Growing up in AA is sometimes a slow process for me and usually because sometimes I have a closed mind .
Even though we all suffer from the same illness, we do often have many differing opinions and values coming in .
When someone at an AA meeting expresses their own opinion, I may sometimes find myself becoming a little frustrated inside, especially when their opinion does not match my own opinion .
But I am realizing this is because I am not willing to let go of old ideas that I have held onto for a long time .
I am not able to appreciate different points of view .
My mind is closed .
It is easy to be happy when everyone is in agreement with me .
It is also very easy to get upset when everything goes against me .
But I have found it is not so easy to admit my own wrongs - But I can't be right all the time .
So, the sooner I learn that everyone has the right to their own opinion, the more peace I will have .
In the past I often corrected other people, but God forbid anyone correct me lol .
I can still also become very impatient with other people’s weaknesses .
I can often blame events and situations for my unhappiness .
But what it is really is my unwillingness to accept the people, places and things in my life exactly as they are at this moment .
I am realizing that events and certain situations do not make a person weak but actually show the kind of stuff they are really made of .
If I pay attention there are heroes all around me and if I keep an open mind I can really learn a lot .
Also the most beautiful people I have known are the ones who have known defeat, have struggled, have lost yet have found their way out of the deepest despair . They have grown up .
These people are special because they appreciate their lives, they have an understanding of life like no one else I have met .
That understandiug fills them with compassion, a gentleness and a loving concern .
I realize that beautiful people don't just happen, they have been somewhere, a place that was once dark and they now can see the light .
