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

i used to believe that i had all the answers

Posted: Thu, Jan 6, 2011 10:31:07 AM

just for today i am glad that i do not, as that allows me to grow and learn as new information is uncovered.
it has been said that as long as one is learning one is growing. although it sounds counter-intuitive that the longer i stay clean, the more there is to learn, it has been my experience that is not just a cliché that i mouth to look like i have humility.
in reality the recovery process, has been like an archeological dig for me. under the sediments deposited by years of active addiction lies the person i was born to be. just as those scientist do not actually discover anything that was not known before, my active recovery does not uncover anything new. i was not possessed by an outside force, and yet i made choices that were not conducive to my growth while i was an active addict. each time i made such a choice, i had to suppress my feelings, by using, by telling lies to myself, and acting as if it was part of who i really was. since history is always written by the winners, while i was ion active addiction i rewrote my own history to cover-up what i really was feeling about who i was becoming. the real person within, just kept getting further and further away from my conscious awareness, and eventually was forgotten.
the recovery process reveals more and more about who i am, the longer i stay clean and practice a program of active recovery. each time a new artifact of that long lost person is uncovered, i have to learn how it fits into the world today. as time goes by, as more is revealed, i NEED to learn how that applies in the world today. so the more i learn about myself, the less i know about how that knowledge applies in the current phase of my life. it is frustrating to me, that as i break out of the shell of self-centered fear and delusion, that i discover i NEED to learn how to do things that the so-called normal world takes for granted. that frustration mounts until i DO something, which in my case, happens to be the next STEP, most of the time.
sometimes it sucks that i feel so ignorant about HOW to live life, and that i have to go back and learn HOW to do those seemingly simple things that i never learned as i was growing up. after all, someone with over 50 years of life experience should have a few clues about reality, at least that is what i tell myself.
back to the top. reality is that i DID not learn that stuff. the reality is that only because i am learning who i am and what i truly believe, does that dearth of knowledge is revealed and needs to be addressed. and the gratitude i feel as i write this means that i am becoming open-mended to learning HOW and that the question of WHY is diminishing in its importance.
each day i do this gig, is another opportunity to get closer to the truth, and the destination of the TRUTH about me, while elusive, is certainly a goal worth striving for. HOWEVER, i am of the mind while that goal is great, it is the journey to that goal that is important, and i have to focus on the process and not the result. i have FAITH today, that as long as i keep doing this recovery stuff. i will make progress, and i will have much more to learn as a result.

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

This day in older entries

๐Ÿ™ˆ my recovery ๐Ÿ™‰
434 words ➥ Tuesday, January 6, 2026 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜ถ i did not ๐Ÿ˜ต
556 words ➥ Monday, January 6, 2025 by donnot
๐Ÿ”Ž vigilance ๐Ÿ”
386 words ➥ Saturday, January 6, 2024 by donnot
๐Ÿค” i do know ๐Ÿคฏ
521 words ➥ Friday, January 6, 2023 by donnot
๐Ÿค“ finding the answers ๐Ÿค”
392 words ➥ Thursday, January 6, 2022 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜ถ in and of ๐Ÿคจ
659 words ➥ Wednesday, January 6, 2021 by donnot
๐Ÿ’ก believing i ๐Ÿ’ก
604 words ➥ Monday, January 6, 2020 by donnot
๐Ÿ’ญ this is the ๐Ÿ’ฌ
394 words ➥ Sunday, January 6, 2019 by donnot
๐Ÿ™„ the longer i ๐Ÿ™ƒ
559 words ➥ Saturday, January 6, 2018 by donnot
i know!
559 words ➥ Friday, January 6, 2017 by donnot
ยฟ how does it work ?
423 words ➥ Wednesday, January 6, 2016 by donnot
ยข knowledge, in and of itself, will never be enough ยข
522 words ➥ Tuesday, January 6, 2015 by donnot
ฦ’ the value of endless speculation pales in comparison ฦ’
488 words ➥ Monday, January 6, 2014 by donnot
โ‰ˆ i have a lot of knowledge about what IS wrong with me โ‰ˆ
820 words ➥ Sunday, January 6, 2013 by donnot
โˆž the value of endless speculation pales in comparison to... โˆž
189 words ➥ Saturday, January 6, 2007 by donnot
โˆž on knowing or not โˆž
479 words ➥ Friday, January 6, 2006 by donnot
โ†” the answers โ†”
263 words ➥ Thursday, January 6, 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

1) If we could renounce our sageness and discard our wisdom, it would
be better for the people a hundredfold. If we could renounce our benevolence
and discard our righteousness, the people would again become filial
and kindly. If we could renounce our artful contrivances and discard
our (scheming for) gain, there would be no thieves nor robbers.