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| (Wayne Dyer) |
"Looking through the lens of gratitude brings us into the immediate moment." - Hazelden (05.24/08)
"The Lens of Gratitude" in this opening quote scattered my thoughts in a few directions, Lickety-Split, on reading this quote from Hazelden. When I first got clean and sober, it was recommended that I make a Gratitude List. It pissed me off. Stupid Gratitude List. "A Grateful Recovering Alcoholic" I had heard it all before and been repulsed by it.
I wasn't even sure I was grateful to be alive back then. My Precious Alcohol had died, and I was in a period of mourning, thinking I could never drink again. I could not drink again, could not, could not (but, of course, I did). I relapsed again and again. Drinking is what I did, all I did, all I knew.
Making a List of what I was Grateful for seemed so phony to me in my early days of recovery. Not too different than a child's wish list for Santa Clause, but the wishes were a list of feelings that I wanted. Alcohol had robbed me of everything. I felt nothing. Numb. Empty. Desireless.
It would take me several years in recovery to realize that Gratitude was a way of looking at things, a feeling inside that colored the world around me. "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." - Wayne Dyer
Making a Gratitude List is a Great Idea, a reminder to ourselves that we should be grateful to be alive,
In my mind, but not quite yet on paper, my Thanksgiving Day posts awaits.
Grateful for Hope, Expectations, Another Clean & Sober Day.
And not too far away...
Santa on his sleigh.
Oh, Jim! Grow up [but not too soon]!
What's for Dinner? GRATITUDE [that's the only clue I'll give you]!
*****
GIVE A GIFT OF RECOVERY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON:
ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal
(Find it on Amazon. Book it here): https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
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