Recovery
Meditations: December 1st
~ SPIRITUALITY ~
When the heart weeps
for what it has lost,
the spirit laughs for
what it has found.
Sufi proverb
Before I came into this program, I had thrown God out the
window. In fact, I was plain angry at Him. Where was He when my only brother
was killed in a car accident, when my only nephews were lost to me for many
years as a result? Where was He when my parents died, when I went through my
ugly divorce, when my step-son committed suicide, or when I had two major car
accidents? I didn't know how to deal with all the feelings around the grief,
loss and pain. I was spiritually bereft, although I didn't know it then. All I
knew was that I was depressed a lot of the time, and had this great big hole in
my soul that I had to keep feeding so I wouldn't have to feel the pain or deal
with anything in my life. But the truth was that no amount of food could
relieve that constant ache, and all that happened was that I felt more and more
fat, bloated and miserable. The food that was supposed to take away all the
pain of living was really causing me more pain.
When I came into program and heard the three letter word,
God, I nearly ran away. I'm a very rational, logical person so it was really
hard for me to believe what these crazy people were saying, but I was desperate
enough to keep coming back. I had to act as if I did believe that I could
recover and that a Higher Power might help me. When the miracles started to
happen, my faith began to develop, and I slowly realized that my Higher Power
was always with me. I now have a far better way to fill that hole in my soul,
and it is a far more satisfying and saner way than filling it with mountains of
food.
One Day at a Time . .
.
I pray to keep my
Higher Power in my heart and in my soul, because if I do, my life will be
enriched immeasurably in ways that food could never do.
~ Sharon S.~
*****************************************
Each Day A New Beginning
It's the thing you leave undone
Which gives you a bit of a heartache
At the setting of the sun.
—Margaret Sangster
A quality we all share, a very human quality, is to expect perfection from ourselves, to expect the impossible in all tasks done. We must rejoice for the good we do. Each time we pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, our confidence grows a little bit more. Recovery is best measured by our emotional and spiritual health, expressed in our apparent confidence and trust in "the process."
We need to recognize and celebrate our strong points, and they'll gain even more strength. Likewise, we need to practice prayer and listening to guidance first to develop our ties to God, but more importantly to be able to acknowledge when help is at hand. We can do all we need to do with God's help.
Having goals but keeping them realistic, for the day or the year, is a sign of emotional health. Not dwelling on those that can't be accomplished, at the moment, is another sign. A change of attitude is all most of us need to move from where we are to a better place emotionally.
There's never a better time than right now for rejoicing over what I've done.
From Each Day
a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey © 1982,
1991 by Hazelden Foundation.
Food For Thought
In the past, we translated emotional distress into physical hunger. Physical hunger was something we could deal with when emotional pain was too much for us. The reason our hunger was not satisfied by any amount of food was that the hunger was really distressed emotion.
If as children we were unable to recognize and express our distress, we buried it. As adults, we may still have ignored painful feelings and tried to make them go away with quantities of food and drink. Eventually, we became so dishonest with ourselves that we did not know what it was we really felt. We may have pretended for so long that everything was fine that we believed it. The telltale sign that all was not fine was our compulsive overeating behavior.
When we abstain, we sometimes fear that we will be overwhelmed with the emotional pain that is no longer buried with food. By turning this distress over to our Higher Power, we are able to survive it and learn from it.
I give You the pain that I cannot handle.
From Food for
Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters by Elisabeth L. ©1980, 1992
by Hazelden Foundation.
The Language of Letting Go
Sometimes, we need nurturing. Sometimes, we need people to support us.
Many of us have been deprived of support and nurturing for so long we may not realize it's something we want and need. Many of us have learned to block our stop ourselves from getting what we want and need.
We may not reach out to have our needs met. We may be in relationships with people who cannot or will not be available to meet our needs. Or we may be in relationships with people who would be happy to respond to a direct request from us.
We may have to give up something to do this. We may have to let go of our martyr or victim role. If we ask for what we want and need, and get those needs met, we will not be able to punish people, or push them away later on, for disappointing us.
We may have to let go of our fears enough to experience the intimacy that will occur when we allow someone to love and support us. We may even have to learn, one day at a time, how to be happy and content.
Learn to let others be there for us.
Today, I will be open to identifying what I need from people, and I will ask for what I want directly. I will let others be there for me.
From The
Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990, Hazelden Foundation.
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Carrying the Message
What we are always carries a stronger message than what we say. This is why we're sometimes turned off by people who seek to overwhelm us with charm. It's also why we can sometimes be drawn to people who are quiet and unassuming.
However it works, there is a powerful message in one's unspoken thoughts and feelings. We can usually sense, for example, the mood of people in a room, even when little is being said. If we spend any time with others, they will soon know much about us even if we say little.
This silent communication may be the great secret of AA's success in reaching those who still suffer. If we are living sober and want to help others, that's the message we give out. That's also a form of carrying the message.
I'll communicate today by maintaining a warm and friendly attitude toward every person I meet, knowing that thoughts and feelings speak louder than words.
Carrying the Message
What we are always carries a stronger message than what we say. This is why we're sometimes turned off by people who seek to overwhelm us with charm. It's also why we can sometimes be drawn to people who are quiet and unassuming.
However it works, there is a powerful message in one's unspoken thoughts and feelings. We can usually sense, for example, the mood of people in a room, even when little is being said. If we spend any time with others, they will soon know much about us even if we say little.
This silent communication may be the great secret of AA's success in reaching those who still suffer. If we are living sober and want to help others, that's the message we give out. That's also a form of carrying the message.
I'll communicate today by maintaining a warm and friendly attitude toward every person I meet, knowing that thoughts and feelings speak louder than words.
You are reading from the book:
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