The Path

Walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist, remarkable things will happen. When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned. - Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 100

 

Reliance on God enables me to match calamity with serenity.
H E L P = His Ever-Loving Presence.

 I wanted to share the experience of how yoga and meditation have transformed my life, how they have enabled me to observe who I am, first in my body, and then emotionally, and on to a kind of spiritual path.
The spiritual path - is simply the journey of living our lives. Everyone is on a spiritual path; most people just don't know it.
I began by doing physical yoga, initially just for the workout, as exercise. I would get peaceful and calm at the end of it, and I was curious about that.
Self-Realization Fellowship seemed like training. It was the training ground for finding a sense of peace in me. Because that's my job. It's no one else's.

I wanted out of my pain and that silliness, but I wanted an easy out. That's before realizing that there is no easy out. Before accepting that you just have to do the work.

A lot of exercise is mindless; you can have music or the radio on and not be aware. But if you're aware in anything you do - and it doesn't have to be yoga - it changes you. Being present changes you.
Everybody needs a way out of that pain. Many people choose drugs and alcohol. Some people obsessively exercise or develop strange dietary habits, which is what I did. At least it got me toward a path of healthier living.

For me, first, it's finding quiet in my life - and I do that through yoga and meditation. It's also been a matter of changing the way I eat, because I think what we eat can inform who we are; food is a chemical and a drug to a certain extent.

I believe that everybody comes from pain and a certain amount of dysfunction. I was at the height of my career at the beginning. Then I had to jump down the ladder and climb back up again, which I didn't understand. That was very hard.

I don't take myself terribly seriously. It's why I can be incredibly honest about my life.
I got back into the position of taking care of my wife, which is what I'd learned that I couldn't really do: you can love and make things okay to a certain extent, but you can't fix. I didn't quite learn that until I came to CARE. It became so clear then.
I think that growth and spiritual awareness come in slow increments. Sometimes I don't know it's happening. I think we should be passionately curious about what we do.
We're taught to take care of people we love, but sometimes you can't.
The other thing is surrounding yourself with people that care for you. These are simple things, but they're powerful, and they've completely transformed who I am and how I perceive myself.
What I wasn't prepared for were the feelings of anxiety that it stirred in me. I wasn't prepared for the initial feeling of I don't want to have to do that again. I was scared.
Well, I was passionately curious about what my body was doing, and when I got the lessons on how to meditate, it seemed really solid to me. It seemed real.

Conquer the angry man by love.
Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness.
Conquer the miser with generosity.
Conquer the liar with truth."
Dharmapada
 

Peace

If a strong inner core of peace, patience, and contentment looks at all desirable to you, it can be had. Remind yourself once in a while that maybe "Easy Does It" is this day's ideal speed. The change can start right now, remember?
- Living Sober, p. 46

Happiness and peace of mind are always here, open and free to anyone.
P A U S E = Patience And Understandiing Succeed Every time.

Social Status no bar Disease

“If a person has cancer all are sorry for him…But not so with alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all things worthwhile in life…It brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad wives and parents…”
- Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcohol has plenty of romantic associations. The gold-and-scarlet glow of liquor advertisements, the fizz of the champagne opened by a victorious sportsman, the toast at a party or the thrill teenagers feel over a secret beer bash – they all make for the feel-good image of alcohol.

Many people drink socially, or occasionally, and are able to stop after a few drinks. It does not interfere with any other aspect of their life. But for some others who drink, things go awry.

We do not know for sure why some people are more susceptible to alcohol abuse than others. An alcoholic is not just the man in tatters, knocked flat on the road after a binge. Alcoholism is an age no bar, economic status/ social status no bar disease.

An alcoholic is one, whose drinking causes continuing problems in any area of his life (such as family relationships, job, financial status or health) and who continues to drink in spite of these problems because he has developed a physical and psychological dependence on alcohol.

Miracles

The practical answer is that since these things have happened among us,
they can happen with you. Should you wish them above all else, and be willing to make use of our experience, we are sure they will come. The age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 153.

" If "

Alcoholism respects no ifs. It does not go away, not for a week, for a day, or even for an hour, leaving us nonalcoholic and able to drink again
on some special occasion or for some extraordinary reason, not even if it is a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, or a big sorrow hits us, or if it rains in Spain or the stars fall on Alabama. Alcoholism is for us unconditional, with no exceptions at any price.
- Living Sober, p. 63

 If I don't drink today, I have the hope of a tomorrow. Don't give up before the miracle happens.

I'm venki, and I am an greatfull recovering alcoholic. I'm thinking about miracles. We are truly blessed in AA. Those of us who are members of AA get to hear about miracles almost daily. Amazing stories! And I carry a little piece of those stories in my heart now, all the time. 
From the depths of true despair most people never even see in a lifetime, to being joyful, happy and actually productive members of society that's what AA does for people. I have experienced some miracles in my life that I could not begin to explain away by any logical reasoning. I knew too even when I was in the middle of it, I was in the presence of something big, unfathomable, powerful, and completely safe and loving. I hate it when someone describes having seen a "burning bush," because my own was nothing like a vision, really. It was a deep, deep knowing. If you've ever experienced it, you'll know what I mean. There's no mistaking it; it's undeniable. But I see small miracles a lot in life, too. I've learned to stay awake and keep looking. Just sobering up for me was just such an experience. 
I sure didn't see sobriety coming. one day I slept out, as usual. Nothing really special had happened , just another drunk, another day, another grueling and hideous day of drinking. And that morning, I was stunned and wake up knowing that I'm sober. It's over. It wasn't a decision, or a "Gee, it's a dreem at the point of time i decided I should get help here." I just woke up and knew. I haven't had to have a drink since that morning. I don't pretend that experience is enough. I am an alcoholic, with all that goes with that. So, it's a daily program here for this gal. I know better than to think that my well-being doesn't need to be maintained. But during tha first year of sobriety, there were so many stressful challenges that my councilor  was afraid for me from time to time.  he used to say, "venkatash, things can change in a blink of an eye. Don't forget that." And really, how could I forget? After all, I was sober in a blink of an eye, too. My way of saying it is, "Don't count God out." We know so very little.
I created this section, the Miracle that is me, to tell my own story in life, which has become a miracle for me. It was meant in my mind to cover more my past that brought me to this point in life, and as I said in my introduction, that all of you should write your own stories of your journey in life and your personal miracles. I considered also creating a section to journal in from time to time, my daily experiences that have some sort of merit and teaching. I realize tonight I don’t need a separate section to journal in this manner, because my life is still being written, and the miracle that is me continues to grow personally. I have thought numerous times of journaling publicly, but usually I back off and plain forget, thinking sometimes maybe the story isn’t significant enough to share, but a growing life is about all the little things too.

Humility

As I thus get down to my right size and stature, my self-concern and importance become amusing. The faith grows that I do have a place on this Highway to Humility; that I can advance on it with deepening peace and confidence.
-The Language of the Heart, p. 259.

Learning is the very essence of humility; the two walk hand in hand.
O D A A T = One Day At A Time.


Hi everyone I’m Venki an Greatfull Recovering Alcoholic. Early on, I told my AA  friend  that going to meetings was a humbling Experience. He smiled back and said, “Well that is the whole purpose of AA!” It has taken 3 months for me to decipher his answer. 
It means to me now that the biggest problem I faced as an Alcoholic was my Oversized EGO. The Program ‘Right sizes it,' if you will. Now humility keeps me in check -- away from the first drink. What else does this program teach me? It teaches me to grow up emotionally and to finally become a responsible adult. That means no more childish behavior, no more being overly emotionally sensitive and, of course, no more grandiosity. I can't fix everything and everyone. Two wrongs do not make a right. I need to act responsibly according to each and every situation. No more lame excuses -- no more excuses, period.