Topic for the week: Spirituality, love and tolerance from pg. 83-84 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous
I’ve been spending a lot of time in the big book and these two sentences jumped out at me for a topic this week.
“The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it.”
“Love and tolerance of others is our code.”
The pandemic has brought with it a lot of ups and downs. Some of you may be looking at your community starting to open up. That may be accompanied with positive or negative emotions. Here in Indonesia, we just found out that it seems we will be closed for a lot longer. As an owner of two brand new small businesses, I’m experiencing a lot of fear and intolerance.
So, my questions are:
How do you live your spirituality and how has it changed during the pandemic? What do you do to build tolerance so that you can move towards serenity in the midst of difficult situations?
- For me, I am doing my best with my spiritual practice. It’s not pretty sometimes. I’m conversing with my higher power. Sometimes I talk, sometimes I listen, sometimes I write, sometimes I cry, sometimes I yell. One of my character defects is to turn my back and ignore my higher power (take control) so I’m paying attention to that.
- I’ve been loving AA zoom meetings and the amazing amount of free meditations and podcasts that are out right now
- I remind myself that I’m not the only small business owner who is suffering.
- I remind myself that feeling grief right now is natural and just because others around me are not showing grief, I’m not alone
- I am studying the Indonesian language even as I grapple with not wanting to live here
- I am being of service to other alcoholics in and out of the rooms
I look forward to hearing your experience, strength and hope.