Action
Inspired by a thought from another thread...
I'm very introspective by nature. I love to reflect and think things through. But one thing I have learnt from recovery...action is undoubtedly the path to growth.
Stopping drinking helped me in ways I couldn't understand at the time. It was certainly painful and took a leap of faith but things only really changed when I steeled myself and jumped in.
Since then I have thought about, talked about and reflected on thousands of other things from what I would have for breakfast to what I should do with my life to why I am how I am, the root cause of codependancy, how to master the art of listening, and why I could stop drinking but I can't stop smoking. Every time I have learnt more, at a gut level of true understanding, by action than I could by talking, Reading and listening.
I tried something new last weekend. I've always been on the anxious side when it comes to talking to strangers and making conversation. I went to a group that does "Street exercises"...handed me a clipboard and sent me out to ask strangers embarrassing and intimate things about themselves. The asking, I had zero problem with. The approaching...asking people to stop and talk to me...painfully, painfully hard. I learnt more about myself in those two hours than I have from years of contemplation. It's a different kind of understanding...I dunno...maybe there is a feeling that you can attach to the emotion or the knowledge.
Anyhoo...action. That's what it's all about. Feel the fear and do it anyway.
P