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purpose are portable. once upon a time, i believed that what happened in the rooms stayed in the rooms. in other words i could walk out of a meeting and proceed to be my nastiest, self-absorbed, over-entitled self, exercising self-will with extreme prejudice and whining about the consequences the next time i shared. it took a minute, but finally a trusted friend and peer asked me if i really wanted to continue living in that manner and suggested that the principles of the program applied to my whole life, not just my recovery life, and maybe, just maybe, i might be better served living in that manner. even before i worked the TWELFTH STEP formally, i could apply what i had learned in recovery to the rest of my life. that notion took a minute to sink in, but eventually i understood what was meant by practicing these principles in all my affairs.
today as i climbed on the treadmill for thirty minutes, i saw that the day i decided that maybe living a principled life in all places, even when no one was looking was no longer as difficult as i made it out to be, and surprise, surprise, surprise, i did not get stomped into the dirt by the rest of humanity. in fact, i got to be able to look at myself in the mirror and not be concerned about what i did or did not do, coming back to bite me in the ass. even though there are people in my life that have failed to live up to their obligations to me, i can be okay with doing the next right thing and taking care of my own bidness, even if that means seeking a new job. by living a program and carrying that program forward into my life, i need not be concerned about karma, dharma or pay backs, as i do my best to do the next correct thing. the next correct thing right here and right now? get the dawg out for a walk and get myself ready to pound out some more code and finish another ticket before the end of the day. it is a good day to live a life of purpose, even if i do not know what that purpose may be, through carrying the spiritual principles of the program out into my daily life, just for today.

∞ DT ∞