Easy Does It - JANUARY 16 BEING GRATEFUL

[lildee]

Easy Does It - JANUARY 16 BEING GRATEFUL

Two kinds of gratitude: the sudden kind we feel for what we take, the larger kind we feel for what we give. --"- -- -EA. Robinson

A wise man once said that gratitude is the "memory of the heart." Every person in a 12 Step Group rediscovers that "memory of the heart." The feeling of gratitude is found again in a fellowship of caring, sharing, friendship, and companionship that aims directly at recovery from whatever has possessed us. We are grateful, not only for escape from the torture of addiction, but for our freshened outlook on life as a whole.

We actually learn to be grateful for that addiction, for without it we would never have come to know the pure joy of getting clean and sober with those who understand because they are fellow sufferers wanting to stop suffering. That kind of gratitude goes beyond being thankful for the release from our addiction.

I have no reason for complaining "Why me?" for the pains unless I also exclaim "Why me!" in response to the many wonderful things that come to me in recovery.

[caressa]

A gentleman in my building was moaning the poor mes to me one day, and he stated the words, "Why me?" I looked at him and said, "Why not you?" He just looked at me, then started to laugh.

Just because we are in recovery doesn't make us exempt from life. Life doesn't always get better, but I do and that is indeed something to be grateful for.