Problems Solve Themselves

"Intelligent faith in that Power greater than ourselves . . . has an incomparable capacity to help us look at life in balanced perspective.  We look up, around, and away from ourselves, and we see that nine out of ten things which at the moment upset us will shortly disappear.  Problems solve themselves, criticism, and unkindness vanish as though they had never been."

I've enjoyed this mental trick over the years - imagining myself drifting up and over my body and looking down at myself as sort of a disembodied spirit, watching what I'm doing and trying to imagine me in relation to the whole, wide world.  I often feel like my head is trapped in this tightly fitting box that has no openings to the outside and is covered with mirrors on the inside.  I can't hear or see anyone else and everywhere I look there I am.  I look up and there I am and I look to the side and there I am and I look down and there I am.  Me, me, me.

Fear:  A strong, uncontrollable, unpleasant emotion that caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.  (Ed. Note: I like the inclusion of perceived in the definition - it reminds me that sometimes I'm afraid because I'm telling myself scary stories.)

Faith: The process of forming or understanding abstractions, ideas, or beliefs, without empirical evidence, experience, or observation.

Some topics that came up in the meeting today: Fear versus Faith.  It's reassuring to have other alcoholics remind me that faith often defeats fear but it's never going to banish it.  I dislike it when someone opines that any fear is a sign of a weak faith.  That's bullshit.  Life is tough and scary and we're all going to be afraid.

CoVid changing the world.