October 10

DISCIPLINE MONTH: DAY 10: “It takes an enthusiastic mind to understand all the necessary steps needed to make one’s dream a reality, but a lot of discipline and perseverance to stay consistent all the way through.” ― Edmond Mbiaka

I have had so many dreams since I came to this deal. Quite a few of them have come true. Some did not. I dreamed of having the education I have now, but did not expect what would come after.

I remember moving back to Palm Desert after living in AZ for a couple of years and all of the really interesting time there. I told my sponsor that I knew it was time for me to come back to CA to get involved with someone and get married. Exactly 1 year later, Jose was moving in to my little house and we began our life together. I did not know the levels of growth and development and spiritual practices it would take for THAT to happen!

I seldom do… but continue to dream on. What are your dreams? Have you put feet under them? That is the process I teach others in workshops… how to manifest in physical reality those things that we are holding in our hearts and do not know how to create in the physical world. There is a process where we can co-create the lives that we see inhabiting.

The most important part of this is to have the discipline to make the steps real in the world before anything can be created. Just as recovery does NOT happen by sitting next to others with long-term recovery in a meeting; neither does a dream come to fruition because we sit and daydream about it for a long time.

We have to put our shoes on and move our feet. This means we have to walk through our own sabotaging beliefs about life and who we are and let go of the magical thinking most addicts sit on their butts with and wait for life to come to them. That is called “entitlement” and really irritates those who work for what they want.

So winning the lottery is not a dream. Most folks will tell you it is a nightmare. My experience with this is that we are in a spiritual dilemma most of the time and believing money is the solution to our sense of feeling that we are being left behind in this “rat-race” … I wonder, who wants to be a rat anyway? Even a fast one???

I know how to write out the steps to achieve any dream and break it down into do-able steps to complete to get to a goal. I have done it many times with so many things. It is an important part of success. For me, it is imperative to put it all down on paper. That creates a real vision instead of a ghost that lives in the caverns of my addict mind.

Doing the things required is what separates success from failure. I have achieved many of my goals and not had the outcomes I expected to receive. That still means I am a success. I have learned that the actual DOING of those things that lead to success are the process I am interested in… more so than the outcome.

Recovery is making plans and then letting the outcomes lie with the Master of Creation. I would not change a thing about how this works, although my mind says it needs to pay better…hahaha. That is not the issue either. It is all about the discipline required to set one foot in front of the other and see the big picture.

It is always about seeing the bigger picture. Allowing for what IS, and moving forward into possibility and doing my part instead of just wishing for it to be done. I am a hopeless overachiever, but one who is learning to be more gentle with my process, not the outcomes… and recover, I shall!