Contented Seaweed

Here's some wisdom from the Twelve and Twelve:

"How persistently we claim the right to decide all by ourselves just what we shall think and just how we shall act.  We are certain that our intelligence, backed by willpower, can rightly control our inner lives and guarantee us success in the world we live in.  This, or course, is the process by which instinct and logic always seek to bolster egotism, and so frustrate spiritual development."

I mean, c'mon, who's smarter than me?  Who's tougher than me? 

And the Cherokees, once again proving that spirituality crosses all barriers of organized religion and mystic philosophy, comment that "Confession may be good for the soul, but it seldom makes the one that heard it feel good.  If we feel the need to confess something, we should do it where the listener knows how to handle what we say.  It is an unthinking person that needs to be relieved of a burden to the point of putting it on someone who may find it hard to bear."

There's a line in our literature warning that unloading a detailed report of some extramarital adventuring onto an unsuspecting spouse is not a great idea.  It doesn't help to make ourselves feel better at the expense of someone else.  Our Steps remind us that we make direct amends, except where it may injure someone else.

The Twelve and Twelve again: "By now, the alcoholic has become convinced that he has more problems than alcohol, and that some of these refuse to be solved by all the sheer personal determination and courage he can muster.  The alcoholic has been persuaded, and rightly so, that many problems besides alcohol will not yield to a headlong assault powered by the individual alone."  This is in Step Three.  I'm always impressed at how frequently we're reminded that because alcohol is not the problem, but in reality only a symptom, then we need to be vigilant that we continue to attack the root of our drinking and not just the drinking itself, and that this takes a sustained and vigorous effort.

In case we weren't paying attention in Step Three the reminder comes up almost immediately in Step Four: "Without a willing and persistent effort to do this ('this' being working our asses off on maintaining our sobriety and our spiritual condition), there can be little sobriety or contentment or us."

Content: In a state of peaceful happiness; pleased with your situation and not hoping for change or improvement; a state of satisfaction.

Isn't this the goal, after all, to be at peace with your place in the world?  Not ecstatic or euphoric, just . . . content . . . accepting of the obstacles that will inevitably pop up and full of gratitude for all  the blessing that we enjoy?