Which is a line taken from poet Gary Snyder in interview. The dense and rewarding specifics of our sober lives interests me.
When the authors of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous say that their recommended actions are just ‘suggestions’, I think they mean just that. We are meant to apply certain principles or attitude shifts to the specifics of our lives whereever we find ourselves historically or geographically and it is up to us to find authentic and creative ways of doing just that. It may be easier if one has an AA meeting on every street corner and a car and a cell phone, but the principles are simple and clear enough for most of us to make them our own wherever we may find ourselves, however isolated or beleuguered it may be. Last night I heard about a young South African from Soweto township who has stayed sober over in Afghanistan (there are thousands of locals working as recruited soldiers and support providers over there) through correspondence with somebody in Dorset, England. Heart to heart and modem to modem.
It is a gritty and grey morning. My dogs have stopped tunnelling to China after I sprayed their little rabbit holes with citronella spray which prickles their nostrils but does them no harm. Hot weather has been predicted for the weekend so I dare not take cuttings of pelargoniums or cistus and begin potting them up. I have to wait until the cold weather really sets in.
I believe that if I stay sober today, the future will take care of itself. Keeping things simple works for me, especially on days when I feel lonely and unmotivated. I have work to do. I have friends to call. I am sitting at my desk watching clouds move across the field and just letting the feelings come and go in me.
Gratitude is the bedrock, always.
i agree with you. if one takes all the rules and treats them as suggestions, you could actually end up with your ‘own’ programme that works, take here, take there, find a formula that works and voila!
The principles of AA are failproof.It’s people who mess them up, not unlike some other things I can think of.
I can picture your little guys tunneling and it makes me smile.jeNN
I agree that the principles are simple and clear enough for most of us, but the “most of us” seems to be such a small number in the larger picture. I wonder what it is that makes some of us grab hold to them with abandon and others just walk away? Desperation? I don’t know.
I never knew, before blogging, how vehemently people feel about AA. It was an eye opener. People that don’t believe get really nasty about defending their position.
Some days I come here, and feel like I’m sitting in your yard in S Africa. It is delightful!
“Keeping things simple works for me, especially on days when I feel lonely and unmotivated.” This was perfect for me to read today – thank you!