I am writing this because in my treatment experience, over a decade ago, some of Michaels words affected my so deeply, I use them regularly working with sponsees and sometimes sharing at meetings. I will briefly share them with you. The 1st was when I had about 3 weeks clean, I was walking down the hall and ran into Michael. He asked me how I was doing. I replied, pretty well, thank you. He replied, “how could that be? You are 40 years old man and in treatment”. This truly awakened me to the depth of my delusional thinking. It brought to the surface that I had spent my entire life not seeing things as they were, but instead as I wanted to see them.
The 2nd was when he had challenged me in group based upon his observation of me outside of group. I was so angry that I spent the entire night planning how I was going to confront him on the wrongness of his perception. I had a 1 on 1 with him the next day were I spent the 1st 5 minutes ranting a and raving. When I came up for air, he asked me if I was done and then said another pearl of wisdom that has stuck with me. He said, “Dave, when you are well, what I think will not matter. The only thing that will is what you know in your heart to be true”. The power of this was so freeing. I was a people pleaser and always invested enormous energy in manipulating the thoughts of others to see me as I wanted them too. This has helped me in so many ways to stop that behavior and has helped countless others when I have shared with them.
Thank you Michael for your love and wisdom.
-Dave
