The longer I am sober the more I appreciate the darkness. It forces me to engage. It forces me to see things anew. The very notion of darkness implies that I will need to interact in an unfamiliar manner. The goal has always been to get out of …
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discipline
11 articles tagged as discipline
Pain—an ache from which I seek relief. Pain—a feeling to be avoided. Pain—a thing I had hoped could be eliminated. There is this illusion that a sober life will be a pain free life; I will eventually arrive at this sunny place of completeness accompanied by a pain-free …
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Tomorrow marks my son’s 14th birthday. He has been my greatest teacher. I wonder all these moments who was teaching whom. He brought me curiosity, creativity, wonder, discipline, courage, and the longing for more of life. Both my kids were paramount reasons for ending the ‘chaos of drinking’. …
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… Don’t say it. The Wednesday night mantra. And like any good irritant the issue and the mantra rolled right into Thursday morning. God must have been on hiatus when the vote came in to let me parent. I am confident, at these overly charged moments, that …
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I vividly remember looking at my parents and thinking how screwed up adults were. At a young age I had some, not so pleasant, words to share with God. It was a soliloquy of sorts—God being the audience. I didn’t yet know how to hear Him. Nonetheless, I …
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I have succeeded simply because I refused to give in to my immediate want. I choose the word want because it masquerades as a need, but it’s really just a want. At this juncture in my life I see, clearly … I have what I need. If I …
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When does one push? When does one coast? … A long time dilemma for me as a person; I was never clear on “the rules” for succeeding at life. I would bolt or cower when it was time to step up. I would detonate when silence could have …
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Being a SpongeBob fan of sorts I am humorously reminded that technique can make or break my success. In the Bubble Stand episode, SpongeBob is blowing intricately shaped bubbles but only after a long and seemingly unnecessary set of motions (aka technique dance). Squidward, irritated with SpongeBob’s shenanigans, …
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No thought leaves me unaffected. If I am struggling to maintain my sobriety it is because I have willingly allowed myself to have the thought that I will not be able to continue living a sober life. Once I have welcomed this thought, it begins its sweet attack …
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A common denominator for recovered addicts is that we have learned the art (aka discipline) of keeping our eye on the prize. Newcomers to sobriety are challenged here; they want to make the old prize work—just one more time. We don’t want to let it go. We love …
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