Opportunity - Taking On New Things

June 16. Hey friends, Wednesday is almost over & we are on the other side of that hill in the middle of our week. When your having a good week getting to this point isn't always desirable, but everyday has been a blessing for nearly the past year & I owe it all to my higher power & a positive perspective. That is something I am working harder on everyday to keep in the foreground of my thinking, hopefully it stays there. I didn't do anything special to make this a great day, I just stayed sober with the tools I have been given & the rest happened on its own. Funny how a day without drugs & alcohol was hell in active addiction & now its another positive & powerful miracle today. That again is perspective, but also my physical health picking up to feel better without those substances. I got to see a friend tonight in my travels & talked for a bit. I really don't know him well, but with his kind heart & family oriented mind, I somehow feel like I know him very well. It's great to be focused & clear headed enough to see the good in people these days, much better than only seeing what I can get out of them like in the past.

Tomorrow is my usual monthly doctor's visit, however I cannot stay for the whole group afterwards due to another obligation. So many people just want to get in & out of things that are important in their lives, I know because I was one of them. They suddenly become less important. I am actually a bit dissapointed I cannot stay for the group meeting after the doctors visit because the past few months I have had the opportunity to connect with & spread the word of Sober & Spiritual living through the 12 Steps to many people who have not yet heard or seen its effictiveness. Opportunities don't come all that often for some things. And "Opportunity" is something I am constantly looking for today. When we are spiritually sick we cannot often times see, nor take advantage when we do, opportunity available to us. Opportunity in turn doesn't come without risk sometimes, and risks are necessary but one thing I will never risk for an opportunity is my sobriety today.

How I do that is by staying connected with another alcoholic with sober time. Being open & honest about my intentions, thoughts, and involvement in life's many opportunities. When opportunity has knocked in the past I was not there to open the door. Most times I was passed out, paranoid, or in fear that it was the cops at my door. That is taking things a bit literal, but a fact none the less about my addiction's grip back then. The chokehold that was once around my neck due to my disease's power was released by one great opportunity after another that I was lucky enough to take on. Prior to meeting the judges & the like, I had an opportunity to begin my sober journey. Taking advantage of that opportunity with an open mind & heart was the start of my spiritual life's rebuilding.

More opportunities, even some from the judge himself, came after that. And the rewards were far greater than the risk in each of them. Since getting sober I realize how much opportunity I had turned down in the past, or was not capable of taking on because of my disease & its breaking of me. Opportunity, responsibility, risk & reward, along with many other new things are finally possibility in my life in ways they never were before. No longer do I have to take advantage of opportunities to simply gain financially so I can buy drugs, and hope the risk doesn't bite me back to throw me in jail. Now I can take opportunities to help people, to gain spiritually from doing so, and teach others to do the same as I am learning myself to do it all with balance. Here's one more opportunity for us all... to be willing to do great things for other people, to make ourselves better spiritual channels from which others learn & grow, and to do all of this with a sound mind, body, & spirit. Thanks for blogging in .. Good Night.. Good Morning.. <3 Jimmy