DISCIPLINE MONTH: DAY 30: “Discipline yourself and others won’t need to.”― John Wooden
I don’t think of discipline as punishment. Many people do. I think that, culturally, this was confused in the era of my growing up and for many, many years prior to the 1970s and 1980s when we made such great strides in creating healthier psychological dynamics in every arena.
Sadly, many people do what they want and let others tell them when they are out of line. They have no idea how to listen to the internal something that tells them what is right and what is wrong. Addicts, especially, have no ear for that. We are inclined to keep running into walls and other people until we get done with that kind of behavior.
And we wonder why the world around us is disgusted and fed up with our insistence on doing whatever we want, no matter the price we pay or what it causes or costs for others. No good. There is a lot of work to be done to clean up our thinking with this attitude. Thank God for the discipline of 12-step recovery. It has given me the instruction book I looked for in my many years of running amok in the world.
There is so much more here to get than not drinking and drugging. That is the work of the first couple of years. Just abstaining from drugs and alcohol. THEN the REAL work begins. How to live life happy, joyous and free of Ego (Screaming Purple Monkeys!-SPM) and self-will. Same thing really, Ego and self-will. But a lot of us don’t see it that way for a while.
There is no way to recover fully in the first 10 years, or the first 20 years, or the first 30 years. We are always going to have a progressive illness, and nothing takes that away. Ego is still operating fully, so we have to fully participate in letting go of our way of thinking and learning new ways to think and be in the world. That IS the discipline of Step 10. Isn’t that lovely?
To increase, each day, our reliance upon spiritual principles and the Creator or Universal Power for direct guidance and direction. It works, fully and completely, in my experience, when I keep myself clean on the inside and outside and honor what is Created and live in accordance with the guidance I find when I am okay inside and outside.
I cannot live in a spiritual frame of mind when I am fearful and grasping. Ever. I have learned this one over and over again. I must live in the space of Gratitude and Love. Knowing I AM God’s favorite kid and acting like THAT. Period…this is such good shit!
Dolphin Hug 