Restored Sanity?

[Dean62]

The big book talks about insanity and in step 2 we come to believe our sanity can be restored. I'm looking for some clarity on this. What does this mean to you?

What is the sanity we are being restored to?

What is the insanity we are being restored from?

Thank you for any input.

[AW2486]

Nice topic Dean

The insanity of my drinking .. I knew what would happen every time I put alcohol in my body.. I couldn't stop.. blackouts .. and lots of trouble. But my mind would still want to drink. As the big book says. I did not have the power to see the truth from the false. Insanity. AA says a finding a power greater than myself will take the insanity of the drink obsession away.

Step 2 for me .. is coming to believe that a higher power could remove the drink obsession, doesn't say would .. could.. that means it's still up to me.

[Sugah]

Dean, I'm sure you've heard the definition of insanity (attributed to Albert Einstein, btw) which says, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result."

I was suffering from an insanity that led me to repeatedly pick up a drink knowing that I could not predict the result. I drank long after I knew that I couldn't drink like a normal person and long after my life was completely and utterly unmanageable. I couldn't not pick up a drink without the help of something a lot bigger than me. Hence, my HP restored me to sanity. I no longer pick up the drink.

Of course, in order to accept the gift of having my sanity restored, I needed to keep trudging.

Peace & Love,
Sugah

[nandm]

Originally Posted by Sugah

Dean, I'm sure you've heard the definition of insanity (attributed to Albert Einstein, btw) which says, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result."

This is my definition of insanity as well. Being restored to sanity means that today I have the ability, tools, and knowledge to recognize when I am falling into the insanity and stop myself from going there. I no longer am stuck in that vicious cycle.

[lizw]

For me it is I no longer beleive the lie that I can just have 1 drink/drug. And as long as I stay in fit spiritual condition, I won't want to drink/get wasted.

[sugErspun]

If the book describes insanity as "lack of proportion, of the ability to think straight", i.e. - no mental capacity to stop from taking the first drink, which sets off the cycle of craving. Then by saying "My thinking is straight and I seem to have proportion regarding this problem I have (alcoholism)." is accurate.

At step two - I am looking at a couple things: alcoholism (as the BB describes it) and unmanageability in my life being CHANGED by something that I might not fully understand (higher power). Have I witnessed something in others that might work for me?

Today - I know exactly what will happen if I take a drink, I will have another. I know that I was unable to avoid taking the first drink, no matter how hard I tried - until I made a decision at the third step based on a little willingness from the second step ~ that there is something out there, or in me (afterall - the book does say that we find god deep down inside) as I had witnessed it in others (those with whom the problem had been removed).

I don't tend to equate a return to sanity with the other promises of the book - but simply the fact that no longer will I take that first drink as long as my reliance is where it has to be.

[Boleo]

Originally Posted by Dean62

What is the sanity we are being restored to?

What is the insanity we are being restored from?

My sponsors sponsor is a medical doctor who works in the addiction wing of hospital with dozens of addicts. He says that 100% of his patients have a blown insight circuit in their brains.

He also says addiction is MORE about blind-spots than it is about
drugs & alcohol.

Lack of insight is the insanity we are being restored from:

Page 24 Paragraph 2: "The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink."

New insight is the sanity we are being restored to:

"If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves"

[navysteve]

Last paragraph on page 84 to the top of 85 talks about sanity being restored for the alcoholic.

We cease fighting anything or anyone...

[Dean62]

Thank you for the great answers. I love the insight found in this forum.

When I posted this I was thinking about how being restored to sanity was connected to being powerless and unmanageability. For several months now I have felt the desire to drink had been removed. Now for the first time I see I have been restored to sanity.

Me being restored to sanity is not what I was thinking when I started this thread. It's going to take a little time to for that one to sink in. It seems to me that some responsibility comes along with sanity.

A new way of life indeed.

[Tazman53]

Dean (All of this is my opinion based upon my ES&H) our thoughts and our actual actions are 2 different things I feel.

Part of insanity is taking action immediately upon a thought with out any further thought no matter what. An example would be having the thought "Well I have not had a drink in a week, I can not be an alcoholic." and immediately having a drink.

In step one I admitted I have no power over alcohol once it is in my body. Sanity is the ability to continue to think and not take action if any thought of having a drink pops into my head, instead I make the decision to simply turn that thought of having a drink over to a power greater then myself.

For me there is far more to being restored to sanity then just simply not drinking, much of my thought process was quite insane a couple of years ago, I still have a few insane thoughts pop in my head today, the primary difference between a couple of years ago and now is, I rarely follow insane thoughts with insane actions today...... this is the sanity I have been restored to by my HP.

As thoughts go through my head habitually I run them through the sane/insane guidance system before any action is taken. Turning my thoughts over to my HP's care, he guides the insane thoughts into the bit bucket of "No action should be taken" and the sane thoughts he puts into the "Action to take" queue.

I beleived a Power greater then myself could restore me to sanity, I took the actions I needed to take to allow him to restore my sanity.... and my sanity as promised has been restored.

[RufusACanal]

Dean,

I believe you understand insanity, but it helps me from time to time to reread the Jaywalker.

Best to you my friend!

[miss communicat]

Originally Posted by Dean62

The big book talks about insanity and in step 2 we come to believe our sanity can be restored. I'm looking for some clarity on this. .

I've often summed "sanity" up as "clarity". To me, your seeking clarity is the same as seeking sanity, and is the best start.

[gravity]

Insanity of the first drink:

Whatever the precise definition of the word may be, we call this plain insanity. How can such a lack of proportion, of the ability to think straight, be called anything else?

But there was always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink. Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out.

Delusion:

Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate.

Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only manages well?

The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.

Sanity (definition):

1. The quality or condition of being sane; soundness of mind.
2. Soundness of judgment or reason.

I consider a return to sanity to be broader than just the removal of the insanity leading up to the first drink. I believe that a power greater than me has given me the soundness of mind to smash the delusion as well.

It really is quite amazing. Last December, I was a self-centered, bitter, delusional man who believed that I was this great guy that was being treated so unfairly. Full of guilt about the past and fear of the future. Swearing over and over to either quit or moderate my drinking.

Today, no obsession, a much better perspective, and at peace (most of the time) - so much of that "noise" that was in my head is gone! It is also very clear in my mind that to maintain my sobriety, I have to keep working the steps, help others, and keep learning.

12 steps and the help of other alcoholics. It really works!



BB quotes from the 1st edition of the BB.