Corking the Bottle

I stumbled across a series of podcasts today by the McShin Recovery Foundation ( https://mcshin.org/ ), which is posting recovery meetings online. The meetings are intended to reinforce sobriety against a backdrop of coronavirus and quarantines. A good place to start is news coverage of the nonprofit's online groups ( https://www.wtvr.com/heroes-among-us/help-available-for-addicts-in-quarantine-boredom-is-a-big-trigger?fbclid=IwAR2D8wP2TXXfGo0k7XlopRDBZ1quh9FTePz5F4g1W-Og_hYMsk_FguWE4Sc ). "During coronavirus, self-quarantining may be the best defense against the pandemic. But Nellie Guzman, who battled drug and alcohol addiction for five years, said isolation can be a recipe for relapse. "'The worst thing that can happen to you is that you think you're alone when you're not,' Guzman said. 'There are still doors that are open for you.'" According to another participant, "'An idle mind is a devil's mind. Boredom is a big tr...

"Meditation" used to be a scary word to me. I envisioned some bald-headed man sitting cross-legged on the floor chanting, "Ohmmm. Ohmmmm."Another lessoned learned in sobriety from A.A., counselors, and The Big Book is that I was meditating all along. I just didn't know it. To me, a quiet walk in the woods was calming. Years go, when I lived in Idaho, the highlight of my existence was going to the mountains to camp and hike. When I couldn't go to the mountains, I found contentment walking with my dog beyond my backyard to the sage-covered hillsides any time of year. The ravine there was the greatest quiet I ever didn't hear. Sometimes I thought about my higher power of the time and I even prayed. Some of those prayers were for myself, but at least I was praying. And unknowingly, I was meditating. These days I meditate in the quiet of my house, at A.A, before a meeting starts, and when I'm in the car. As Mark said at A.A. today, prayer is askin...