Make me an Instrument of THY Peace

Think for a moment on some banners, not just Bumper Stickers from President Obama's Inaugural Address:

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth. And because we have tasted the bitter swill of Civil War and Segregation and emerged from that Dark Chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass. That the lines of Tribes shall soon dissolve. That as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of Peace....To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy...We will extend a hand, if you are willing to unclench your fist....To those nations, like ours, that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect...America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave the icy currents and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that, when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end; that we did not turn back, nor did we falter and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's Grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of Freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

It may be a bit sappy to ponder these words today and I'm sure I'm one of millions that is doing so, but, it is all about me and my thoughts anyway!

Today is a significant day in many ways. As I listened to President Obama's message and chuckled through the humorous, but powerfully spiritual benediction, I had to think about how many messages were there for those of us who struggle in Recovery journeys. I will give President Bush credit for one perspective that is true for today -- history will hold the final answer. My hope is that today will truly be a time for stepping past the walls that divide and beginning to dissolve them. I sincerely hope that this is not a time for a shifting of lines of division and of power, but a time for the "lines of Tribe" to truly pass away. I do remember when people of color had a smaller sparsely furnished waiting room in my uncle's medical office while the far fewer white patients had leather couches and several times the space. I remember segregation and the first time a black kid came to my school. Now, my family is multiracial and I've lost count of how many tongues in the multilingual nature. The differences are less and less each year. And my heart is bigger for it.

I hope that the message that all of us take from this Inaugural Address is that we must move forward and we must begin to change our perspective. This is a universe of abundance and plenty. One of the most difficult challenges of Recovery is moving from the sense of deprivation to the sense of "Eternal Enough" that comes from tapping into the Abundance that is around us. The Principle of Service tells us that the more we give our Serenity away, the more we have. The more we do for others, the more peace and energy and Recovery we have for ourselves. These are age-old Principles that have always worked and always been true.

"The Promises" talk about being "happy, joyous and free." President Obama spoke of delivering the "great gift of freedom" to the future. Think of the joy we could all have in seeing the ecstasy in the eyes of a world that has enough. The true Freedom that could come from knowing that we all can have a share in this magnificent world around us and that, together, we never have to do without. We can never hoard enough to counteract the sense of emptiness that comes from entitlement and deprivation. Yet, when we share from a sense of abundance and all have enough, we all have a joyous fullness that never ends. What an amazing paradox!

Never Pass Up an Opportunity to Shut Up

This one is universal and has many therapeutic applications, one of which does not apply to the silence over the last month or so! I could blame it on holiday re-entry followed by the full moon or something, but I think I'll just say distraction by overwhelm is my only excuse.

We've all had those moments when our head was shouting at our mouth to stop talking. No, we really didn't mean that the dress made you look fat. No, we weren't laughing at you. The list goes on. There are very few comments, save those that would move people out of Harm's way, that can't wait a minute or until tomorrow! That's an important lesson.

Sam pointed out an important corollary to this one:

Never, never distrust your gut instinct!
It's a hard contradiction, but an important one. Many of us learn growing up to lie about the truth. Janet Woititz in her book "Adult Children of Alcoholics" says that one of the rules of Adult Children is that they will lie when it would be easier to tell the truth. In Recovery, one of our greatest tasks becomes learning our own truth and standing firmly on it. Learning to say "No"w when that is our truth and need is essential to believing in ourselves and beginning to change the negative core beliefs into positive, self-supporting ones. Learning to tell the truth about ourselves, even when it is painful, is also essential to the serenity that comes with this Process.

We all have that "Inner Voice" that guides us in decision making. Unfortunately, over the years, we may have been taught by parents, peers, addictions and other things that we could not trust that inner voice. That Voice is the thing that tells innocent little children that they can laugh their wonderful belly laugh when something is funny to them and to nobody else. It tells them it's okay to cry when things hurt or when they lose their first helium balloon. It tells us we are in love for the first time and that our heart is broken when it doesn't work out. In truth, sometimes, it tells us to go ahead and have one more binge, knowing that the setup is in place for us to get caught, have a consequence or whatever it takes to get us into Recovery. This whole thing of Trust is difficult. Listing to our Gut Instinct and Intuition is also difficult, mainly because we need our Brain or Mind, that great distorter of all things to listen and act. That's why these two bumper stickers need to be very close together. (It's a good thing Life has a very large bumper!) [By the way, there's a third that goes with it and it will take a whole blog -- "The Opposite is Equally True."]

Never Pass Up an Opportunity to Shut UP
Never, Never Distrust Your Gut Instinct