Who's Sobriety Inspires You? Johnny Cash?

I just watched “Walk the Line” and immediately had to look up Johnny Cash’s history with addiction.  The scenes where he rummaging for the pills, sweating like a mad-man and getting busted by the cops, all hit me in my gut.  For a moment I thought it might be best to turn the movie off but I continued with the knowledge that it had a happy ending.  If there was any doubt about my alcoholism and addiction, I can let it go for my relatability to this story, burns in my blood and my gut as I tangibly feel myself in Johnny’s struggle.  I can almost taste the moments of sheer pain and loneliness, like the way he rolled back over after a three day sleep…. feeling the monkey mind take off and the itty bitty shitty committee taking flight in the mind and all you can do is pray that you fall back asleep one more time.  Thank God he was sober for most of his life, for he lived it well.  I am para-phrasing but I just read somewhere that he felt that his life began when he got sober. 

This is akin to something someone I ran into on the hiking trail today said to me. - She happened to be at the meeting that I spoke at this morning and she shared a deep Truth with me when she reminded me that I was so young to be getting this and that if I run with sobriety now(as she looked up at the Colorado blue sky) she continued … “the sky is the limit.”    I feel this in my soul when I am sober…. that the sky is, indeed, the limit.  It’s quite the opposite of the feeling of isolation and desolation that I feel when I am “out there.”  The illusion that I was more creative when I was inebriated also has had to be smashed, another point I was inspired by in Johnny Cash’s story.  He busted right through that fear and allowed creativity to thrive in his life in sobriety.  I am inspired by this in Johnny’s life as well as by the people who stood up for him and never gave up on him…. June’s courage and dedication to the vision of the true Johnny was so powerful that she had her own family backing him when even his own family had left and given up on him, is just another absolutely moving part of this miraculous story.

I am reminded to pull back the view of my telescope to see the big picture.  From this vantage point I have a clear view of the vast array of miracles that is my life today.  From this vantage point, I see the Divine thread of all of the unfolding that has occurred as my life.  I see that I have the courage to chose a path which runs deep in it’s challenges and it’s triumphs and I am grateful that I have not lived a life that is “standard, simple or status quo.”    The intricacies of my life make it difficult to see the rhyme or reason sometimes but when you see a story like Johnny and June and all of the dynamics and lengthy time of their unfolding, it evokes a surge of patience and a sweet spot of anticipation for the next chapter of my life.  I am inspired by Johnny Cash’s sobriety and the life which emerged from it.  Who’s sobriety are you inspired by today?  Love Out.