Seeking Serenity Retreat
Opening the Retreat
- Welcome to the Seeking Serenity Retreat. I am an alcoholic, and my name is ________________.
- As a courtesy, please silence your cell phones and other devices.
- We would like to start off our retreat with a short meditation led by Dan.
- We will start the meeting with a moment of silence, followed by the Serenity Prayer.
- I have asked _________________ to read the Set Aside Prayer.
- Leader to introduce the Retreat Topic and Discussion Leader.
- End the meeting with the prayer of your choice.
Prayers, Mindfulness and Meditation
SET ASIDE PRAYER
Lord, today help me set aside
Everything I think I know about you,
Everything I think I know
About myself,
Everything I think I know
About others, and
Everything I think I know
About my recovery
For a new experience in myself,
A new experience in my fellows,
And my own recovery.
PRAYER OF THANKS
Thank you for all that you have given me.
Thank you for all that you have taken away.c
And thank you for all that remains.
PRAYER FOR PEACE (PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS)
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console.
to be understood, as to understand.
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
“Has a man gained anything who has received a hundred favors and rendered none? He is great who confers the most benefits.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson: ESSAY on COMPENSATION
Up Your Recovery Game with a God Box!
What is a God Box?
Hint: You don’t need to be religious to use one!
A God Box is a box used to put thoughts, worries, and obsessions in – it is an intentional act of letting go and giving negativity over to a higher power. Don’t let the term God Box intimidate you if you aren’t religious. The higher power that the God Box represents can be the group of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, the universe, nature, or whatever force we believe in that is bigger and more powerful than we are individually.
Writing down our obsessions and letting them go is a recovery tool every addict can benefit from.
Using a God Box in Recovery
A powerful tool for strong sobriety
The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous explains that once we have the first drink or drug, an obsession to keep using begins. Breaking that obsession is the single biggest roadblock between us and sobriety. Yet, even in the face of withdrawal symptoms and terror, millions and millions of us have broken that obsession and gone on to live meaningful and fulfilling lives. How?
It’s a simple answer – but not an easy one. We break the obsession by asking God or a twelve-step program to remove it from us. Using a God Box can help us quiet the obsessive thought to use.
Some people have formal prayer boxes, but any box will work as a God Box. Simply write the obsession down on a piece of paper and put it in the box. You can say a prayer for God to remove the obsession or just ask your higher power is to remove it from you. As you put the written note in the God Box, imagine giving the weight of it away and LETTING IT GO.
Then walk away, go to a meeting, call your sponsor, or a friend and trust your higher power to do the rest. If the obsession returns, put it into the God Box again. Keep having faith and repeat the letting go process until the obsession leaves you. Be patient with yourself and remember that letting go and letting God has paved a successful path to sobriety for every addict and alcoholic that has come before you.
What to Put in a God Box
Releasing worries and fears
A God Box can hold all our worries, fears, obsessions, and troubles. The list of what to put into it is personal for everyone, but here are some ideas to help you start using one:
- The desire to drink or use drugs
- Obsessive or intrusive thoughts
- Worries about things we can’t control
- Any fears that block us from happiness
- Unrealistic expectations
- Circumstances we struggle to accept
- People we worry about
- Emotional pain
- Feelings of anger and disappointment
- Prayers the future
Remember to use the God Box for positive things, too! It’s incredible to look back at notes in the box and see how our higher power has been worked in our lives!
Using the Third Step Prayer with a God Box
A prayer to help us let go and let God
For those who pray, the Third Step Prayer from Alcoholics Anonymous can be recited after putting something into the God Box.
Here is the Third Step Prayer!
God (Higher Power), I offer myself to thee to build with me and do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy power, Thy love, and Thy way of life. May I do Thy will always.
The Third Step Prayer reminds us that a loving power stronger than us is in control. It teaches us to have faith that our higher power wants what’s best for us and that we don’t need to worry or manipulate life’s situations. Rather, we can let go and let God
