Food for Thought: August 5th

Future Phobia

Irrational worry about the future may have triggered eating binges before we found the OA program. Learning to live one day at a time is a necessary part of controlling our disease. Our instinct for security must not be allowed to run riot any more than the other instincts we are learning to control.

Trusting our Higher Power today ensures that we will trust Him tomorrow also. We do not know what the future holds for us, but we are assured of God's continuing care and support. To entertain irrational worries about what might or might not happen is to doubt the Power, which is restoring us to sanity. When we take Step Three without reservations, we give up our crippling anxieties.

We do not expect that life will be a rose garden in the future, any more than it is right now. There are problems and disappointments and pains to deal with. What we do expect is the strength to cope with whatever our Higher Power gives us, realizing that the difficult experiences are often the ones from which we learn the most.

May faith in You blot out fear.

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

My Certified Health Coach Website

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To worry about tomorrow is to borrow trouble. When I worry, I play out all the possibilities of what may happen, and I try to cope with each of them.........now.  How sane is such a thing? How can I possibly cope with situations that aren't even REAL? By using.............my drugs of choice are food and booze.  If I feel the need to blot out painful thoughts, then my instinct to practice addictive behavior wants to kick in.

Learning to live in the NOW prevents me from unnecessary & harmful worry.  If I agree to live in the moment, then I cannot project the future, nor will I try to cope with it today. I don't have a crystal ball, nor do I want one, to read into the future.  When I entered Recovery, I made a deal with myself to turn my will and my life over to God and to allow Him to direct my life, come what may.  Life isn't a bed of roses, nor is it a negative series of crises either.

For today, I accept what comes my way.  I try not to label events 'good' or 'bad', as there is a valuable learning experience to be had in ALL.

For today, my my faith in God blot out any fears that crop up.


 Momentum changer

If nothing seems to be going right, break the pattern by getting yourself going right. When momentum is pushing you backwards, make the choice to create some positive, forward-directed momentum.

Just because a few negative things have happened to you, doesn't mean you're having a bad day. It means you have the opportunity to make a meaningful positive difference in the direction of the day.

Instead of agonizing over the setbacks and disappointments, get energized and enthusiastic about the good things you can now do. Get energized and then get busy actually doing those things, taking positive action and getting positive results.

Be a momentum changer. Although the day may have started out in an unfortunate direction, that can end right now with you.

Any negative pattern you experience can only continue if you let it. Don't let it.

Stop the negative pattern, change the momentum and transform the whole day by choosing positive action. You have the power to be a momentum changer, so use that power to the benefit of yourself and all those around you.

Ralph Marston - The Daily Motivator