I can’t think of a better way to celebrate 1 year of sobriety than to make it my first blog post with my most favorite quote from the rooms. “Be realistic, expect a miracle.”

First of all Merry Christmas to all. I feel very blessed that my sobriety birth date has also fallen on my favorite holiday. Christmas is a rebirth, a way to remember each year that we are here to be of service and love one another. I certainly feel reborn from a year ago and miracles have happened. Simply comparing my emotional, mental and spiritual state 365 days ago to today is enough empirical evidence to me that sobriety is a real thing and so is addiction.

There is a Solution

I know I have found mine. For me it is in the 12 step rooms of recovery. There I have learned how to wipe away the fog and condensation of denial and clearly see a path which I must travel in order to find peace and purpose. From there I learned how to clean house, physically, with my relationships and most importantly, spiritually. Finally, I have been exposed to what it means to be of service. Not that I am this recovery tyrannosaurus, but I do what I can in all my affairs.

Everyday, I try to remain in check with my attitude and more importantly my gratitude. They are gifts that I have total control over and I can accept, use and benefit from the or deny, abuse and suffer from them. It is all up to me. The tools and support are there in abundance.

Where can I go from here

I think the more appropriate contemplation is where can’t I go from here? “The World is my Oyster,” as is often said. Even though, I never really understood the correlation of the saying to its meaning, nor do I really like Oysters all that much, I agree with its significance in our culture. It comes down to understanding that all things come as I think, choose and act. My thoughts control my ideas, which develop my attitude, which lead to my actions, which bring about what is manifested in my life today.
Change my thoughts and I change my world. I can create a cognitive momentum, an awareness that by small steps, each can be used as a catalyst to move forward and to do so with more skill, intelligence and enthusiasm. With each accomplishment and believe it or not, each failure, I can be aware that I am growing and learning and continue to affect that cycle in my life.

Life has a Funny of Showing us Who is in Charge

There will always be stuff you cannot control and whew thank God for that. Whatever you believe spiritually or don’t believe for that matter, there are natural laws that cannot be denied and they are a double edge sword. Gravity keeps us on the ground and can kill us from a high fall, electricity is the most abundant and useful energy force in our lives and can kill you if not understood, finally thought attracts exactly what it is you focus on. In an instant I can be grateful or resentful, it’s fairly obvious I would think, where either one of those leads.

Moving forward from today I will can only control what I think and do. This is why I love the serenity prayer.

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change
courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference

I try to clean my side of the street and help others. This I can do or at least my a good effort towards doing it. All I know is I have to be sober to even attempt life but I am and for that I am grateful.