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

โŠ› my long experiment โŠ›

Posted: Wed, Sep 28, 2016 07:41:08 AM

with self-sufficiency may have ended many days ago, but every now and again, i wonder IF it might be possible that i do not need to keep doing this gig. after all, i have a long stretch of abstinence, a career, a relationship, financial; stability, friends, family, all the trappings of a normal life, why should i continue to keep up this routine. the train of thought goes on and then i think about what i heard at the meeting last night. sure most of it was drivel that falls out of the mouths of newcomers about how good they are doing, or what YOU need to be doing so YOU can be as good, holy and humble as them. or even worse how “THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT.” yes, when i scoop off the bullsh!t and the posturing, what i hear is gratitude and HOPE, that at least, just for today, they too have found freedom from active addiction. my greatest wish is that they all would stop talking about it and actually start living it. behaving superstitiously, hoping that there is something beyond death because of the First Law of Thermodynamics, is not what i am about today. i can plainly state that when i say i am spiritual, i am not. when i say i am humble i am not, but when i say i am HOPEFUL, i generally am.
there are two facts of life that permeate my life. the first is that i am an addict. not some sort of addict. i do not suffer from an addictive personality. i am not powerless of addictions. anytime i start qualifying that cold hard fact, i am starting to move away, into that so-called “normal” life. that feeds the assertion i started off with, that after some time doing this gig, i can HOPE to be free of the very routine and structure that has brought me here and gives me HOPE on a daily basis. i want rewards and positive feedback all the time, and do NOT want to defer them until i shuffle off this mortal coil. i get that, when i live a program and not fall back on my favorite two lies -- i am only human and -- after all i am just an addict.
i did say two facts of life. the second, which i started alluding to was that it is the program of recovery that provides me the relief i need to live in the “normal” as if i was one of the other 85%. my peers can speak of being a member of the No Matter What club, and i am, but without some sort of valuable payoff, i would be unlikely to remain being so. IF my life did not get better, i would have been long gone. i would have returned to being a victim of addiction and stalking my ex, would have seemed to be a good idea, that led to many more brilliant notions. no the only place i get the HOPE and FAITH to continue doing this gig, is in the program i find loathsome from time to time, especially when the meetings are hijacked by the newest of the new, prattling on to prove how “well” they are becoming instead of sharing about what is really going on.
i am however getting way off track. yes this addict is clean today. yes i am clean because i decided after eighteen months of abstinence to actually allow myself to be guided by members who were here when i got here. yes i have HOPE today, because i finally tossed out my superstitions and accepted that not knowing and not having a belief structure was a far better place to be in, than where i was.
okay, just for today here is a bit of cynicism for those of you who believe in astrology, YOUR SUN SIGN IS PROBABLY WRONG! me? i am okay being a Pisces instead of an Aries, nothing has changed in my life since discovering that new “truth!”
what is, is and what is not, is as well, in my life and the world around me, just for today.

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

This day in older entries

๐ŸŒŒ all of my life, ๐ŸŒŒ
509 words ➥ Monday, September 28, 2026 by donnot
๐Ÿ™Œ when i finally ๐Ÿ‘
335 words ➥ Sunday, September 28, 2025 by donnot
๐Ÿ•ฑ the antidote ๐Ÿ•ฑ
457 words ➥ Saturday, September 28, 2024 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜Ž connecting ๐Ÿ˜Ž
420 words ➥ Thursday, September 28, 2023 by donnot
๐Ÿฑ the measures ๐Ÿฑ
347 words ➥ Wednesday, September 28, 2022 by donnot
๐Ÿ•ด the management ๐Ÿ•บ
528 words ➥ Tuesday, September 28, 2021 by donnot
๐Ÿพ controlling my life ๐Ÿ‘ฃ
520 words ➥ Monday, September 28, 2020 by donnot
๐ŸŒŠ an acknowledgment ๐ŸŒž
465 words ➥ Saturday, September 28, 2019 by donnot
๐Ÿš€ an affirmation ๐Ÿš€
364 words ➥ Friday, September 28, 2018 by donnot
๐Ÿฏ when i attempt ๐Ÿฐ
710 words ➥ Thursday, September 28, 2017 by donnot
ยน HOPE ยน
551 words ➥ Monday, September 28, 2015 by donnot
โ‡’ the despair arising from my long and occasionally โ†ต
654 words ➥ Sunday, September 28, 2014 by donnot
โ€  no matter what measures i try to make my life better, โ€ 
429 words ➥ Saturday, September 28, 2013 by donnot
ยซ i will reaffirm my THIRD STEP decision ยป
638 words ➥ Friday, September 28, 2012 by donnot
ยก gradually, as i become more God-centered !
436 words ➥ Wednesday, September 28, 2011 by donnot
โˆž steps TWO and THREE lead me gradually out of despair โˆž
456 words ➥ Friday, September 28, 2007 by donnot
โˆž trading despair for hope โˆž
335 words ➥ Wednesday, September 28, 2005 by donnot
reaffirming my decision
172 words ➥ Tuesday, September 28, 2004 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) Therefore a wise prince, marching the whole day, does not go far
from his baggage waggons. Although he may have brilliant prospects
to look at, he quietly remains (in his proper place), indifferent
to them. How should the lord of a myriad chariots carry himself lightly
before the kingdom? If he do act lightly, he has lost his root (of
gravity); if he proceed to active movement, he will lose his throne.