Practice – Day 5

July 23, 2020


It happened in my first year or two of sobriety. The old part of me took over, and I couldn’t think of one good reason in the world not to drink. I called a sponsor, a mentor in the program.

“You’re powerless over alcohol, and if you drink, your life becomes unmanageable,” said my sponsor, paraphrasing the First Step of Alcoholics Anonymous. “If you drink, you may either die, go to jail, or go insane. How’s that for a reason not to drink?”

“That’s a good enough reason for me,” I said.

Sometimes practicing a value means taking only a moment of our time to focus on that truth.

Action: You don’t have to overwhelm or overexert yourself. You don’t have to become fanatical or go to extremes. But instead of always allowing your thoughts and behaviors to be spontaneous and random, why not, at least occasionally, consciously focus on and practice a value instead?

From the book: 52 Weeks of Conscious Contact

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About the author

In addiction and recovery circles, Melody Beattie is a household name. She is the best-selling author of numerous books.

One of Melody's more recent titles is The Grief Club, which was published in 2006. This inspirational book gives the reader an inside look at the miraculous phenomenon that occurs after loss--the being welcomed into a new "club" of sorts, a circle of people who have lived through similar grief and pain, whether it be the loss of a child, a spouse, a career, or even one's youth.

For more information about Melody and her books, visit the author's official website