Friday 19 January 2007

Stuck In A Moment

"you can never get enough
Of what you don't really need"


Im not the words biggest U2 fan by any means. I respect what they do, and I like some of their stuff. I heard this song on the radio today. One lyric in particular really struck me .. the one above. It really rings true for me. I can never, ever, ever, get enough. I have heard alcoholism described as the disease of more .... that's also pretty true for me. My sponsor doesnt like to over analyse - he says "once an addict always an addict". However, I've also heard him talking about his (previous) attitiute - "one is good, two is better!" and that kind of makes me laugh as I SOOOOOOO understand that - particularly as a recovering valium addict.
So I went to this lecture yesterday; it was a free lecture by a treatment center in London. It was billed as a lecture on the relationship between sex addiction and chemical relapse, although actually it ended up being a pretty straight "nature of addition" lecture with a section on sex at the end. It was really good. He talked a lot about the relationship between recovery and reality.
The striking quote I took away was "If reality is your friend, your recovery is in good shape" (or words to that effect). I liked it, although I got a bit depressed because he was talking a lot about acceptance of mortality and death, and the fact that we seek oblivion (or a state of being oblivious) partly to ignore those realities. Yikes. Heavy stuff.
Well my girls are here tonight. Very happy about that. In their PJ's I gave them for Christmas. What I feel really happy about is that I KNOW that they feel safe and cosy here. How cool is that? Very, very grateful for that.
But back to the quote above - it is so true, in that that is what I can BELIEVE as an addict, although in reality the opposite it true. I need to have faith that I will get enough of what I need. I need to be able to differentiate and to want what I have before I start wanting things I dont really need ........

6 comments:

Meg Moran said...

"acceptance of mortality and death, and the fact that we seek oblivion (or a state of being oblivious) partly to ignore those realities." oh I don't know about all that...seems to me if these were REAL addicts/alcoholics giving that lecture they would know that we sought oblivion from the reality of LIFE!! Life on life's terms has always been my problem.

Faith that we will get enough of what we need is something we "Practice" baby steps, little victories, more will be revealed.

lash505 said...

how very true and welcome to you. pretty good huh

ArahMan7 said...

A friend of Meg Moran is a friend of mine too. Welcome!

Greeting from Malaysia.

Patrick said...

Very good, and so important to discern between wants and needs...

An Irish Friend of Bill said...

heheh. I m a shameless U2 fan. I know some people think they are utter shite, but it reallly works for me. I love that line too.

Recovery Road London said...

I'd like to have gone to that lecture. Sounds as though it could have been interesting.

Nice blog, btw.

Kenny
London