The simplicity of recovery ...

My sponsor is an AA crone.   And I say this with incredible respect and love.   She is wise like a tribal elder who has witnessed a lot and taken many mental notes.   What I learned from her today,  as I shared with her this morning about the manifestation of my fears from my shadow self place,  is that the program of recovery is a very simple one.   It does not have to be complex or elaborate.    Kind of like the slogans that I love most:   "Let go and let God"   or  "Easy does it"  or  "One day at a time".    Today's gem was doing a 3rd step,  by the simple act of writing a few words on an index card,   lighting a candle,  and turning everything over to G-d to take care of.    Here is the documentation below of this ritual:

Not too long after I did this,  there was a "lifting"  and it was understood that G-d had removed what I offered up.   I sang in the shower today.   It was a favorite negun of my Kabbalistic teacher,  Jason.    "Unlock my heart,  oh G-d,   unlock my mind.   Unlock my spirit too,  I give it all to you."     This too is Step 3.   In its utterly magnificent simplicity.

At my AA meeting tonight,  we read Bill's story,  the opening of the Big Book.  Another story in simplicity.   From these humble,  meager beginnings,  a program for living and a fellowship that extends around the globe was birthed.   I am always in deep awe reading his story.  

In the wounding of my history and the stories I can create in my head,   I will stray quickly from things being profoundly simple to creating total complication and chaos.   My sponsor calls this:  "making Taj Mahal from a paper clip!"    while my healer has made the statement: "making a buffet from a scrap".     There is another great phrase said in AA:  "Keep it simple."    It's taken me awhile to get it.  My sponsor said to me today that I don't have to always think about everything like a professor.   How true !    And, how humbling.

Back in the early days with Bill and Dr. Bob,  simplicity was the guiding principle.  Not to mention,  there was nothing else to compare it to.  They began from scratch, borrowing from the teachings of Christianity.  My favorite lines in his story are these:  "It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself.  Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning."   Old-timers in the program often say:  "Stick with the basics."    It is their way of reminding us all,  just like Bill and Dr. Bob,  about keeping things simple.

"If you let go a little,  you have a little peace.

If you let go a lot,  you have a lot of peace.

If you let go absolutely,  you have absolute peace."

A simple Buddhist teaching,  that can be extended to recovery.   I just heard this today.

The simpler I keep my recovery program,  the easier my life is.   

As my sponsor says at the end of nearly every conversation:  "And there you have it, my dear."