Happy Joyous and Free

The secret to a happy, joyous and free life...

On page 53 in the Big Book it states “God wants us to be happy, joyous and free”. It further states on the same page “our misery is of our own making”. In the Buddhist teachings the primary purpose is to relieve suffering. Buddha teaches that all our misery and suffering can be traced to our inability to deal with reality. I create my on misery by thinking of some negative past event, and use that event to punish myself in the present moment. I can also predict the future in the same way bringing misery into the present.

The secret to success is to stay in the present moment. When my thinking strays into the past, seeking out those negative events, I must stop, say a little prayer, does not matter what prayer, and be grateful for the here and now. The same goes for projecting into the future.

Everything is a thought. Nothing happens unless it is preceded by a thought. Without thought, life would be completely blank. There would be no sun, no sky, no day or no night. Everything takes place within my little world, inside my mind. It is how I perceive the event that makes it joyous or miserable. I am responsible for my own happiness and my happiness centers in my mind and only in the present moment.

Start today by practicing being in the moment. Over time you will find that your outlook on life will change, the suffering will cease and the promise from the Big Book that God wants us to be happy, joyous and free will come true in your life as it has in mine.

John L
Citrus County, Florida 2009

Recovered versus Cured

I was at a meeting the other night and the question came up, "what is the real difference between Recovered and Cured." When I first thought about it, I 't have an answer. At least none that made sense. I said a simple little prayer, "God what is the answer?" and about 30 seconds later the answer came as a thought and it wasn't anything that came from me.

"Recovered means removal of the symptoms"
"Cured means removal of the cause"

I know that the cause is alcoholism and it is never removed but the symptoms such as, greed, lust, self centered, envy, fear and others can be removed or at least put in there proper place.

This is only the opinion of one alcoholic.

Published October 09, Nature Coast Journal