Contentment

Today I am grateful for recovery friends and their genuine honesty. I am also grateful for the young people I get to work with and the energy they have.

Last evening, a close recovery friend and I were talking about being content with life, how we actually know what that feels like. We found contentment after being at dis-ease for years, and drinking to dull the sharp and painful edges of our feelings and thoughts.

We have known contentment and lost it, time and again, in recovery. It is the nature of our disease. The good news is we know where to find it back, how to return to some peace and serenity.

Being content with our lives and ourselves are gifts beyond measure, gifts that once seemed impossible to understand or attain.

Getting physically sober was just the first step in finding contentment. Wreckage needed to be cleared away. Emotions needed to be fully felt. Consequences needed to be faced. A new life, free of dangerous thinking and drinking, needed to be built.

Daily, we get to keep clearing, feeling, facing. Living gratefully helps me do all of those with more clarity and humility. As humans, we sometimes show our best selves. And sometimes show our worst selves, driven by selfishness and ego.

The way back to contentment is forged along a path of gratitude. It paves the way for forgiveness of self and others. It puts out the fires of self-pity, self-hatred and resentments.

When I seek gratitude, I find contentment. Thank you to my friend for reminding me of that, and using the word "content." It is inspiring me as I head into the new day. Onward!