have to work to have means to live, but consider these words of Jesus:

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matt 16:26

We can lose everything that is important to us when our priorities fall out of alignment.  The desire for status and to be greater can lead us to miss out on the real significant moments which are right under your nose.

Examine your priorities today.  Maybe it’s time to realign your planner to have peace. 

Dan Davis is a licensed professional counselor in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He is available for speaking and training of groups, schools, and businesses. Follow him on Twitter at @dand78

The devotional 45 days of Recovery in the Old Testament is available at:
http://www.amazon.com/45-days-Recovery-Old-Testament/dp/1470046253

Find your Future

Thinking about the days, weeks, months, and years ahead can work out two ways.  It will either bring you much anxiety or it can bring a great joy of anticipation.  This is our challenge on Day 40.

Fear of the future

There are many reasons that people fear the future: the unknown, consequences that may be coming from past behavior, or a lack of spirituality to help guide the coming events.  While all of these reasons are valid, the most common reason for fear of the future is lack of planning/no plan for the future. 

Redeeming the Time

Your plan can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be, but have a direction to work toward.  Make a goal, any goal, and celebrate achieving it.  Goals should be easy to measure and to obtain.  When you have done all of this, write a couple of lines about it with the date, so that you can look back at your achievements.  This could be an achievement journal if you like.

You have more control than you realize.  Always remember that this a spiritual process as well, so include prayer and meditation in all of these stages discussed.

Start today.  What can you do to make your life better?

Dan Davis is a licensed professional counselor in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He is available for speaking and training of groups, schools, and businesses. Follow him on Twitter at @dand78

The devotional 45 days of Recovery in the Old Testament is available at:
http://www.amazon.com/45-days-Recovery-Old-Testament/dp/1470046253