Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.
—Sigmund Freud
The truth is our friend. It is a rough and humble kind of friend - but a friend nonetheless. Each of us will need to learn to spend time with this friend because it is one that is not easy to escape. It is always turning up when we least expect it. The truth about ourselves is hard to avoid. It seems to knock at our door until we let it in.
Perhaps we have played the game of hide and seek sometime in our lives. Sometimes we tell little lies about ourselves to impress others, or we act in ways that, deep down, we know are not really the way we want to be. We can never be comfortable this way. We know what it is like to hide and try to keep from being found. The truth about us is an expert player. It seeks us out until we put our arms around it and welcome it.
Is there something I am hiding from today?
From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©
Attitude
Now that we are sober, some of us are invited to social events where there is drinking. Now and then, we see raised eyebrows when others learn that we're having only soft drinks. Some of us may respond by explaining that we're alcoholics and cannot take even one drink. A few recovering alcoholics handle the situation by pretending that they're holding an alcoholic drink---- perhaps enlisting the bartender's aid in making the drink appear to contain liquor.
While it may be useful to tell others about our alcoholism, we are under no obligation to do so, particularly in a drinking environment. At the same time, there's something wrong with pretending that one is still taking alcoholic drinks.
Our best course is to remember that we never have to apologize for not drinking. In a world that makes so much fuss about the right to drink, we surely have a right not to drink, and we do not have to explain why we are not drinking.
Action for the Day: If I find myself in a drinking environment today, I'll handle it with dignity and cheerfulness, but I will not feel I must defend my sobriety to others.
For many, many years I lived solely for a time in the future -- the next big event --
or off of the tragedies or amazing accomplishments of the past.
I was unaware that all of life is lived moment by moment.
Being in recovery allows me to be aware and present in those moments,
and every moment provides me with an opportunity for growth.
- The AA Grapevine, November 2010, p. 49
Thought to Ponder . . .
The storm has passed. I've learned a little more about peace.
It was inside all the time.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S I T = Stay In Today.
No comments:
Post a Comment