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=====TABLE OF CONTENTS=====
=====EDITOR'S COMMENTS
=====READERS' COMMENTS & CONTROVERSIES
=====TIP & TALK FEATURE ARTICLE
=====SPONSOR'S SPIEL
=====AN EASTERN PERSPECTIVE ON RECOVERY
=====FEATURED LINK OF THE WEEK
=====PURE BOLOGNA & HOGWASH
=====SUBSCRIBE / UNSUBSCRIBE / COMMENT
=====EDITOR'S COMMENTS=====
DISTRIBUTION: God willing, Principles hits cyberspace every Friday morning. Find Subscribe & Unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of this page.
PRIVACY: I will never publish, give, loan, or sell your e-mail address to anyone. Never - No way - No how.
Thanks...Charles Roper
=====READERS' COMMENTS & CONTROVERSIES=====
An Interesting Aside:
On this date in 1900, convinced that her righteous campaign against alcohol justified her aggressive tactics, Carry Nation attacked a saloon in Wichita, Kansas, shattering a large mirror behind the bar and throwing rocks at a titillating painting of Cleopatra bathing.
Carry Nation's lifelong battle against alcohol reflected a larger reformist spirit that swept through the nation in the early 20th century and led to laws against everything from child labor to impure food and drugs. But Nation's hatred of alcohol was also a deeply personal struggle. In 1867, she married an Ohio physician who had a serious alcohol problem. Despite her efforts to reform him, her husband's drinking problem eventually destroyed their marriage, and he died shortly after they split.
=====TIP & TALK FEATURED ARTICLE=====
RECOVERY TIP:
We are our choices. We are responsible for who we are, what we do, and how we
feel.
RECOVERY TIP TALK:
The following letter is reprinted here with permission from the original recipient - Kim - who is the sister of the person who wrote it. The letter originally appeared in my favorite daily newsletter/discussion group:
FOBWLetter: http://www.egroups.com/group/FOBWLetter
=====Start Letter=====
"Contrary to popular opinion, we are not our vocation, our actions or even our habits. We are not our past. We are our choices.
"We can be whatever we choose to be. That's the beauty of being human. Gandhi said, 'Freedom and slavery are mental states.' I firmly believe that. We can make ourselves free or slaves. It's our choice.
"This freedom-to-choose idea is both exhilarating and terrifying. It's exhilarating because it excites our sense of possibility, our sense of what we could do if we so choose. And it's terrifying because suddenly we're responsible--that is, response-able. We are accountable. If we feel we're enslaved, it is because of our own choosing. If we've taken shelter over the years by explaining our problems and situations in the name of circumstance rather than in the name of choice, it is truly terrifying to think otherwise. [Because if we did, then] suddenly there is no excuse.
"The journey to happiness involves finding the courage to go down into ourselves and take responsibility for what's there--all of it."
=====End Letter=====
I think that sometimes we forget who's really responsible for who we are--including what we do and how we feel. It's a lot easier for most of us to blame (and credit) other people and external circumstances than it is to simply accept responsibility for ourselves. Many, many otherwise intelligent and resourceful people find a strange comfort in
victimhood.
Am I responsible for everything having anything to do with my life? No, I'm not.
Am I responsible for the way I deal with everything having anything to do with my life. Yes, I am.
=====SPONSOR=====
High Bottom Drunk: A Novel...and the Truth about Addiction & Recovery, by Charles N. Roper, PhD.
"...this book has become a companion to my Big Book."
"...reading High Bottom Drunk has deepened my understanding of AA's principles tenfold."
Order High Bottom Drunk directly from the publisher, through the www.highbottomdrunk.com website, and receive two free gifts (modest but useful) with each copy.
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=====AN EASTERN PERSPECTIVE ON RECOVERY=====
Gautama Buddha practiced one of AA's foremost traditions--that of placing principles before personalities. He downplayed his personal importance in relation to his teachings. He placed responsibility for our wellness on ourselves by continually telling us not to tie it to the transient and fallible focus of a person, prophet, or god. He told us that we ourselves are the source of our discontent and that we ourselves are also our own best cure.
By accepting responsibility, we discover that the world, people, places, and things that we formerly blamed, fought with, or submitted to are essentially no different from ourselves and are simply reflections of our own denial and disease.
Bill Wilson did the same thing as Buddha--that is, downplayed his own significance--by stressing that the truths of recovery and the fellowship must come first. He empowered each suffering individual and freed him not only from the crutch of addiction but from the spiritually crippling potential of leaders as well. Regarding himself only as one among many, he sought and proclaimed the unique worth and intuitive wisdom of each person.
Paraphrased from: The Zen of Recovery, by Mel Ash.
=====SPONSOR=====
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Have some fun; join the e-volution.
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=====LINK OF THE WEEK=====
This week's featured link is: The AA Fact File.
Developed by the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous, this site offers a ready reference to everything there is to know about A.A.
Visit the site at:
http://www.ezy.net/~nibs/aafactfile.html
=====PURE BOLOGNA & HOGWASH=====
Selected Shorts:
What is the difference between a dog and a fox? About 5 drinks.
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A three legged dog walks into a saloon, looks around, and says, "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw."
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A state trooper stops a minister who is driving erratically on the highway. The first thing he notices is the smell of alcohol on the minister's breath.
"Sir, have you been drinking?" he asks.
The minister replies, "Just water, officer."
The trooper says, "Then why do I smell wine?"
The minister looks down at the bottle on the seat next to him and exclaims, "Good Lord, He's done it again!"
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Alrighty, then...till next week, do us all a favor and keep it simple.
Charles Roper, Editor
Principles: Addiction & Recovery Tips & Talks
Alcohol & Drug Abuse - The Addiction & Recovery Information & Resources Web site:
http://www.alcoholanddrugabuse.com
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