This too DID pass…

Emotions can be so intense. Thoughts can be so insistent. Either by themselves is enough to make someone feel a loss of control that can be frightening.

Then there are those rare cases when both thought and emotion combine and totally overwhelm us.

In many of these instances there is good cause for these emotions and thoughts. But knowledge alone isn’t enough to will them to stop. Most times we must go through them to get to the other side.

The AA has learned how to recognize these thoughts and emotions when they occur for what they are. Often an AA will say to themselves, “wow, I am feeling overwhelmed right now” rather than react to the feeling.  They will often follow this thought with the knowledge that “this too shall pass.”

The old thinking was that whatever this feeling was would persist forever. What the AA has learned is that feelings will change in intensity and quality over any given time.

The AA has also learned that thinking about it alone won’t help – they need to get into action. When someone is feeling overwhelmed is a great time to talk to someone and ask them how THEY are doing. This helps one get out of themselves. It’s also a great time to take a walk, clean the house, or begin the project you have been putting off.

Ironically as time passes the AA often forgets what they were all worked up about in the first place!  They learn that “this too DID pass!”