Altered Attitudes

0:00One or seven. One in the cover of people everywhere. One in the mesh, one in God. Hope everyone's well. It is September 6th from Opened Tools within. Live one day at a time. Do not try and rush ahead making arrangements for tomorrow. For tomorrow may never come. Enjoy today to the full. Enjoy it as you'll fit where you're lost. Do all the wonderful things you've long to do. Not recklessly or thoughtlessly, but with real joy. Be like a small child who takes no thought for tomorrow. And has forgotten what happened yesterday. But just live as if the only time that matters is now. The now is the most exciting time you've ever known. So do not miss the second of it. Live on the tips of your toes, ready for anything to happen at any moment. When you live this way, you are ready and open for anything that may take place.

1:05Changes will come and they will come quickly. Lift up your heart in deep gratitude as they come along one by one. Always see the very best in every change that takes place. Day at a time. It helps in the early recovery, doesn't it? To just think of today, enjoy today. Just live one day at a time. So you're not. I remember like all the questions I had. You know, what am I going to do when I get to New Zealand? What am I going to do when I get to Christmas? Or what am I going to do at a wedding? And by the time I got to those things, the problem was solved. I didn't want to drink. I didn't want to go out, discovered that I only went to ask, I like drinking.

2:06So it's really good in early recovery. Just today. You know, read the just for today, God. You're just going to do something for today. You're not going to drink today. That's all you have to think about. And then everything else will fall into place. And as I said, it did for me. And not I mean, we do have to several plans, certainly, and stay in Stantley. Of course, we're trying to decide whether to go to our convention or not before we started in this broadcast. You know, it's really hard. You want to make a decision in advance? I think that you have to the day, because at the moment, I'm getting on the plane. Yes. Or, you know, anything I'm interested in, people. But I think that idea of being in the moment, you know,

3:07that I'm not always in my head. Shall I chant? I shall I chant? You know, that constant monkey mind. It's like there's a line in the book, isn't there? Sometimes about the trees. The roots and the... A few. Sometimes if you miss the tree, focus on the tree, you don't see the... I can't remember all the trees. You can't see the roots for the trees. That's the one. It's nice to have someone to look forward to. You know, sometimes they're looking forward to the thing is the bass part. And I'm thinking, it's slightly disqualified to do a bit of an anti-flamax. And now, you know, I'm looking forward to the campaign next week.

4:11And today, I'm looking forward to, you know, going on my annual fishing trip in two weeks. You know, it's sort of like today is a bit better because of your thing's plan. You know, absolutely nothing planned. Today's a wee bit of lessons. I couldn't have that. But people then, you know, the zen thing is lower your expectations of your trips away. Just take each day as it comes. Go with the flow. You might not even make tomorrow. I don't want to expect to catch any first. That's great. I want you to give them, you know, call one last year. I want you to know if five blood to catch a fish.

5:11If they kill us, we'll summon. That's okay. And the words is quite low, isn't it? Well, it's been about reading. So, you know, they can change work quickly. And there's anonymous. But the river is so beautiful. You know, it's like the scenery. It's very quiet. There are, you know, it's just lovely nature. And that's pretty much guaranteed. Yeah. What have we got indeed? The thing is, I think it's not done around the past. You know, as I'll call it, it's an addicts. You know, we've got regret. It's about the past. You know, and if it says, you know, the promise is we will not regret the past. Nor was to cause a dull runner. And then you know, you know, you know, you're not going to regret it. That's the trick you want. I do regret. I have regrets about the dwell on them. You know, because if you're just sitting in the present regret in the past.

6:14You're peluting the present. Where I, as if you've got things that you've got planned. You're looking forward to that enhances the present. That's. That's what we're going to do. We'll fear what's coming. So there's that they are stuck in the future. Fear. And it hasn't happened yet. You know, fear losing someone. They fear it. They're just in a state of fear. And we've got a program. To deal with the wreckage of our past. And fearing the future. Future. Is. Yeah, it's all one foot in the past. The one foot in the future. You're in the present. Yeah. So trying not to. That's why they say, you know, give your fears over to, you know, turn your will over. If you're fear. So don't think about. Don't be fearful of the future. Don't regret the past. Remember the good parts of the past.

7:15And look forward to the good things in the future. And also. When you do go back into the past. You can just see them as learning curves. You know, you have to make mistakes in order to grow. So, you know, it. It's a lesson. Yeah. You know, for your growth. And you know, if I hadn't become an alcoholic and I wouldn't be. In doing what I'm doing now, so. You've got to. See almost. OK, everything happens for a reason. And I think the most crucial bit is learning from your mistakes and not repeating it. Because I was just on repeat when I was drinking. I was just repeat repeat repeat. Whereas now, if I make a mistake in recovery, I can make a mistake, like I say, I'm really sorry. I've actually said something there that has halved you, I'm really sorry about that.

8:16What done is something that's been dishonest and you know, do my step. So what um, Anyways, step away on six. Sure. There's a bit of sin in the bottom. Okay. If we ask God will certainly forgive our derelictions, but in no case does he render us white as snow and keep us that way without our cooperation. That is something we are supposed to be willing to work toward ourselves. He asks only that we try as best we know how to make progress in the building of character. So step six, we're entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Is it a is way of stating the best possible attitude one can take in order to make a beginning on this lifetime job. Yeah, that's interesting.

9:18It is way of stating the best possible attitude one can take in order to make a beginning on this lifetime job. This does not mean that we expect all our character defects to be lifted out of us as the drive to drink was. A few of them may be, but with most of them we shall have to be content with patient improvement. The keywords entirely ready, underline the fact that we want to aim at the very best we know or can learn. But many of us have this degree of readiness. Sorry, how many of us have this degree of readiness and an absolute sense practically nobody has it. The best we can do with all the honesty that we can summon is to try to have it. Even the best of us will discover to a dismay that there's always a sticking point. A point of which we say no, I can't give this up yet. And we shall often. We shall often tread on even more dangerous ground when we cry. This I will never give up.

10:24I am a such as the power of our instincts to overreach themselves. No matter how far we have progressed desires will always be found which are supposedly grace of God. Some who feel they have done well may dispute this so let's try to think through a little further. Practically everybody wishes to be rid of his muskling and destructive handicaps. No one wants to be so proud that he has scorned as a braggart or so greatly that he's labeled a thief. No one wants to commit the deadly sins of anger, lust or gluttony. No one wants to be agonised by the chronic pain of envy or to be paralyzed by sloth. Of course most human beings don't suffer these defects at these rock bottom levels. We who have escaped these extreme, these extremes are apt to congratulate ourselves. It can be. After all, hasn't it been self-interest, pure and simple that has enabled most of us to escape? Not much spiritual effort is involved in avoiding excesses which will bring us punishment anyway.

11:27But when we face up to the less violent aspects of these very same defect, defects, then where do we stand? What we must recognise now is that we exult in some of our defects. We really love them. Who for example doesn't like to feel just a little superior to the next fellow or even quite a lot superior? Isn't it true that we like to get ledgered and masquerade as ambition? To think of liking lust seems impossible but how many men and women speak love with their lips? And believe what they say so that they can hide lust in a dark corner of their minds? And even while staying with unconventional bounds, many people have to admit that their imaginary sex excursions are apt to be all dressed up as dreams of romance. Good morning. Self-righteous anger can also be very enjoyable. In a perverse way, we can actually take satisfaction from the fact that many people are noiseless

12:28for it brings a comfortable feeling of superiority. Gossip barred with our anger, a polite form of murder by character assassination as its satisfactions for us too. Here we are not trying to help those we criticise, we are trying to proclaim our own righteousness. So there's another three pages from the rest of the story. But it's, you know, I do, when I'm testing something, I do say, there's more in the 12 and 12, which explains it, you know, because the idea of, you know, all my character, do you think that's being remeved at once is not right? And that explains it, then drop the rock very stover. Because, you know, this change that is part of the psychic change is so six and seven are so important.

13:33Yeah. It was quite good that, you know, when entirely red it's all God remove all these defects of character as it is, as a way of stating the best possible attitude one can take in order to make a beginning in this lifetime job. Yeah. It is a lifetime. Altered attitudes. So that, you know, the attitude entirely ready. It's about being willing again, isn't that? So that was willing to change. Yeah, when that's the transport around state, it's willing to step some humility. So, you know, it's basically working through the seven deadly sins. You know, it does occur to me that, you know, the willingness to change the willingness to be good, you know, to improve.

14:37It's kind of like growing up, you know, that a lot of these, you know, gluttony and sloth and, you know, that kind of childish. You know, irresponsible. But over a team and procrastination are symptoms of a dysfunctional nervous system. So we have to have some compassion as well. That's just an interesting level. But you're saying that childish, aren't actually saying, you know, some people suffer from those. You know, maybe an archivist or a sister. You know, so it's a failure. But so it's recognizing that our behaviour is, as you know, went on to say, is made much more extreme than the average person.

15:42That goes back to the sort of the reasons why we try and keep the first place. So that's why it's important to learn to change yourself. To just get everything back. To be the person that we're always supposed to be really. It's the difference between having one chocolate and eating the whole box. You know, having this chair of control. And, you know, I've been with that kind of emotional maturity to go. I want to eat a little box, but I'm not doing that. Well, I think I have to do it. I regret it. After doing four and five. We've we've examined our past. We don't feel so guilty. We're not so much in fear. We've let a lot of stuff go. So that we're able then to be willing to. These were almost our coping mechanisms. You know, we felt so inferior that we wanted to feel superior by gossiping and making ourselves look good.

16:44Because one of our traits is we don't feel good enough. So, you know, that's why you can just start to understand more about yourself, can't you? When you do that, it's a program of self discovery and self improvement. And it works. And it's. I think it's it's. Should be given to everybody. Not just us. We'd have a better world, wouldn't we? If everyone works the program. And I'm just glad because I wasn't awake. I was. I was, you know, going through life. And consciously. I wasn't conscious of what I was doing. You know, I am. Yeah. And I don't want to go back to bold behaviors. So I am. I am really willing to change it is a lifetime.

17:44It's a lifetime job. I don't get everything right. But then it says we're not saved. You know, we just need to make some progress. In order to not drink. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks. No. Thanks.