Simple and true

Dodsworth · Senior Member

Simple and true

Mike B. · MIP Old Timer

Dods,
Thanks for the reminder today. This reminds me of the messages/slogans I love to hear, "live in the solution and not the problem" or "Do the next right thing & the next right thing will happen". I'm grateful today for my higher power & AA. They've given me a life to live.

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Dodds, that's awesome and very true. We must adopt a set of principals to strive for in our life. We seek spiritual progress not perfection. One of the coolest motivation tapes that heard (and I've heard a lot of them (seen a lot of speakers) was "Pcycho cybernetics for winners". It's a explanation of how the brain is a goal seeking mechanism, that will automatically work, day and night, at achieving whatever goal that you put in front of it. Problem is, with No Goals, the brain listens to other people's priorities and if you're hanging out with losers guess what? This is my must get/listen to book of the month. Here's a link to amazon to get the audio on CD. I find these awesome because I can listen to books while I'm driving my car. A day or two and I'm done with it. Get-r-done!
http://www.amazon.com/Psycho-Cybernetics-Winners-Paul-J-Meyer/dp/0898112893/ref=tmm_abk_title_0

-- Edited by StPeteDean on Wednesday 10th of February 2010 04:10:53 PM

murrill · Veteran Member

Dodsworth,
There's certainly a message in there. I recall a substance abuse counselor I once knew who shrieked in frustration at one of her less-motivated patients, "Do something, even if it's wrong!" By the time I hit bottom I was flat out of anything to believe; I thought I'd been let down by everyone and everything. (Didn't quite see my role in all that just yet, you know.)
It didn't take more than a few meetings for me to believe in the people I met in AA. I believed that the program and the fellowship had worked for them, and I hoped it would do the same for me. At the very least I was willing to give it a try.
I have been sober a few 24º now, and I am aware of the impact of yet another character defect. It has to do with this topic---believing in something. I have become aware of becoming too attached to some things I believe...of getting my identity there. Problem is that when someone strongly disagrees, I feel attacked. That is ego, for it becomes about something other than the ostensible topic. I suppose an issue for me is balance: It is one thing--a valuable one, I think--to adopt a set of principles; it is quite another to be rigid in their application, to relate them to personal and emotionally charge issues. I've been reading Eckhart Tolle lately, and he mentions how identification with a thought may result in an over-emotional response.
I know that I've probably taken this topic in a direction you didn't intend. I'm new here, and I don't know the customs just yet. However, it made me think out loud, and I appreciate that.

-- Edited by murrill on Wednesday 10th of February 2010 06:24:00 PM

Just Toni · MIP Old Timer

Hi Dods,

Great Post and thank you.

Hope you wont mind my asking Murrill, is that his "The Power of Now"? Great book.
For me a lot to digest, pick it up and have to put it down, and wait a couple of days to go back to it. Like so many great books, well that is how i do them anyway...still not finished with it.

Sort of a strange place to say Hi, and Welcome to this little family. But Hey stranger things have happened..... biggrin

Toni

-- Edited by Just Toni on Thursday 11th of February 2010 07:47:52 PM

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Yeah Dods, I didn't know myself at all after all those years of drinking. I was in heavy denial thinking I was a "do-gooder" just cuz of my job when I wasn't doing all that good there and in my outside life, I was doing horribly. It has been a journey in finding out what my ideals are. I think I knew right from wrong in a moralistic sense, but did not know right and wrong for me. You could not have told me that a year and a half ago though. Finding yourself is a big payoff from sobriety.

murrill · Veteran Member

Toni,
Yes, the Eckhart book is The Power of Now. I had read it a while ago, liked it, but didn't really digest it. I returned to it, and some passaages really resonate with me today. It really is a lot to assimilate all at once, and I've found that taking it piecemeal works best for me, too.
Thank you for the welcome, and I look forward to hanging around.

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

I've listened to a few of ET's books, "New Earth" is his newest I think, along with Don Miguiel Ruiz "The 4 Agreements", Neale Donald Walsh "Conversations with God". I think all of them have been guest speaker at the Unity Church that my wife is the administrator of. I'm not a member but I get a lot of exposure as I do some volunteer work there helping them with their facilities and visiting my Wife often for lunch.

-- Edited by StPeteDean on Friday 12th of February 2010 10:47:53 AM

murrill · Veteran Member

Dean,
The Tolle book is more meaningful to me right now: I guess I'm ready to be a student. I keep a copy of The four Agreements on my desk...very simple, very straightforward. I have the book, but it was a little repetitive...not a great read. Conversations with God is on my "to do" list. Have you ever read Marianne Williamson's Return to Love. That is probably my favorite.

TwistedServant · Member

thanks for posting that