GRATITUDE MONTH: DAY 1: “If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.” ― Meister Eckhart
The most simple and beautiful quote ever about Gratitude. Not only does this fit into the Step 11 theme, but almost all of us know that November is Gratitude Month.
Our culture, especially addicts, do not readily embrace Gratitude. When was the last time you sent, or received, a Thank You card? Sadly, that is not something we see or experience or do any longer. It is a lost art to remember to do more than mumble a half-hearted “thanks” to those who serve us and go out of their way to make our day a bit easier or more comfortable in some way.
I remember about 20 years ago when the “Chicken Soup” books were being published and then there was a “Random Acts of Kindness” movement that followed. It was lovely! Not everyone participated, but those of us who did were kinder and gentler to one another and more mindful about our walk through this world.
Gratitude is the foundation of my recovery. Since very early on in this walk, I have practiced WRITING a Gratitude letter each and every day. That is a lot to be grateful for! And it has made me very aware of the things that have occurred in my life and their tremendous gifts.
Gratitude transforms addicts who are, by definition in the BB, “chronic malcontents” into happy, joyous and free members of the world that wanted to throw them away at some point in their destructive downward spiral.
It will never be enough, for me, to abstain from drinking and drugs. It never was enough to make me happy before; how could it be now? I need to be, and to recognize that I am, blessed. Because it is the truth!
This is the 8th year of my writing these essays for Gratitude Month. It was the beginning of doing this practice each day at that time. I did Gratitude Month for several years, five I think. Then I wanted to continue because it makes me so happy to write these articles. So, I began, four years ago with December, and the rest is my history.
Since I began my gratitude journals in 1986, there has been a tremendous amount of synchronicity around the idea. I know I began to be more optimistic, happy and carefree. What you focus on grows. That was a product of the 1980s movement toward spirituality and what was called the New Age.
It is true. We have all practiced focusing on our problems. That works, doesn’t it? Yep, they get so big they eat up the rest of the Universe. We can find no solutions there, because no solutions exist in the problems.
The primary reason, I believe, for Step 3 is to get addicts, who love to ruminate on what is wrong and all their ensuing troubles, to let go of them and give them up to another higher level of existence, for there they can be resolved.
Then we can turn our focus onto what is good and fine and right with our lives and recognize how little we had to do with all of that. When we do, we stop trying to figure out where the solutions lie. We don’t know, we never did and we never will. SO, let go and let God and get on with the gratitude that will turn your life around.
We have answers only sufficient to where we have been. If you keep applying THOSE solutions to your life, you will run around in a circle, causing and solving the same old shit you already did. To live into a new and different future, you have to let go of thinking. And let go of trying to figure our lives out. And shift our focus on all the amazing lives we have been graced with once we walk away from the destruction of active addiction. As Duncan, my mentor and friend, used to say “Grateful people are happy people, and them that ain’t, ain’t!” Namaste.
Dolphin Hug 