I have been clean for:
I Stand With Ukraine

Welcome

Journal

Some memes

Feel Free to steal and repost these memes!

Surrender meme Work the steps meme

ฮฑ i take the First Step at the beginning of my day ฯ‰

Posted: Wed, Jan 13, 2010 09:28:52 AM

this admission frees me, just for today, from the need to live out active addiction all over again. i have probably written before about the NEED i find to admit that i am powerless over my addiction, and that i ask for the POWER to stay clean every day. this reading reminds me of that. this addict needs such a reminder, because i come to believe from time to time that maybe those twenty-five or twenty-six years of active addiction were just a phase, and perhaps after some time clean, that phase of my life is over. i can see that perhaps that is my denial structure reasserting itself, and if i am not diligent in my recovery i can certainly allow that line of thinking top become a prominent part of my belief structure. yes, it would be nice not to be an addict. it would be nice to live my life like so-called normal people. and it would be nice to have a million dollars drop out of the sky and land in my backyard. all of that would be nice, BUT the chances of any that happening is so remote that it might as well be zilch.
with that small shift in my thinking i can see how ludicrous thoughts like that are for me. after all, if i was not an addict, it would have been possible for em to stop using without any effort, and walk away from that lifestyle when it became obvious the damage being done to me and my spiritual condition.
where does that leave me this morning? GRATEFUL! as weird as that sounds, i am grateful that i have an explanation of why i am the way i am. HOW i got to be in such a state is far from germane, although i am sure some doctor or therapist could make all of that quite clear to me. from the FISTR STEP realization and surrender springs all of the HOPE i feel this morning. yes, i could be making more money, yes i could be farther along on my spiritual journey, yes i could be more popular, HOWEVER i am what i am this morning, and being an ADDICT is not really such a bad thing. i can work through that and live a program of active recovery, and living a FIRST STEP is the keystone of my daily life.
part of that daily life is caring for my physical self, so it is time to sign-off and take the dawg out for a run, both of missed our workout yesterday and that too was a good thing, after all, i do want to do the footwork to live up to my service commitments. so off to hit the streets and get rid of the road butt i have accumulated over the past week.

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

This day in older entries

๐Ÿ™Œ being steadfast ๐Ÿ™Œ
578 words ➥ Tuesday, January 13, 2026 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜Œ i have come ๐Ÿ˜Œ
450 words ➥ Monday, January 13, 2025 by donnot
๐Ÿชข inclusiveness ๐Ÿชข
549 words ➥ Saturday, January 13, 2024 by donnot
๐Ÿ‘Š quit fighting! ๐Ÿ‘
518 words ➥ Friday, January 13, 2023 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜ก it may not ๐Ÿ™„
514 words ➥ Thursday, January 13, 2022 by donnot
๐Ÿ‹ gaining ๐Ÿ•ด
614 words ➥ Wednesday, January 13, 2021 by donnot
๐Ÿ’จ powerless ๐Ÿ’ฌ
533 words ➥ Monday, January 13, 2020 by donnot
๐ŸŒŠ i never ๐ŸŒŠ
416 words ➥ Sunday, January 13, 2019 by donnot
๐Ÿ‘ i never ๐Ÿช
687 words ➥ Saturday, January 13, 2018 by donnot
โˆ“ and quit fighting ยฑ
680 words ➥ Friday, January 13, 2017 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜• surrender to win ๐Ÿ˜–
681 words ➥ Wednesday, January 13, 2016 by donnot
โ‡’ the paradox of the First Step :
560 words ➥ Tuesday, January 13, 2015 by donnot
โ„œ enough already, i admit that i am powerless over addiction. โ„œ
600 words ➥ Monday, January 13, 2014 by donnot
one is too many, and a thousand never enough.
753 words ➥ Sunday, January 13, 2013 by donnot
โ€  by admitting that i am powerless over addiction :
558 words ➥ Friday, January 13, 2012 by donnot
ฮฑ just the facts please ฯ‰
336 words ➥ Friday, January 13, 2006 by donnot
โˆž powerless โˆž
504 words ➥ Thursday, January 13, 2005 by donnot

Tao Te Ching

☯ The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao ☯

The Tao Teh King, or The Tao and Its Characteristics
by Lao-Tse
Translated by James Legge

Book 1

2) So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to
(the idea of) the other; that difficulty and ease produce the one
(the idea of) the other; that length and shortness fashion out the
one the figure of the other; that (the ideas of) height and lowness
arise from the contrast of the one with the other; that the musical
notes and tones become harmonious through the relation of one with
another; and that being before and behind give the idea of one following
another.