Illness of Perception
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 1,111
Illness of Perception
I've been reminded today of this fantastic phrase which has contributed much to my recovery from alcoholism and ongoing efforts to live a sober amd drama free life...Alcoholism...the Illness of Perception.
When in my cups...life was a mess. The problems were all outside. Booze seemed the only sensible solution...I vaguely knew the drinking itself was out of control (or even in control of me) but it was pretty easy to shuffle things around...find a justification, an excuse, some hare-brained plan (other than stopping drinking) that would turn my life around.
Little did I know my thinking..my very perception...riddled by years of drinking and self-justification...had become a central part of the problem.
I'll borrow this great quote from another blog
https://www.scottishrecovery.net/resource/the-dark-illness-of-perception/
"That is why I also call this the illness of perception. Take a calculator, move 4 to 7, 3 to 8, 2 to 6 – now try for an accurate calculation – see? In my illness, the number buttons have been jumbled just like that for some reason and ‘reason’ is the first thing to go."
Many of us face the prospect of recovery with the feeling we have a better handle on things than the folks around us. Maybe we can see things that others can't...doctors and family don't understand...perhaps we're not as bad as others. Perhaps we're worse and so beyond hope. So we rely on our own perception of the situation before us...little knowing that that in itself is the very thing that's keeping us trapped.
It helped me enormously to see and admit...grudgingly...that the drunken me, or the newly sober me, might indeed be wrong about a few things. It helped me to open up and try things that otherwise I would not have given any credence to. Things that ultimately became the cornerstone of my recovery.
Still the case today...on any given day I am willing to admit I may be wrong...or may be seeing the world in the wrong way...in a way that's *causing* my difficulties. And you know what? Being wrong ain't so bad at all...it's the only route I know to genuine growth.
Have a great and peaceful holiday season folks
P
When in my cups...life was a mess. The problems were all outside. Booze seemed the only sensible solution...I vaguely knew the drinking itself was out of control (or even in control of me) but it was pretty easy to shuffle things around...find a justification, an excuse, some hare-brained plan (other than stopping drinking) that would turn my life around.
Little did I know my thinking..my very perception...riddled by years of drinking and self-justification...had become a central part of the problem.
I'll borrow this great quote from another blog
https://www.scottishrecovery.net/resource/the-dark-illness-of-perception/
"That is why I also call this the illness of perception. Take a calculator, move 4 to 7, 3 to 8, 2 to 6 – now try for an accurate calculation – see? In my illness, the number buttons have been jumbled just like that for some reason and ‘reason’ is the first thing to go."
Many of us face the prospect of recovery with the feeling we have a better handle on things than the folks around us. Maybe we can see things that others can't...doctors and family don't understand...perhaps we're not as bad as others. Perhaps we're worse and so beyond hope. So we rely on our own perception of the situation before us...little knowing that that in itself is the very thing that's keeping us trapped.
It helped me enormously to see and admit...grudgingly...that the drunken me, or the newly sober me, might indeed be wrong about a few things. It helped me to open up and try things that otherwise I would not have given any credence to. Things that ultimately became the cornerstone of my recovery.
Still the case today...on any given day I am willing to admit I may be wrong...or may be seeing the world in the wrong way...in a way that's *causing* my difficulties. And you know what? Being wrong ain't so bad at all...it's the only route I know to genuine growth.
Have a great and peaceful holiday season folks
P
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: fort worth tx
Posts: 1,373
Alcoholism is nothing but smoke and mirrors. It deceives us to the grave. That's probably the most insidious part of the disease itself. It will stop at nothing until the host is dead.
Great post paulokes, thank you!
Great post paulokes, thank you!
No Dogma Please
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: SoCal
Posts: 2,562
Thats why cognitive therapy is so useful in recovery. It teaches you to change mental state and behaviors due to distorted thoughts and replace those thoughts with more rational helpful ones.
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: US
Posts: 5,095
So true. I think life is a lesson in perception. It has taken me a long time to truly learn how differently we all see the same thing. How differently we all perceive things. The differences can be slight really, but the reactions and feelings these differences make are pretty much the source of most peoples challenges. And that most of our/my feelings and perceptions aren't fact. I know I've said this a million times but its so true. My feelings/thoughts are real, for sure. But accurate? Probably not. Especially in the world of interpreting external data. I dunno. I see it here all the time. Reacting to shlit (often in the form of drinking) that is external to us, that we have no control over, that requires no reaction in the first place. Or that may or may not be accurate....or even matter. This probably makes no sense. But to me these realizations have been life changing. All that really matters is what is internal to me.....the rest is probably something I have zero power to impact. So observe, but don't react. Wow. Life gets so easy. Anyway, yeah. Perception:
the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. But no where does it imply that those senses perceive things accurately.
the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. But no where does it imply that those senses perceive things accurately.
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 2,775
Originally Posted by paulokes 
I've been reminded today of this fantastic phrase which has contributed much to my recovery from alcoholism and ongoing efforts to live a sober amd drama free life...Alcoholism...the Illness of Perception.
When in my cups...life was a mess. The problems were all outside. Booze seemed the only sensible solution...I vaguely knew the drinking itself was out of control (or even in control of me) but it was pretty easy to shuffle things around...find a justification, an excuse, some hare-brained plan (other than stopping drinking) that would turn my life around.
Little did I know my thinking..my very perception...riddled by years of drinking and self-justification...had become a central part of the problem.
I'll borrow this great quote from another blog
https://www.scottishrecovery.net/res...of-perception/
"That is why I also call this the illness of perception. Take a calculator, move 4 to 7, 3 to 8, 2 to 6 – now try for an accurate calculation – see? In my illness, the number buttons have been jumbled just like that for some reason and ‘reason’ is the first thing to go."
Many of us face the prospect of recovery with the feeling we have a better handle on things than the folks around us. Maybe we can see things that others can't...doctors and family don't understand...perhaps we're not as bad as others. Perhaps we're worse and so beyond hope. So we rely on our own perception of the situation before us...little knowing that that in itself is the very thing that's keeping us trapped.
It helped me enormously to see and admit...grudgingly...that the drunken me, or the newly sober me, might indeed be wrong about a few things. It helped me to open up and try things that otherwise I would not have given any credence to. Things that ultimately became the cornerstone of my recovery.
Still the case today...on any given day I am willing to admit I may be wrong...or may be seeing the world in the wrong way...in a way that's *causing* my difficulties. And you know what? Being wrong ain't so bad at all...it's the only route I know to genuine growth.
Have a great and peaceful holiday season folks
P
When in my cups...life was a mess. The problems were all outside. Booze seemed the only sensible solution...I vaguely knew the drinking itself was out of control (or even in control of me) but it was pretty easy to shuffle things around...find a justification, an excuse, some hare-brained plan (other than stopping drinking) that would turn my life around.
Little did I know my thinking..my very perception...riddled by years of drinking and self-justification...had become a central part of the problem.
I'll borrow this great quote from another blog
https://www.scottishrecovery.net/res...of-perception/
"That is why I also call this the illness of perception. Take a calculator, move 4 to 7, 3 to 8, 2 to 6 – now try for an accurate calculation – see? In my illness, the number buttons have been jumbled just like that for some reason and ‘reason’ is the first thing to go."
Many of us face the prospect of recovery with the feeling we have a better handle on things than the folks around us. Maybe we can see things that others can't...doctors and family don't understand...perhaps we're not as bad as others. Perhaps we're worse and so beyond hope. So we rely on our own perception of the situation before us...little knowing that that in itself is the very thing that's keeping us trapped.
It helped me enormously to see and admit...grudgingly...that the drunken me, or the newly sober me, might indeed be wrong about a few things. It helped me to open up and try things that otherwise I would not have given any credence to. Things that ultimately became the cornerstone of my recovery.
Still the case today...on any given day I am willing to admit I may be wrong...or may be seeing the world in the wrong way...in a way that's *causing* my difficulties. And you know what? Being wrong ain't so bad at all...it's the only route I know to genuine growth.
Have a great and peaceful holiday season folks
P
Was it better for me to go left or right? I simply didn't know.
I had to learn. This is why restraint of pen and tongue is important.
Today I tend to trust my instincts. I'm old enough and have had enough life experience to be a pretty good judge of character or situation.
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