Tag / #Heroin

by Vincent Lee Jones

A Touchstone Of Growth: Failure

Failure is inevitable. Everyone fails. Often. Consider the observations of a few highly successful people about the importance of failure in our growth: “Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be” – John Wooden, “We are all failures – at least the best of us are.” – J.M. Barrie, “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” – Henry Ford, “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” – C.S. Lewis, “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” – Napoleon Hill, and “Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success. I’ve met people who don’t want to try for fear of failing.” – J.K. Rowling

A spiritual advisor said to me long ago “Everyone takes a turn in the barrel.” When I look back on my life through the new pair of glasses living on the Spiritual Basis has provided, the times when I struggled the most were those when I took failure personally and lost sight of the truth, that in my life, my failures have invariably led me to my greatest awakenings, and my self-inflicted pain was the result of losing focus on this truth: behind every dark cloud the sun still shines and without the rain there would be no flowers.

Miracles Of Recovery

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

Miracles Of Recovery, Overdose Death, Alcoholism, Wayne Dyer, Drug Addiction, Zen, Emmet Fox, Opioids, Heroin,Einstein, AA, Healing Path Recovery, Drug Rehab, #Drug Addiction, #Drug Rehab,#Healing Path Recovery, #Heroin, #Opioids

by Vincent Lee Jones

The Conquering Horse

The Conquering Horse

The fourth horse is the White Horse, the Conquering Horse. Our words have power. Too heal, to harm, to start a conflict or stop one, to spread love or condemn. Our words and actions mark us and lay the foundation for our future, a future of either freedom or bondage. Living on the Spiritual Basis we now know we can no longer hide behind generalities. When we marginalize or condemn anyone, for any reason, we pay the price. To ride the White Horse to freedom from Fear requires more courage than we are capable of on our own, but with the Miraculous all things are possible. So we abandon ourselves to God, asking Him to remove the lingering prejudices, sacred cows and fears holding us back, grabbing the mane of the Conquering Horse as it speeds by, jumping on, holding on with all our might. If our fears try to rein him in or guide him in any way he will toss us off for His vision is clear, His sights set, His destination no less than the heart of God, and nothing will stop or alter His course, for it is none other than God himself who sent him to us and He will provide the abiding strength and trust necessary for us, though trembling, to hold on and ride to freedom.

Take heart, we have all ridden the White Horse and been tossed off, for Fear is a persistent and convincing adversary. When your White Horse returns, and he always will for he exists only to carry you to freedom, jump back on and hold on with all the conviction at your disposal at this time and if we again find ourselves standing by the side of the road of Freedom from the Bondage of Self, we say a prayer of thanks for the distance travelled to date and rejoice while dusting ourselves off for the sound we hear, is the sound of approaching hoof beats.

Miracles Of Recovery

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

by Vincent Lee Jones

Riding The Red Horse

We ride the Red Horse when our emotions and feelings dominate us, overriding everything else. When we act out without thinking it through, without considering the possible consequences or ramifications of what our words or actions in enflamed haste may bring. The Law of Unintended Consequences on full display. The heated snap decision to leave a job or abandon a relationship we soon come to regret. How many lives have been lost or ruined when an individual or nation acted on overheated emotions, rhetoric or inflamed feelings? How many fights, confrontations and wars could have been avoided if cooler heads had prevailed? How many friendships and relationships have been irretrievably harmed by something said or done in the heat of the moment?

To be clear: We are emotional beings. Without emotion, this world would be a very drab place indeed, bereft of music or art, possibly even love. It is when we are controlled, dominated by our emotional nature that we ride the Red Horse, and as anyone who has taken this ride can attest: havoc, turmoil and pain are the result.

Miracles Of Recovery

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

Miracles Of Recovery, Overdose Death, Alcoholism, Wayne Dyer, Drug Addiction, Zen, Emmet Fox, Opioids, Heroin,Einstein, AA, Healing Path Recovery, Drug Rehab, #Drug Addiction, #Drug Rehab,#Healing Path Recovery, #Heroin, #Opioids

by Vincent Lee Jones

Riding The Pale Horse

The four biblical horsemen in The Book Of Revelation are tied to the end times but I will leave that discussion for another day. That said there is still much we can learn spiritually from these examples. Consider the first three horsemen from an individual spiritual perspective: The Pale Horse represents the physical body and its destruction through all forms of addiction, the negative as well as the seemingly positive. The Red Horse brings destruction by our emotions and feelings and The Black Horse destruction through intellect.

To ride the Pale Horse means we are controlled, driven by physical wants and desires, addictions if you will. Drugs, alcohol, gambling are obvious, but what of the individual who is addicted to exercise, work or sex? The gym, running, biking or the office can become an escape from the world just as powerful as any intoxicant and equally spiritually destructive when taken to extreme. The difference being someone using intoxicants has a difficult time “fitting” into polite society while the workaholic is often praised for their accomplishments, even as other areas of their life are sacrificed in the name of success or “providing” for the family. The same family they are never present for, the estranged children seeking acknowledgment, often by acting out negatively, the neglected spouse who ultimately files for divorce, resulting in the workaholics’ lament: don’t they see I am doing it all for them?

Physical activity and exercise in moderation is always a good idea, but when it crosses over into narcissism, it becomes as sure a block to spiritual growth as any drink or drug. Sex is part of our nature, so it cannot be bad, yet the stories of lives, careers and families ruined from unchecked sexual desire are legion. The problem begins when sex becomes the singular focus, living only for sensual escape, having lost sight of the true purpose: that of two people sharing the most intimate of experiences, the touching of two souls in embrace, a shared act of love. To be clear: hard work, exercise, the occasional cocktail or glass of wine or enjoying sex with a partner are not the problem, we ride the Pale Horse when these pursuits become dominate in our lives, when we lose all sense of proportion and become lost in the bondage of self, closed off from our true Spiritual Nature.

Miracles Of Recovery 

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

Miracles Of Recovery, Overdose Death, Alcoholism, Wayne Dyer, Drug Addiction, Zen, Emmet Fox, Opioids, Heroin,Einstein, AA, Healing Path Recovery, Drug Rehab, #Drug Addiction, #Drug Rehab,#Healing Path Recovery, #Heroin, #Opioids

by Vincent Lee Jones

Heathens In Our Head

Miracles Of Recovery


© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved
Miracles Of Recovery, Overdose Death, Alcoholism, Wayne Dyer, Drug Addiction, Zen, Emmet Fox, Opioids, Heroin,Einstein, AA, Healing Path Recovery, Drug Rehab, #Drug Addiction, #Drug Rehab,#Healing Path Recovery, #Heroin, #Opioids  

by Vincent Lee Jones

Persevere


“Pain is the only instrument sharp enough to cut away the excess of self.” Pain is what motivates us. Mother Teresa was motivated by the pain of those suffering around her. Martin Luther King Jr. was motivated by the pain he saw in the inequality of life based on skin color. The great spiritual teachers, Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Muhammad and others moved to act, often at the risk of their own lives, becoming selfless to address the spiritual, emotional and physical pain they witnessed in the world.

One of the central qualities they all shared: perseverance, they never stopped. Regardless of circumstance, fear or seeming failure, they persevered. So, just for today, when the voice of the true adversary, Fear, begins to whisper in our ear, cajoling us to reflect morbidly to stifle our growth as children of the Miraculous: we will take one more step, say one more prayer, help one more person and never stop, for we now know in our heart of hearts we are not alone, are growing day by day, sometimes quickly sometimes slowly, into amazing instruments of peace in demonstration, serenity in action.

Miracles Of Recovery

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

by Vincent Lee Jones

Harmless Gossip?

Harmless Gossip?

Vigilance is the price for continued Spiritual Freedom. Drifting into negative thinking or speech typically happens without any conscious thought or plan on our part. Those “good” natured gossip sessions with a friend or joining in (or worse, instigating) a huddle at work complaining about a disagreeable co-worker or boss or worse taking sides in any romantic or marital dispute to simply speaking about someone for any reason where we would be embarrassed if we discovered they overheard us, demonstrates we have dropped our spiritual guard. If we are saying anything about anyone we would be unwilling to say to them in person, we place ourselves at risk. Gossiping and tale telling rarely (if ever) embodies the patience, tolerance, kindliness and love Living on the Spiritual Basis requires. As far as taking sides in romantic squabbles, we have all probably done this only to become the enemy upon their reconciliation, so through bitter experience we have learned to be supportive but avoid engaging in character assassination, no matter how seemingly egregious someone’s behavior appears to be. One of the great truths in life is that every story has two sides and when it comes to romance, they often only have a passing resemblance to one another.

So restraint of pen and tongue is not only a secular truth but a Spiritual axiom as well if we wish to be free.

Miracles Of Recovery

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

by Vincent Lee Jones

Rejoicing Butterfly

Everything about us is connected, the within and the without. Every word, every action, every thought having significance,from the positive to the negative, touching everything and everyone. Consider still pond. Toss a pebble into the center and concentric rings from the disturbance begin emanating on the surface towards the shores of the pool.Observe carefully and you will see the rings rebound back from the shore at oblique angles, eventually touching even the seemingly obscured nooks and crannies of the pond’s shoreline. This is the observable part of the reaction,but what of that which happens beyond our sight? As our pebble falls through the water it continues to send out waves, reactions, though invisible to our eye but there nonetheless, eventually touching every part of the pond and every creature swimming in it.

The pebble’s effect reverberating through the pond is akin to the effect our thoughts, words and actions have in our lives and the world about us. What we are truly reverberates throughout the world, mostly unseen or consciously noticed, but the effect is there nonetheless. The analogy of “a butterfly flaps its wings in Africa and a drought happens in China” to suggest that the smallest actions can influence major change is illustrative.

Never doubt your importance or connection with the Miraculous. We are all children of the Most High, so regard yourself accordingly, asserting your true place in thought and deed,reaping the positive consequences of a life lived in purpose, a demonstration of Divine Love and understanding, for in so doing, all Heaven rejoices. Miracles Of Recovery.

by Vincent Lee Jones

Rejoicing Butterfly

Rejoicing Butterfly

Everything about us is connected, the within and the without. Every word, every action, every thought having significance, from the positive to the negative, touching everything and everyone. Consider a still pond. Toss a pebble into the center and concentric rings from the disturbance begin emanating on the surface towards the shores of the pool. Observe carefully and you will see the rings rebound back from the shore at oblique angles, eventually touching even the seemingly obscured nooks and crannies of the pond’s shoreline. This is the observable part of the reaction, but what of that which happens beyond our sight? As our pebble falls through the water it continues to send out waves, reactions, though invisible to our eye but there nonetheless, eventually touching every part of the pond and every creature swimming in it.

The pebble’s effect reverberating through the pond is akin to the effect our thoughts, words and actions have in our lives and the world about us. What we are truly reverberates throughout the world, mostly unseen or consciously noticed, but the effect is there nonetheless. The analogy of “a butterfly flaps its wings in Africa and a drought happens in China” to suggest that the smallest actions can influence major change is illustrative.

Never doubt your importance or connection with the Miraculous. We are all children of the Most High, so regard yourself accordingly, asserting your true place in thought and deed, reaping the positive consequences of a life lived in purpose, a demonstration of Divine Love and understanding, for in so doing, all Heaven rejoices.
Miracles Of Recovery


© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

by Vincent Lee Jones

Fear Is A Bluffer

Fear Is A Bluffer

We all began this journey standing by the side of the road of Spiritual Awakening and destiny, deciding what to do. When we decide to Live on the Spiritual Basis we move from the shoulder and into the vehicle of our journey to freedom from the bondage of self. While standing on the shoulder we were rationalizing and justifying why we are putting off taking the trip, all the while watching vehicle after vehicle stop and pick up other travelers. Wishing to embark ourselves but fearful of what the journey will entail. Fear would keep us on the shoulder, a mustard seeds worth of faith gets us off it.

As with all travel, there are costs. The fare for this journey being willingness, action in purpose, open-mindedness and honesty. Faith the motive power of our vehicle. And though along the way we will come to know the Shining Cities on the Hill of peace, serenity and freedom there is no “final” destination, for our trip is never ending, always climbing to new heights of awareness and understanding in Spirit as long as we remain teachable. Our driver and guide? No less than the Miraculous, the very Creative Intelligence that lies at the heart of everything, providing all we need in good measure to make the journey. 
Yes, it will be a long and often strange trip but the only one that truly matters. Along the way the only real adversary, Fear, will keep cajoling us, suggesting, even screaming at us to disembark for we really shouldn’t trust the driver, we should climb out and sit by the side of the road “to think” about ourselves, morbid reflection ascendant. By resisting the adversary’s clarion call and trusting in God to guide us our freedom is assured, the sights and vistas along the way remarkable beyond words, our continued awakening in Spirit breathtaking, and if we remain diligent in the path we have chosen, Fears’ voice will become quieter and quieter for we now know the truth: Fear is a bluffer.
Miracles Of Recovery


© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved