The Dark and Bright Sides of Confusion

Today I am grateful for good medical care available to us and for health insurance. I am also grateful
for my boys--Darcy, Sam, and Oliver.

The speaker I heard Thursday evening made a very valid point about the state of confusion. It is where learning starts. It is in our confusion that we seek answers, that we continue to try.  As he made the point with his audience the other night, we adults were once confused by simple tasks like tying our shoes and zipping zippers.

I don't know about you, but there has been plenty of confusion for me as I first got used to a new phone or laptop. We wouldn't want to dwell in confusion all the time, but it serves a crucial purpose.
It motivates us to figure things out and try different ways.  It clarifies what our purpose or goal really is and how hard we are willing to work to get there.

One place in my life that is a good example of confusion reigning and then some sense of order arriving is in my recovery from alcoholism. In my drinking days, I had much confusion about how to stop drinking and if it was even possible for me to do so. Confusion about how to stop the dangerous thinking, how to rein in the toxic emotions, how to exist without my trusty escape into oblivion from time to time.

I know with certainty today that recovery is a daily process. I have less confusion and more focus when I take daily actions and seek daily help to deal with the cunning nature of addiction.

Consider a place in your own life where confusion is flaring up. Walking away doesn't bring understanding any closer. Walking into it and through it is what brings clarity.

That takes time and it takes pushing ourselves beyond where we have pushed ourselves before. But if we only existed in our comfort zones, we would really short ourselves on moving from the dark side of confusion into the light of a clearer path.

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