Discovery

I was at a one-day conference this past weekend, and I heard something from the last speaker that I liked so I'm going to blatantly steal it. She was talking about recovery, and she said she liked to call her recovery discovery. I think that's an apt term. I think it fits: 'Hi, I'm Ken, and I'm discovering.' I like it better than saying, 'My name is Ken, and I'm a recovering alcoholic,' or '...in recovery from mental illness.' And it's a whole lot better than saying, 'I'm an alcoholic,' or 'I'm mentally ill,' because neither of those terms is very accurate today. It's been nearly a year since I've had a drink of alcohol, and it's been a while since I've been chronically symptomatic of depression.

Discovery is about finding out what I'm about and what my world is about. When I think of discovery, I think of people like Lewis and Clark, who had the courage and drive to explore places they had never been before. Or Benjamin Franklin, who liked tinkering with the world around him and flew a kite in a thunderstorm - electricity has always existed, but he 'discovered' it that day. Jesus, who discovered his Oneness with God and the Universe, and sought to show others how to discover their own Oneness. Scientists who discover new ways to treat and cure disease.

So often I get caught up in my daily have-to's - I have to go to work, I have to do my laundry, I have to exercise, go to a meeting, wash my dishes, etc. What would my day feel like if I got to go exploring today and looked forward to discovering things?

Another reason for me that discovery is more fitting than recovery is what do I have to recover in the first place? I wouldn't trade my life today for any of my yesterdays, even those before I started drinking. Recovery implies to me going back to a former state of mental/emotional/physical health. Well, ok, I much preferred my weight about 25 years ago, but, other than that, there's nothing to which I want to go back. Well, perhaps not having any gray hair, but when I look at my gray hairs, I know I earned each and every one of them!

So  discovery is more fun - it's forward looking, it's exciting, it's much more than the same ol' same ol', day in and day out. It's finding out who I am, discovering who you are, and how we fit best in this world of ours. 

Enjoy your discovery today!

Namaste,

Ken