Wait 5 minutes

In AA,  as in IKH (Integrated Kabbalistic Healing),   there are slogans or phrases which become part of the toolbox for living.    In the literal toolbox that many of us have,  there are "go-to"  tools,  the staples we minimally need and can use for many things:  a Phillips head screwdriver,  an Allen's wrench,   a good hammer.    There are parallels between the tools I have in my AA toolbox and my IKH one.   
AA:  One day at a time  =  IKH:  Be with what is.
AA:  More will be revealed = IKH:  Allow for the unfolding.
AA:  Keep it simple  =  IKH:   Look at what's here.

In my regular Tue night meeting,  there are a cast of characters,  literally from Yale to jail  (we have 1 member who went to Yale and several who spent time in jail !).   There's this gigantic dude,  a sage in disguise,  who sports wife-beater T's,  baggy gym shorts and slide sandals EVERY mtg and he offers up these incredible gems from time to time.   One such pearl is his shortened version of an AA slogan:   "Wait 5 minutes for the miracle."    The "miracle" part is the glitch,  so he suggested that we just try   "Wait 5 minutes".    Its benefits are like the Ginzu knife that touted it "slices, dices, julienne fries" !    When I practice this,   my obsessions are lifted,  my impulses dissipate,  my urgency slows its speed,  my ruffled feathers soften.   In IKH,  we learn about the "branches" (Sefirot)  of the tree of life that are in everything,  in all of us.  The "territory" of the tree that we're in when we need to practice "Wait 5 minutes"  is Yesod-Tiferet.   Yesod is about connection and when it's unhealed,  we want to connect to anything and everything.   Active alcoholics have extremely unhealed Yesod.  We don't know how to make connection -- to people, to ourselves, to our feelings and we want to escape and avoid anything that remotely has a whiff of intimacy or pain.   In our alcoholism,  we connect with the bottle.  It is our only love.   Our best friend.   Our sole companion.   It doesn't engage us or talk back or judge.  When we do connect outwardly,  we are promiscuous,  socially inappropriate and obnoxious.   When we put down the drink,  we may still be all of these things and we have to learn how to connect out in the world.   We may not be able to tolerate aloneness,  we may fear abandonment,  we may feel overhwhelmed by intense feelings.   "Wait 5 minutes"  is about the branch on the tree that informs Yesod -- Tiferet.   Tiferet is our wise sage within.   Tiferet guides us about how to stay with ourselves and when to connect in healthy ways so that we're not trying to be rescued or saved.   "Wait 5 minutes"  does that.   It's so simple & so powerful.   There is no problem so great or so overpowering that can't be minimized a bit by just waiting 5 minutes.   And that,  is the miracle.