This chapter from my book contains a set of tips and exercises designed to help the person who wants to stop using addictive substances to move across the gap from contemplation to action. They include visualization, laughter, self-forgiveness, reframing, exercise, and other attitude-builders. I wrote a 900-word excerpt for the paper.
The editors took some minor liberties with the chapter. They took the sentence, "Becoming drug or alcohol-free can exhilarate you and enable you to accomplish great things in life," and added the phrase "... and perhaps, more importantly, give you gratitude and humility, two spiritual qualities hard to find in most people."
OK, I may not be the most original writer in the world. But I try not to stoop to moth-eaten cliches like "gratitude and humility." But it's good to have the article in the paper, with a plug for the book, and a plug for the two LifeRing meetings in Long Island; and I guess there's a small price to pay for that. I am humbly grateful.
1 comment:
yeah, that editorial addendum would leave me with a sour taste in my mouth as well.
strange -- these words / sentiments ('gratitude', 'humility') are actually things that i find of great worth if i'm allowed to think about them outside the context of 'recovery'. but after 6 grueling, utterly fruitless years of AA they feel like acid on my tongue -- like i'm one of the surviving troops from "the manchurian candidate" mouthing the mantra implanted into my head by those nasty communist scientists.
i don't know how many times i've posted this or how many boards, but one of the most pernicious aspects of the 12X12 experience is how it willfully distorts plain language.
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