Iconoclastic

That definition doesn’t apply to my alcoholism, which was a symptom.

At the point that alcohol stopped working for me due to tolerance, I continued drinking self-destructively attempting to recapture the original SAME euphoric experience(s) from when I first drank. My self-destructiveness was looking for the SAME results not different results. This isn’t insanity, its addiction (alcoholism). When this was pointed out to me by a bright person, it very much contributed to my recovery, because I was able to focus on the probelm ME and not the symtom alcoholism.

I’m a fly fisherman. When I was learning to cast the fly line, I used the proper technique over and over again expecting different results from my first introduction to fly casting. I finally perfected fly casting and I teach it. "Whatever I teach is what I need to learn, it’s called practice."

lillyknitting

Sick & tired of feeling sick & tired. When the bad outweighs the good.

Iconoclastic

This thing in me that still wanted to drink was my unresolved childhood issues, which when I addressed through self-examination, e.g., the 12 steps and psychotherapy, eventually I recovered.

Carpathia

The magic lies in realizing you'll never beat alcoholism. Call it acceptance, call it surrendering, once you gain a foothold on that realization and adopt a willingness to rely on a higher power, magic happens.

Redmayne

I agree, alcoholism is a two-fold disease/illness consisting of a physical allergy and an obsession of the mind. It is an illness, not a vice! Therefore recognition and acceptance, see p.471 of the book,'Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Ed. play not only an important but vital part in anyone's recovery, wherein lies the true magic...for without these components no progress towards and in recovery can begin. Once these things have taken place, great progress, provided they form a sound basis, for recovery in anyone, can be made...for without these recovery is at least tenuous and open to the fact that alcohol, as referred to in the BB, is 'cunning, baffling and powerful'...

Evidenced in the fact that alcoholism, with the addition of alcohol, is the only disease/illness that will tell you, you haven't got it, whilst killing you...

Boleo

I think that a belief in self is an asset in conquering MOST challenges, and conquering an addiction is a good example of how there is at a least one exception to that rule.

Having had a Spiritual Awakening as a result of counter-intuitive action and uncanny ability, I can now see that self-assertiveness is a completely different ballgame than recovery.

Redmayne

Oh well, all good things come to an end, adding truth to the last words ascribed to the Buddha,'All life is impermanence'...

ardy

I think Another... has hit it the best Magic Varies on the person and their own personal experience.... I get up in the Morning and its a great day. no matter what ... coffee set up for the new day and off to work.. out of the car Hello World Trees Birds and sky.. but then I work on a new campus in what had been an old farm area.. turkeys deer fish and lots of birds of all size's .... so I try to hold that karma of Nature for the day.. love my Hubby to bits wish I could get him to just stop and look at my garden and say golly it is really growing .. and just let it be there.. but he is the i have to find something negitive all the time.. or really not happy. and know what he was not like that until he had to have the morphine very day... for the last 5 years... so I just keep trying .. Look at that tree what a great tree with new leaves.. yep.. prayers kids and beans on your own Magic.. or as the Lakota would say " What Wolf are you really feeding.." ardy..

fini

there is no magic.
for me, there was a sudden clarity, a new understanding. a knowing and accepting that i'm a drunk. that i couldn't beat anything. that there's nothing to beat. just to accept.
haven't had a drink since.
but please don't misunderstand: that moment didn't mean i haven't had to make changes in the rest of my life or that i didn't "do" anything afterwards.

Boleo

So it was not what you would call "magic".

However, would it qualify as any of the following;

Spiritual Awakening
Enlightenment
Epiphany
Satori
or Aha moment

fini

i don't know, Boleo.
certainly an AHA! moment - uh...that goes by definition pretty much for "moment of clarity", yes? the click.

i'd rather not use your words or others on my "experience"

and whenever i make a post speaking of how it went for me, i'm aware it's not probably really helpful to the OP or others asking, because it's not something that i believe can be "made" to happen. in a very real way, it is something that just happened to me, that sudden "OH, so THIS is how it is!" moment.

as far as "magic", there isn't any. period.
mystery, however, is something else entirely

Carpathia

I think grace is a sort of magic, a divine gift unsought.

It's like pulling a rabbit from a hat (now you don't see it/now you do). Okay, a moment of clarity, sure, but something beyond clarity too.

And maybe I like enlarging the concept because it means so much to me. A simple "I got clarity" doesn't fit the emotional depth of my experience.

Anyway, whether it's called magic or grace or a mystery, the effect of acceptance is miraculous in the life of this alcoholic, almost magical.

Kris47

I had to face myself alone.

.........................................and then with God.

Nothing else worked for me.

Whatever works, works.

May you find just what it takes, magic or not, Zoomi.

Your life may depend on it.

NotYouAgain

Fearless self honesty from moment to moment.

Unresolved fears (resentments of self or other) will eventually drive an alcoholic to seek refuge in a bottle.

To overcome our fears requires us to face them, not by denial.
Self-honesty exposes our fears, and is a start to facing our fears.

However, since we are not used to doing this, fear of fear can paralyze us from doing anything about it. That is why we need help.