There's So Much Wisdom in the World, Stupid

 One of the books I'm reading right now as part of my daily meditation practice was written by a psychiatrist who specializes in the aging process and getting people to release their obsession with the past and what past events, people, places, and things have done to effect their lives, whether these events are real or imagined or some combination of the two.  There are a lot of smart people  in all kinds of disciplines who have a grasp on spiritual solutions to temporal problems, often coming at the same situation from slightly different viewpoints.  An idea might not make sense at first until I hear the solution from a different angle.

Here's a medical take on an old A.A. concept: "We are not what we think, or what we say, or how we feel.  We are what we do.  'When all is said and done, more is said than done.'  We are drowning in words, many of which turn out to be lies we tell ourselves or others."  I believe that this is one reason that we emphasize service so much in The Program.  It's a lot easier to say I care about you than to demonstrate that I care about you.  You care about me?  OK, show up an hour before a meeting to make coffee or sit down with me when I'm new and listen to me drone on and on and on about problems that are largely of my own making.

"We demonstrate courage in the numberless small ways in which we meet our obligations or reach out to try the new things that might improve our lives.  Many of us are afraid of risk and prefer the bland, the predictable, and the repetitive."  This is life.  Life is not an endless roller coaster ride.  Life can be boring.  I don't like to floss my teeth every night.  I don't like to pay taxes or listen to someone talk to me about something I'm not interested in.  Well, tough shit.  And the flip side of this coin, of course, is that our life is going to be richer if we take the plunge and try something new from time to time.  "Change is the essence of life."

"Most of the heartbreak that life contains is a result of ignoring the reality that past behavior is the most reliable predictor of future behavior."  In A.A. we say "if you keep doing what you're doing you're going to keep getting what you've got."  If you got drunk at the neighborhood bar you probably shouldn't go there to drink Cokes and watch Monday Night Football.