Service is the best medicine…
I remember plummeting off the cozy pink cloud I was perched upon after reading inventory and making some amends. I felt euphoric and invincible… and then all of my spiritual tools began wearing off. Eventually, there was no buzz anymore. Time to learn how to live life without always feeling good. Time to learn how to work on myself for the sole purpose of staying sane. So that’s what I did. I wasn’t going to become a coward again. I wasn’t going to be ruled by fear. But despite the fact that I feel mundane and human, there is one thing that still works every time:
Helping others.
Every time I speak publicly at a meeting, school, sober house or hospital, I am filled again with a spiritual charge. It flows through me for several hours and I am reminded of this Power that exists beyond the scope of Self. Every time I sit down and take a sponsee through the Big Book, I am also filled with Spirit. The change is noticeable. You can see it in my face, in my red cheeks, in my eyes, in my posture. You can even hear it in my voice. When we go to speak or help someone, we tap into spiritual power… into GOD.
Why is that?
I suppose it’s because when we give, it gets us out of our heads and our normally selfish frame of mind. Acting selflessly prevents us from being selfish. You can’t constantly think about yourself when you are helping someone else. It’s somewhat of a miracle actually. Many times I have entered a room with horrible cold. Then I open my mouth. What happens? For that hour or so that I’m speaking and giving, my cold disappears. It leaves the room while I try to be of service to others. Then it returns as soon as I leave. What is that, short of a miracle? Ask your doctor to explain that within the parameters of medical science. How is it that my symptoms disappear entirely, only to reappear once I get back into my car… into my head?
Ignore something and it’ll go away. Ignore yourself and perhaps your self will go away.
I suppose it’s because when we give, it gets us out of our heads and our normally selfish frame of mind. Acting selflessly prevents us from being selfish. You can’t constantly think about yourself when you are helping someone else. It’s somewhat of a miracle actually. Many times I have entered a room with horrible cold. Then I open my mouth. What happens? For that hour or so that I’m speaking and giving, my cold disappears. It leaves the room while I try to be of service to others. Then it returns as soon as I leave. What is that, short of a miracle? Ask your doctor to explain that within the parameters of medical science. How is it that my symptoms disappear entirely, only to reappear once I get back into my car… into my head?
Ignore something and it’ll go away. Ignore yourself and perhaps your self will go away.
So even though I have landed back on planet earth and seven years have gone by since I was zapped by the power of God in the mountains of New Hampshire one night, serving others works every time. If I ever really start to lose it and need something to feel better, helping other alcoholics and drug addicts is the key. Helping anybody is the key. Giving is the silver bullet to feeling better.
God, teach me to be of greater service to others and to You…
God, teach me to be of greater service to others and to You…