Just This: Prompts and Practices for Contemplation

by Richard Rohr

The real gift is to be happy and content, even while we are just sitting on the front porch, looking at a rock; or when we are doing the “nothingness” of prayer or benevolently gazing at anything in its ordinariness; or when we can see and accept and say that every single act of creation is “just this” and thus allow it to work its wonder on us. This is the ultimate and real recovery movement. Authentic recovery is not actually about mere sobriety as much as it is about simple and ever-deeper connection with what is. Deep connection is our goal, and it frees us from all loneliness, separateness, and boredom, and is far beyond just stopping the addictive behavior. That’s just cleaning up, or maybe even growing up, but we are about waking up!