Personal and Universal

I try to emphasize my own personal journey because the greatest lesson I've learned is that the universal must be wedded to the personal for me to be fulfilled in my spiritual life.  In this way, any awakening is a very personal matter that also affects all other creatures on earth.  Since I've been sober for so long I have a tendency to slip into Teacher mode or - better yet - Pedantic mode where I speak more from my head and less from my heart.  I think some of this makes sense because I don't have the relatable chaos going on in my life on a regular basis,  but when I can relate a personal experience where I show how the spiritual principles correctly applied have saved me much grief and or how a burst of self-will run riot runs riot can cause me much grief, then it's a story that is more likely to resonate.

No one is so destined to lose that he cannot turn the tide . . . if he wants to change.  Overcoming requires us to put our shoulder to the wheel in ways we could not have considered in our earlier times.  We're greatly influenced by our beliefs about ourselves and whether we are supposed to win or lose.  It's our indecisiveness that keeps wavering.  I've always liked to concept of "wanting to want to get sober."  Many are there who like the benefits of a sober life but don't want to do the work to accumulate those benefits.

"There is a certain amount of sameness in all our lives - a sameness that says no matter how different we are we can still identify with each other's daily problems and hopes and aspirations."  The Cherokees