Seaweed Steve: Sage and Seer and Soothsayer.

Advice:  An opinion recommended or offered, as worthy to be followed; counsel.

And after the meeting I met with a guy that I sponsor to talk about the 10th Step.  I really like this Step - not doing it, of course, but telling someone else how to do it.  I'm good at that - telling you what to do, but don't you dare tell me what to do.  That is a firing-squad offense.  The 10th Step lays out the famous "restraint of tongue and pen" concept, and it suggests that anger isn't our best friend and that maybe we can look at all of the millions and billions of people who are irritating us as people who are struggling along sometimes just like we are.  I know I want some understanding when I mess up - why is it that I'm so averse to giving any to you?

This good man is sober about a year and a half; he has come a long way in his program.  In my opinion, however, he is kind of foundering in his outside-the-rooms life - he needs to shake things up or he's going to keep getting what he's gotten, which is boring and frustrating him.  Sometimes we need to sit quietly and enjoy what we have and sometimes we need to burst through the bubble and try something new.  Take a chance.  Not a rash, idiotic one but maybe something that frightens us or makes us uncomfortable.  

I had my speech all ready to go, only to hear him declare that he had decided to make a commitment to the area and to his work.  I stifled a chuckle.  Once again, I'm booted out of the advice business.  I try to dole out honest-to-god, this-is-what-you-should-do advice sparingly - I'm baffled as to what I should be doing most of the time which disqualifies me from telling anyone else what to do.  I always encourage people to ask some other people what they should do and not just rely on my expert advice