Environment & Potential - Spiritual Conditioning

April 12. Hey friends, its Monday night & all in all it was a good start to the week. I had truly hoped for things to take a turn up & with some positive thinking I have seen results. I took it easy today, not wanting to bite off more than I could chew or to stir up anything out of my elements. A good dinner early & getting cleaned up, I was ready to head out the door. I made it as MARS Group was starting & to my suprise no Kathy (the person who usually runs the group). As any good group does when key players aren't there, the rest of us stepped up & made it productive beyond our expectations. There was alot of good talk & advice given as our topic was the Fourth Step & things we can talk about that relate to each of our own.

The fourth step says, "We took a fearless & moral inventory of ourselves". In addition we put pen to paper during this step, writing these things down. So needless to say there was alot of good talk during the meeting, along with alot of solution based commentary. A good meeting is always uplifting, we adjourned a little early & a group of us took advantage by hitting up Dunkin Doughnuts. A girl was having some issues & we focused alot of time on her specific problem there. I hope she got some good suggestions that will help her in her journey ahead, which was alot like some of the legal battles I faced in the past. I headed out early & joined my sponsor in helping close up & clean the Moscow meeting. We had a good couple minutes of talk & a few chuckles about guy stuff, then off to home to reflect.

So here I am reflecting, it was a good day. Better than any in the past week & for that I am grateful to my higher power. So as a topic I thought I would talk about something that has appeared to me as a huge resource in my recovery. Sometimes we limit ourselves, our recovery, or our ability to do our best by the environment we are in. Sometimes we have little choice over our environment, but more often than not when we dig deep there is some way we can change it if we really have to. Even if that means flying solo or taking a leap of faith, sometimes whatever it takes is whatever it takes. I bring of the topic of "Environment & Potential" because it has been a real & measurable factor in my Sobriety, Recovery, & Spirituality.

In my decade plus of self-centered destruction they call addiction/alcoholism, my environment often contributed to my misery. The amplification often made the cycle worse at times, and when in better environments sometimes it lifted the burden of self I carried through the years. Looking back, I am sure of the role that environment played on my potential. It even had a hand in me wanting to survive my active addiction towards the end, if I had been in some of the awful places I was in the past or around some of the awful people there as well, I may not have wanted to endure the trials of Sobriety.. in fact there were times when I wished "I hope this dose is the one that ends it all". Much of that had to do with what I had seen & had to live with around me, at times when the environment provided no glimmer of hope. Today that is much different.

Today I surround myself with positive people, those also who have had success at the things I am trying to do with my life. I live in a place where I can be myself and do the things that make me happy & who I am without ridicule or question. I have chosen meetings that support the reality of Sobriety & its steps creating miracles in people's lives, a sponsor that is Sober over a decade & lives with a harmony I want to have even when he is having personal trials of his own. All of this is environment, its at home, work, church, school, all of the places we go where we are to be ourselves. No more is there a person, substance, or fear of authority that controls my life. So when we take a good look at our environment around us, lets think.. 'Is this place, person, job, establishment, organization or whatever.. IS THIS going to allow me to be the BEST person I can possibly be in life?" If not maybe its time to make a change. I did, so gratefully, I DID! It works as so many other spiritual suggestions I have tried have. I have no question today on who I am or where I am heading, none. Thanks to my higher power, a great program, a good family/support group, and a Positive Environment around me I have clarity, confidence, and direction in my life today. Enjoy your week, til next time.. Good Night.. Good Morning.. <3 Jimmy