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    Read The July 2000 Grapevine The Power of Pain

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    vivesur
    The article discusses how dealing with painful emotions and memories is an important part of sobriety. It describes two common but ultimately unhelpful ways that people try to avoid pain: being constantly busy as a distraction, or clinging to pain and wallowing in it. The most effective way is to face pain directly, share it with others, work the 12 steps, and accept it as part of life and growth rather than fighting it. As sobriety continues, deeper healing can occur through working the steps and letting the program work on one at deeper levels over time.

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    Read The July 2000 Grapevine The Power of Pain

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    vivesur
    19 views3 pages
    The article discusses how dealing with painful emotions and memories is an important part of sobriety. It describes two common but ultimately unhelpful ways that people try to avoid pain: being constantly busy as a distraction, or clinging to pain and wallowing in it. The most effective way is to face pain directly, share it with others, work the 12 steps, and accept it as part of life and growth rather than fighting it. As sobriety continues, deeper healing can occur through working the steps and letting the program work on one at deeper levels over time.

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    Read the July 2000 Grapevine The Power of Pain

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    Read the July 2000 Grapevine The Power of Pain

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    The article discusses how dealing with painful emotions and memories is an important part of sobriety. It describes two common but ultimately unhelpful ways that people try to avoid pain: being constantly busy as a distraction, or clinging to pain and wallowing in it. The most effective way is to face pain directly, share it with others, work the 12 steps, and accept it as part of life and growth rather than fighting it. As sobriety continues, deeper healing can occur through working the steps and letting the program work on one at deeper levels over time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    19 views3 pages

    Read The July 2000 Grapevine The Power of Pain

    Uploaded by

    vivesur
    The article discusses how dealing with painful emotions and memories is an important part of sobriety. It describes two common but ultimately unhelpful ways that people try to avoid pain: being constantly busy as a distraction, or clinging to pain and wallowing in it. The most effective way is to face pain directly, share it with others, work the 12 steps, and accept it as part of life and growth rather than fighting it. As sobriety continues, deeper healing can occur through working the steps and letting the program work on one at deeper levels over time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    12/18/22, 7:06 PM Read the July 2000 Grapevine Magazine article The Power of Pain

    CARRY THE MESSAGE PODCAST EPUB AA.ORG

    MAGAZINE ARCHIVE GET Search AA Grapevi


    STORE SUBSCR

    INVOLVED

    HOME // THE POWER OF PAIN

    JULY 2000

    The Power of Pain


    BY: SUSANNE P.
    | PT. PLEASANT, PENNSYLVANIA

    We all have painful emotions and memories to deal with when we get sober. Long-
    buried feelings surface, and we begin to see how much pain we caused ourselves and
    the people who cared about us.

    L Can we live with this pain? I am coming to believe that we can, if we allow pain to flow,
    neither clinging to it in a "Look-how-I-suffer" attitude, nor pushing it away with
    positive thinking, nor numbing it with various distractions. This is truly being in the
    moment, living in today.

    In my sobriety, I have used two well-worn ways of dealing with pain--or rather, keeping
    T it at bay. Initially these were effective, but as I grow their effectiveness fades. My first
    impulse is to push the pain away with activity. I get busy and do for myself and for
    others. I make impossible lists, I make the mundane urgent, and set myself up for
    exhaustion on every level. I turn into a human doing and set my being on a shelf
    above the place where the pain lies. I want to keep these sore spots a secret, even
    from myself. I bury the pain under a pile of chores, responsibilities, and
    everyday
    SHARE YOUR STORY
    busyness. I get things done, and do many good things, but the effort comes at a dear
    price. My serenity is shattered, and the heaviness of an untended heart weighs me
    d
    https://www.aagrapevine.org/magazine/2000/jul/power-pain 1/3
    12/18/22, 7:06 PM Read the July 2000 Grapevine Magazine article The Power of Pain
    down.

    My other strategy is at the other extreme: I wallow in the pain. I cling to it, wrapping it
    around me like a heavy blanket, using it to insulate myself and cut myself off from the
    rest of the world. "Oh, nobody knows how I suffer" is my refrain. Isolated, I tighten up,
    get self-righteous, and decide that it is time for me to get what I want. Then I get
    angry. At this point, I desperately need the AA program.

    I turn to another alcoholic and share the pain. And I pick up the most effective tools I
    know, the Steps. They remind me that an honest self-appraisal is necessary to
    emotional sobriety. I take the time to still my restless heart and mind and turn to my
    Higher Power. I look for the lesson or the gift that the pain is presenting to me. I open,
    as best I can, the painful place that my ego would rather avoid. Usually my mind is
    flooded with the circumstances that caused the pain, and I do my best to allow the
    feelings to be. I try to relax and let the light of love shine on those painful places.

    Occasionally, the pain is a heartfelt response to another person's suffering. But more
    often than not, I feel pain because I am not getting my way in my time. This is when I
    turn my heart and mind around with the simple prayer, "Thy will, not mine be done."
    These six words change everything. I sing them to myself until I am able to let go of
    my agenda and come back into the moment.

    Being in the moment doesn't change the situation or other people. It allows me to let
    the feelings flow. It deepens my trust in the process and the places my Higher Power
    leads me.

    We are told that we are never given more than we can handle. Early sobriety forced
    me to clean house and get my physical health in order. As time has gone by, the
    challenges have deepened and broadened. This past year has challenged me on every
    front--repeatedly. I have come face to face with the habits of being, doing, and relating
    that keep me from recognizing and reaching the dreams my heart holds. My spiritual
    advisor helped me discover the dreams that come from deep within. Below my
    addictive thinking, below my ego needs, below my expectations, is God's will for me. I
    believe that we come into the Fellowship broken beings and are offered a way of life
    that can heal us, all of us. I also believe that as our sober days add up, we begin to heal
    at increasingly deeper levels. Working the Steps lets the program work on us. Our

    mind and hearts are progressively freed of the habits of being that lead us into the pit
    of addiction, and we begin to realize the gifts of a sober life.

    https://www.aagrapevine.org/magazine/2000/jul/power-pain 2/3
    12/18/22, 7:06 PM Read the July 2000 Grapevine Magazine article The Power of Pain

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