—Joanna Field
How easily we mistake attention for love. Even more easily, we trick ourselves into thinking our ability to control someone signifies love - especially theirs for us. But love is something far different from either attention or control. Far different.
Love frees others from our grasp--and lets them return on their own. Love is placing another's personal needs above our own, without regret. Love is selfless, yet it exhilarates the self. Giving love softens our edges, completes us, and connects us to the people with whom we are fulfilling our destinies.
Wanting love is a normal human desire, not one we should deny. And we shall receive love, the less our emphasis is on getting it, the more on giving it. We invite love when we freely and honestly give it. Another invitation for love comes from loving ourselves; self-hatred, which trapped many of us for years, hampers us no longer.
Love inspires--ourselves and those we give it to. It brightens our way, lessens our burdens, makes possible our rightful unfolding.
I won't look for love today. I will just give it. It will bless me tenfold.
From Each Day
a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey © 1982,
1991 by Hazelden Foundation.
Food For Thought
Nourishment or Drug?During our overeating days, many of us used food as an all purpose drug. It was a pep pill when we were depressed and a tranquilizer when we were uptight. We turned especially to refined carbohydrates as uppers and downers. As a result, we spent most of our time either artificially stimulated or lethargic.
When we stop using food as a drug and eat only what our bodies need for proper nourishment, we experience emotions which had been buried by overeating. We feel anxiety, fear, and anger. We also feel joy, enthusiasm, and love. We are alive instead of doped up.
We need to express and share our emotions, and in OA we find people who will help us do that. We no longer have to bury our true feelings with food. As we learn to rely on our Higher Power for support in the little things that come up as well as the big things, then we are able to face the day without a drug.
By abstaining, we learn who we really are and what we really feel.
May I not be afraid to live without a drug.
From Food for
Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters by Elisabeth L. ©1980, 1992
by Hazelden Foundation.
The Language of Letting Go
If we could untangle the mysteries of life and unravel the energies which run through the world; if we could evaluate correctly the significance of passing events; if we could measure the struggles, dilemmas, and aspirations of mankind, we could find that nothing is born out of time. Everything comes at its appointed moment.
—Joseph R. Sizoo
Timing can be frustrating. We can wait and wait for something to happen, and it seems to be forever until it comes to pass. Or, suddenly, an event or circumstance is thrust upon us, catching us by surprise. Believing that things happen too slowly or too quickly is an illusion. Timing is perfect.
Today, I will trust and work with Divine Order. I will accept the timing in my life today and in my past as being perfect.
From The
Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990, Hazelden Foundation.
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Comparing my insides to other people's outsides causes me problems.
--Joan Rohde
For most of our lives we felt inferior. Others seemed smarter, wittier, and more attractive. We felt inadequate every time we compared ourselves to others. Getting sober hasn't freed us from this behavior, at least not completely. Fortunately, we now have tools that we can use in changing behavior that hinders our growth.
Talking with a sponsor, sharing with a friend, or asking God for help frees us from the hold of negative behaviors. Comparing ourselves to others doesn't have to shame us any longer. All that's necessary is to stop the thought, think instead of God's presence within, and quietly bless ourselves and the person who unknowingly triggered our reaction. Our progress in changing this shortcoming will be as swift as our decision to take this simple action.
I am in control of my thoughts. God will help me every time I start to compare myself to someone else today.
Comparing my insides to other people's outsides causes me problems.
--Joan Rohde
For most of our lives we felt inferior. Others seemed smarter, wittier, and more attractive. We felt inadequate every time we compared ourselves to others. Getting sober hasn't freed us from this behavior, at least not completely. Fortunately, we now have tools that we can use in changing behavior that hinders our growth.
Talking with a sponsor, sharing with a friend, or asking God for help frees us from the hold of negative behaviors. Comparing ourselves to others doesn't have to shame us any longer. All that's necessary is to stop the thought, think instead of God's presence within, and quietly bless ourselves and the person who unknowingly triggered our reaction. Our progress in changing this shortcoming will be as swift as our decision to take this simple action.
I am in control of my thoughts. God will help me every time I start to compare myself to someone else today.
You are reading from the book:
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