Spirituality is part of my entire system – my physical body, my thoughts, my actions, my existence. I do not always heed its gentle urgings, though. I sometimes totally deny its existence. But it is there and everywhere just like the air we breathe. If a child ignores or fails to heed the urgings of its parent, there are consequences. These are not always pleasant. It is the same with Spirituality. Ignore it and pay the price with frustration, anger, exasperation.
When frustrated I can throw up my hands and say “What’s the use?” Or I can get angry, resentful, or forgetful and dismiss the entire incident and say “Not my job, man!” In the times we are living in right now, it is easy to get frustrated. Especially if we watch the news regulalrly. Remember the Serenity Prayer? It implores us to change ONLY the things that we can. And to accept the rest. The ONLY thing that I can change is me. What can I do to change the fears that abound and are brought upon us by anything else, really?
We have a choice. We can either make the best of the present situation or become totally full of frustration, hateful, resentful. All the while, still not be able to change the situation.
This brings us back to FEAR. Fear is the root of all of our character defects. It can be fatal to anyone. As an alcoholic, though, I have been given the tool of Spirituality to help and carry me through this situation and any other that may arise.
How do I best utilize Spirituality? By practicing the 3rd step totally and completely and believing it to be true. How do I do it totally and completely? By using the shortened version of the 3rd step. Just say “God Help Me!” And then standing back and letting Him do just that! I might start by Faking it until I make it and then soon there will be no faking it. It will seem like it is original with me. Get rid of the negativity in your life! I no longer give the news any more than a glance. This alone has greatly lessened my frustration with everything. No matter if it is large or small, big or little. A “Little” negativity is like a “little” pregnancy, it either is or it isn’t!
My prayer is that God will Bless you with as much as He has blessed me and with even more so that we all can be Happy, Joyous, and Free.
Please let us know what you think. We can be reached at Spiritualityandrecovery@gmail.com or 810-965-6140 usually within hours and many times instantly.
Our AA Zoom meeting is every Monday through Friday, 3:00 PM EST. Meeting ID is 6035280704. Password 399778. It is simple to locate the blogs and Facebook pages. Simply search #spiritualityandrecovery For the podcasts, just go to https://anchor.fm/james-b-boylan On iPhone say “Hey Siri, Play the podcast Spiritualityandrecovery.” Or, on Android “Hey, Google. Play the Jim Boylan podcast.”
