alcoholrehabcoach
11-06-2009, 11:12 AM
Here is a problem I have seen with many alcoholics. They are afraid of their own thoughts.
To me, if someone is afraid of their own thoughts, it tells me they are not really in control of them.
Their experience tells them that if they have a certain thought, they are somehow compelled to act upon it. And so they feel afraid.
My experience tells me that just because I have a thought, it doesn't mean I have to "own" it. It doesn't become "my" thought until I decide to give it merit. If I know I am not compelled to accept and act upon the thought, then I am safe enough to consider it and see what I might learn.
This way, I am free to hear all kinds of different thoughts - other people's and my own -without necessarily being affected by them. And so I feel empowered.
You have this ability, too.
For example, if you are driving down the road and you see an advertisement for car insurance, somebody else's thought has now been put into your head. But you don't automatically decide to purchase it. If it seems important enough, you hang on to that thought for later and maybe even act upon it. If not, you immediately dismiss it.
Here's the thing...
You can do that with any thought! You don't have to own any thought, feeling or belief unless you know it serves you!
So if your fear is serving you, great! If you have the thought that "AA is the best way for me" or "My way is a combination of different things" or "I don't have any other choice" or "Mike is a dangerous crackpot", then who is anybody else to judge!
Only YOU know what you are thinking! And only you can decide which thoughts are your own, and which thoughts have been put into your head by other people, for reasons of their own.
If you are still afraid of what you might think or do, then I applaud your efforts to find the Mind that you have lost, to heal the Body you have abused, and to recover the Spirit that is the truth of who you really are.
To me, if someone is afraid of their own thoughts, it tells me they are not really in control of them.
Their experience tells them that if they have a certain thought, they are somehow compelled to act upon it. And so they feel afraid.
My experience tells me that just because I have a thought, it doesn't mean I have to "own" it. It doesn't become "my" thought until I decide to give it merit. If I know I am not compelled to accept and act upon the thought, then I am safe enough to consider it and see what I might learn.
This way, I am free to hear all kinds of different thoughts - other people's and my own -without necessarily being affected by them. And so I feel empowered.
You have this ability, too.
For example, if you are driving down the road and you see an advertisement for car insurance, somebody else's thought has now been put into your head. But you don't automatically decide to purchase it. If it seems important enough, you hang on to that thought for later and maybe even act upon it. If not, you immediately dismiss it.
Here's the thing...
You can do that with any thought! You don't have to own any thought, feeling or belief unless you know it serves you!
So if your fear is serving you, great! If you have the thought that "AA is the best way for me" or "My way is a combination of different things" or "I don't have any other choice" or "Mike is a dangerous crackpot", then who is anybody else to judge!
Only YOU know what you are thinking! And only you can decide which thoughts are your own, and which thoughts have been put into your head by other people, for reasons of their own.
If you are still afraid of what you might think or do, then I applaud your efforts to find the Mind that you have lost, to heal the Body you have abused, and to recover the Spirit that is the truth of who you really are.