Blog entry for:

Tue, Dec 13, 2011 07:43:56 AM


+ i am grateful for my decision to become a member of the fellowship that saved my life. +
posted: Tue, Dec 13, 2011 07:43:56 AM

 

OK, many of you know where i get my recovery at, and those who are not sure can probably guess, this little fiction of mine that honors our traditions,transparent as it is, does help protect my fellowship from association with me specifically. nevertheless there are times i want to scream out where i stay to get my recovery and the reading this morning triggered that desire. it is at it is, and like the newcomer that is experiencing a pink cloud, i want to say how proud i am of myself for sticking it out.
that being said, i also know that what i have, was given to me by a POWER that fuels this recovery. all of this is subject to a single condition, namely that i abstain one more day from the substances and behaviors that are the visible symptoms of addiction. that choice starts the crusade of consequences that is active recovery, and allows me the creative freedom to be more than i was yesterday. the bus is crowded this morning, and i have to write this with one hand tied behind my back. i will not be deterred from my task, no matter how uncomfortably slow it may be. sort of like recovery, now that i think about it. i walked into the rooms, broken and beaten, and yet was not ready to be a member of any sort of recovery fellowship. had my will been paramount, it would have been a different story. as i bounce along down to Denver this morning, i realize, that back then, i knew what i had to do, and yet, i purposely constrained myself, by living behind my wall of isolation and denial.
the one armed paper-hanger was alive and well, and that part certainly did his best to keep me apart, i did not become a member anywhere until i had 13 months clean, and even then, it was a very conditional membership, i could have come, decades before i did, but i needed every day of using, every drop of misery and every single consequence to be ready. i can spin it any way i want to, but the truth ism i came to the rooms only when i had enough of the consequences, i stayed only because the sword of a prison sentence hung over my head. i am here today, because i CHOOSE to be, as it has been many days since the desire to use has been lifted from me. i am a member, i paid the cost of admission, and i am grateful that moone can revoke that membership. with that in mind, i think i will end this and see what is happening in the rest of the world.

∞ DT ∞

 

djtConsulting Brand
The views expressed on this page are solely the opinion of the author.
While the author is a member of a 12 Step recovery fellowship, these writings are not intended to endorse or express the published wisdom of any fellowship.
These writings are not meant to be socially or politically correct, and if you take issue with any opinions expressed, please seek the guidance of someone wiser than me.

Another Look!

∞  membership  ∞ 206 words ➥ Monday, December 13, 2004 by: donnot
α belonging or just attending ω 474 words ➥ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 by: donnot
∞ i am only a member when i say i am. i can bring my friends and loved ones to a meeting if they are willing, ∞ 471 words ➥ Wednesday, December 13, 2006 by: donnot
α only addicts who are still suffering, if given the opportunity, ω 493 words ➥ Thursday, December 13, 2007 by: donnot
↔ many people i encounter from all walks of life could really use … 285 words ➥ Saturday, December 13, 2008 by: donnot
∫ i know people who could benefit from the fellowship that has given me this new way of life ∫ 589 words ➥ Sunday, December 13, 2009 by: donnot
∩  there is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using ∩  566 words ➥ Monday, December 13, 2010 by: donnot
¹ my choice to become a member was made in my heart ¹ 762 words ➥ Thursday, December 13, 2012 by: donnot
¥ sadly, those who need a program of recovery the most, ¥ 692 words ➥ Friday, December 13, 2013 by: donnot
« coerced meeting attendance does not, » 494 words ➥ Saturday, December 13, 2014 by: donnot
✯ membership  ✯ 721 words ➥ Sunday, December 13, 2015 by: donnot
❂ today, i am ❂ 620 words ➥ Tuesday, December 13, 2016 by: donnot
🛬 only one requirement 🛸 591 words ➥ Wednesday, December 13, 2017 by: donnot
🤒 finding my way 🤔 594 words ➥ Thursday, December 13, 2018 by: donnot
🌰 my desire 🌱 654 words ➥ Friday, December 13, 2019 by: donnot
👍 grateful 👌 520 words ➥ Sunday, December 13, 2020 by: donnot
🤨 making THE choice 🤳 590 words ➥ Monday, December 13, 2021 by: donnot
😒 still suffering 😵 563 words ➥ Tuesday, December 13, 2022 by: donnot
😎 individuality 😎 400 words ➥ Wednesday, December 13, 2023 by: donnot
Spacer Image

☯ The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao ☯

THE TAO TEH KING, OR THE TAO AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS
by Lao-Tse
Translated by James Legge

Book 1

2) What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace
is being in a low position (after the enjoyment of favour). The getting
that (favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing
it leads to the fear of (still greater calamity):--this is what is
meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be
feared. And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity
are to be (similarly) regarded as personal conditions? What makes
me liable to great calamity is my having the body (which I call myself);
if I had not the body, what great calamity could come to me?