Reflections in the Mirror – You and Yourself

I turned 74 last week. Yikes!!  I have been sober exactly half my age.  And I can't begin to account for all that has happened on my journey of 74 years.  I can assure you much of it wasn't according to my plan!  And how lucky I am that my plan was thwarted by God more than 37 years ago.  I'd not be alive to write this blog if I had had my way.  As a matter of fact, God tried to get my attention hundreds of times.  I was just not willing to listen. And then the miracle began.  It happened for me like for so many others.  The presence of someone else on[...]

To react or not, that’s the choice when someone is getting under our skin. Angrily or disgustedly reacting rather than making a conscious choice to act when in the company of a person who is either getting under our skin, dismissing us all together, or being rude or mean-spirited is the default position of many. There are myriad ways to act, to respond to any situation, however.  My years in Al-Anon have given me a handbook of good choices, in fact.  Anger, for instance, is never one of the better ones, even when some one attacks us verbally.  If the attac[...]

There are no doubt many answers to this question, but I know my moodiness is generally due to one of two things: I am either tired or I am afraid about something.  Both reasons are easily addressed I think.  Being tired requires getting more rest.  The solution is obvious.  Being afraid is a bit more complex.  But being a student of ACIM offers me an answer.  If I am afraid, I have squeezed love out.  I have turned my life, for the moment, over to the ego.  The important question is "Why?" I have said many times in many workshops and many books too that[...]

At a recent meeting a woman suggested the above question as a topic for discussion.  Not once in 37 years had I heard this suggestion as a topic.  I was immediately intrigued.  Actually, it stopped me in my tracks because it dawned on me that I had not been thinking about the steps, not a single one of them, in a very focused way.  And yet, their constant value in my life can't be overstated.  After pausing for a moment, I acknowledged that without them, without every one of them,  I might not even be here to reap the benefits of this very rich life. No s[...]

To be at peace is my goal.  It's my intention.  I've even decided to adopt it as my mission statement.  I WANT TO LIVE AN INTENTIONALLY PEACEFUL LIFE WHICH REQUIRES THAT I OFFER THE HAND OF PEACE TO MY FELLOW TRAVELERS.  I was with some women at lunch today and the idea of a mission statement for ourselves came up.  Each of us felt a kinship with the idea.  Living haphazardly, as many of us did in the past, is no longer appealing.  Maturation makes the difference, I think.  But so does the decision to live more selflessly count.  Getting up every morning[...]