Rescued From Stress

 "The first thing apparent was that this world
and its people were often quite wrong" (65:2)

‎"The first principle of success is that you should never be angry." ~"Alcoholics Anonymous" p 111


Eliminate anger and all our problems drop away. The Big Book co-authors demonstrated their understanding of this spiritual Principle when they said, “If we were to live, we had to be free of anger."  (66:2)

We may infer from this that unless we are liberated from anger, we will die.

'Being' free from anger is not the same as ‘getting’ free from it – and therein lies the trap into which so many of us fall.  Getting free implies effort and effort invokes will. Being free implies that freedom comes to us as we are liberated - without effort; without the use of our own will.

"This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him?
 God save me from being angery. Thy will be done."

Anger, suppressed negative emotions, hatred – call it anything you wish - feeds the ego-self, contaminating the spirit, the mind and eventually the body – to the point of mental insanity, physical sickness and finally death. And all the way down we slide living through bedeviling misfortune we are sure we do not deserve - wondering, "Why God?!"

God does not cut us off  - we sever spiritual flow ourselves by playing Him and we do that each and every time we improperly meet a situation with resentment.  It leaves us rudderless, frightened and desperate for answers.

From the annoying mosquito in the room to the deadly car bomb exploding in the busy square - when we respond with anger, annoyance or frustration . . . that is judging and playing God in the process – which sets us apart from Him. That is where all the pain and suffering comes from. That's why we drank. That's why engage in any sensual distraction. 

"The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us.
 They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics
these things are poison."

As we suffer anger's unpleasing effects; anxiety, depression, and physical ailments related to food and sex, we might search for solutions in hopes of restoring health and appearances.  Armed with the discovery that stress is what is killing us we feel enlightened and seek to rearrange or manage the stresses that are around us. 

The idea that we might somehow manage anger becomes an appealing idea. Don't waste your time.

Clinical means for controlling emotions such as Anger Management is a deceptive lie to which many of those still suffering from spiritual illness fall prey.

Just look at today's cable TV programming and self-help infomercials and you will see 'experts' attempt to address the subject. They do not tell us how to become resilient to stress. They don't know how. They can only treat effects; not causes.

Instead they propose that the negative effects of  stress ought to be reduced through diet, exercise, behavioral modification, self-hypnosis (Sometimes disguised as spiritual meditations) – even "rough" sex is suggested as a technique to vent hostility and channel negative emotions out of us. (And into others) without ever getting to a real answer to our problems. 

Drugs like anti-depressants and hormonal therapies are available to the totally lazy or those already physically incapacitated by the debilitating effects of out of control emotions.

Human-aid 'treatments' are all temporary solutions to a permanent problem. 

What? You thought things were going to get better? Stress, appearing as resentment, anger, bitterness, isn't going to go away. Not in this lifetime it isn't. It will always be waiting on the doorstep, posed and ready to crop up inside.  It is our legacy as humans to endure and learn patience.

Stressful events will change as surely as the seasons will, but they will always be replaced by new events with new stresses - new seasons continue to stream on in the passage of time. Stresses are always upon us and we are never without the heat of a summer or the cold of a winter.

Not only is a "This too shall pass" not written in the Bible, but as it turns out, isn't even true. Not within the context, we would like to believe, anyway.

In this world of "feel good' pseudo-spirituality it can come as a shocker to realize that this too shall never pass. 

You, as well as your husband, ought to think of
what you can put into life instead of how much you can take out.

The best for which we can ever hope is that we learn a style of living that makes us resilient to it inevitable force upon us. 

That resiliency can be found in Step Eleven of The Twelve Steps which suggests a solution that is much simpler than any of the human aids provided by the psyche mechanics who may hold impressive degrees and paper pedigrees but who are meddling in matterd they are ill equipped to understand or control. Their own intellects and ambitions form barriers to real helpfulness. 

There is not so much psychology to it. There is no magic mantra or relaxation discipline. There is no magic recovery group, sponsor, pill or knowledge.

There is simply letting go of it. Stop fighting anyone and everything. Give up anger. That’s all there is to it. Simple. Not easy - but it is vital.  If you will try the meditation exercise at the top of this page you will see just how simple it is.

Peace and Love,

Danny S - RLRA

Real Live Recovered Alcoholic

http://recoveredalcoholic.blogspot.com

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Hungry For Hate

"If we were to live, we had to be free of anger."

Yearning for Love

No one wants to think of themselves as being a hateful person. We would much prefer to project to others and to ourselves an image of serenity - of happiness and joyous freedom. It is hard to keep up such appearances for long while suppressing anger.

It is impossible, in fact.

We are sometimes told to 'own' our feelings. This is misguided advice at best - a nefarious ruse at worst. While this may provide some temporary relief it ignores the source of our discomfort and we are soon besieged with anxiety and pains requiring either more "owning" sessions or else suppression. Suppression is God-separating and will ultimately kill.

It can be comforting, therefore, to realize that the poison of anger and the bitterness we can still experience is not ours to own. It belongs to something sinister - the not us. It enters when we respond improperly to pressures; to the cruel and unjust things around us. This is why we must remain vigil to them. Vigilance develops resiliency. Suppression turns us into victims.

 The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us.

Hate cannot be managed. It cannot be remedied by our own will or any will of any human being.

 The best trained psychiatric minds and counselors in the world cannot remedy hate. 

There is no human being on the face of the earth, whatever their worldly degrees, who can provide us a defense against the angry expression of internal hatred.

No matter how adamant they are about their "Anger Management" techniques all they can do is train a bitter man newer, sophisticated tricks to suppress.

These will always fail and can do great harm long term.

We can only yearn to be saved from resentment through humility and when we do so earnestly, we are.

Through meditation, we learn how to pproperlyresponded to internal thoughts and gain control over the stresses that come from the outside – not a self-control, but control never-the-less. We experience the loss of unmanageability that comes by a transferring our reliance upon our finite and flawed selves to an infinite and perfect divine source of power. Life becomes effortless and manageable - through a new Power that is not our own.

It is a Power that doesn't even originate within us but gains access through us - when we sit still for it.

Continue to watch for selfishness, 
dishonesty, resentment, and fear.

What of the terrible destructiveness that past stresses have had on us? A lifetime of cruelty - of "trespasses against us" - have already gotten inside; charging us with negative emotions, cropping up since the day we first drew breath.

The  physic intruder that has pried open our inner sanctum penetrating the psyche has also crawled in to feed itself to an ago that hungers for hate.

For that, we can use a Fourth Step inventory. It's simple. It's rudimentary. It works. Such an undertaking is a start toward comprehending the futility and fatality of resentment but it's a crucial beginning for many alcoholics.

It is surely not optional for those seeking a spiritual awaking through the Twelve Step method.

A completed Fourth Step inventory is a kickoff toward being free to love, which is to not hate. Tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies begins and we can grow - if only we awaken and remain awakened.

Steps Four through Nine get the ball rolling. Ten has its abecedarian place. Eleven, especially it's call for consciousness-improving meditation, gives open access to the breath of life - our daily bread.

Peace and  Love,

Danny S – RLRA

Real Live Recovered Alcoholic

http://recoveredalcoholic.blogspot.com

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