Okay, so yesterday I'm at a meeting after a three-day weekend (Labor Day holiday US) and the topic is "Acceptance," and, as most old timers do, a page # was quoted but I can't remember it. I don't live to read the Big Book as I probably should so I don't know all the stuff in it BUT I appreciate the wisdom. ANYWay, so everyone's sharing (except those in the meeting that have court documents requiring signature), and a young woman who comes there on occasion and has been sober for quite a while says, "It says that accepting the things the way they are is the key--it doesn't say you have to LIKE it." Well, DING!!! That makes it SOOOO much easier! I'm very okay with most of the acceptance stuff--and willingness to take responsibility for my stuff. I'm working on NOT accepting YOUR stuff because that's what got me into this alcohol stuff in the first place. Realizing that I don't have to like something to accept that it's the way Life is supposed to be makes dealing with DumbF*&ks and A__holes so much easier. In fact, it brings a smile to my face because I can laugh at stuff that used to piss me off just a few short months ago!
Anyway, today while on my run I said the Serenity Prayer to MY HP for about the millionth time. I think it's working...
:)
Morning SKG...
I love acceptance but for me, sometimes it is a process to get there and that's okay too....I heard not to long ago in a meeting that acceptance doesn't mean approval, it just means it is what it is....and I've learned by living that I am powerless over alcohol and people, places, things & situations, that the acceptance comes so much quicker today....
And at the end of Acceptance in the Big Book it states....I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitude.... So, just for today, I work on me and my attitude and my perception of life and situations and when I am spiritually fit, I tend to have good days filled with gratitude....
Acceptance is the answer to all my problems.....
Thanks for the topic....I've been trudging through some crap and finally woke up this morning with acceptance and a smile on my face....
xoxo
Stacey
I love acceptance but for me, sometimes it is a process to get there and that's okay too....I heard not to long ago in a meeting that acceptance doesn't mean approval, it just means it is what it is....and I've learned by living that I am powerless over alcohol and people, places, things & situations, that the acceptance comes so much quicker today....
And at the end of Acceptance in the Big Book it states....I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitude.... So, just for today, I work on me and my attitude and my perception of life and situations and when I am spiritually fit, I tend to have good days filled with gratitude....
Acceptance is the answer to all my problems.....
Thanks for the topic....I've been trudging through some crap and finally woke up this morning with acceptance and a smile on my face....
xoxo
Stacey
great topic.
I struggle with powerlessness, the phrase, the theory, but acceptance seems to go hand in hand and seems a bit more manageable.
The fact... I don't have to like it.
I have substituted addictions for a long time, now it is alcohol. Even writing this I want to say it is a phase, a bad time, it isnt as bad as it could be, I am not as bad as so and so.
but even a couple of drinks throw me into a guilty state of mind.
not sure where to go from here, but am glad for the first time i can write this on a board.
also i know i cant make any promises to my self or anyone else, but feel i "should".
I struggle with powerlessness, the phrase, the theory, but acceptance seems to go hand in hand and seems a bit more manageable.
The fact... I don't have to like it.
I have substituted addictions for a long time, now it is alcohol. Even writing this I want to say it is a phase, a bad time, it isnt as bad as it could be, I am not as bad as so and so.
but even a couple of drinks throw me into a guilty state of mind.
not sure where to go from here, but am glad for the first time i can write this on a board.
also i know i cant make any promises to my self or anyone else, but feel i "should".
Gidday Everyone
If i dont have acceptance then i have resentment, if i am alone in my head with resentment i can have instant negativety.
If i can stand in front of a mirror and truely accept who is looking back at me, then i can handle everyday life in 24 hour lots and with the help of my higher power i now have options everyday with acceptance of people, places or things.
Great subject Skg
Light and love Zac
If i dont have acceptance then i have resentment, if i am alone in my head with resentment i can have instant negativety.
If i can stand in front of a mirror and truely accept who is looking back at me, then i can handle everyday life in 24 hour lots and with the help of my higher power i now have options everyday with acceptance of people, places or things.
Great subject Skg
Light and love Zac
Welcome, Jamv and thank you for sharing...the first step for me was to acknowledge that I might have a problem and by sharing my secrets, I started to heal and embrace recovery....xoxo
Zac,
I love that...that if I don't have acceptance then I have a resentment....I needed to hear that...Wow, simple but sooooo true....
Smooches....
Stacey
Zac,
I love that...that if I don't have acceptance then I have a resentment....I needed to hear that...Wow, simple but sooooo true....
Smooches....
Stacey
full of resentment and regret.
Yep, I'm with y'all on this one, good post skg. I've said in the past too that that word "acceptance" is the hardest thing. We agree to it thru gritted teeth dont we? yet if we dont we are full of resentment. Acceptance is making me take a stepback and actually assess situations now. Where I would for example of once "gone off on one" I actually think now with clear head even if for a split second and react differently as I know I'm always the one that would worryabout what I have just said to the person and they would'nt give a stuff! I would then beat myself up and hey presto be in that vulnerable situation with the demon. I'm learning every day keeping it simple, thanks gang.....x flojo
Acceptance for me is a process too....I move to it more quickly than I did in early sobriety, but it is still damn hard...especially accepting that I am powerless over people...that's a real b*tch!
Yeah, peeps tend to screw ANYTHING up, don't they? LOL!! Some guy kind of helped put that into perspective, too, and I don't know why I've never allowed myself to see it (because I brought my children up in this "example," philosophy), but he said, "If we believe we are powerless over people, places, and things, and that they life happens as it is SUPPOSED to happen, then these PEOPLE are put in your life for a reason: Be it good or bad. How you respond to them is your choice." We, um... DUHHHHHHHHH!!!!
So you mean that if I go into a situation all drawn back and ready to strike that the other person's probably going to be defensive? You mean that if I smile or just mind MY stuff then they'd be less apt to be buttmunches? You mean that, "Everyone serves as an example in our lives, be it good or bad/" You mean that I can CHOOSE not to be like that dickface if I want? Well DAMN! That kinda takes the need to blame them for somehow ruining my day MY responsibility. Hmmmm.
If they're in my life for a reason and they're being ueber-pricks, then I gotta grin and laugh, 'cause my life's a WHOLE lot better then theirs is right now. AND I used to be like them not so very long ago....
But for the grace of MY HP and AA, there go I.....
So you mean that if I go into a situation all drawn back and ready to strike that the other person's probably going to be defensive? You mean that if I smile or just mind MY stuff then they'd be less apt to be buttmunches? You mean that, "Everyone serves as an example in our lives, be it good or bad/" You mean that I can CHOOSE not to be like that dickface if I want? Well DAMN! That kinda takes the need to blame them for somehow ruining my day MY responsibility. Hmmmm.
If they're in my life for a reason and they're being ueber-pricks, then I gotta grin and laugh, 'cause my life's a WHOLE lot better then theirs is right now. AND I used to be like them not so very long ago....
But for the grace of MY HP and AA, there go I.....
