Serenity Prayer for Addiction Recovery

Many of the users of recoveryBox Asked for me to include the Serenity Prayer. And so it's now available in the Resources Section of the app.

I know I personally prayed it many times while attending Celebrate Recovery as I know it's part of the traditional twelve step program.

Remember, live ONE day at a time.

And don't forget to give yourself a Green Light each time you say this prayer.  You deserve that!

Want to know more about recoveryBox, the iPhone app for Addiction Recovery? Check out our site. You can download it from there as well if you think it's something that can help you during your recovery journey.

Protecting Your Eyes from Pornography

Last week's Random Resource ThuRsday was about pornography.  And I urged you to rid your house of physical items that are pornographic in nature.

This week I have 2 resources to use for the internet.  Now first, let me say that NOTHING is fail-safe.  And in all likely hood you will probably need a combination of plans in place if the addiction is strong enough.  But with proper treatment you can be victorious.



My first resource is opendns.com.

What is DNS.  Think of DNS as the map of getting to where you want to go on the internet.  Regular DNS does not distinguish between sites.  It's just takes you where you need to be based on what you type (and some stuff in the background).  OpenDNS has a filtering mechanism.  Think of it as a firewall to keep out unwanted visitors as well as unwanted sites.

OpenDNS is EASY to implement and I think by far one of the best systems out there.  You might think it's going to be slow because if you ever tried a filter piece of software..well it does bog down your machine.  I am not going to explain how it does it (but I do know if you are interested).  It is very fast!

We have young children here at our house that use their iDevices all the time.  And with TV's being able to access internet sites directly from your remote control, the scenarios of pornography being accessible is so much more complex than adding a piece of software as was done in days past.  Well, OpenDNS fixes some of that.  When implemented it will make all of your devices go through this filtering.

For home solutions, check out their site.  And the best part is that it is FREE!  Actually what I love best is that if one of my kids tries to access an inappropriate website, they will see a message with a picture I uploaded letting them know that Mom and Dad think it's inappropriate.

NOTE:: with any search engines, visuals are so HARD to block.  So you might want to think about blocking search engine use or using Safe Searches using Google. I could get into why it's almost impossible to block these images, but in reality it's a Google thing (and I truly wish they would take a stronger look at this).

But for a HUGE number of these sites, OPENDNS will block it.


My next resource is CovenentEyes.com

Now this is a different solution as it requires adding a piece of software onto your machine.  It currently works for Windows, iDevices, Android (sorry no Blackberry or Windows Phone 7..at least not as of this writing). As of this writing the Mac only allows for accountability and not filtering..

What makes this different if that you can have time controls as well as sensitivity levels. but more importantly it sends a report to your accountability partner of all the sites that you have visited.  

Yesterday's daily devotion was a video from IamSecond.com. It featured Brian's life and his decision to give up his Meth addiction.  It is so powerful as are so many of the videos on the site that I thought I would share it as well here on my the app's main blog.

Here is a small video but to see/read more PLEASE visit the IamSecond.com site.

For daily devotions from recoveryBox, visit http://recoveryboxdevos.blogspot.com

Y3 Yellow Light :: Intentionally Possess Object of Risk

Having an object that is contrary to staying sober seems to be an obvious yellow.  Some would argue a Red Light, But I say it's just  a Yellow.

Just because you possess the item doesn't mean that you are going to use the item! It's a choice! And because it's a choice, it's why I have it as a Yellow Light!!

Y3 : Intentionally Possess and Item of Risk.

But let's be clear here.  It's a recipe for disaster.  I mean why do you even have it?  You know that by using the item or looking at it then you will be having to start your sobriety from square one, feel ashamed besides other emotions and all that goes along with using again.

So, it's a no brainer.  Get rid of it!

• Get rid of the alcohol in your house!
• Get rid of that pornographic video in the attic!
• Drugs lingering around the house? Trash them now!

Clean out!

And yes we live in a fallen world and there are temptations everywhere, but (and I feel like a cliche when I write this), but Just Say No!

Don't make it possible so that when the urge is there and you need that rush to easily grab that magazine or drink and fulfill that need.  Fill that need with something else - go for a walk. For visit a friend. Do something other than grab that item.

Yes, I understand that "things" don't do bad things.  It's when people use those things.  But why have the temptation? Why allow a trigger cause you to run to the very vice you are trying to cut off.

I really don't have much to say on this topic except GET RID OF IT ALL!

I completely understand that this doesn't apply to all addictions.  I mean you can't get rid of food.  But you can get rid of junk food. And you can't get of the internet (OK I couldn't) but you can use something like opendns.com or Covenant Eyes.  There are always things you can do to help yourself.  It's about making a choice.

Have a great day!  Now go clean out!


PS. If you need help cleaning out but just can't seem to get started - perhaps it's time to talk with your counselor or accountability partner on what is making it so hard to let go.


Wanting to download recoveryBox and see how it can help you?  Visit the Apple App store.

She's Somebody's Daughter

Excited to just throw out there that recoveryBox is working closely with She's Somebody's Daughter. They are an excellent organization that is leading the fight against sex trafficking and pornography.  Look for good things to come in the future.

~holly