If You Would Be
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: The Big Woods
Posts: 521
If You Would Be
Just reading and came across this. It's SO appropriate!
From a speech delivered by Paramhansa Yogananda in 1939:
Company has the greatest influence on will. If instead of coming here, you went to a drinking party every Thursday, you could not help but pick up something. Your will is definitely inspired or weakened by your company. To develop will by yourself is extremely difficult. You require an example before you. If you would be an artist, surround yourself with good paintings and artists. If you would be a divine man, surround yourself with spiritual company.
I hope I can take such liberty to add to that. If you would be a recovering addict, surround yourself with other recovering addicts.
So grateful for this place and the people here-in, yes I am.
From a speech delivered by Paramhansa Yogananda in 1939:
Company has the greatest influence on will. If instead of coming here, you went to a drinking party every Thursday, you could not help but pick up something. Your will is definitely inspired or weakened by your company. To develop will by yourself is extremely difficult. You require an example before you. If you would be an artist, surround yourself with good paintings and artists. If you would be a divine man, surround yourself with spiritual company.
I hope I can take such liberty to add to that. If you would be a recovering addict, surround yourself with other recovering addicts.
So grateful for this place and the people here-in, yes I am.
Addict
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 131
The concept of this is great! And especially for us, since we are trying to move on from a whole lifestyle, and that usually involves more than just you and your actions. For me, pot was my best friend... and I am obviously staying away from the substance. The only unfortunate thing about saying good-bye to pot was that it was a large part of most of my friends' lives who were still using it, frequently. I have had to stay away from them, too. But being free from pot is allowing me to truly find who I am inside. I don't want to be that numb person any longer — I want to become who I am supposed to be, the best person I can be. That's what I truly want, and I have to go after it.
The other drugs aren't too bad to keep away either, as I have recently moved and don't really know if anyone uses and/or sells. I've actually never even tried to get those "other drugs." I bought pot only once here, a beautiful large quarter bag for 100 bucks. I ended up throwing about 8/10 of it into my toilet the night I decided to quit. For the first few months, I was so upset wih myself for doing that when I felt weak and was craving pot... but now, over one year later, that feeling may still exist somewhere, but it is so much farther away from my mind today than it was back then.
... If you would be a drug deserter, then surround yourself with NO drugs.
The only drugs I still have some problems giving up are prescription drugs. They are always in my house, perfectly out in the open and begging to be used. I am still working on getting them out of my life (at least all the dangerous/addictive ones and those not prescribed to me).
Thanks for the thoughts shared here and the wonderful speech excerpt. Great reminders for us all. It seems like a simple concept, but it isn't... I was confused about this at first. I thought by avoiding drugs I was running away from my weaknesses and that I should confront them. But when I think about it now, if I'd have gone into any of those friends' homes with an offer from them to get high, I may not have been strong enough to say no. In fact, I probably wouldn't have hesitated to say yes. I hope over time we will all learn this. And I think if we become strong and confident with ourselves being clean for an extended period of time, it wouldn't matter what we saw or heard... Although I don't think we should ever stop purposely avoiding those situations. It's only a potential danger to our sobriety, what we've been working hard toward and striving for.
Thanks for the thoughts. I am glad to remember this concept. I forget, even though right now it seems like common sense.
Take care everyone!
Jennifer
The other drugs aren't too bad to keep away either, as I have recently moved and don't really know if anyone uses and/or sells. I've actually never even tried to get those "other drugs." I bought pot only once here, a beautiful large quarter bag for 100 bucks. I ended up throwing about 8/10 of it into my toilet the night I decided to quit. For the first few months, I was so upset wih myself for doing that when I felt weak and was craving pot... but now, over one year later, that feeling may still exist somewhere, but it is so much farther away from my mind today than it was back then.
... If you would be a drug deserter, then surround yourself with NO drugs.
The only drugs I still have some problems giving up are prescription drugs. They are always in my house, perfectly out in the open and begging to be used. I am still working on getting them out of my life (at least all the dangerous/addictive ones and those not prescribed to me).
Thanks for the thoughts shared here and the wonderful speech excerpt. Great reminders for us all. It seems like a simple concept, but it isn't... I was confused about this at first. I thought by avoiding drugs I was running away from my weaknesses and that I should confront them. But when I think about it now, if I'd have gone into any of those friends' homes with an offer from them to get high, I may not have been strong enough to say no. In fact, I probably wouldn't have hesitated to say yes. I hope over time we will all learn this. And I think if we become strong and confident with ourselves being clean for an extended period of time, it wouldn't matter what we saw or heard... Although I don't think we should ever stop purposely avoiding those situations. It's only a potential danger to our sobriety, what we've been working hard toward and striving for.
Thanks for the thoughts. I am glad to remember this concept. I forget, even though right now it seems like common sense.
Take care everyone!
Jennifer
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: The Big Woods
Posts: 521
And more in the theme, this from (my favorite) movie Harold and Maude.
Maude asks Harold what kind of flower he'd want to be and pointing to a field of daisies he says "I dunno. One of these, I guess, because they're all the same." "Oh, but they're not," she replies, goes on to describe their differences, then continues, "Most of the world's problems come from people who are this, and yet allow themselves to be treated like that," and then the shot pans back to show them in a National Cemetery, among hundreds of neat rows of white slabs.
There's also that quote from Quiz Show, where the elder Van Doren is discussing Don Quixote to his literature class, and they aren't really getting the point. "But what did Cervantes mean?" they kept pressing him. Finally, he says "He meant, you want to be a knight? Act like a knight."
I think the point of the company we keep remains true even in solitude: where your thoughts go, so you follow. Addiction works that way: there's a voice in your head that says nothing is worth doing and it's all hopeless, and so it becomes more difficult to see around that. Once again, it's so valuable to get input from outside, especially when you know you're seeing things in a distorted way, because inside it doesn't seem distorted at all. The company you keep includes that which you keep in your head, and I think that is influenced by what you expose yourself to, what you submit to.
Maude asks Harold what kind of flower he'd want to be and pointing to a field of daisies he says "I dunno. One of these, I guess, because they're all the same." "Oh, but they're not," she replies, goes on to describe their differences, then continues, "Most of the world's problems come from people who are this, and yet allow themselves to be treated like that," and then the shot pans back to show them in a National Cemetery, among hundreds of neat rows of white slabs.
There's also that quote from Quiz Show, where the elder Van Doren is discussing Don Quixote to his literature class, and they aren't really getting the point. "But what did Cervantes mean?" they kept pressing him. Finally, he says "He meant, you want to be a knight? Act like a knight."
I think the point of the company we keep remains true even in solitude: where your thoughts go, so you follow. Addiction works that way: there's a voice in your head that says nothing is worth doing and it's all hopeless, and so it becomes more difficult to see around that. Once again, it's so valuable to get input from outside, especially when you know you're seeing things in a distorted way, because inside it doesn't seem distorted at all. The company you keep includes that which you keep in your head, and I think that is influenced by what you expose yourself to, what you submit to.
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