is one of my favorite books, I will try posting some quotes from it, see if we can't get some fun and constructive threads and conversations going, Chuck C always made me think
this is from the preface
The most baffling characteristic of alcoholism--both to the alcoholic and to those who must deal with him--is the paradox in which the conflicts of sober reality eventually always become untenable, leading to the return to alcohol and/or drugs for relief. Then the "relief" chemical becomes the problem. The outside pressures begin to mount regarding its use, and the pain and discomfort in the patient begins to increase. Neither sobriety nor its chemical counterpoint can provide a meaningful cessation of the the conflict. This almost hopeless condition of mind and body is known as alcoholism...a truly strange disease in which withdrawal from alcohol has little if any salutary effect, and often makes the emotional agony intensify.
What sets AA head and shoulders above other attempts to reverse the disease of alcoholism is in its immensely successful efforts to literally alter the relationship of the alcoholic to his or her world--in effect, to provide a different perception of the same environment.
-- Edited by LinBaba on Tuesday 14th of December 2010 11:30:10 AM
__________________
it's not the change that's painful, it's the resistance to change that is painful
Absolutely. I'm not going to venture into the nature vs nurture debate, but it is an indisputable fact I wasn't born drinking. I didn't really start to drink until my 20s and though I had one or two moments in my early 20s, drinking in itself didn't really start to wreck my life until my late 20s or even early 30s.
However, my head had been a volcano and my life completely unmanageable for as long as I could remember. Booze made that volcano calm down, at least at first. Before I came into AA for real, I'd try stopping drinking for a while. Then that volcano would come back. And booze would make it calm down again, for a while. Repeat that wash/dry cycle for a looong time.
Here's the point: I didn't drink because my life was roses. Thus, the times that I would remove the booze, it didn't all of a sudden become roses. On contrary, it was still full of fantasy, grandiosity, resentment, judgmentalism, intolerance of others, impatience, impulsiveness, indecision, carelessnes. I just didn't have that anasthetic that was trying to kill me. Sooner or later, that would make me drink again -- though it was always just going to be one drink, it was always going to be different this time.
Fortunately, I went to enough meetings that I finally realized that I need to get a sponsor and work the steps.
And things are different now. For as long as I work this program and maintain a relationship with a God of my understanding, that volcano is gone. No drinks are necessary or even missed.
But without God and the steps, I'll be living that cycle again sooner or later. Booze would be compulsory, I would ultimately have no choice.
Alcohol first altered my reality at around age 7. I was given rye whiskey, for the amusement of others. I can recall to this day (I'm 63) how good it felt! From there, an introduction to the alcohol and morphine-based home medicine cabinet cough & cold remedies. Nature or nurture, it was downhill from there, for over thirty years. To hell and back. And a bit of that hell continued relentlessly into the early years of a strong, deliberate, process of "recovery" and diligent relapse prevention. As LinB sez, a truly strange disease. Eternal vigilance, a daily reprieve based on spiritual condition, no human power provides the relief...all true for me. Glad I'm not alone!
This almost hopeless condition of mind and body is known as alcoholism...a truly strange disease in which withdrawal from alcohol has little if any salutary effect, and often makes the emotional agony intensify.
What sets AA head and shoulders above other attempts to reverse the disease of alcoholism is in its immensely successful efforts to literally alter the relationship of the alcoholic to his or her world--in effect, to provide a different perception of the same environment.
Great Book:
The alcohol was but a symptom. Selfishness, self-centeredness is the root of our problems.
We were the center of the world, We played God, thus we had a insane alcoholic as a higher power. How could we deal with soberiety under these circumstances?
We had to change how we looked at the world, and if we could believe we where powerless over alcohol, we had to find a power greater than us if we where to recover.
__________________
Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
I read this book a few months back after my slip. I was so impressed, I took a lot of notes. Gotta go to bed so until tomorrow I'll just mention one of my fave parts was the diagram discussing the ego. Something about how ego keeps us apart from eachother and the divine. Right now reminding me of a quote from the Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz flick that came out on DVD recently: "With me-Up Here, With out me, Way Down There".
