True that doing nothing is a choice. Forgot about that. Would like to encourage anyone who is seeking a coping tool to look into zazen which is sitting meditation. It calms the mind wonderfully and gives valuable practice in stilling the endless chatter we have rattling around in our heads. Anyone can do it anywhere. No special skills required. Zen buddhism teaches that the cause of suffering is that we form, or attempt to form, permanent attachments to things which are by their nature transitory. i.e wealth, health, friendship, security, the love of another, someone elses sobriety, our image of ourself. When we can experience these things in the present without attachment we can lay down our suffering. Everything is transitory. You cannot name one thing which can be relied upon to always be there or give us comfort. A starting point is to recognize this as the basis of experience. A Japanese metaphor for life is "Playing Ball on Running Water". Doesn't this feel like what many of us have been doing for years!!! I don't want to clutter up the forum with info which may or may not be of interest but if anyone would like to learn more about Zazen I would be happy to share my limited experience and suggest some books etc. My email is
[email protected]. Love, Chi.