A Plug In The Jug Is Not Enough

July 13. Hello my friends of the spirit, I hope Tuesday was a blessed day for you all. I continue to emerge from the slump I had allowed myself to slip into the past few days, feeling better at moments & empty during others. The most important thing I think is that I have not given up on maintaining my sobriety, the dark road that follows such is not a place I wish to return. I literally sat stagnant today for the most part, the spirit neither flowed in nor out of me & I noticed it myself. Had I been around others they surely would have seen the same, or maybe my spirit would have flowed some, I cannot speculate. It was evidently my higher power's will for me to stir & boil alone today because that is what happened. Fortunately there is relief from any condition my alcoholism puts me in, that relief is found at the meetings of the 12 Step fellowships. I went to the meeting tonight & on my way was asked via text message on my phone to co-chair the early recovery meeting. It's funny how anytime I need to be pulled from the wreckage of my self-centered sulking my higher power steps in & puts me in an appropriate situation to do so. The meeting went awesome, despite a specific man's problems in which he painted a picture of gloom & depressive life to everyone else. He made it seem like sobriety did not have so much greatness to look forward to afterall. But his specific problems were why his particular life was not going so well. I want to explain as I get into tonight's topic.

Some alcoholics, or any spiritually diseased persons, some are sicker than others. Meaning not all of us will measure as low on the scale of moral & spiritual bankruptcy. Many addicts out there found the sober life at a very "high" bottom & did not have to suffer many of the consequences or tortures that I & many others have had in our "low" bottom active addictions. This is a good thing, no great thing, that so many are hearing the message early & are not having to face the near death & devestating crashes that some of our lives have seen. But one minor reality exists in getting sober, that even some who are sober decades have missed. The ones who miss this little detail, I would not trade one day of my sobriety for a hundred years of theirs. I say this because they are totally clueless to what they are missing in life, they are ignorant to the actual purpose of getting sober & that is to get spiritual as well. "JUST PUTTING DOWN THE DRINK & DRUG IS NOT ENOUGH". There is so much more to getting sober. If you stop the intake of substances, you are merely dry, detoxified from the mood altering affects but you DO STILL SUFFER from your alcoholism. The only way to be completely relieved from the disease, which is never cured, is to practice spiritual principles in your life. This means we MUST CHANGE our way of thinking, living, and behaving entirely.

I see a man often, he is sober over two decades & he is miserable, he has not found harmony & happiness in his sobriety.. he is lacking Serenity & Peace. To a person stuck like this I would actually argue this, What is the point in being sober if you are not happy? Were you not happier when you could at least find some form of enjoyment, wether fleeting or selfish, while using drugs or alcohol? There is no point in getting "dry" & remaining miserable & cynical your entire life. To recovery means to restore our sanity, to obtain balance, and to feel peace & happiness in our lives. It does not mean to just stop drinking... if that were the case then this would be easier than it is. It is not changing everything about one's self, certainly no task for the weak, but we are strong.. all of us are. We get our strength from eachother & together we can accomplish that lasting peace in our life. This man who has gone on for 20 years, if he is indeed sober the entire duration he claims, he has not applied spiritual principles to his life. It is apparent by his dismay & discontent that he lacks what successfully sober alcoholics do & that is Serenity in his life. We get that serenity by surrendering to our disease, by giving ourselves over to the will of our higher power & by applying the 12 Steps in our EVERY DAY LIVES. There is NO OTHER WAY, abstenance is not the answer.. it must also contain spiritual advances or the formula is not complete.

There is a saying in the fellowship that says "Half Measures Availed Us Nothing", it means if we didn't give this our ALL then we will get nothing from it. This applies to the program of recovery entirely, from start to finish, which is the day we get sober to the day we die, we must apply ourselves wholly to the spiritual development within ourselves. If we find ourselves miserable, unhappy, or angry with the world or ourselves then there is something, probably many THINGS, that we are not doing as suggested by the 12 Steps, our Sponsors, or our support group. All we need to do is be willing to be someone else, because the person we were was miserable, selfish, lying, cheating, and sometimes worse defects, we need to be willing to be a better person. We need to want it, not necessarily need it, because its our desire to be our best that will make it happen for us. Our best is not being miserable after 20 years of abstenence from drugs & alcohol, it is to be peaceful & excited about life every moment we possibly can. It's to be happy for others who are experiencing spirituality for the first time in their life & to support with positivity any problems they may be having, because we know it WORKS IF WE WORK IT. So to those who have not yet given themselves completely to a spiritual program that will change their lives for the better, even if your 20 years into your journey.. IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START. Give yourself over to your higher power & let the love that you want come over you, your life will thank you later for doing so, when you can look back with gratitude instead of speculation & hatred for what you have not become. Thanks for blogging in. Good Night. Good Morning... <3 Jimmy