Many people living in one day at a time recovery learn that our recovery is an intrinsic part of life. What else could we do except to want to become healthy as we began to understand that others had discovered wellness living in recovery one day at a time, and in that wellness they had manageable, doable and happy lives. Many of them told us that recovery was the reason they were alive today. We don’t believe that anything is more natural than wanting to live decent, happy lives and this is what living in recovery is all about. It comes from being free from the bondage of active addiction. Recovery becomes an intrinsic part of our reality. It is our hope. Those we are akin with show us this. If our minds are open we are quick to learn this in the rooms of recovery. We help each other. Life is not perfect but it can be good. We know this. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time reality learn we can interpret our realities with those we are akin with. Some of us call this sharing our experience, strength and hope. We could say that interpreting reality with other recovering people teaches us to identify with feelings that we have experienced or are experiencing. Most of us can identify with the pain, shame and aloneness that we had felt before we experienced our bottoms which enabled us to find the gift of recovery. Reality had been abundantly despairing. This was a feeling we could identify with but we saw others had found the strength to live in recovery. Us too. We became well and now had hope. In our imperfections we could see life is a gift and that the other was opening a whole new world of belonging. We identify. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the joy of sitting at our kitchen tables peacefully sipping our second cup of coffee on an early sunny Sunday morning. It bears with it a feeling of gratitude, and in this gratitude we smile inside. This inside smile becomes a silent celebration. We are celebrating joy, gratitude and silence. We have escaped, for these moments, from the perils of active addiction and we appreciate the gift of being able to have a second cup of coffee. There were times, not so long ago, that we were too sick to have a second cup of coffee. Our lives had revolved around escaping reality and responsibility. Now on this sunny Sunday morning life was about being in the moment, living the quiet, and enjoying ourselves while having our second cup of coffee. We welcome the joy. There is no wondering as to why we are smiling inside. It’s a silent celebration. Peace.
Some of us living in one day at a time recovery get to understand that our recovery is a subtle transformation. We become a bit more at peace with ourselves learning not only to accept those things we cannot change but we also learn to appreciate the subtle transformations in our beings as we become a bit more developed in life in its complexities and subtle possibilities. For some of us we stop transmitting the abundance of pain that oozed from our torn and battered egos. We get to understand the realities of grace and gratitude. In truth this is a gift from our relationship with the other and we did little to nothing to merit such a gift. One day at a time recovery makes us capable of accepting it. Humility reveals to us we will attain growth but not perfection. Recovery becomes a subtle transformation. It’s part of reality. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery are learning to read the other in each other. The reality we are learning to read is that if we look with our eyes wide open we will see the face of God, the creator, the spirit or the universe in each other. Perhaps we are learning to comprehend each other’s pain and suffering, and we are also learning to appreciate each other’s freedom and joy. This is the reality of living in recovery however imperfect our recovery might be. If we choose not to appreciate each other’s freedom and joy we will discover we are living in a universe of self. We learn only the lessons of our own pain and often stay caught in our own suffering. In reality gratitude is an antidote to self and when we are doing well we understand this. It becomes reality. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery are familiar with the phenomena of spiritual stumbling blocks. This is a reality to all people and it is the reality of struggle or a principal of the Buddha which is life is suffering. Some would say we all have a cross to carry. Perhaps, in reality, it is the gifts of imperfection. Such gifts keep us from being able to claim spiritual superiority as individuals or as any group of people. These stumbling blocks can become the taming of the ego. This is evident to us as we grow older and perhaps become a bit more loving, kinder and caring. This is the reality of humility. Perhaps we don’t understand as to why we must experience the reality of spiritual stumbling blocks but our lives and our recovery reveal to us their reality. Maybe they just bring us closer to each other. Peace.
Some people living in one day at a time recovery know the reality of living with incomes below the incomes afforded to those of the middle class. One day at a time we have adapted and try to get by with humble and modest budgets. Sometimes we rob Peter to pay Paul simply to try and keep up with the rising costs of living. Some of our realities are the need for reliable transportation and affordable housing. Another reality is – is there any housing at all? This is the dilemma of those who are elderly, disabled, or occupationally challenged. We might even live with all three barriers. Recovery gives us the ability to cope. We don’t like the stress but the wellness we now have is a gift from our inextricable connection with the other. We need to remember that. We learn to seize the day. Peace.
Most people living in one day at a time recovery understand that if we accepted that active addictions had taken control of our lives recovery or abstinence then had the power to be. Inasmuch many of us admitted we needed help to find this gift of one day at a time recovery. In the beginning it didn’t always seem easy but we knew acceptance was the answer to what could be a problematic endeavor. Often we reached out for professional help and in doing so we received treatment from such professionals and many times they suggested we reach out to other recovering people to find support, and to join these people meeting with them in the rooms of recovery. Very quickly recovery went from a problematic endeavor into a hopeful and welcomed journey of one day at a time living because of those we were growing akin with. They told us of the ups and downs and the joys and struggles of one day at a time recovery. They modeled the reality of recovery for us and they showed us life gets better. They revealed to us not only would life become manageable but it was a doable achievement in which we would experience a new freedom and new happiness. We also got to join them in the experience of the other while being inextricably connected as recovering people and in as such living the power of acceptance one day at a time. It’s a gift. Peace.
Many people living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality of a joyous and torrid path that we call life. We know that many of us living in developed countries have had people and institutions telling us we should be happier and that we should have more of what they prescribe to in which they are trying to sell to us so we can have such happiness. What they don’t tell us is how difficult life can become as we try to obtain such happiness. We become totally individualistic as we try to gain membership to such attractive pitches and lose touch with such endeavors as kindness, love, and otherness. It presents for us a torrid path in which joy is hard to find and happiness is unobtainable. Some of us call it obsessive want and many of us experience it as addiction. It is its reality and life becomes more difficult than it needs to be. One day at a time recovery reveals this to us. In recovery we find gratitude and in gratitude we find joy. We understand that life can be difficult but we find it is easier, kinder and more loving. Peace.
People living in one day at a time recovery understand the reality of mistaken assumptions. Sometimes we assume the worst in others, situations and possible difficult occurrences or events. It is the reality of suspicious, frightened, unknown and unmanageable thoughts. Some would say assuming the worst is a subscription to realism and the acknowledgement that life is often cruel. Those of us who participate or participated in such belief systems have come to the realization that this is depressive and self-defeating thinking. Experience, and plain old common sense tell us to stop assuming the worst in others and to believe most difficulties work out okay. We have been told to change our thinking and when we do we believe in grace. When we do our lives are better, and our reality changes. Peace.