IF THE ONLY PRAYER YOU SAID IN YOUR LIFE WAS "THANK YOU", THAT WOULD SUFFICE. ~Meister Eckhart

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

07.11.07

We have learned it pays to make a very special effort to try to understand other people, especially anyone who rubs us the wrong way. For our recovery, it is more important to understand than to be understood. This is not very difficult if we bear in mind that the other AA members, too, are trying to understand, just as we are. ~Living Sober, pg. 11

Today I am grateful...
  • for the WE of the program of AA
  • that the fifth step automatically let me walk tall
  • for sleeping under freshly laundered sheets
  • for the affections of Bunny
  • that Letitia Baldrige is still alive and kicking and giving etiquette rules
  • for what feeds my soul
  • for fellow crew members that help me keep my ship on course

We discover--but can hardly dare to believe right at first--that we are not alone. We are not totally unlike everybody, after all.

The brittle shell of protective and fearful egocentricity we have dwelled in so long is cracked open by the honesty of other recovered alcoholics. We sense, almost before we can articulate it, that we do belong somewhere, and the loneliness starts rapidly leaking away. ~LS, pg. 34

7 comments:

Scott M. Frey said...

yes Scott, that's it exactly... that's my trouble, I still insist on being understood... I need to make St. Francis a regular part of my day....

Eureka! Thanks, man!

Scott M. Frey said...

yes Scott, that's it exactly... that's my trouble, I still insist on being understood... I need to make St. Francis a regular part of my day....

Eureka! Thanks, man!

Unknown said...

I learned this by having step ten pounded into my head. Whenever I called my spoonsor in a tizzy over someone I was told to "read step ten and call me back." I would get to that spot that says "every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us." It would hit me between the eyes every time.

Gooey Munster said...

I fell in love with the "WE" of the program as well.

Bunny has some good love in your household.

Mary Christine said...

Thanks for reminding me that Living Sober is one of my favorite books of all time. It is now coming off my shelf and onto my active pile on my desk.
Thanks :)

JJ said...

Nothing like fresh sheets!
I see you,
JJ

One Drunk to Another said...

I'm glad you're in my WE.

Suzanne