This statement may sound a little odd and it may not be entirely true but I wish to have the concept itself appreciated nonetheless.

“I have had as much trouble (with people) while being selfish and self centered as I have while being selfless and other centered”. 🤷‍♂️

One of my problems is I get.multiple ideas about a certain issue -and can’t figure out which is the most plausible

It seems that most people always have to form an opinion about something or someone

I would tell people up at the hospital when it came to the 2nd step and the 3rd step of the 12 steps in Alcoholics Anonymous “When you 1st meet someone, you don’t know exactly who they are -so you have some preconceived notions or ideas… Which later get replaced by experiences through interaction. You for for example learn whether or not you can trust or rely on this person. It’s the same thing with God, when we are 1st embarking upon a relationship with Him.

When you talk to a newcomer and Alcoholics Anonymous – Many of them try to think their way to what a relationship is or should be. I tell them that by making the choice to continue to work those steps proceeding from 2, and 3, you are actively pursuing that relationship proactively (in part by removing the obstacles).

Every argument sounds great until it’s challenged.

Nothing tests us like our personal relationships. No one knows us more intimately than… It’s hard enough to go through life dealing with our own “being” -but when you toss in a second one, or a 3rd, or a 4th, or a 5th… it can be a pretty tricky act to balance. And some people do amazingly well -but most of us… are basically average -hence the word “average” as defined (where most of us are going to fit in 😏). And a relationship is not for the faint-at-heart, it’s not for the immature, it’s not for the aloof or the indifferent, nor the fly-by-nights, nor the self-indulgent, nor the overindulgent…🤷‍♂️ It’s a very, very serious thing (hold on loosely but dont let go).

Some people have the ability to comprehend on a deeper level than others. I personally 🤔, have to grasp certain key elements before I can grasp “the… core concept”. And maybe that is the case for all people-or simply one style of many, one of and infinite… 🤷‍♂️

I think for some people relationships are a game. They (relationships) are highly taxing, and even threatening emotionally (when we are at our most vulnerable) -and I think the way a lot of us handle it is by a certain kind of quirkiness or a certain amount of craziness. Now I’m not saying I’m not guilty of it myself but -but I don’t like being on the receiving end of it! 🤷‍♂️

I’ve observed a lot of women who dress to attract attention and then appear perturbed at the attention they draw. Maybe they don’t know their dressing to attract attention-maybe they figure they’re just dressing to the times or the culture. A lot of women think they can dress provocatively and have the right to be unmolested -but that’s not reality. A lot of women think they can take things as far as they want to and turn around and say no -not real wise I will say.

A lot of women love (the power of) saying no almost as much as they hate hearing (being told…) it. 🤷‍♂️

“The Kingdom of Heaven does not consist of talk but of power”.

I mean can you imagine having a weak Higher Power? Or a weak God running the universe -total chaos! Satan running over God left-and-right.

When we become close to people, we take on all their joy and all their pain. And the more people we become close to… boils down to how much joy and pain a person can stomach. Some people draw energy from people around them while others expend… I expend, and draw, from what I gather.

This morning in the meeting once again somebody felt inclined to comment on my comment I’m assuming… when you do that it comes across like I have power over you and believe it or not, I don’t want any power over you anymore!

Alcoholics Anonymous is notorious for its rebellious people. In the meeting this morning somebody stated that if you try to shove this program down my throat I’m gonna puke it backup. So if did so if I tell you you have to work the steps or get a sponsor and go to meetings you’re going to cease all of those choices because of that? What may be you haven’t had enough…. There’s an old saying an alcoholic synonymous commalex anonymous karma God may Chase you out of the rooms but alcohol will Chase you back in period I have another saying, other saying, the truth may push you out of Alcohol Anonymous but alcohol won’t alcohol will bring you back in period

For the longest time I looked for what the world had to offer instead of what God had to offer instead of what God had to offer. My life was very chaotic and complicated. It’s no longer chaotic and it’s no longer complicated. 🤷‍♂️

Defiance is not a spiritual principle. It’s a character defect-it’s not something to be proud of! Shouting from the rooftops… if you try to shove something down my throat I’m gonna spit it back out there’s nothing to be proud of period

I’m not trying to fluster any of you people intentionally-but the truth has a way of doing that on its own with some people.

The purer the message-the greater the rebellion Lynn, the greater the uprising!

Hell I never listened to the suggestions and I’ll call it anonymous when you try to give them to me peaceable like.. I probably won’t listen to if you try to shove him down my throat either so what’s the difference? 🤷‍♂️

I don’t see anybody showing any initiative in this town-except of course when their feathers get ruffled. It’s the same attitude in reverse as when you get the wrong change at the register. Everybody wants to speak up but when they get the right change or change an access they don’t say anything.

If for example somebody received stolen property and then refuses to explain to the police where they got it from then they can only punish them finish them for refusing to tell them where they got it from not for actually stealing.

I’m probably more spiritual than I am human these days-that’s the only way I can make sense of the simplicity and the decency of my life and the issues I’m having with certain people around me. I’m probably more human than I am spiritual these days Dave I’m probably more spiritual than I am human these days-that’s the only way I can make sense of the simplicity and the decency of my life and the issues I’m having with certain people around me.

If some of the people in Alcoholics Anonymous have a problem with what I have to say-how do you think my alcoholism feels about it

Everyone announced the holocaust anonymous gets hit for the 1st time period I’m. It might be A-day it might be a year or 2…. But sitting around the meetings having coffee and shooting the shit may not be sufficient to prepare you for when that day comes.

A man’s got to know his own limitations in recovery.

Recovery is different for everyone. It took some more than others to reach that place in their addiction and it makes perfect sense that it takes more for some than others to reach that place in recovery -that place of safety. That place of Serenity.

The other day Daisy got a thorn in her paw and I tried to get it out and she was nipping at me.. She didn’t know I was trying to help her. A lot of people in alcoholics and anonymous are that way too. They don’t know you’re trying to help them! They don’t know the difference between healthy hurt and harmful hurt yet. And their ego is the deciding factor in a lot of cases.

Neial said about 28 years ago, “This program can hurt you but it can’t harm you.”

So if I ordered you not to go out and get drunk you’re gonna go out and get drunk? Well that’s the state of mind you are in…. I strongly suggest you look for change-and fast!! Some sort of a spiritual experience how’s the here and now variety

No matter how much you accomplish in life -if your ❤ isn’t in the right place… No matter how much you fail in life -if your ❤ is in the right place….

Last time I checked we all have to take a dump. Even Jesus had to!

Many times, I’ve noticed that when I kick a rock towards a curb it hops up it just the last 2nd and gets over it. Interesting 🤔

A lot of us alcoholics lack perspective. A lot of human beings too

Children at a very young age learn not to jump off something more than a couple of feet tall. Yo. Young adults at an early age learn not to jump off of something more than 5 or 6′ tall.. And adults learn at some point not to jump off of something more than 7 to 10′ tall. It’s a pity that most of us don’t learn about such things as alcoholism until long after it’s too late.

If I say I’m gonna pay you a million dollars to jump off the Wells Fargo bank tower are you gonna do it? Of course not. Why not? Because I’d be dead! And yet you take the leap with your alcoholism….

If I put a rug in the middle of the hallway with the intention of not tripping over it and I keep walking past it over and over again, which could be considered practicing over and over again… eventually I’m going to trip over it right!! The things we do and the reasons we do do them for and the outcomes we hope for are not always in line with reality. Nobody starts out drinking to become an alcoholic and yet we did precisely what was necessary to become one. How many other areas of our lives.. Do you have how many other choices we have made…. It’s when we don’t want to accomplish something and yet we do through repetition.

So many people in Alcoholics Anonymous have a problem with the word God. A shovel by any other name still does the same job as long as we use it correctly right?

There are people in the world who have gotten them even though they claim there isn’t 1. There are people in the world who don’t have God in them who claim there is 1. How can you tell the difference-by the fruit each bears each bears!

My dad had a chance at a pretty good life-and he blew it!

Another thing my father told me 40 some years ago – “Those Rivera’s -there are hard people”. I don’t consider myself a hard person.

During my father’s rosary rosary, my Uncle Richard stood up and said that his brother was the type of person that would give you the shirt off his back. He also said he wasn’t like that himself. I can attest to that fact through personal experience! The other point I wish to make is that my father may have been willing to give the shirt off his back to a stranger- But for 10 plus years all he did was take for me and my grandmother. God-bless him wherever he is now!🙏

Pick it out one person you trust and confiding in them is not gossiping!

It’s the truth we don’t want to hear but it’s the person giving it to us that we use as the excuse to justify our feelings.

I heard it said in a meeting many years ago if you’re boredthan you’re a boring person. It’s not my job to bring joy and laughter into your life it’s your job. A lot of people in Alcoholics Anonymous come in to be entertained and listen to the stories and the jokes….

Old white people rule! The people that came out of World War II and shortly thereafter.. Old white people rule! The people that came out of World War II and shortly thereafter… I guess

A lot of people here in the town I live and get flustered over things that a lot of people normally don’t even think about.

Just because you say it is -doesn’t mean it is… Just because I say it isn’t -doesn’t mean it isn’t!

In Alcoholics Anonymous, in a meeting, you think it’s just the people telling jokes and entertaining you with their stories that are trying to help you?

There’s 2 kinds of people in the world: The ones who think they’re cool as hell and look around at everybody else and think their fools…

If you try to go beyond superficial/casual with some people they don’t handle it well.

Some people don’t know anything about Strife, violence, conflict… Don’t ask me where these words come from in my head but they do. I’m thinking a lot of people are… Tepid was the 1st word that came to mind and that was wrong. Then the word intrepid came to mind and that was wrong. So then I thought “trepid” – And that was the word I was looking for.

While it is right to protect children from certain things in the world it is also right to allow them to experience certain things in the world so that don’t have an aversion to reality or get caught off guard by it. There’s a real art to a parent knowing which things to submit a child too or allow… and which ones not to.

When some people come in downtown college anonymous they don’t feel so good… The last thing they want is a dose of reality. They wanna laugh or they want to… Understandably so…

Do you think for one minute that bill Wilson was the man who established the attitude that all are welcome in Alcoholics Anonymous? That none can be thrown out of Alcoholics Anonymous bo matter what? Bill Wilson had people who didn’t like him and I’m sure he had people he didn’t like. God is perhaps the only one capable of complete and utter acceptance and love for mankind.

When you lie to a woman they become resentful. When you tell them the truth they become resentful.

When you are on either side of the bell curve it is (often) problematic for those in the middle.

I noticed that I put a lot of things off to the point where it borders on deprivation of good things. I’ll have a stack of DVD’s and and refuse to play the best ones best one…

The you 1st – me 1st generation…

Sometimes I do things that really aren’t worth the the reputation that ensues. Like I might make a big deal out of a dollar and then get a reputation for being a tight-ass 🤷‍♂️

I’ve learned from experience that in many instances instincts it’s best to let the group speak on your behalf. To allow other people to beat themselves -and if they’re out of line let the group speak up. As with individual interactions call it’s, people are always looking for an excuse for their behavior -don’t give them one!

I notice in the little town that I live in that when I speak out against a (young) woman who is being rude -she has absolutely no respect for me (in her response) whatsoever. But went Ana has spoken up for me, their attitude becomes meek. I don’t know if it’s because there’s 2 of us, and we’re witnesses to their conduct.. Of course I’m talking about a working environment and this is an employee is an employee of a store or a business or doctor’s office… That’s correct, where I live employees of businesses (quite often) disrespect the customer.

NOT ALL PEOPLE ARE CIVILIZED [REFINED]!!! 🤷‍♂️

• Pettibon : This has come as quite a setback for us; it was too easy.
• Speed : Ain’t nothin’ in the rules about *easy*, Mr. Pettibon.
• Chaney : [putting on his shirt]  Anything wrong?Pettibon : What’s wrong, Mr. Chaney, is that you’re too good. You’re a ringer, Mr. Chaney.
• Speed : Dammit, my man won fair and square; give us our money, goddammit!
• Poe : [noticing several Cajuns walking up behind Pettibon]  Steady on, Speed. These boys are not refined.[notices one of the Cajuns has a pistol] 
• Poe : Somebody always brings a gun.
• Speed : [being pulled toward the car by Poe and Gayleen]  Oh, yeah! Well, the next time I come to this coonass place, I’m goin’ to bring a gun!
• Pettibon : [laughing]  You do that, Speed; just make sure it’s a great big one.[to his men] 
• Pettibon : That’s how it’s done.
• [Source:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073092/characters/nm0000336].

•Excerpt from the movie Hard Times^[a], a 1975 crime neo noir sport film marking the directorial debut of Walter Hill. It stars Charles Bronson as Chaney, a drifter freighthopping through Louisiana during the Great Depression, who competes in illegal bare-knuckled boxing matches after forming a partnership with the garrulous hustler Speed, played by James Coburn. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Times_(1975_film)].

MOST PEOPLE DON’T START FIGHTS THEY THINK THEY CAN LOSE 🤷‍♂️ (MOST PEOPLE)*

*Which brings me to another point -do you belive in fighting for the principle of the thing?

“I don’t bother striking back (retaliating) because I know you can’t hurt me”.

True power lies not in having to counter your advantage with my own, because I have already achieved THE ULTIMATE ADVANTAGE!

My grandmother always used to say “If you have enough money to pay your bills -Thank the Lord!” 🙏

I just paid my last bill of the month this morning – Thank you Lord! 🙏

If you think about the perfect balance of gravity between certain celestial bodies… God? Precision!

I often wondered -how a fly could fly around in a moving car? Why not impact the back window?

Let other people be who they choose to be; while you yourself be who God wishes you to be -Sounds pretty simple huh? 🤷‍♂️

IOW:

• Do what you’re supposed to do

• Don’t do what you’re not supposed to do

Without God were merely living a sham life. NO MATTER WHAT WE HAVE. NO MATTER WHO WE HAVE. NO MATTER WHERE WE’RE AT!*

A lot of things are a big deal when I think I’m a big deal. A lot of things are not a big deal when I don’t think I’m a big deal.

There are always gonna be people in the world we love to deal with and people in the world we hate to deal with -It has always been that way and it probably always will.

This morning on the phone a gentleman was not being very courteous -and that of course is his issue. But once I started getting upset and was rude…. We both had a part, we both had an issue issue in it. All I had to do was let that man be who he was and walk away without without any responsibility for my part. How many of us struggle to do so though? All we can do is keep trying right!🤷‍♂️

You will hardly improve in a specific area by nthey are by not even giving things a second thought.

Look at what people in the Olympics go through in in order to be the very best.. Now spiritually speaking…. If we use the same approach approach as an Olympic athlete being trained… We’d hardly farewell with the neighbor across the street.

Before a person acts, they always justify:

•To themselves; even if only in that split second before they choose to act!

You have to watch out for people:

•In some instances there should be a sign on some of us which reads:

“HANDLE WITH EXTREME CAUTION”

There are some places in the universe where we… 🤔 perhaps it is our souls… that feel they belong.

A 2 in³ (or perhaps just a micron of a slice) piece of matter in the universe from a particular…. Contains more information than all the information thus far gathered by mankind to date.

In a nutshell

•P.P.F.P.P.T.

Maybe the Karlonas’ did me a favor:

•God does things as He does knowing…

•And of course we seldom thank Him for it because Him knowing us as he does – Most of us, can never quite seem to see past our own 👃s.*

Anyways, I have to take Daisy for her last walk today-she’s going back 🏡 to mama and her step papa. But I’ll tell you the rest of the story when I get back. Chow

*Most of us probably never see losing money as a good thing. Or seeing hard times as a good thing. Especially if we have a family to support.. I HATE TO SAY IT-But God knows better!

Another favorite “movie-quote”

“Rape me, kick me, beat… just don’t bore the hell out of me”.

It’s sad to say, but I get the impression that a lot of women would prefer drama in their life than boredom. And also, yeah stokama a lot of women with a low sense of self worth which society theusts upon them… After all, what self respecting women would engage in…….. No sir Kama a lot of the things women endure can only be explained by elosain’t by a low sense of self worth. Or a pension for the dramatic.*

On a high note, I will say that women are incredible when it comes to multi tasking. And and from what I understand they also can take pain a lot better than many men. I noticed when it came to certain funerals in our family that the women stepped forward in many cases more so than demanded.

*I can only say this about my personal experiences on this subject” I had more women to date when I was full of anger and completely (almost) dysfunctional than I do now. I’m far healthier now than I was when I dated Ana and Lenelle -Lenell’s gone (passed on 😔) and Ana has decided to go back to her husband permanently it appears

In a society such as ours where sex is treated executed in the same fashion as taken out the trash…. Washing the dishes…. I liked when there was a sense of shame, a sense of guilt, a sense of reservation about that particular area of humanity.

One thing I notice human beings require is stimulation.- Obvious you say? No, think about it 🤔 – Think about all the things we get ourselves into in the name of stimulation!o an! Think about all the things we things we accomplish that are really meaningless in the name of stimulation.

There’s 2 kinds of people in the world:

•The ones who have issues and refuse to do anything about them

•The ones who I have issues and do something about them.

A person who presumably has a leg up on their issues without having done any real work… it I said presumably!! Versus someone who has some fairly deep seated issues but is willing to work them out over time… Which do you think you’d be better off within the long run? Which which do you think you would be inclined to select as a friend or a partner at the onset? Exactly! That’s why there’s so much disappointment and Strife among peoples year after year, decade after decade. millennium after millennium – Decisions based on self which later came back to harm us. 🤷‍♂️

The 1st thing many of us have to get straight who have been dealt a bad hand in life is…”

•Are you absolutely sure, in the continuum of ever-changing life, I mean that’s not the end of the story… did you have been dealt a bad hand?*

°Life doesn’t know you or me anything – And even if it were true… I don’t claim to know everything! 🤷‍♂️

•Even if life did owe us -we probably wouldn’t get it back anyways.

*When I came in Alcoholics Anonymous I had 2 stipulations, the 1st was that I stay sober the other was that I never have to be alone. Imperial life has not turned out the way I planned it in sobriety. I planned on the $100000 a year job, the trophy wife, the 2.5 kids, the I’m at the boat, a trip to Europe once a year and a trip domestically once a year at least… retiring by the time I’m 50 blah blah blah

The only thing I’ve gotten out of it is that I’m still sober and healthy and.. A wealth of knowledge and wisdom I have a crew through life’s struggles all these years. I wouldn’t trade all that and what goes along with it for what I have today. My life is by no means. My life is by no means perfect and I am not happy as a Daisy with a lot of things… no pun intended Daisy… lol but the person that I have become trump’s anything and everything I could have gained outside of myself! Conpoint and my relationship with God…!

Why is in perfect and those of us who expected to be..

I want to go some place gentle and peaceful…..

Part of the problem I think I had growing up was that my grandmother was of a generation twice removed from myself and the peers I grew up with. I could probably relate more to the parents of my peers then my peers themselves. Just another obstacle I suppose!

“You have to think in 3-dimensions, like a Vegan”