New Deck - Elements of Recovery

          So here's my labor of love that I've been working on - Elements of Recovery. Next month, I will have been in recovery for 29 years. One thing that breaks my heart is to see people come into a 12 Step group, read the word "God" throughout all the literature (and hear it in the meetings), and leave; they assume this is another religious group that they don't fit in because they don't share these beliefs. I want people to find hope and health without feeling like they must find religion. As a friend who is a retired Episcopal priest often says, we all have to dig our own well to find the underground water. So this deck and booklet is my effort to take out the religious jargon and present the basic elements of recovery as I see them. My goal is to sell these at cost - a sort of 'pay it forward' kind of thing. The first batch of 12 will likely go to local folks, but I'm also trying to figure out the cheapest way to get these to my international friends. My cost for the set is $16 ($12 for the deck, $4 for the booklet). I am thinking of setting up a page at Printer Studio for people to order the deck directly and then I could send an attachment of what's in the booklet. I'd love to get some feedback on this. The booklet has 43 pages and is 8.5 x 7 inches (see below for what is written for card one). The cards are 2.25 x 3.5 inches, come in a plastic case, and are printed on Printer Studio's regular card stock. There are 30 cards, plus one title card and four blank cards. The honeycomb pattern is what is on the backs.

1. Powerlessness – Cat paw holding down a rat’s tail

          No one likes to feel powerless, yet everyone is powerless over something. The natural laws that govern this physical world are an example. Can you stop yourself from aging? Suppose you get tossed out of an airplane – can you suspend gravity? Of course there are ways we try to get around those laws, such as cosmetics or parachutes. But our ideas and innovations are never 100% reliable; at some point they fail. And although they do, we still keep trying use those same ‘faulty parachutes’ (also known as harmful habits). Why? Because for a period of time our unhealthy habit brought us pleasure, distraction or relaxation, and we don’t want to give that up. However the reality is that what used to be a help has now become a hindrance, creating considerable problems and insignificant benefits.  We’re left feeling stressed and anxious instead of content and peaceful.  Yet being powerless doesn’t mean we are hopeless and without options. It’s just that all the options we’ve been able to come up with are no longer useful.

To become honest is in effect to become fully and robustly incarnated into powerlessness. ~ David Whyte