Starting my day

After 18 years in the AA program, finally I heard in a meeting about page 86 in the Big Book "Alcoholic Anonymous". How many times had it been said before and I never really heard it? The "On awakening".  Who knows?

When I first came to AA, I went to a small group. There were only four of us.  Charity V. and her husband Johnny V., Floyd S., and me.  Sometimes Bruce and Pat R. visited.  That was it.   Charity was my sponsor and had close to 23 years of sobriety under her belt. She was a real blessing to me. She kept telling me to read the Big Book. So I did. I read the stories. They were great. Over and over I read the stories. She said, "work the steps". I didn't understand how to do that.  How do you work something that is spiritual?

She told me that every morning, if I'm alive, I get to make a choice.  She said to start my day by praying to my Higher Power.

The first assignment she ever gave me was to write a list of gratitude.  Gratitude?  What was that? She said it was whatever I was grateful for.  Hmm. I could do that. It sounded easy.  And it was until I sat down with a piece of paper and pencil then tried to write 10 things I was grateful for.

Oh my gosh, I could not think of one thing. So I called her and asked her to help me. Give me an example.  She said things like:  the sunrise, the air you breathe, food to eat, etc.  So that's where I started. Every day I made a list of 10 things I was grateful for. When it got boring to do this I began to make sure I didn't repeat the same list over and over. I tried to think of different blessings.  When I did the assignment, without fail, I felt better!

It still does...if I'm willing to do it.