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Close Friends

Two (anonymous) voices on sobriety and dharma

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The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

Jill: I started drinking before I got involved with Buddhism.

Rose: We were both trying to become yoga teachers at a center in the East Coast. We had to stop drinking and not eat meat.

Jill: And then our future Buddhist teacher came and turned it all around. He was invited to talk there. It must have been '70 or '71. I noticed he smoked and drank, and I was thrilled.

Rose: And that was just how I grew up. Everyone in my family drank. I never even thought about it. Drinking was normal. In my social background, it was the way people dealt with feelings. So I didn't get into Buddhism to figure out anything about my drinking. I got interested in following a spiritual path when I realized that there was something to karma. I had had an abortion.

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