A Quiet Heart, Soul Conscience

It’s All About Inner Peace

For years I have been quoting an old friend and mentor of mine from my early days of sobriety in 1969 when he said, ”All I want out of life is peace of mind and a quiet heart.”

The quiet-hearted part of that statement seemed to be what caught my attention since it adds a touch of tenderness to that statement; but what does it really mean? Understand the “peace of mind” part of the quote to mean, in my own words, “absence of all unresolved mental issues.” When he referred to “A quiet heart” he obviously was not speaking about that organ inside my chest that pumps blood through my body.

At a meeting recently, the topic was taken from an AA friendly publication and in it the,” Thought for the day,” was explaining how Psychologists are turning to religion to add the element of a faith in something outside of ourselves, to their message, because faith was an act of the mind and of the will. It also said that the clergy and rabbis were turning to psychology to enhance their message to reach a more modern society.

To me, it was the best approach I have heard to express the all-inclusiveness of the AA program when it comes to understanding the concept of a power greater than myself.

When I think of my old friend’s mention of, a quiet heart, I can see how it might mean something different to each of us. To the romantic, it means the place inside where they feel emotions, and more than just that blood pump in our chest. On the other hand, to the person with a religious foundation, it may be referring to the soul. To the psychologist it may be referring to the conscience.

Call it what we may, to me this implies that there is something inside of me that cannot be dismissed. It seems to be keeping a catalog of all my behaviors; good and bad, then reintroduce them to us again each morning when we wake up and we keep reliving them, over and over. It is time to put them to rest. We used to drink to make them go away. If we have the will and the strength to live by the dictates of our heart, our soul, or our conscience, that is where we have ability to right all of those, unresolved mental issues.

The AA program, from beginning to end, is designed to recognize, acknowledge, and resolve all these issues by bringing it all to the surface in the safety of the people that have been through this process and understand what the individual is faced with.

The good news is that as we resolve each of these concerns, we will be freeing up all that mental space and energy that has been causing the tormenting regrets of the past. When we recognize the pain that our past thinking and behavior has caused and have put forth the effort to resolve it, it is unlikely that we will be willing to return to those old behaviors.

Our unbridled instincts caused our behavioral problems. Our heart/soul/conscience recorded these things, and our minds live with the mental torment as the result. A quiet heart/a clean soul/ a clear conscience leads to peace of mind and when a person has peace of mind, a drink has no appeal to him/her and in the morning, they wake up with smiles on their faces.  🙂

By Rick R.