I am finding it hard to write this post because I’m not sure if I should be writing about my thoughts or what’s going on in the world.
There are so many things happening right now, but I think that each of them has a common link which is just how much we have to lose by giving up.
Whether it’s our personal lives, our communities, or even the planet itself, there are so many reasons why we should never give up hope for better days ahead. The only way forward is through! So here goes nothing…
Daily Reflections April 13
Self-pity is one of the most unhappy and consuming defects that we know. It is a bar to all spiritual progress and can cut off all effective communication with our fellows because of its inordinate demands for attention and sympathy. It is a maudlin form of martyrdom, which we can ill afford.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 238
The false comfort of self-pity screens me from reality only momentarily and then demands, like a drug, that I take an ever bigger dose.
If I succumb to this it could lead to a relapse into drinking. What can I do?
One certain antidote is to turn my attention, however slightly at first, toward others who are genuinely less fortunate than I, preferably other alcoholics. In the same degree that I actively demonstrate my empathy with them, I will lessen my own exaggerated suffering.
In the same degree that I actively demonstrate my empathy with them, I will lessen my own exaggerated suffering.
This is a hard thing to do when you’re in the midst of self-pity and it’s easy to see why. Self-pity screens me from reality only momentarily and then demands, like a drug, that I take an ever bigger dose.
If I succumb to this it could lead to relapse into drinking again which would be devastating for myself as well as those around me who care about me.
But one certain antidote is to turn my attention– however slightly at first– toward others who are genuinely less fortunate than I’m most likely experiencing right now or have experienced before because they too battle addiction every day.
