Category Archives: living

Trust Your Gut – Part 2

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Intuition vs. Logic

“I believe in intuition and inspiration. At times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason why.” Do you know who said that? It was none other than Albert Einstein.

 “Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect.” Any guesses? It was Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs.

Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs both attributed their extraordinary success to this personality trait of listening to their intuition. They have both been stated saying “it has never let me down.”

The article linked below was written with personal defense in mind. At first it might not seem germane to recovery — but think about it! What’s more pertinent to the recovery process than personal defense? Surely no one else is going to do it for us — keep us out of slippery places, warn us of situations or thinking that might lead us down the wrong path, give us that feeling between our shoulder blades that lets us know that we’re maybe in something that’s over our heads?

As I wrote in the previous post, our gut is one of our most powerful tools, if we listen to what it’s trying to tell us. But addicts seem to be more interested in what we want to do (I want, I want, I WANT!), rather than paying attention to creepy feelings. The remarks in the article below can (and do) easily apply to many issues in our lives, from the urge to tell that fib to the feeling that someone may have messed with our drink. Read it and think about all the possible applications of “gut feelings.”

Oh…and don’t let the source of the article offend you. Shooting messengers is almost never good policy.

https://tinyurl.com/2fxpdt6q

Appalachian Trail

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I was thinking about hiking the Appalachian trail. In the summertime there’s so much foliage that you can’t see more than just a few tens of feet. For most of the hike, there’s really not much  to see but leaves. But every now and then you come to an opening and you look out across the vista of the mountains and all kinds of peace and inspiration, and that’s why people hike the trail. They don’t do it just for the misery of going up and down mountains, they do it because every now and then you get that Easter egg that makes it all worthwhile.

It’s that way with recovery. Just as hikers, over time, learn the trails that work for them best – –  the ones that take them to the places they find most inspirational, so do people in recovery discover places to go, things to do, and ways to be that fit us as recovering people and make it more likely that we’ll run into those beautiful vistas from time to time. Not all the time, but it’s worth it when you find them.
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That’s why they call it “trudging the road of Happy destiny.”

Do you want to be right, or would you rather be happy?

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Resentments are the poison that we drink, and then wait for the other person to die.
– Anonymous

Some of the truest words you’ll ever read.

Think about it.  Think about that terrible thing that (insert name here) did to you back in the long-ago.  Think about how bad it made you feel.  Think about how you’d like to get back at (**),  how you’d like to tell them off in words that would make them shrivel and leave them with nothing at all to say.

How often do those thoughts come into your head?  Once a week?  Once a day?


  Whenever you think of that person?  Whenever you do something that reminds you of them?  Whenever their name comes up in conversation?  Whenever you’re just feeling sorry for yourself and want to feel better by reminding yourself how terrible someone else is?

I thought so.

Now, while you’re making yourself miserable thinking about how you’ve been wronged, what do you think (insert name here) is doing?  Do you think she’s spending her time thinking about the subject?  Do you figure they think about it at all?  If you confronted him, would he even remember the incident? Would he remember it the same way you do?


See, the thing is, renting out space in your head to that person, that incident, that resentment, hurts nobody but you (and the people you inflict it on from time to time).  You’re the one whose stomach is boiling, who gets all tense, who drinks the poison that is meant for that other person.  They will never taste it, but you will taste it as long as you keep holding that poisoned cup.

So deal with it.  It’s your problem and your misery.  It’s only hurting you.  That s.o.b. is oblivious, and would probably think you were hallucinating if you brought it up.

It’s up to you whether or not you pick up that cup again.  Do you want to be righteous, or do you want to be happy?