“No person and no character is beyond redemption, ultimately. That’s the great thing about playing a character that has kind of a dark side; there’s room to explore the opposite.”—Murray Bartlett
We lurched down into the darker reaches of despair, dragging our misdeeds in a bundle behind us. We were the despised ones. The “sinners”. The mongers of harm. The bad boys and girls who had hit bottom—and seemed doomed to end their days in unforgiven suffering. Such have been the stories of so many of us addicts and alcoholics, as we careened through our ever-more dysfunctional lives. Hope was a cruel joke played at our expense. We saw no light at the end of the tunnel. Just a darkening and a darkening of the gloom…
Then a miracle might have happened. A helping hand from out of nowhere. A band of friends and loved ones who saw beyond the exterior shambles to the trembling beauty beneath. We were dragged—often unwitting, often in resistance—to some kind of healing haven where we were given the chance for a new beginning. Our shackles began to fall away. We began to move again with a sense of purpose and hope. We were on the path of recovery—and the opportunity to redeem our past insanities…
Being passive receivers in recovery doesn’t cut it, if we want to be resilient in our recovery. Instead—out of gratitude for the rescue—we can redeem ourselves by giving back. We can give back with the gifts we can best bestow on our others. Let’s take a moment to meditate on the gifts we have to offer. Our skills. Our special talents. Our hard-won wisdom. Our new-found care and love. The path to redemption—and therefore to a more robust recovery—can be trod step by giving step…
As we continue to reflect on the gifts we can give to others, let’s perform this simple, yet exhilarating movement:
Stand hip-width, knees slightly bent, arms to the sides. Bring the arms all the way above the head, palms facing away from you. Rise up on the balls of your feet, as your arms go up. Sink back down as your arms descend to their original positions. Inhale deeply as you raise your arms above your head. Exhale as you lower your arms and sink back down. Repeat for a total of ten repetitions. As usual, do more reps if the mood takes you.
I am excited to contemplate the many gifts I have to offer others.