Sober from the Heart - Cherie’s Story

Drunk at 14, sober at 18, now 55 years later Cherie will tell you her emotional sobriety and well-being is not merely a matter of not drinking and not dying.

To this day Cherie continues to go to many recovery meetings, practices the twelve steps, works with others, and in so many ways says ‘Yes’ when asked. Still, her remarkable story and life is punctuated often by more than that.

“Today I respond to life from the heart instead of reacting from the ego. Emotional sobriety means I respond to life. It means I can admit and accept when I’ve acted inappropriately. It means I no longer consider myself to be a victim. It means to accept things as they are without expectations.”

Cherie will freely admit these ways of being did not come easily. It was a long and steady process with many resources drawn from outside the usual recovery programs. If anything she would be seen by many of us as a “seeker” who once sober could not resist the call to deepening her recovery, her spirituality and her practices.

While there are many small breakthroughs in Cherie’s recovery, one in particular stands out as a very large one. Like many in long-term or progressive recoveries, time in sobriety does not keep us from facing large challenges in our sober lives. At thirty-seven years sober, Cherie faced a divorce and found herself "scared, confused, angry and clueless.” This despite a vigorous program of recovery. Once again she trusted those instincts that had so often taken her far afield and found The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. To this day it is a foundational practice for her.

“It asks me to look at my thoughts, my feelings and actions, and how when I can be here now, most of what I think are problems just go away. In the now there is no past or future, no guilt or fear. It’s all in my perception.”

It is that practice (among others) that is no small part of what a Buddhist would call Cherie’s “equanimity.” Indeed, it is that quality in her that demonstrates so loudly and clearly her emotional sobriety.

Still she persists … continuing to seek, and continuing to find.

We think you will find dozens of useful tips in Cherie’s story. Certainly we can learn and grow from her experience and hard won wisdom.