Blog entry for:

to the world of the living, by accepting **real** values. i find it a bit odd that over the course of my recovery i may have missed the distinction that is being made in this reading. my values, whether or not they were warped beyond recognition in my active addiction, were just as “real” as the ones i live by today. the difference is, that when i was in active addiction my values were rooted in self-interest and grasping tight on to what i was entitled to have. what i have discovered today, through living the 12 steps, is a means of living that includes sharing values with the rest of humanity, a return to the land of the living where i am starting to get what those who are not addicted, seemed to know form the get-go. before i run out of time:

Kathy Mc,
the love of my life,
CONGRATS on Eighteen (18) years clean.
I am grateful i get to share my life and my recovery with you.

as i stay clean, i learn to discard many of the value judgements i used to be so obsessed about forming, especially when it come to real and fake, good and evil, and positive and negative. as part of living in the land of the living, i have to deal with all sorts of judgements being thrown out by myself, my peers and the rest of humanity. it is true, that when i see a driver who is unable to stay between the lines, my immediate judgement is that they have been using. what it ends up to be most of the time is that they are using their cell phone. the lesson i am choosing to take from that example, is that maybe, the real values i need to practice today are contained in the spiritual principles of tolerance, acceptance and forgiveness, and move along. it is a good day to be clean.

∞ DT ∞