Alcoholics Anonymous Blog Video August 18 2014
Making a list of amends and be willing to make them. This is all about keeping our side of the Street clean in the long-term. And at the same time, we need to ask ourselves just how much effort is required to change the beliefs and opinions of other people we might meet in life. Most people are reluctant to change their minds, change their attitudes and behaviour once they have established their own personal views about how to conduct themselves. Other people don't like criticism, even if it is said with love, because they have no concept of love at all! A lot of people simply carry on doing the same old same old through habit. I do hope some have a habit of learning to love.
Social media, it gives people a voice and sometimes that voice is contradictory to our own outlook. And that is a good thing. Because nobody has a monopoly on being right. Of course I could be wrong! Ram Dass used to say at the end of his lectures, "of course I could be wrong." And I know absolutely that some of the things which I believe in are completely wrong for other people. And this is a good thing in my opinion, challenge and disagreement need not lead to exile.
All feelings are good, some of our feelings are quite disagreeable because we have to confront issues. Best confront the issues in one's own mind first and ask for help, this might ensure some good challenges when life is disagreeable. Expression of feelings is extremely important, letting people know what's going on can be very helpful if it is done in a respectful fashion. Just because other people behave badly we don't have to join in do we?
Senior people within local government have completely ignored me in recent times, which in itself is dumb insolence in my opinion. But as a consequence of campaigning to stop my residence causing damage to another resident below, I am hoping that progress is being made to resolve an ongoing problem lasting several years. And they've even fixed, well they may have fixed my gas boiler as well. I hesitate in reporting this, because over the last five years, things have gone wrong after repairs have been completed, duplicated over and over, ignored, not resolved. I'm hopeful.
Meetings over the weekend have been very helpful, very informative, and very supportive through experience strength and hope of others and how their lives are today. Some people learning what it is to grieve, some people learning what it is to be careful of dangerous places which lead to dangerous thinking about alcohol. Some people just enjoying the sunshine in between the rain clouds. Most people, reasonably grateful to be sober one day at a time. The biggest amend to self, to stop drinking, and learn what sober living is all about.
What is sober living all about? Freedom of course. Freedom to be yourself and freedom to let other people be themselves. Freedom to enjoy family, career and work, new past times now that we have more time to enjoy whatever we choose to do. Many a time in my early recovery, I listened to people who shared that one hour in a meeting out of the day left twenty-three others for whatever we choose to do. It might seem like a nightmare in early recovery, to have all this time on our hands, and yet it doesn't take long to find that there are not enough hours in the day. And one hour a day, where we keep on learning about life and the possibilities is simply worth it, because we are worth it one day at a time.
This is a question which often comes up, "do I want to be right, or do I want to be happy?" Sometimes it is worth letting go being right, because in order to be right, changing the attitudes and behaviour of other people will take a lifetime. And if I need my lifetime to pursue whatever is important to me, sometimes even when I am right, I let it go, because happiness is far more constructive than the "destructive me" and the bitter taste of being right gives no pleasure at all.
I do find there are lots of things in recovery which are disagreeable. And I am sure my outlook will continue to be disagreeable to many who are not in Fellowship and who are in Fellowship. And this is good! Be disagreeable if needed, at the same time, agree to disagree because life is too short and why on earth should people agree with me on anything or everything? Nobody ought to give up their beliefs, unless those beliefs are harming themselves and other people? I don't know the answer other than the ones which come one day at a time. And I would not really want to meddle in the affairs of other people. We all have our journey of reality in the moment of now. How else would we learn?
Step Eight Reading 12 And 12
Alcoholics Anonymous Videos, AA is for Alcoholics, AA 12 Steps, Addiction And Recovery, DonInLondon, Don Oddy,
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