No Maudlin Guilt

Day by day, we try to move a little toward God's perfection. So we need not be consumed by maudlin guilt. . . .  As Bill Sees It, p. 15

When I first discovered that there is not a single "don't" in the Twelve Steps of A.A., I was disturbed because this discovery swung open a giant portal. Only then was I able to realize what A.A. is for me:

A.A.is not a program of "don'ts," but of "do's."

A.A. is not martial law; it is freedom.

A.A. is not tears over defects, but sweat over fixing them.

A.A. is not penitence; it is salvation.

A.A. is not "Woe to me" for my sins, past and present.

A.A. is "Praise God" for the progress I am making today.

All of my life, my mind was mired in a swamp of maudlin guilt that I could not escape.  The tools of the program have helped me to use my mind to change my brain so that I am no longer stuck in a state of self-flagellating depression.  Now when those “old tapes” start playing I immediately ask my higher power for help by praying, meditating and focusing on my positive attributes and the many good things in my life that I have to be grateful for.

I am grateful for a better life in my head today.  The world is pretty much the same as it always was.  I have changed for the vastly better.