PoM 132
As this site was initially a sex addiction recovery site, we ought to talk about sex every now and then.
Henri de Balzac, the most prolific of French novelists had a beautiful wife that he loved.
Every time he would make love to her he would say, “There goes another novel”…
For the nine months Gummy was gestating, and the first two years he was growing up my wife and I’s physical intimacy was put on the back burner, a bit.
That is appropriate. John Bradshaw said “A healthy home is a child centered home”.
In the last two years I’ve written more books and become a better guitar player than I ever have before.
A month ago I had a conversation with my wife and said I wanted to let go of of some of our ways to be physically intimate.
My wife responded in a generous way
And now I find myself now feeling much more physically affectionate.
…You can just never tell where honesty will lead you.
PoM 133
For Olafur:
Exercise recovery is brought about from an unwillingness on the food programs Overeaters Anonymous and Food Addicts Anonymous to address the issue of exercise.
This is perfectly understandable, because OA was sued, successfully, when two of its members died and the families were understandably upset.
FA learned this lesson and have been silent on the matter.
There is also a very real fear in FA of “exercise bulimia”.
This is reasonable.
But they both go to the other extreme and say that exercise does not matter…and that is not reasonable.
While 75% of America is fat, there is a growing body of data that indicates that more Americans are dying from inactivity than from obesity.
For several decades the medical community refused to acknowledge that there was longevity associated with exercise.
Doctors would admit that the quality of life was increased with exercise… But not longevity.
This is very similar to the 1960s when doctors were quoted, on television, as saying “Nine out of 10 people prefer Chesterfield cigarettes.”
Personally, I believe it is a fool’s game to try to lose weight through exercise. I have tried it and made an idiot of myself.
If we really do humbly aspire to what the Big Book says to be the “Spearhead of God’s ever advancing creation”, then perhaps now is the time to ask if exercise is part of God’s will.
For me, I remember a line in the big book that says “Any picture of the alcoholic which does not include the physical is incomplete”.
That makes common sense.
Addicts, according to the AA 12 and 12 are either “anxious or depressed”.
For me, after going to meetings and having a good sponsor, I can’t think of anything that calms me down faster, fuller and more completely than exercise.
I divide my exercise into five parts:
Cardiovascular- I run, bike and ,when there’s no Covid, I swim.
Strength-I do 40 push-ups at a time four to ten times a day.
Flexibility-I’ve been doing yoga since 1972.
Endurance-When I run, I usually run distance without stopping.
Conformation-That’s simply how your body looks. For the way I want to look, I can’t think of anything more efficacious than push-ups.
Exercise recovery is just like any other recovery.
Start slowly, do just a tiny bit at a time.
Walk 20 minutes. The next day try to run 10 steps in your 20 minute walk. The next day try to run 20 steps.
Do you know how you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time…
PoM 134
HP,
“LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.”
Psalm 16:5-6
I am inexpressible thankful for the simple life you have given us…
PoM 135
Insanity…is “lack of perspective”
Big Book
I can get so Al-Anon silly sometimes…
I worry about the little things with the same intensity I worry about the big things:
If I worry about who’s hair is in the bathroom shower drain with the same intensity that I worry about my physical health…I am insane.
If I worry about who is supposed to put the new toilet paper roll on the rack with the same intensity that I worry about Gummy falling out of our third-floor apartment…I am insane.
If I worry about getting nonstop flight with the same intensity that I worry about whether we’re going to get evicted…I am insane.
Lord, please restore me to sanity when I get like that…
PoM 136
With only 16 days left in the rent moratorium one of my neighbors is frantic about being evicted.
With an 11 year adversarial relationship with my landlord, I was able to be helpful to her in how to protect herself.
But, I can in my ACA and get all Henny Penny, doing “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”
I feel unnerved and useful, but there is a PrayerCall right around the corner…And I’m sure I will be restored to sanity.