One of those things I often think about are these moments. I mean right now. That’s what my old sponsor and those old timers used to point out to alcoholics like me. We were always projecting into the future. Imagining things we liked or disliked.
A friend of mine and I talked the other day, and they told me how upset and depressed they had become, because they were thinking how they might get ill in the future, since they had an illness in the past. What they told me about the past was a fact. The problem they were suffering from was their imagination and their negative emotions. Not a fact. Not real. Not now.
It was these things which our old timers taught us to make sure we had our minds over our negative emotions. They showed us how these negative emotions overwhelm us and we cannot really think straight. We would truly be suffering from fear, depression, even anger, and much much more, as time went on. As they pointed out, we might even end up drinking again. It’s actually happened to others. I know, because I have witnessed this.
I told them what I was told and what I have told others. Stay right here and don’t go mentally wandering off into the future. Or, as I was told, stay in today. Don’t project into tomorrow. It’s not real, but we might think it is and end up, perhaps in resentment and hate, which can take over and ruin us.
Anyway, I need to be grateful for all I have been given, which has given me what I need. Happiness and peace. Able to begin to live sober a day at a time. Right now. This moment. Or, as my sponsor would say to me, “Where are your feet? That’s where you are now.” No place else.
I know I need to stop and give thanks to my Higher Power, those old timers, this program, and so many others, who have helped me along the way.