Recovery Meditations: April 9th

~ Feelings ~

Few are those who see with their own eyes
and feel with their own hearts.

Albert Einstein


Before working the Twelve Step program, one reason I used to overeat was that I couldn't manage my feelings. My feelings were overwhelming and incapacitating to me. I would also overreact to feelings and this would make them truly more than I could handle. So I would then overeat to make the feelings stop. I would stuff myself, to stuff them down!

In working the Twelve Step program, I got a chance to work through past hurts and resentments that intensified my feelings. I learned to feel my feelings, just as they are, and how to stop overreacting to them. I learned to sort through messages my family gave me about feelings, that it's not okay to have or feel or express them. I learned to decide what is true for me, today, about feelings. I also worked through my codependency issues and learned how to communicate feelings in an appropriate, effective and loving way.

Now feelings are a part of my life and not something overwhelming and incapacitating. In fact, they have become something beautiful that enrich my life and give it color and texture and even pleasure.

One Day at a Time . . .
I honor the blessing of having my feelings returned to me. I enjoy them, and I respect my feelings and those of others. I thank my Higher Power for this wonderful gift.

~ Lynne ~

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As a compulsive overeater, I lack balance.  The 'all or nothing' mentality takes over, and leads me to believe a negative feeling is permanent. If I'm having a bad day, doesn't that mean I'm having a bad life?  I'll never feel better, I have to overeat to stuff those feelings down & to make sure I survive!

Program taught me the truth: My feelings aren't going to kill me, but obesity is. 


Having a bad day does not mean I'm having a bad life.

All-or-nothing is too extreme...........it is black & white thinking at its finest; I am learning to live in the gray.

It is not necessary to avoid pain at all costs.  What price am I really paying for refusing to feel pain or discomfort?  I pay the price of obesity; I pay the price of refusing to grow up; I pay the price of refusing to develop self-discipline; and, I pay the heaviest price of all: refusal to give up control and let God take over to guide my life.

For today, I will feel all of my emotions as they come, without trying to 'fix' them, change them, stuff them down or escape them.

For today, I will face the truth.