Paul starts this episode with lame and self-congratulatory excuses for not dropping this 'daily' podcast on a daily basis. He then bangs on about someone living in his area putting anonymous passive aggressive notes on the windshields of the cars in his street. Needless to say, this has filled Paul with obsessive, self-centred, violent thoughts about someone whose identity he does not even know, creating a whole mythos where the anonymous note writer is in front of him in tears profusely apologising, having received Paul's justice, Paul being right and everyone around him showering him with roses and adulation. 

It ain't going to happen. 

Hence this podcast is about acceptance, the present moment, how wanting to control and not accepting our powerlessness only leads to pain. Step 1 stuff, the stuff that Paul's sponsors have been banging on about to him for years (if you want to listen to an interview with Paul's sponsor, check the interview episode with Jack). Paul waffles about this through the writings and teachings of the Stoic Philosophers, whose concepts and ideas about acceptance, powerlessness and control were being tossed around and written about two thousand years ago. Good stuff for Paul, who needs all the help he can get. 

PDFs of the reading Paul discusses in the podcast: 

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2680/2680-h/2680-h.htm

"Discard your misperceptions. Stop being jerked like a puppet. Limit yourself to the present."

The Enchiridion (The Handbook or The Manual) by Epictetus: https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/files/Enchiridion.pdf

"Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions."

Links to support over the net

https://virtual-na.org   - Virtual NA Meetings Online & by Phone "Bringing Narcotics Anonymous Meetings to Remote or Isolated Addicts from around the world who may, for whatever reason, be unable to attend local face to face meetings."

https://www.navic.net.au/meetings - Virtual NA meetings in Melbourne Australia

If you have any tips to share in regards to Recovery and lockdown, or just generally regarding making lockdown easier, please get on The ARC - Addiction Recovery Cast Facebook page and send us a message. 

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