The Head Center

I heard a woman share the other night. The woman who shared spoke beautifully, with many graceful, sober years in her voice. I hadn't been to a speaker meeting in a pregnant stretch of time. Lately, I've been immersed in my work. I work in a treatment program, helping people overcome their addictions professionally. My clients, when they open their mouths, tie themselves in a knot. Perhaps they are tanged up in their lies; or perhaps, ensnared in their emotions.

As the woman shared, the contrast between what she was saying and what I've been listening to my clients say was stark. The woman's wreckage, her personal problems, her struggles, her fears ... these were yielded unabashedly, as matters-of-fact. She held the HOW. She demonstrated the honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness which we know as the essentials. She utterly got it done.

The word that popped into my mind was courage.

As the woman carried on, I was transfixed by her gaze. It pierced. The word that popped into my mind was courage. I heard a great definition of courage later in the same meeting, delivered in the negative. A friend of mine shared, "I once asked my sponsor, 'How shall I walk through the fear?' and he told me 'You shall walk through the fear afraid.'" This was what the woman had done to stay sober. It was what she had done a few minutes ago as she shared her story. She demonstrated the HOW.

"We beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start."

'nuf said -- iz