By Reverend Leo Booth

Over the years I’ve said it is important to know that sobriety is a development from a spiritual foundation.
It requires us to see the world the way it is, rather than how we want it to be.

Spirituality is reality.

We know the world is in a recession, businesses are filing bankruptcy, people are losing jobs, the stock market is crazy and banks are wobbly. Doesn’t this sound terrible?

Anybody could be excused for being pessimistic or depressed. I want to claim and affirm optimism — indeed opportunities abound in the darkest of times, and being sober gives us an added advantage. Spiritual sobriety gives us a creative edge!
What can we do right now to affirm our optimism and create an amazing and successful sobriety?

We create our reality

Things do not just happen in life, they happen because people make things happen. Sobriety is a word alcoholics and drug addicts have claimed for themselves, but it has a powerful meaning for everyone. A sober person is living a life of balance, they don’t compulsively react to situations, and are not obsessing over every little thing that happens. The sober person has embraced a life of equanimity.

How is this accomplished? Many of us go to meetings regularly. We share, listen and get a sense of perspective, calming our stress level because we know God’s powerful energy is available to us. I can’t tell you how often people have said before a 12 step meeting they were feeling anxious or depressed, and after, they’re ready to face the day.

It is important to have some healthy sayings to fall back on too. For example, suffering is optional. The power of choice is important in living the spiritual life, and how we approach life’s turmoils. It can affect our level of suffering.

Self care

I know many people who take retreats each year as a time to review every aspect of their life. Whether we take a few hours, days, weeks or more, sometimes we just need time to reconnect on a deeper level with our Higher Power.
Recently I’ve been talking about a religious co-dependency that seems to expect

God to do everything for us, fix every challenge.

We must not forget God’s love is a healthy. We have been given the freedom to create or destroy, smile or growl, remain lazy or make a healthy decisions. Lately, I’ve been practicing a type of prayer that includes me in the petition:
“God, I am making a concerned effort to create a healthy and balanced life. With You as my partner in life I am becoming successful, one day at a time.” Amen.

This prayer seems healthier than asking God to do things for me and it confronts the religious co-dependency I was raised with.

Optimism is contagious

In recovery it’s important to be around people who are not only happy, but supportive.

The ones who encourage us to think outside the box. We need to surround ourselves with those who nurture us, saying ‘go for it’…you can always return if it doesn’t work out.

The very fact that we’re sober tells the world we are winners. Nothing that happens to us today can ever be as bad as the prison of alcoholism.

Reprinted with permission from California Together Newspaper.