Redmayne

Every morning when I wake, I remind myself of the practices and principles referred to in 'The Serenity Prayer' i.e. that I am powerless over family, friends, the weather, the economy , the past, the future etc., in general terms, external events. The only thing I really have, which I can change is my opinions, which, like recovery itself, centers in the mind....

Together with this, from Marcus Aurelius, one of the three great Stoic philosophers....' When you wake up in the morning tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they do not know good from evil'

'Good from evil' I interpret as being able to think and act cognitively (truth and reason), a sure sign in my view of anyone in recovery, as their clarity of mind returns, through abstinence from alcohol.

The regrettable thing for some, drunk or sober, they will always be like this, often through their false thinking...

Both these things not only enhance but strengthen my recovery, this said on the basis that I'm of the firm belief that sobriety is an individual responsibility. No one can do it for you, though they may share their experience strength and hope to help your recovery. Just as no one poured alcohol down mine or anyone else's throat....

Of course the most amazing things is, after a thirty year drinking history band now enjoying both my recovery and a prolonged and hopefully, lasting period of sobriety. Is that I'm able to wake up at all!

Bearing in mind my other thought on waking, that alcoholism is the only disease/illness that'll kill you, whilst at the same time telling you, you haven't got it ... sadly, you don't have to go to far to find evidence of the truth of that statement.

Fly N Buy

Your post reminded me of the Daily Reflections meditation for January, 15th. There seems to be a lot here that I have considered over the last few days.


With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves.

"From my first days in A.A., as I struggled for sobriety, I found hope in these words from our founders. I often pondered the phrase: "they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource." How, I asked myself, can I find the Power within myself, since I am so powerless? In time, as the founders promised, it came to me: I have always had the choice between goodness and evil, between unselfishness and selfishness, between serenity and fear. That Power greater than myself is an original gift that I did not recognize until I achieved daily sobriety through living A.A.'s Twelve Steps."

This leads me to thoughts of the "Great Reality deep down within us."