Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Food for Thought: September 25th



Don't Hang On

As long as we are alive, we will experience times of joy and times of sadness. Trying to hang on to the periods of elation and avoid the inevitable depression which each of us feels from time to time causes us to seek artificial stimulation. Using food to try to stay on cloud nine did not work, and neither does anything else.

By turning over our lives, we become willing to let go and move through the periods of joy and sadness as we come to them. Trying to hang on arrests our progress. Nothing is certain in this life except change, and when we stop overeating we are better able to deal with the variations in our feelings and circumstances.

Whatever our current mood or situation, we can remain abstinent. Abstinence gives our lives stability and order, in spite of changes. Being centered in the Power greater than ourselves keeps us from being overly affected by either elation or depression.

By focusing on You, may I move calmly through the times of joy and the times of sadness.

From Food for Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters by Elisabeth L. ©1980, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation.

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I was always on a roller-coaster ride, reacting to everything & everybody, never knowing HOW I'd react, but knowing for a fact that I would OVER-react! Then I'd reach for food and/or booze to calm down from the emotional cycle!  I guess I'd call that the definition of a Vicious Cycle!!!
 
Somewhere along the line, I decided I had to be happy at all times, that it was my birthright. I felt it necessary to keep myself stimulated & not bored or sad or depressed. So I sought out artificial stimulation as a means of coping with the inner pain I had, but didn't know how to cope with otherwise.  On an episode of Intervention last night, they called it 'early childhood trauma.'  I'd spend most of my life trying to cope with this trauma by abusing food & alcohol. But hey, at least I never lit up a crack pipe or injected my veins with poison.  It's all the same disease, however, whether I'm overeating or hoarding or drinking to excess.
 
The Disease of More............where too much is never Enough.
 
Recovery teaches us that there is no joy in addictive behavior.  To blot out Pain by 'using' is to also blot out Joy.  In recovery, we learn to embrace ALL of our feelings & to allow them to surface and to pass without event.  I no longer 'have to' use my drugs of choice to 'get through' an emotional situation.
 
For today, I have my Higher Power to guide me through ALL of life's events.  I have a structured Food Plan to keep me on track, and a whole new set of tools in my toolbox to cope with whatever change life throws at me.  
 
For today, I may be an Addict, but I do NOT have to act like one.

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