By Paul B
When I was a child, my mother had a framed picture of a cartoon of a barefoot man with a caption quote: “I was sad that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.” When I was drinking and using drugs I had become so pessimistic and angry at the world that I would curse God, occasionally even shouting at the sky: “why are you doing this to me?!”
I finally had the thought that all of the bad things I am experiencing are a consequence of my drinking/purging and/or God’s way of telling me I need to get sober. I have since come to believe that if I focus on the negative, am angry or fearful then I get a lot of the same back.
If I focus on gratitude, love and faith…
Now I start every morning with the serenity third step and seventh step 11 step prayer followed by a prayer of gratitude:
That I woke up healthy
I have clean water to drink
clean air to breathe
Food to eat
A roof over my head
Bed to sleep on
Clean clothes to wear
Friends and Meetings to go to my recovery
Thank you for doing this for me. May I continue never to forget when I didn’t have these things.
