I don’t know what world you’re living in -but the world I’m living in is the same one described in The Bible and an alcoholic synonymous call economist-people are selfish.

When I 1st came into Alcoholics Anonymous nobody was walking up to me and shaking my hand and asking me out to coffee.. Then one day I decided to walk into a meeting and to go down the road and shake everybody’s hand everybody’s hand. I did that at several meetings in succession until I realized certain people weren’t interested in shaking my hand.. People I hardly knew, let alone ever did anything hurtful to.

Something dawned on me after several years in Alcoholics Anonymous, after several years of unhappiness “I think we’re all living in the same world, so why do some people seem happier than others?” A lot of it is the way you look at things. A lot of it has to do with the choices we make. And a lot of it has to do with “what we focus on, we give power to!”

•Title credited to Cat Stevens -song written and recorded by him.

God pointed out to me some decades ago that everything in life has a lifeline. I realized many many years ago that I was fueling my anger from my childhood childhood with thoughts in the present – with the nature of those thoughts.

Recently, in counseling I recognized that many of my thoughts, my negativity towards (certain) human beings was fueling/building a wall that I keep up (higher at certain times (following…) than others) to protect myself based upon fear, or lack of faith rather.

“It’s impossible to get angry when you have no anger in you.”

Another thing He told me: “It’s easier not to take out your anger on those around you when you’re no longer filled with it..” I tried for years in Alcoholics Anonymous to contain my anger – that went about as well as not drinking by my own willpower.

Anger is the result of something bad/unjust happening to us -and the inability or unwillingness to accept it. God told me many years ago that “acceptance is not approval”. If I have a flat tire and I refuse to accept that fact… That car will either sit there flat for a very long time or I will decide to do something about it. And that’s the same thing same with anger. Unfortunately, many people decide not to do anything about it -so they remain angry. If you do something to hurt me and I’m unable to run willing to confront you with it -I may just pass it on to the next person I see or meet. This happens all the time!

•Title taken from the movie of the same name starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. Written by David S Dorfman. Directed by Peter Siegal.

Sidenote: I may have mentioned this previously -imagine an army of men free from anger! Could there be a reason or useful purpose for anger in our society, in our world even though it is so much of an issue is an issue domestically speaking. Serrving 2 masters are we???

Of one thing I am absolutely certain of -Jesus was/is far more interested in the solution than in the problem! I cannot say that has always been my attitude/approach. 😒

After a counseling session (90s), I would have to come home and do dishes -and I would get so angry while doing so. I reasoned that the year that I live with my aunt Uncle, karma myself and the girls had to do the dishes to the dishes while my uncle’s son didn’t. During these episodes later in life God pointed out to me “Be grateful I have something to dirty them with.” 🙏

God told me this a long time ago: “It’s easier to act sane when you are sane. Thru many episodes in my recovery recovery I’ve experienced periods of lucidity and periods of insanity depending on how much or how little dedication to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.

•Title taken from the movie of the same name starring Jack Nicholson (1975) -Miloš Forman (Director), Lawrence Hauben/Bo Goldman (screenplay).

There’s an old saying (law of physics?) “Under pressure, what’s on the inside comes out.” This is true of nature and of human nature. This is why I have so much respect and admiration for human beings under pressure who only bring to the frow “humanity at it’s best”. If you remember anything in life, comma become a person who under pressure exemplifies thexemplifies the best of humanity and not the worst of humanity -if you remember anything in life, remember this, “Strive to become a person who under pressure, exemplifies the best humanity has to offer, not the worst!

•Title credited to Queen/David Bowie (1981) -written by Roger Taylor/Freddie Mercury/David Bowie/John Deacon/Brian May.

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the taking of right action in the face of it.”

Many of life’s troubles (mankind’s) can be traced to two things:

•Insanity*

•Immaturity*

*…and when you throw fear into the mix with either (or both) of the aforementioned, it’s going to be a recipe for trouble.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, oftentimes the very thing that allowed us to survive this survived our addiction is the very same thing that interferes in our recovery. “To admit complete defeat -NEVER!” To give you some idea of just how difficult It can be to come to terms with, and face one’s own fears… here is a dialog taken from the movie rocky lll:

Adrian: Can I talk to you? I want to ask you something important and I want you to tell me the truth.Rocky: What?Adrian: Why did you come here?Rocky: I just don’t want it no more.Adrian: If it’s over because you want it to be over, I’m glad.Rocky: I do.Adrian: It’s just, you’ve never quit anything since I’ve known you.Rocky: I don’t know what you want me to say. I mean, what happened? How did everything that was so good get so bad?Adrian: What’s so bad? Tell me, what?Rocky: I wrecked everything by not thinking for myself. I mean, why couldn’t Mickey tell me where I was really at right from the start? He didn’t have to carry me and lie to me and make me think I was better than I really was when I wasn’t.Adrian: He never lied.Rocky: Those fights weren’t right. They weren’t, Adrian. I never fought anybody who was in their prime. There was always some angle to hold on to the title longer than I should have had it. I mean do you understand what I’m saying here?Adrian: I understand, but you’ve got to understand that he loved you and that was his job–protecting you!Rocky: Look, but that protecting don’t help nothing. It only makes things worse. You wake up after a few years thinking you’re a winner, but you’re not. You’re really a loser. So we wouldn’t have had the title as long. So what?! At least it would’ve been real Adrian.Adrian: It was real!Rocky: Nothing is real if you don’t believe in who you are! I don’t believe in myself no more don’t you understand? When a fighter don’t believe, that’s it! He’s finished, it’s over, that’s it.Adrian: THAT’S NOT IT!!Rocky: That is it!Adrian: Why don’t you tell me the truth?!Rocky: What are you putting me through, Adrian?! You wanna know the truth? The truth is I don’t want to lose what I’ve got. In the beginning I didn’t care about what happened to me. I’d go in the ring, I’d get busted up, I didn’t care! But now there’s you, there’s the kid. I don’t want to lose what I’ve got!Adrian: What do we have that can’t be replaced? WHAT?! A house, we’ve got cars, we’ve got MONEY! We got everything but the truth. WHAT’S THE TRUTH, DAMN IT?!Rocky: I’M AFRAID! ALL RIGHT?! YOU WANT TO HEAR ME SAY IT? You want to break me down? All right, I’m afraid. For the first time in my life, I’m afraid.Adrian: I’m afraid too. There’s nothing wrong with being afraid.Rocky: There is. For me, there is.Adrian: Why? You’re human aren’t you?Rocky: Look, I don’t know what I am. All I know is I’m a liar, and because of that Mickey ain’t here no more.Adrian: You didn’t push him into anything! He was a grown man and he did what he had to do! And you have no right to feel guilty for what happened. You don’t! You were a champion, and you did what you were expected to do, and you did what I and everybody else thought you should do. And you wanna tell me that those fights weren’t real, that you were carried? Well I don’t believe it! But it doesn’t matter what I believe because you’re the one that’s got to carry that fear around inside you, afraid that everybody’s going to take things away and afraid that you’re going to be remembered as a coward, that you’re not a man anymore. Well, none of it’s true! But it doesn’t matter if I tell you. It doesn’t matter, because you’re the one that’s gotta settle it. Get rid of it! Because when all the smoke has cleared and everyone’s through chanting your name, it’s just going to be us. And you can’t live like this. We can’t live like this. Cause it’s going to bother you for the rest of your life. Look what it’s doing to you now. Apollo thinks you can do it, so do I. But you gotta want to do it for the right reasons. Not for the guilt over Mickey, not for the people, not for the title, not for money or me, but for you. Just you. Just you alone.Rocky: And if I lose?Adrian: Then you lose. But at least you lose with no excuses, no fear. And I know you can live with that.Rocky: How did you get so tough?Adrian: I live with a fighter.Rocky: I really love you. [they kiss, and Rocky holds her close] I love you.

•Title and dialogue taken from the movie “Rocky lll” (1982) -written by Sylvester Stallone. Title can also be credited to Fleetwood Mac song “I’m So Afraid” (1975) -written by Lindsay Buckingham.

To me, not drinking has been somewhat easy in comparison to “Life once we put the bottle down”. There’s an old saying in Alcoholics Anonymous “Staying sober is a lot easier than getting sober”. I guess that depends on your definition of sober. I stay sober by following the suggestions of Alcoholics Anonymous, aptly titled “The maintenance of our spiritual condition”. I look at it like this: I heard something once and it made a lot of sense to me in my own recovery. While watching one of the mixed martial arts large tournaments one year I heard a commentator make this statement: If you’re training training regime leading up to a hes been up to a tournament hes done right, it will be harder, much harder than the fight itself -as it should be! By the time you get into the ring, you will be so… (I just can’t think of that term or phrase)… old-age 🤪

That’s what we mean when we say “Not drinking is not so much a choice as a byiproduct of….”