One of the main gifts in this program is others like myself. The reason I can say this is almost every day I am in communication with this one or that one. People just like myself.
One of the graces I have been given is that I get to hear myself through their conversations, their sharing with me. I know from the start that they’re telling me things I can relate to. Usually their anger or their worries and anxieties. Things I have been through myself. And then also other events I have gone through.
I know one of the things is to listen and as I do to prepare myself not to retrieve feelings from the past. To leave things from back then alone, except to let them know how and why I can relate to what they’re telling me. The other thing is to help them open the door to relief from what is bothering them. A good part of that is to talk to them about what I learned from my sponsor and others.
All of this is an important reminder of how this program works. We talk about practicing these principles in all of our affairs and this is a big part of that. Part of what I definitely learned from my sponsor and others. To once again be willing to give away what I have been so freely given. If I want to stay sober I have learned this is what I must do. To give it away so that I can keep it.
A major part of all of this is the spiritual program I have learned in here. To do what I have been able to do. If I can, I need to share what has worked for me in this program. When it comes to talking about the spiritual aspect I know that I am not here to teach others what I have come to believe. None of them have to do what I did or the way I did it. If they don’t want to hear what I’m relating to them I know it’s all right for them not to accept it. And at that point I have to remember what I learned in here about being powerless over people, places, and things. The Serenity Prayer. To let go and let the God of my understanding do for me what I can’t do for myself.
Anyway, I was thinking about these things, which are so important to me. The practice of compassion and not sympathy. To remind myself that the spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it and this is one of the ways I am able to do that. I know it’s a basic part of my staying sober. I never want to forget that. And it’s part of my exercising gratitude. A way to thank my Higher Power and by doing what I’m doing to exercise gratitude to those who gave me what I needed and provided me with their examples of all of this.