Save The Condolences

Some upon hearing I'm a substance abuse counselor

express their condolences.

The stereotype of the addict as hard, hostile and hopeless

is not without grounds.

Until the moment of truth and the great reversal,

it's hard imagining anyone more obnoxious and obstructive,

more bent on the self-destructive.

But truth and reversal can and do occur

and with such pitch of drama and discovery of wings

that apparent grueling job becomes work that sings.

Save the condolences.

Down to Basics

AA gets down to basics.

Wham bang, you're down and out (or so it seems)

but if you're alive you've still got a prayer.

Across the universe from wounds to healing there's

honest-to-God a way

but not without "working a spiritual program":

admitting need,

surrendering control,

reaching out,

getting honest,

risking trust,

releasing resentments,

practicing discipline,

cultivating gratitude,

learning patience,

tasting Power,

and finally discovering the magnitude of service:

the secret making the universe sing

that to keep it you have to give it away.

Thank God for wham bang and you're down

if it gets you down to basics.

Two Things Necessary

Two things necessary to break an addiction:

sufficient pain to motivate change

and life-dream to follow.

Without the pain

memory of good times will entice back;

without the dream

life will languish around an empty hole--

what good is freedom

without the energy and pull of a dream?

Essential to find a yes

if to keep saying no.

Workshop for Grieving

Think of AA as a grief workshop.

Each stage in the process of grieving is permitted

voice here--

denial and bargaining

through anger and depression

all the way to serenity's healing.

Each attending is extracting meaning from pain--

turning profound loss into awesome gain.l

Improbable Grace

It's not a matter of being done with wounds

for life keeps wounding,

but rather of allowing them when they come

not only to carry us toward healing

but wondrously to transform us into healers

thanks to the wholly improbable grace of the

original wounding.