I was talking to an old friend today. A woman with 57 years in this program, sober. Today is her 91st birthday and I wanted to call her and wish her well. Happy birthday.
I’ve known this woman for 39 years now. Her husband was my old sponsor. But if he was my sponsor, she was very much a giver of wisdom for me. She still is, now that he is gone.
One of the things we talked about today was this day. How important it is that we stay in the day. Not to project into the future, but to be present for now. Always.
One of the things, which allows someone like me to be in the day is my dependence on my higher power. To learn to trust that I am being taken care of by Him. All that I have seems to come from my dependence on my higher power. And part of that is to give up my worries of the future and just stay in the day.
Of course none of this is perfect. Things slip in and I slip up.
Influences from the outside become an obsession at times and I find myself upset and worrying about tomorrow. That’s when I need to talk to someone, especially my higher power, and get back into the now.
It takes patience and practice not to drink a day at a time. To learn to stay sober just for now. The same with my thinking. To learn how not to wander away from the day. To try to stay in the moment. To practice the spiritual principles of this program and apply them to this day. Asking for help, when I need it and not get caught up in myself.
That wasn’t just the subject with my old friend, but it was a main point at the meeting today, when we were talking to a new man. And after the meeting, when I had coffee and lunch with another old friend. It teaches me just how important to my sobriety the concept of a day at a time is.
Anyway, tonight, when things had settled down, I thought about this again.