You Are Not Alone

 I got a Happy Father’s Day wish from one of my A.A. daughters today.  I don’t have actual children so I can’t tell you how full this filled my heart.

I talk to the brand new people all the time before and after the meeting and I try to direct the guys with mid-range sobriety to introduce themselves.  There’s a dude right now with about three weeks of sobriety and he’s so wrecked and tentative . . . well . . . it really takes me back.  There’s a woman attending with about six months now who comes across as quiet and low-key and then I swap stories with her after the meeting and she’s quite the hellraiser in her personal life. I hope she stays around. I hope I get to see her grow into her own skin.

"Fearless compassion recognizes the inevitable suffering in life and our need to face the suffering in life and our need to face the suffering in order to learn. Sometimes only the fire of suffering itself and the consequences of our actions can bring us to deeper understanding, to feel kindness for all beings, and to liberation." Jack Kornfield

I'm often reminded how easy it is for one alcoholic to talk to another because - and this I can guarantee you - whatever you've gone through, whatever pain that you've had in your life, whatever wreckage you've caused, someone else has gone through the same thing and worse, and they're probably sitting in the meeting you're attending right now.

You. Are. Not. Alone!