Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

Welcome to Fourth Dimension Coaching’s

Free Recovery Resource Guide

I can’t wait to share all of these tools and tips with you!

There are several unexpected surprises here, and I know you will find several things to incorporate into your

recovery work. My suggestion: don’t try to do all these at once. Pick 1-3 that really resonate with you and try them

out. You can add others as you continue in your journey. Many of you may already be aware of the first few, but I

also add some new ways to use them. Many of them are also free!

Ready? Here we go.

A God File If you don’t know what a God file is, it’s simply a place where your record the details of all the times your

Higher Power showed up in your life. This can be soooo powerful when we’re struggling to have faith and turn

it over. Just go back to your God file and read your entries and you’ll have proof of a Loving God as you may

understand him – as well as proof of all the ways your Higher Power totally understands you!

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

A God Box Yes, this is different from a God File. This is simply a box of some sort. You can keep it simple – a basic

notecard file box or a plain cardboard box, or you can pimp it out and make it as fancy as you want. Once

you’ve got your box, you simply write down whatever you may be worried about, obsessing over, and

struggling to let it go and turn it over. Place the piece of paper in the box. Many people find this concept

very silly. It’s not. Writing something on a piece of paper and placing in a box symbolizing your Higher Power’s

care is a powerful act of willingness. It’s a tangible action you can take when you’re struggling with how you

can turn something over. The bonus? You can come back to your box later and see what your Higher Power

actually took care of for you. When you find those things, put ‘em in your God File!

A Burning Bowl Are you always turning something over and then two minutes later taking it back? Well, here’s another

powerfully symbolic practice of willingness. Similar to a God Box, write down what you’d like to let go, and

rather than put it in your God Box, put it in a Burning Bowl and burn it. Once you’ve burnt it, you can’t take it

back now, can you? Just be careful with this one. Burn outside and with a pitcher of water available to douse

any flames getting out of hand. And perhaps writing your concerns on a small piece of paper is wiser than

burning a big one! When you’re done, disperse the ashes outside and let the Universe take them wherever

they need to go. Talk about really letting go!

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

A Return to Love ~ Marianne Williamson Struggling with the concept of a loving God? This book might be for you. Even if you don’t do A Course in

Miracles – doing the whole course IS a commitment – the principles in A Return to Love really support loving

and accepting yourself and others, and creating an understanding of a loving God who truly wants wonderful

things for you. Marianne Williamson eloquently and compellingly shows how love to and service to our

brothers and sisters on this Earth support compassion, for ourselves and others, and creating a really awesome

life. A conception of a LOVING God is also necessary for the previous three tools to be most effective. Get

the book here: A Return to Love.

A Job Description For Your Higher Power Now that you’ve got a concept of a loving God, if you haven’t already, now would be a good time to write a

job description for your Higher Power. If this feels like sacrilege to you, then talk to a sponsor or a trusted

program friend. (When my first sponsor told me to do this, my thought was, “You can’t do that!” Just one of

the things I was sooo wrong about.) So, who or what would your Higher Power need to be able to do for you

in order for you to show up as the most loving and selfless person you can be? A person truly and fully sharing

their gifts in service to their fellows. Once you have this description, all you need to do is act as if your Higher

Power can really do this!

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

A Gratitude Journal Buy, or print, a weekly journal and each night before you go to bed, fill up the space for each week with your

gratitudes for the day. There are at least a couple of ways to go about that. One, list one gratitude for each

line in that day’s entry. Or two, list one gratitude and fill each following line with a reason why you’re grateful

for that thing. This really deepens your gratitude, and studies have shown that a practice of gratitude imparts

an even more powerful effect on your life when you consciously reflect on why you’re grateful for something.

You can also include how this gratitude might benefit others. Fourth Dimension Coaching also offers an 11th

Step Daily Planner that includes space for daily gratitudes. Check it out here.

A Happiness Jar This is a lot like a God File. It’s just a jar in which, throughout the year, you write down all the times you felt

really happy, and why, and place them in the jar. Review at the end of the year. Make this a year-end ritual.

(And I’ve got more information further on down on how a year-end ritual can be an important part of your

recovery, so just keep reading!)

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

Evernote How can you use Evernote in your recovery? Oh, let me count the ways… First, you can use it as your journal.

If you know how to type, this is actually faster than a notebook. But this is where it just starts to get good.

Evernote becomes even more powerful when you add tags to your entry. By adding different tags to your

entries, you can make any Evernote notebook into your 4th Step inventory (just add tags for resentments,

harms, fears, sex conduct), your God Box (add a God Box tag), your God File (add a God File tag), a

Gratitude Journal (add a Gratitude Journal tage), and your Happiness Jar (add a Happiness Jar tag) all in

one. Just sort your notes by different tags, and you’ve got a nice start on your 4th step, a complete God File,

Gratitude Journal, and Happiness Jar all in one. Evernote is free and you can get it here: Evernote

Your Phone Did you know that a lot of conference approved literature is available in an electronic format? Why not put

your conference approved literature on your phone, iPad, Nook, Kindle or other device with and e-reader.

Not having to carry around multiple pieces of literature simplifies your life. It also means you can have

conference approved literature with you anywhere, anytime you need it. Talk about keeping it simple!

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

Oracle Cards What are oracle cards, you say? Oracle cards, also known as wisdom or tarot cards, are used for divination

and spiritual guidance. Oracle cards and wisdom cards are a modern version of tarot cards and they’re

useful for anyone looking for answers and meaning. Oracle cards can give you the means to understand your

own thoughts and decisions or access the guiding spirit of the universe. There are many different oracle card

decks available. Many are available as an app on your phone. Just Google the term and look for them in the

app store. Here’s a link to one of my favorite decks: The Enchanted Map I don’t know if the author is in

recovery or not, but she uses a lot of recovery language in the card meanings. Here’s a link to the iPhone

app: The Enchanted Map App

Answered Prayers ~ Julia Cameron OK, so if find oracle cards a little too woo for you, I highly recommend Julia Cameron’s Answered Prayers: Love

Letters from the Divine. Struggling with something? Just open this little gem up anywhere, and I bet your

answer is going to be right there on the pages in front of you. What more do I need to say? Get it here:

Answered Prayers

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

The Gifts of Imperfection ~ Brené Brown Shame is one of the biggest blocks to recovery. Brené Brown is a leading authority on how to build resiliency

around shame and live what she calls “whole heartedly.” The Gifts of Imperfection is a roadmap to doing just

that. Honestly though, you could get any of her books and they would totally change the way you look at

yourself – for the better! Get the book here: The Gifts of Imperfection. Or watch her TED talks on shame here

and here.

Create A Text Message Meeting Make a group of contacts on your phone, or just text them all at once to create a group SMS thread. (I’d ask

them first if they’d like to be part of a text message meeting group.) Then, text them all with your struggles and

your successes. They can all respond with their own experience, strength and hope. Did something in your

daily readings created a spiritual awakening for you? Share it, quick and easy, with your program friends! If

you don’t have a texting plan on your phone, you can also do this with an email thread.

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

Traveling Mercies ~ Anne Lamott Anne Lamott weaves a delicate balance between maximizing the gifts your Higher Power gave you and using

them in the world to love and serve your fellows, and maintaining humility as you do that. With her insightful

spiritual awareness and her magical and profoundly human sense of humor, Anne Lamott supports you in not

taking yourself too seriously with a deep faith and a spiritual sense of humor. Any her spiritual writings will do

this actually. Get the book here: Traveling Mercies.

Morning Inspiration & Motivation No time to do your readings and meditation before you leave for the day? Play inspirational speakers or other

motivational material while you’re getting ready in the morning. I play speaker talks, recordings of 12-Step

workshops, Marianne Williamson talks, and my favorite spiritual books on tape. If I’m running too late to do my

readings and meditation, this is the next best thing. (But then, I can also do the readings anytime I have a few

minutes if they’re on my phone. Just sayin’…)

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

The Book of Awakening ~ Mark Nepo Journaling on your daily reading is a great way to bring your daily meditations to life. And there are also TONS

of awesome non-conference-approved recovery daily meditation readers out there. Melodie Beattie and

Karen Casey make some really good ones. The reason I highlight The Book of Awakening is because Mark Nepo

has created a daily meditation reader with the footwork included. If you’re someone who would like a little

explicit direction with your readings, The Book of Awakening includes both journal and meditation prompts to

get you going. Oh, and Mark Nepo’s writing is stunningly beautiful. A major added bonus in my book! You can

get his book here.

Create Your Own Go-To Meditations And Inspiration What are your go-to meditations and inspirations? Just counting your breaths in your car when you’re

stressed? Or is it remembering what your sponsor or best program friend would tell you about your biggest

struggle right now? (And if you don’t know what that is, it’s time to reach out and ask them!) Whatever they

are, write them down and keep them in your wallet, purse, or on your phone. Alternately, make a recording of

yourself reading what your sponsor or program friend would say and keep it in your music file on your phone.

Either listen to it or read it any time you’re feeling overwhelmed by your struggles.

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

The Desire Map ~ Danielle Laporte When it comes to living life in a Fourth Dimension of existence, The Desire Map is a really powerful tool. That’s

because those of us who have experienced addiction or the addiction of a loved one learn not to trust our

feelings. The beliefs these experiences often leave us with are that our feelings are wrong and that we are

wrong or selfish to want to feel good. Consequently, we spend a lot of our lives running from feelings. And we

know that recovery is about facing feelings and living life on life’s terms with the help of our fellowships and a

Power greater than ourselves.

But what if you actively lived your life around the way you want to feel? If you dare to take your recovery to this

next level, the first step is to actually get clear on how you want to feel. In your life. In your job. In your

relationships. In your finances. In your body. I know of know of no better tool for discovering how you want to

feel than The Desire Map. In my humble opinion, those key feelings that you seek - the real ones, not the

chemical induced ones – are the voice of your Higher Power, loud and clear. Get the book here: The Desire

Map (Rigorous honesty here: if you use this link to purchase The Desire Map, Danielle Laporte will share some of

the love with me.) I also offer live and virtual Desire Map Workshops. There is amazing power in working through

The Desire Map in a supportive group! Find our more here: Desire Map Workshops

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

A Year-End Spiritual Review Ritual (Or A Year-End Inventory) I’m not suggesting your typical inventory here. This is mostly about the positive, and a little about the lessons of

the past year. In this inventory you’ll want to ask yourself what you accomplished in the past year, what went

well and what you can improve on. What were the lessons you learned. This is a great time to review your

God File and your Happiness Jar. I know I tend to view my year more negatively than I would if I don’t do this

ritual myself. When I do, I always end up feeling immensely grateful, and deeply humbled by the lessons my

Higher Power sent my way when I do this. FYI: I offer a guide for this very purpose. You can get it here: Year-

End Spiritual Review Guide

Create Your Shining Year ~ Leonie Dawson Speaking of creating a year-end ritual, Create Your Shining Year is a year-end ritual manifest your best year

workbook on colorful, sparkly, glittery steroids. No, it’s not too late to do this. Nothing is too late in God’s world.

But book yourself a nice weekend. You can make it even more fun by bringing out all your art supplies. Who

says planning and inventorying has to be done in black and white? Definitely, not me! Get it here: 2015

Create Your Shining Year. You can find other really cool stuff by her here: LeonieDawson.com (More rigorous

honesty: Leonie Dawson will share some of the love with me if you purchase her products using these links.)

Take Your Recovery To A Fourth Dimension!

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Have some awesome ideas for taking your recovery to a Fourth Dimension yourself? Add them in the spaces

above.

I hope this resource guide has proved useful to you. I’ve had a blast putting it together. I’d love to hear your

thoughts. You can contact me at madeleine@fourthdimensioncoaching.com. And remember, take what you

like and leave the rest.

And if you liked this guide, go ahead and like us on Facebook: Fourth Dimension Coaching Facebook page.

Blessings,

Madeleine C