Tao Te Ching - Chapter 16

16

Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.

Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.

If you don't realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kindhearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.

|...day 60/90 and I love them all again...through it all I have met the enemy and it is me.  While relieving myself in the gentlemen's room tonight I realized that the three most valuable lessons I've learned in that clubhouse have been in the bathroom.  To wit:

1. PROTECTO - Right there, over the John, is the potty cover dispenser (which the more jaded of us think we need to sanitize the podium), with the word "PROTECTO" etched on it.  That's what I need in my life - Protection.  Could  any of us do AA without God and the steps?  Maybe - even the Big Book does not lay claim to have a mortal lock on this.  But why would you want to do this without God's help?  Ouch - so painful.
2. "You're Looking at the Problem" - It's written right in the mirror. No argument there - I'm the guy on page 55.  Thank God AA has never turned me away.
3. 100% of 99% of The Conversations I Hear from The Back Yard Through the Window Are About Other People - My AA sponsor is right after all 'nothing good happens on the sidewalk'.  Gossip kills - If somebody is talking to you about someone else, odds are - you're next.

God bless us all, every one.  In the immortal words of 'Chicken Vinny' of the Sheepshead Bay Group in Brooklyn: I've never had it so good, and the best is yet to come.  Or put it another way "...love is in the middle".

COG, 1st Cl.|