My sponsor sends me daily reflections and this one is quite good in terms of monitoring our progress too much and making value judgements on the quality of our sobriety based on how we are feeling at any given time. I like the "Right View" concept.
“Not Unhappy” Oddly enough, how we define happiness actually affects how happy we are. If happiness means a constant state of joy or euphoria, we are going to be disappointed a lot of the time. And this wish to always feel great is one of the driving forces behind addiction. Conversely, learning to live with the challenges of life allows us to maintain more balance and find serenity. One of the ways we do this is by learning to accept that difficult or painful emotions are a natural part of life, not a mistake. Mindfulness and Right View support this. Mindfulness helps us to be present with our feelings in a non-reactive way. Right View reminds us not to take feelings personally, not to build a story around them. And Right View helps us remember that feelings are always changing, so we don’t have to fear some permanent state of despair or anxiety. These two elements are what help us to hold difficult feelings in the moment. When we realize that happiness isn’t about always being in a good mood, we can start to see that true happiness is about how we live our lives. How do we engage with others? With work? With our own inner lives? What is the direction of our lives? Are we focusing on the things that really matter to us, or are we trying to succeed on society’s or our family’s terms? These are the questions that guide us to finding true happiness,. Today, ask yourself if you are fundamentally happy. Are you living the life you want to be living or the one that somebody else laid out for you? How can you find authentic happiness?