About Me

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I have recovered from the disease of Alcoholism. I believe there is only one person really,.. everybody. And that peace of mind is everything. -So treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself, because your neighbor IS yourself. I think most of recovery is what I would call common sense, but that learning to be ordinary is a true gift very few people acquire. My ambition is to accept everything unflinchingly, with compassion, and therefore be intrinsically comfortable in my own skin, no matter what. I am comfortable being uncomfortable and am willing to go to any lengths to improve my life. I believe the Big Book was divinely inspired, and is extraordinarily powerful. Unfortunately AA's best kept secret a lot of the time. (In my opinion). I just try to do what works, no matter what it is.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year :) 22yrs tomorrow! And Cainer says you can cast positive resolutions in concrete tonight.

http://www.icq.com/img/friendship/static/card_16961_rs.swf
HAPPY NEW YEAR e card

Right. Yeah, another ! year on the sober block, as opposed to up some alcoholic creek without a paddle. Hehehe A creek I got to know ALL too well before I decided to take the advice of some friendly alcohol counselors and put the drinking on hold and go to aa meetings. Cool. Now all I need to do is maintain (what I consider to be) a respectably low fat percentage, then I will have !! everything! ...Just kidding.. But yeah its always work staying the weight you want to be. There are "no days off" with that one either! Shame! I have to undo the December excesses. Oh well.

More importantly. Cainer says your thoughts will become things that STICK this new year. Enabling you to cast a positive resolution in concrete. So to speak. Great!

Cainer said yesterday:
Tomorrow brings the awkward convergence of an earthly tradition and a cosmic apparition. Normally, New Year’s Eves come and go without too much fuss. We celebrate. We sing. We make our resolutions then we carry on. But what if some heavenly force were secretly listening in to our every vow, offering full celestial support in ensuring those promises were completely carried out? Tomorrow night, Saturn turns stationary. Such conditions favour those who wish to make a decision and ‘cast it in concrete’ so that it can never be changed. Be very careful not to make a ‘negative’ resolution.
And today he said:
It’s rare to have New Year with a stationary Saturn. Resolutions made under this cosmic climate will prove particularly powerful and unnervingly easy to keep!

Hehe I know what resolutions I want this year.
There are study ones, career ones, fat percentage ones, gym ones, and nearest and dearest ones. Loads! So I am getting busy formulating my desired destinations in my mind today to garner momentum and staying power from the freakishly rare unmoving hulk of Saturn. Cool.

So I hope you all have a peaceful new year and for those of you that are newer to sobriety, don't suffer to much from peer pressure that convinces you that you OUGHT to be doing ?? Something expensive overcrowded and unfunny, just because you feel imposed upon by ? nameless social conventions. Life is too !! short. Do whatever you fancy and don't feel guilty about it. If you don't want to stand for 40mins in a !! freezing queue to get in to some sort of 'exclusive' club only to find it full of lurching unintelligible alcohol sodden, or 'wired' people functioning only on the most reduced limbic brain state, well, you will be glad !! to hear that you ! don't ! have ! to! Thank god. Leave that 'luxury' to the active alcoholics, and THEY can pay 50 quid to stand in an overcrowded bar with slightly overweight red faced lurching individuals who have difficulty forming sentences. :) Trust me, you'll meet a MUCH nicer bunch in the gym. Or basically ! anywhere where the main form of entertainment is NOT being anesthetized, and out of control. Basically. Hehe

Right well you can tell how much I enjoy the company of active alcoholics on their home turf. Not much basically. They are bearable when they are sober but get repetitive and dull after a few so I make my excuses and leave when their social skills get clumsy which sadly can happen quite quickly. I manage to enjoy those sorts of occasions by just seeing what I can do for others while I'm there. Without being a doormat that is. As there are plenty of awkward ! social moment due to the disihibiting affects of alcohol, there are plenty of opportunities for service to change the subject quickly and gloss things over in a social sense.
There are loads of AA new years nights here if you like that kind of thing. They can be quite sweet. Like a wedding disco or something. A wide mix of people catching up with each other, throwing a few shapes, and not taking themselves too seriously.
Plus they have seriously great fireworks by the river and millennium wheel over here, and smaller displays all over. If you can bear the cold!

Or, you can enter the new year with 5 - 20 mins of meditation.
Ajahn Chah used to say, "If you want to change the world learn to make your mind still. To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders."

Brahmavihara Meditation (Boundless Equanimity, Love, Appreciative Joy and Compassion) - mp3, 20mins
http://tinyurl.com/brahmavihara
World Peace Meditation - mp3, 15mins
http://tinyurl.com/7enoj9
You can use any of these to enter the new year meditating...or simply sit in receptive silence.
As part of the meditation session it will be good to focus loving, peaceful thoughts to the troubled regions in our world today.
"Khanti paramam tapo titikha"
Patient endurance is the supreme austerity.
Wishing you an equanimous new year.

Right. Gym. Essays.
Have a good one, whatever you do :)

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

First of all - congratulations! Second, thanks for the helpful suggestions and links. What a revelation to me it is to know that I will not spend New Year's Day hungover and regretful. That's HUGE.Third, thank you for your encouraging and supportive comments. I wish you a peaceful, happy and productive 2009.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on 22 years! Even in our impermanent existence, that rocks --

Love to you

Mary

molly said...

big ole hugggsss to ya on 22 years! seems like just yesterday you posted 21 years. time flys when having fun they say right?! (whoever THEY is). anyhoo - love the info on saturn. hubby and i broke in the new telescope last night and checked out venus and the moon. very neat all that astronomy stuff.

so - happy new year!! and thank you for all your blog shares and inspiration.

love ya lots,
molly :)

indistinct said...

Way to go on 22 years.

Thanks for sharing your experience and hope with us. I always leave here with new ideas and thoughts.

Thanks also for the comments you've left behind. As Lottie said, they are supportive and helpful.

Take care

Findon said...

22 years well done. New year resolutions. Well mine is going to be thatI am not going to put a foot worng in 2009. Im gonna treat me and the wife like we were royalty. Or maybe I should just try to be a better person than last year??? Less debt would be nice though. Maybe the new bathroom will have to wait. Happy new year and happy anniversary.

Syd said...

Many congratulations on 22 years of sobriety. You are one of the excellent ones in my mind--a person of rare intellect who is a seeker of the truth. Thanks for all that you have shared in 2008.

Shannon said...

Hey girl!!! how are you?? Happy New Years and thanks for stoppin by!

Anonymous said...

22 years. Splendid accomplishment :) Thank you for a superb blog that is a great service to others.

Cheers!

Unknown said...

Congrats on the 22 years! Thank you for being a part of the bloggy world, you're blog is amazing and I cannot thank you enough for all that you've given me through your words, experience, strength and hope!

Happy New Year, I'm off to write up some resolutions!!!

Kathy Lynne said...

Woo Hoo! 22 years! Congratulations and thank you so much for being here and being the sober guide that you are...and know that I continue to pass your wisdom onto to others here in the states via printouts and stuff...

I'll be entering the new year in meditation as well....see you there..xo

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Irish! 22 years tomorrow!

This is my third sober New Year's Eve, and I am grateful and I feel lucky for that.

Thanks for writing the things you do in your blog - they bring so much inspiration to me!

Willa

twodogsblogging said...

Congrats! You've helped me many times this past year!

johno said...

Bonne anniversaire!

Anonymous said...

Happy anniversary Irish from Australia, and all the best for the coming year. You are one in a billion!

It's all about meeee......

Shannon said...

Good Morning, how are your resolutions coming so far 3 days in? mine seem good lol

Have a great day

An Irish Friend of Bill said...

hahahaa shann, Well not too bad thanks. Could be better! Managed to pull a muscle in the gym and have been suffering slightly! Haven't managed to lose all the weight I gained in December, but am working on it. There are no days off as they say :)

steveroni said...

Well, I have to thank Shannen for letting me know that "Irish" is a girl. Woe is me! When ya get so old ya cannot tell a Rose from a Thorn, ya got some problems.

I won't apologize for being stupid, but let me feel bad--for just a minute?? Please? Thanks. OK now!

Congratulations "Irish (girl) Friend of Bill" on 22 years trudging this road. Actually, 'trudging' ain't so bad, is it?

An Irish Friend of Bill said...

hehe yeah I am a laydee :)
Not only is trudging "not so bad", trudging is an absolute blast!... If you "absolutely insist upon enjoying life". which I aim to achieve with almost dictatorial adherence! hehee
Nah, Seriously, there is no way on God's earth that id be sober if I wasn't able to have as much fun as is humanly possible, and I insist on sponsees enjoying themselves too, once they are no longer at risk of relapse. Which doesn't take that long to be honest, if they do as they're told. But hey, by and large yeah, I think it's safe to say that I have a pretty good time :)
I have a better life than I deserve, whatever that is! ..Doesn't bear thinking about actually!
I think the toughest thing to actually do, is maintain a healthy fat percentage, and general fitness. Very tough. Not for pansies! As they say "it is easy to rest up on our programme, and rest on our laurels". I tend to rest on my laurels by being careless about how much I eat and not doing exercise every day. And surprise surprise, the weight creeps up. Oh well. Most of recovery just seems to be about having better habits. Anyway I better be off, but thanks for stopping by :)