A Variety of Thoughts About Everything

 I was in a Zoom meeting today. And the speaker was just filled, overflowing with, Gratitude. It was coming out in everything that was there. The Voice, the Words, the Body Language, everything, was just exuding Gratitude. And Joy. So much Joy. And, while the words were important, and very effective in telling a story of addiction and recovery, it was everything else that conveyed the important message. That  not only is recovery possible, that recovery can be great. And I needed to remember that today. I have a lot of internal stuff going on and I am wrapped way too tight inside my own head. I could, and do, call it, getting lost in the weeds of life. And I forget how wonderful my life is. Especially in comparison to how it was the day I walked into my first meeting. And later, when I made the choice to stop using and try doing it someone else's way instead of my own. Along the way I have had many moments. Some Great, some Good, some Meh, some Ugh, and some Terrible. For all ...

In 1992 a the young Governor  of Arkansas, William Jefferson Clinton, ran for the Democratic Nomination for President. He got it. And then he went on despite several nasty scandals, to win the Office of the President. Four years later he won re-election and thus was in office for eight years. Again, surviving some nasty scandals. During his first campaign, in 1992, he had an internal motto. He had it plastered all over his campaign headquarters. That motto was "It's the Economy stupid". It was a way to keep everyone focused on the theme of the campaign so they would not veer off of it to far. I have taken that and reworded it to keep us all focused on the main problem with our country now so we do not get lost in the weeds of the symptoms of the problem. And one of the most visible symptoms is the Orange Felon. And people feel that if we could just get rid of him then everything would go back to normal and we could undo the damage that he has done to our country. I really...

 Here is another thing that we hear around Recovery meetings a lot. Principles Before Personalities. Seems pretty straight forward on the surface. And yet, like so many other things, more will be revealed. To begin, when I showed up in Recovery I had only one principle. Get mine. I was Self Centered and could only think about "My Needs". I had no Empathy or understanding that other people existed in their own lives and did not exist to cater to me. So the first thing that had to happen was that I needed to learn some new principles to live by. And the first ones that I needed to learn were ones that are directly mentioned in our Basic Text. It is in the part in the beginning of the chapter called "How It Works". And it says  "There is one thing more than anything else that will defeat us in our recovery; this is an attitude of indifference or intolerance toward spiritual principles. Three of these that are are indispensable are Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Wil...

This is something that one hears in the 12 Step Recovery world a lot. Surrender to win. And when I was first starting my journey of Recovery I could not grasp this concept in the slightest. I could somewhat understand it intellectually. I just was baffled by it on any level deeper than that. Fortunately I had people who insisted that I use a Dictionary and look things up. And yes, I started this journey before the Internet was really a thing. I had to buy and actual Dictionary. Today we are going to use Dictionary.com to look these words up. Surrender: verb (used with object) to yield (something) to the possession or power of another; deliver up possession of on demand or under duress. to surrender the fort to the enemy; to surrender the stolen goods to the police. to give (oneself ) up, as to the police. to give (oneself ) up to some influence, course, emotion, etc.  He surrendered himself to a life of hardship to give up, abandon, or relinquish (comfort, hope, etc.). Synonyms :...

 I am a Techno Geek who spends a lot of time in what some people call the "Wu Wu" world. I am a huge believer that Science and Technology can be used as Positive tools to fix many of the problems in this world. I also am a huge believer that our current way of Spirituality, Religion, is completely broken, and we have outgrown it, and that Science can give us better ways of seeing the Spiritual in our Universe. And is doing so. And, over the years, I have heard the phrase that is the title of this piece, "There is no such thing as right or wrong" many times. I was having a discussion earlier with someone, a very enjoyable discussion over all, and this person said that. I was in listening mode for the most part and as they went on and talked about how it worked in their life I just took it all in. And I was really surprised by how this, otherwise very intelligent, person was disconnected from the reality of the world around us. As an intellectual exercise there is not...

 So. I am "celebrating" another complete journey of the Earth Around the Sun. AKA another year of life. AKA a Birthday. 62 years old. Like most people I really enjoyed birthdays a a child. They were fun with the gifts, cakes, and other foods along with we were celebrating ME. And, like most people, as I got older birthdays lost their luster. I just stopped caring about them entirely. I am not anti birthday like an older sister of mine. I just don't think that they are important. Yeah. I was born. As we all were. And yeah, I am going to die someday. As we all are. What I find important is what I do in my life between those two. The dash between the dates on the obit or the headstone. Just as I enjoyed my birthday as a child I liked all the other holidays as well. Memorial Day. I did not yet understand the significance of this holiday. Just that there was parades and cook outs. I liked all that. The 4th of July was just fun. The fire works. The parade. The small, usually ch...

 Just recently I came face to face with my own mortality. I was very sick and the Doctor who fixed me said that if I had waited much longer then they might not have been able to help me. It was that close. Kinda got me looking at things again. And remembering some things. Some years ago a cousin of mine passed away. He was young, mid fifties, and it was not expected. One of my Aunt's had been complaining about him for years. Not real bad, just things that she felt were places where he was not living up to who he could have been and was, in her opinion, falling short. Not long after myself, my Mum, and my Aunt, were traveling and hit a store for things. As we were shopping she started talking about my cousin. And her whole tone had shifted. He was now a Saint who could do no wrong. As I was listening to her I was also remembering the way she spoke about him before. And I realized that neither of these people she talked about was the real person. Both of them were colored by her perc...

  I have a sibling that is a huge Trump Supporter. And before Trump they were already really unhinged on the subject of Politics. Really good person, except when disagreed with about politics. Then would absolutely lose their ever lovin' mind. Because of the total inability to have a conversation instead of an emotionally fueled tirade a lot of family members cut them off on social media and limited contact. Was/Is very distressing. And, in order for some things to make sense later on, I normally do not make this distinction at all, this sibling and I share a Father. We have different Mother's. I know their Mother and have a good relationship with her. And, to me, Family is Family. So, to me, a sibling is a sibling and I do not do the half shit. I just needed to put this out there for clarity on a later point. A little while ago I wrote a piece about the "election" of Trump to a second term called " America's Post Mortem" which you can read as I have li...