April 13, 2004



Daily Reflections

THE FALSE COMFORT OF SELF-PITY

Self-pity is one of the most unhappy and consuming defects
that we know. It is a bar to all spiritual progress and
can cut off all effective communication with our fellows
because of its inordinate demands for attention and
sympathy.
It is a maudlin form of martyrdom, which we can ill afford.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 238

The false comfort of self-pity screens me from reality
only momentarily and then demands, like a drug, that I
take an ever bigger dose. If I succumb to this it could
lead to a relapse into drinking. What can I do? One certain
antidote is to turn my attention, however slightly at first,
toward others who are genuinely less fortunate than I,
preferably other alcoholics. In the same degree that I
actively demonstrate my empathy with them, I will lessen
my own exaggerated suffering.

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