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๐Ÿคฌ poor coping skills ๐Ÿคฌ

Posted: Wed, Jan 2, 2019 07:34:20 AM

and learning to find a better way to live, seems to be a fate i need to accept, today.
well the day has finally arrived, my cheat day. i have book club tonight in the local cigar store and i have cigars in my humidified locker there as well. it has been nearly forty days since i last imbibed any form of nicotine and another seventeen days until i must get tested. i am adamant about going to my book club, as it is one of the few social activities i have, outside of hanging with my peers in recovery. the decision whether or not i will enjoy their company whilst i partake of a fine cigar, certainly feels final: YES I WILL! at least that happens to be the case right here and right now, when the time comes, well i will let go of that until the time comes.
one of my coping mechanisms when it comes to driving, has been a big cigar to see me through those moments of having to deal with the frustrations of how all those “others” are driving. what i discovered over the past month was that maybe, just maybe, that was a rationalization to keep me smoking and to smoke even more. as i drove through the “cold-turkey” nicotine withdrawals, i discovered that taking a deep breath and connecting with the POWER that fuels my recovery by quieting my mind, was certainly a better way to manage my road-rage than chomping down on my cigar. as a result, it seems a bit of insanity to see what the outcome of my “cheat day” experiment will be. there will certainly be more to write about tomorrow.
as i prepare to return to the office for the first time in two weeks, i also need to remember that connection is always present. there will be petty frustrations and perhaps a major one as well. i get to CHOOSE how i will handle them, rather than allowing myself to be swept into a reaction to a feeling. i do have a bit of recovery and when i remember that i do what i do, because i choose to do so, than i get the FREEDOM that has been given to me, through that string of days i have put together. i may not be perfect, but if i allow myself to be, i can be a little bit more perfect than i was yesterday,

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

This day in older entries

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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 2

1) He whose boldness appears in his daring (to do wrong, in defiance
of the laws) is put to death; he whose boldness appears in his not
daring (to do so) lives on. Of these two cases the one appears to
be advantageous, and the other to be injurious. But

When Heaven's anger smites a man,
Who the cause shall truly scan? On this account the sage feels a difficulty
(as to what to do in the former case).