An amazing thing the human mind. It’s a wonderful device, if I can manage to use it well.
When I was drinking, I was out of my mind. To put it mildly, insane. That’s where alcohol took me. And no matter how many times I thought I could stop drinking, it didn’t work.
Then I came in here, stopped drinking for the first time in many years, and began to be helped to change my mind.
Among other things, in the process of changing my mind, I had to give up my old ideas. Not an easy job for someone, who “thought” he had all the answers. Part of that process was to learn how to change my attitude. From a bad, negative attitude to a good, positive attitude.
One of my hurdles in trying to do this was pointed out to me by my sponsor. He told me I had a closed mind. He told me that I had to get an open mind, if I wanted to get sober. As desperate as I was to stop drinking it was almost impossible for me to do this. He told me that it would take dynamite to get a mind like mine open.
I was to learn that one of the things that was in my way was the fact that I was dishonest. I was a chronic liar. I was secretive in every way. If I was to get an open mind, I was going to have to get honest. And that meant opening up and sharing my secrets. A hard pill to swallow for someone so filled with pride. But like Bill W. said, pride headed the list of the sins or defects we had. That was me. At the head of the list.
I guess what broke the walls down was my first five Steps. And the only reason I was able to do them is that guilt and remorse drove me to do them early on. They not only opened my mind, they opened the door to a sober life and a spiritual awakening. They opened the door to my restoration to sanity.
We were talking about the 3rd Step today and that was obviously one of the keys to this new way of life. I was talking to a friend of mine before the meeting. We talked about this and faith. Building a solid foundation in this spiritual way of life. Not easy by any means, but do-able, if I will but persevere. And, I was desperate to stay sober, so I did and still do. Not done yet. Still in process.
Anyway, started my day off with the 3rd Step prayer, and started to meditate on the effect these Steps had on my mind and my life. Later on the meditation continued, when a friend called and we talked about changing our minds and getting an open mind and a new attitude.
And, of course, all of this is underwritten and fostered by my higher power, who empowers me to do these things and to live a sober life.