Each Day a New Beginning

To be wildly enthusiastic, or deadly serious--both are wrong. Both pass. One must keep ever present a sense of humor.
—Katherine Mansfield

How familiar wild enthusiasm and deadly seriousness are to most of us. We experience life within the extremes. The thrill of wild enthusiasm we try to trap, to control. We are exhilarated and feel good. Our serious side traps us, controls us, lowers a pall on all our activities. Both expressions keep us stuck. Neither expression allows the freedom of spontaneity so necessary to a full, healthy life.

Through our addiction - the liquor, the upper, the person, the food--we were searching for a feeling we didn't feel. We were searching for an unnatural state of happiness, even perhaps wild enthusiasm, because we had so little of any enthusiasm for life. Our search failed. Again and again we'd "catch it," only to have it elude us.

We may not have given up the search. But we will come to accept both states of mind as temporary and search instead for the middle ground. A sense of humor will make all of life's loads easier to bear. A sense of humor will offer us the balance that has been missing for so many years.

Today will offer me a chance to be wildly enthusiastic and a chance to be deadly serious. I'll try to focus on the middle ground and cultivate my sense of humor.

From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey © 1982, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.

***************************************************************

Compulsive Overeating = Living in the Extreme. Balance does not come naturally to us. We experience life within the extremes, either exhilarated and feeling on top of the world or terribly depressed, worried & stressed out, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Know what I mean? :)

Through the addiction, we search for a feeling that never came naturally to us.  We search for the way we are 'supposed' to feel, perhaps the way life is depicted on TV or lived by the rich and famous. We compare ourselves to everyone else, thinking THEY have it made and we DO NOT! We compare our insides to their outsides, which causes us to fall short every time! Then we 'have to' overeat to soothe our *constantly* wounded souls.

Sound familiar?

This reading from The Language of Letting Go further expands on finding balance:

Going Easy

Go easy. You may have to push forward, but you don't have to push so hard. Go in gentleness - go in peace.

Do not be in so much of a hurry. At no day, no hour, no time are you required to do more than you can do in peace.

Frantic behaviors and urgency are not the foundation for our new way of life.

Do not be in too much of a hurry to begin. Begin, but do not force the beginning if it is not time. Beginnings will arrive soon enough.

Enjoy and relish middles, the heart of the matter.

Do not be in too much of a hurry to finish. You may be almost done, but enjoy the final moments. Give yourself fully to those moments so that you may give and get all there is.

Let the pace flow naturally. Move forward. Start. Keep moving forward. Do it gently, though. Do it in peace. Cherish each moment.

Today, God, help me focus on a peaceful pace rather than a harried one. I will keep moving forward gently, not frantically. Help me let go of my need to be anxious, upset, and harried. Help me replace it with a need to be a peace and in harmony.


For today, I will focus on a peaceful pace rather than a harried one. I will not rush; I will not seek extreme euphoria or extreme sadness. For today, I will function in the middle ground, striving for balance and moderation in everything I say & do.  My Food Plan forces 'moderation' upon me where food is concerned, because I have absolutely NO ability to gauge it for myself.  My exercise plan limits me to a reasonable routine, so I don't become obsessed with that activity either.  The rest of my thoughts are what I leave to God and ask that He guide me with.


For today, I will enjoy and relish middles, the heart of the matter!