Recovery
Meditations: November 13th
~ GRATITUDE ~
It is good to say
thank you to the Lord, to sing
praises to the God who
is above all gods ... He is my
shelter. There is
nothing but goodness in Him!
The Bible, Book of
Psalms
Since I first walked into these rooms, I was welcomed with
open arms. Everyone said, "Welcome home." In my gut I felt welcomed
into the fellowship, but only now, after years of accepting it, do I finally
get it.
Who is this God everyone is saying cares about us? I felt
God was too busy creating and managing the universe to concentrate on any one
individual, let alone each and every one of us. Now, I don't know how anyone
else acted while in the clutches of their disease, but I do know how I reacted.
I was not a very nice person to be around. If you said the sky was blue, I
would say it was black. Nothing was right in my world and I refused to trust
anyone or anything; I was rebellious. That is how I treated God! I dared God to
fix me, to take away my desire for food, to come into my life so I would know
it.
Well, people told me God meets you where you are. I learned
the hard way that God does reveal Himself to you in whatever way works for you.
For me that has been by learning to listen to people share in meetings and
verbally state what God has been trying to get through my thick skull. When I
read program literature, I hear little voices of recovering people speak of how
God is doing for them what they couldn't do for themselves. I watch people in
recovery living a new kind of life, in which they are participants. I learn
from them how to live rather then bouncing off the walls because I only reacted
to life. I am beginning to see all the little things that I have been given
from God through my interactions with fellow compulsive overeaters. My soul
feels welcomed in this fellowship. I feel I have a new family in which to heal
my wounds from my family of origin. I am filled with immense gratitude to a God
that cares enough about each and everyone of us.
One day at a time...
. . .
I will stop and take
inventory of all the blessings I receive, each and every day, from a loving,
supportive fellowship and a God of my understanding who loves me enough to put
up with all my baggage.
A fellow traveler
Judith
********************************
Each Day A New Beginning
My Declaration of Self-Esteem:
I am me. In all the world there is no one else exactly like me. There are persons who have some parts like me, but no one adds up exactly like me. Therefore, everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone chose it.
—Virginia Satir
Feeling special, feeling worthy and unique in the contribution we make to our surroundings is perhaps not a very familiar feeling to many of us in this recovery program. We may have recognized our differences from others, but not in a positive way. We may well have figured that to be our problem. "If only I were more like her . . ." To celebrate our specialness, the unique contribution we make to every situation we experience, is one of the gifts of recovery.
It's spiritually moving to realize the truth of our authenticity. To realize that no other choice will ever be just like our choice - to realize that no other contribution will be just like our contribution. Our gift to life is ourselves. Life's gift to us is the opportunity to realize our value.
Today, I will be aware of my gifts, I will offer them and receive them thankfully.
I am me. In all the world there is no one else exactly like me. There are persons who have some parts like me, but no one adds up exactly like me. Therefore, everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone chose it.
—Virginia Satir
Feeling special, feeling worthy and unique in the contribution we make to our surroundings is perhaps not a very familiar feeling to many of us in this recovery program. We may have recognized our differences from others, but not in a positive way. We may well have figured that to be our problem. "If only I were more like her . . ." To celebrate our specialness, the unique contribution we make to every situation we experience, is one of the gifts of recovery.
It's spiritually moving to realize the truth of our authenticity. To realize that no other choice will ever be just like our choice - to realize that no other contribution will be just like our contribution. Our gift to life is ourselves. Life's gift to us is the opportunity to realize our value.
Today, I will be aware of my gifts, I will offer them and receive them thankfully.
*****************************
Food For Thought
Pinpointing Anxiety
Many of us suffer from a vague, nameless anxiety for which we are unable to find a source. We do not know exactly what we fear, but we know that we are afraid. In the past, we tried to dispel this ominous anxiety by eating.
As long as we overate compulsively, we made it more difficult to get at the reasons for our anxiety. Trying to cover it up with food did not get rid of it, and until we stopped eating compulsively we were unable to identify the source of our anxiety.
By abstaining, we face anxiety rather than trying to cover it up. If we are willing to put up with a certain amount of emotional discomfort, we will be able to understand and work through many of the irrational notions that have made us anxious. Our Higher Power allows buried fears to surface as we acquire the strength and faith to confront them. When we are abstinent, we are able to define our anxiety more clearly and handle it with greater maturity.
By Your light, may we see our irrational anxiety for what it is.
Many of us suffer from a vague, nameless anxiety for which we are unable to find a source. We do not know exactly what we fear, but we know that we are afraid. In the past, we tried to dispel this ominous anxiety by eating.
As long as we overate compulsively, we made it more difficult to get at the reasons for our anxiety. Trying to cover it up with food did not get rid of it, and until we stopped eating compulsively we were unable to identify the source of our anxiety.
By abstaining, we face anxiety rather than trying to cover it up. If we are willing to put up with a certain amount of emotional discomfort, we will be able to understand and work through many of the irrational notions that have made us anxious. Our Higher Power allows buried fears to surface as we acquire the strength and faith to confront them. When we are abstinent, we are able to define our anxiety more clearly and handle it with greater maturity.
By Your light, may we see our irrational anxiety for what it is.
From Food for
Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters by Elisabeth L. ©1980, 1992
by Hazelden Foundation.
The Language of Letting Go
Taking Care of Ourselves
We do not have to wait for others to come to our aid. We are not victims. We are not helpless.
Letting go of faulty thinking means we realize there are no knights on white horses, no magical grandmothers in the sky watching, waiting to rescue us.
Teachers may come our way, but they will not rescue. They will teach. People who care will come, but they will not rescue. They will care. Help will come, but help is not rescuing.
We are our own rescuers.
Our relationships will improve dramatically when we stop rescuing others and stop expecting them to rescue us.
Today, I will let go of the fears and self-doubt that block me from taking assertive action in my best interest. I can take care of myself and let others do the same for themselves.
We do not have to wait for others to come to our aid. We are not victims. We are not helpless.
Letting go of faulty thinking means we realize there are no knights on white horses, no magical grandmothers in the sky watching, waiting to rescue us.
Teachers may come our way, but they will not rescue. They will teach. People who care will come, but they will not rescue. They will care. Help will come, but help is not rescuing.
We are our own rescuers.
Our relationships will improve dramatically when we stop rescuing others and stop expecting them to rescue us.
Today, I will let go of the fears and self-doubt that block me from taking assertive action in my best interest. I can take care of myself and let others do the same for themselves.
From The
Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990, Hazelden Foundation.
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?" unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way.
--Author unknown
A millionaire wanted his son to understand that the world was made up of those who had great happiness in the world because they never wanted for anything, and those who lived in unhappiness because their struggles were never-ending. He asked one of his lowest-paid workers if his son could stay for a weekend, and the employee agreed.
When the weekend was over, the millionaire picked up his son. On the way home he asked his son, "What did you learn about how others live?"
"A lot," the boy replied as he sat with his shoulders slumped, "We have a dog, but they have three dogs and a couple of cats. They even have chickens and ducks and a donkey. We have a swimming pool, but they have this great big lake. We have a deck, but they have a back yard that stretches for miles and miles. And at dinner, they all sit around a table and laugh and talk together."
The millionaire sat in silence, listening to his son.
"I guess the lesson I learned, Dad, is how poor we really are."
Rather than rue what I do not have, I will be happy for all that I have been given.
We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?" unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way.
--Author unknown
A millionaire wanted his son to understand that the world was made up of those who had great happiness in the world because they never wanted for anything, and those who lived in unhappiness because their struggles were never-ending. He asked one of his lowest-paid workers if his son could stay for a weekend, and the employee agreed.
When the weekend was over, the millionaire picked up his son. On the way home he asked his son, "What did you learn about how others live?"
"A lot," the boy replied as he sat with his shoulders slumped, "We have a dog, but they have three dogs and a couple of cats. They even have chickens and ducks and a donkey. We have a swimming pool, but they have this great big lake. We have a deck, but they have a back yard that stretches for miles and miles. And at dinner, they all sit around a table and laugh and talk together."
The millionaire sat in silence, listening to his son.
"I guess the lesson I learned, Dad, is how poor we really are."
Rather than rue what I do not have, I will be happy for all that I have been given.
You are reading from the book:
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