Episode 182 -- January 10, 2022

Meditation Monday: Patience is a Virtue

The selections for this Meditation Monday are mid-January entries from three of our most popular resources: Walk in Dry Places; If You Leave Me, Can I Come with You? and Day by Day. These brief meditations are gathered around the theme of patience and offered to help you take your time and think before acting.

Walk in Dry Places

Facing Other Excesses

In the drinking life, one of the flippant sayings we heard was, "If it feels good, do it!" We hear that less often in sobriety, although it sometimes appears on a bumper sticker or as a casual comment. And if we've learned anything in sobriety, we know that this remark is really a permit for disaster. We drank to feel good, but we often ended up feeling terrible. Yet the same slogan, properly understood, can be useful for the recovering alcoholic. We all want to feel good. But a drink means temporary pleasure followed by pain, guilt, remorse, and ruin. This is not really feeling good. It is a nightmare of the worst feelings we can imagine. Happy sobriety does feel good, even though it may include short-term discomfort or temporary boredom. The long-run tendency of sobriety is toward having peace of mind, feeling good about ourselves, and using our talents and opportunities wisely. This is the mature way to feel good, but we achieve it only by thinking and acting in the right ways. Perhaps our slogan could be, "If it will make you feel good now and in the future, do it!"

Today I will pass up anything that seems pleasurable in the short run but will make me guilty and unhappy later on.

If You Leave Me, Can I Come with You?

Don't...Do it

Despite what the Nike ads say, "Just do it" is not the best advice for anyone in recovery. "Just doing" anything can be a slippery slope. Whenever I start making major decisions without getting direction from my Higher Power and feedback from people I love and trust, things go downhill pretty fast. I can't ever "just do it." I've written a letter to the executives at Nike, to see if they would consider changing their campaign from "Just do it" to something more thoughtful, like, "Don't... just do it," or "Just do it, but wait twenty-four hours first." Even better, "Just do it, but consider the consequences." In the meantime, I've put a Post-it Note with the word "DON'T" over the picture of the tennis superstar that's taped up on my refrigerator. It's a reminder for me to stop and think before I "just" call, text, stalk someone online, or quit my job without a backup plan. I haven't heard from any executives at Nike, but I feel certain that I will. Maybe I'll see a new Nike ad featuring my clever idea in a magazine or on a billboard somewhere soon. Not to worry—I'm just grateful that a major advertiser can be the recipient of the inspiration I've experienced in recovery.

Today, I won't... just do it.

Day by Day

Enjoying Reality

Cloud Nine does not compare to the joys and beauty of a clean life. In fact, Cloud Nine is opposed to our new way of life. It's a fantasy, a trip, a high—like that first drink, fix, or pill. Now we are dealing with reality—a real and beautiful place instead of a fanciful dream. Each day can be a journey with our Higher Power, beyond pain and suffering, beyond Cloud Nine, in the wonderful here and now. Am I learning to enjoy today? I pray for guidance through all aspects of growing, so I don't get stuck in any one place.

The real things I will enjoy today are...

Hazelden meditation books offer a brief reading for every day of the year. Today's selection from Walk in Dry Places is from January 12, the meditation from If You Leave Me, Can I Come with You? is from January 15, and the meditation from Day by Day is from January 11.

About the Author:
Walk in Dry Places was written by Mel B.
If You Leave Me, Can I Come with You? was written by Misti B.
Day by Day was written anonymously

Walk in Dry Places © 1996 by Hazelden Foundation
If You Leave Me, Can I Come with You? © 2015 by Misti B
Day by Day © 1974, 1998 by Hazelden Foundation