Corking the Bottle

The covid-19 scare is accompanied by our old nemesis, stress. I used to deal with stress by drinking. And then drinking some more. That didn't work very well for me (Understatement!). If it works for you I'm thinking that you wouldn't be reading this blog. I recently finished Sacred Rest by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith. Searching the internet for more pearls of wisdom I came across an entire clam bed. Today I want to take you to her 10 steps for dealing with stress: In our desperation to cope with stress, we often turn to unhealthy quick fixes, whether it’s binge eating, drinking or smoking.  However, there are healthy ways to lower stress levels and most of them don’t require much time, money or expertise.  Chronic stress has been linked to a variety of lifestyle diseases, including heart disease and diabetes, which is why it cannot be ignored. 1. Meditation If you can look past some of the pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo surrounding meditation, you’ll be pleasantly sur...

I found this in my notes about character defects that I wrote down four years ago. Don't take credit for the good or blame for the bad. Learn from the bad and change it; build on the good. Don't look back. You can only change the present, never the past. Satchel Paige said it better: "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." Stay in the now. I've written before about mindfulness and how important it is in my struggles against character defects. Look here for some tips about mindfulness, living in the moment.    https://www.wikihow.com/Live-in-the-Moment

Size is a relative thing. So is temperature. So, too, are age and time. Do you realize this year's freshman class in college largely wasn't born when Y2K arrived? I have season tickets to University of Louisville women's basketball. Literally -- don't laugh -- I wear shirts older than anyone on the team. After I left the world of newspapers, I worked for six companies. None of them exist any more. I was 50 when the last of those companies was bought out and I lost my job. I tutored and worked as a communications consultant (until that consulting firm was bought out and moved to Denver), but -- literally again -- I was, in effect, retired, like it or not. I had a couple job interviews, but nothing came from them. That's about the time my drinking got out of hand. My life was changing in ways I hadn't planned. For the first time, I lost most of the control in my life. I saw that the only thing that never changes is change. Then I found security with ...

It was easy for me to quit drinking. All I had to do was commit to quit tomorrow, then pour another beverage. Unfortunately, tomorrows kept coming. The good news was I could keep on drinking today. There will be another tomorrow and I will quit then. Promise. Mindfulness is all about paying attention to here and now. We can't change the past or the future. Great! I will drink in the here and now and tomorrow I will quit drinking for always. Obviously there are more holes in this thinking than there are in a doughnut shop. Quit today. Now. That's what mindfulness is. Live in the moment, and the time to quit is right now . In this moment. Then do the same thing tomorrow and for the next 9,999 tomorrows. "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. He is rich who owns the day and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety...."      --Ralph Waldo Emerson

My niece referred me to a website written by a recovering alcoholic she used to work with in Philadelphia. I feel moved to share with you a segment from her blog: And it’s funny; I think that when the fog starts to lift from your brain and you don’t have anything to reach for to dull your senses whenever you’re feeling uncomfortable, you open yourself up to these little amazing moments because you notice things you didn’t notice before. You’re more present in the moment — which is a miracle in itself. It’s a bit of a challenge when everything you notice makes you want to  cry,  but I’m told the emotional instability stuff will calm down the farther I get into sobriety.   https://jenwielgusjournalism.blog/2019/09/15/miracles/ I'm reminded of a Ralph Waldo Emerson quotation I pasted in my notebook when I took a mindfulness workshop last year:      Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.      He is rich ...

Today I finished a four-part series about mindfulness. The leaders define mindfulness as "Paying attention here and now with kindness and curiosity and then choosing your behavior." The messages in the class led me places I have already been trying to reach as I maintain sobriety. Staying sober means so much more than not drinking. For me, it has spirited me to finding a new me. It is avoiding negativity and depression and embracing joy through my higher power I call God. This poem handed to us today is a perfect description of my addiction and relapse. Have you reached Chapter Five with me? There's a Hole in My Sidewalk Autobiography in Five Short Chapters By Portia Nelson       Chapter One I Walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost ... I am helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes forever to find a way out. Chapter Two I Walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend that I don't ...

Mindfulness is a tool I keep practicing to keep myself sober. I began drinking too much because memories of my wonderful past life had changed. Those good times were gone forever, forcing me to lay out a revised road map for my future life. Sadly, I felt better when I drank. Then I came to learn that mindfulness is something I need. Mindfulness, in part, is paying attention to the present and finding contentment there. A Harvard study found the average person's mind is wandering 47% of the time. That means almost half of our lives is missing. Transformation to being mindful can't be achieved by sheer willpower. It requires focus, meditation, and practice. Practice, practice, practice. What you practice grows stronger. Mindfulness strengthens our immune system, decreases stress, and helps us sleep better. When I drank, I was fighting all the positive things that should have been happening in my mind and body. I came to feel ashamed of myself. I thought, no big deal. I'...