Every once in a while, I have to step back and look at the lessons I have learned. One of them is often the most difficult for most of us alcoholics.
A wise man once said that, when we are able to get rid of one negative in our lives that we have to replace it. Nature abhors a vacuum. So, if we don’t replace it with a positive, the negative comes back seven fold. Not kidding.
That hasn’t always been an easy task for me. Part of the problem is that my thinking isn’t what it probably should be. Not for nothing do I write things down. I have a mind that instantly wants to wander the minute I start to think of something. If the something I think of is positive, the next thought is a ball game or something else. That’s often the way it is, when I begin to pray. I’m lucky if I remember the “amen”.
But think of something negative and I’m almost immediately into that. That’s why it’s so important to replace the empty spaces with the positive. Take away a character defect and replace it with something good. And therein is what one man once said was almost impossible. He was talking about good and bad habits. He said that if it was a good habit, he could practice it a thousand times and still not get it. But if it was a bad habit, he only had to do it once and it was in place forever.
This business of positive and negative I believe goes on an on. It is part of the process. Never perfect but trying to progress. Always stumbling and bumbling, but picking myself back up and dusting myself off and going forward. Trying never to get discouraged. Trying always to be positive. Not taking myself too seriously, but taking what I do seriously. And hopefully what I do is going to help me to stay sober. Employing these Steps in my life on a daily basis. And talking and thinking about sobriety. Freedom from alcohol. The solution. What this program is all about.
How fortunate we are. We have a higher power and a spiritual life to follow. This is the source of our sobriety. Our freedom from alcohol. The spiritual awakening and all that follows in this way of life.
Anyway, talking to a friend of mine today, this is pretty much what we discussed. I found it helpful and I know he did too. It’s all about sobriety. Always.