Recovery
Meditations: October 16th
Fellowship
“When we honestly ask
ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we
often find that it is
those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have
chosen rather to share
our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.
Henri Nouwen, Out of
Solitude
When I first came into The Recovery Group's online meeting
room nearly a year ago, I was bankrupt of mind, body and soul. I felt so
unlovable that even I couldn't stand myself! I casually observed at the first
few meetings and I was intrigued by the warmth of the fellowship there. After a
few meetings I finally opened up and shared, "spilling my guts" about
what it was like to reach bottom and to desperately need a hand to lift me up.
After they heard my share, they told me they would love me until I could learn
to love myself. That really blew me away! They told me they had been where I
was and that they had found a means to recover. They assured me this program
would work for me, if I really wanted it, and to follow their steps ~ their
beloved Twelve Steps.
Shortly after joining, I got an online sponsor with whom I
have been walking the path of recovery ever since. I eventually shared with her
things I had spent a lifetime desperately longing to be able to tell another
person, but had needed to keep shrouded in secrecy. Being heard and understood
was the gift of a lifetime. The weight has been falling off, I have experienced
a lot of emotional healing, and I am in a much better place spiritually. This
fellowship, their steps and meetings, and my Higher Power have brought me a
long way in a year's time!
One day at a time...
I will emulate those
warm, wonderful people by welcoming newcomers with love and by helping them get
started on the road to recovery. I will sponsor with the love and dedication
that my sponsor has shown me.
~ Karen A.
**************************************
Each Day A New Beginning—Sonya Rudikoff
Part of our calling as members of the human community is to unconditionally love and support the people emotionally close to us. We have been drawn together for purposes wonderful but seldom readily apparent. We need one another's gifts, compassion, and inspiration in order to contribute our individual parts to the whole.
Not only do we need to nurture and to inspire others, but also our personal development, emotionally and spiritually, demands that we honor ourselves in like fashion. Self-love, full self-acceptance is necessary before we can give anything of lasting value to someone else. Selflessly must we give to others if, indeed, our love and support are meant to serve, and giving anything selflessly is evidence of healthy self-love.
Selfless love liberates the giver and the recipient. Giving selflessly reveals our personal contentment, and it means we are free to nurture our own gifts.
It's good and right that I should encourage someone else today. I will pay the same respect to myself, too.
Food For Thought
Step Ten reminds us to continue to take daily inventory and to promptly admit when we are wrong. By admitting our mistake out loud to the person we have harmed, we clear away bad feelings and guilt. The relationship is healed, and we are able to put the error behind us. Admitting that we are wrong helps us even more than the person we have injured.
Since it usually takes two people to disrupt a relationship, the entire blame may not be ours. Admitting our share of wrong, however, relieves us of guilt and opens the way to reconciliation.
Being able to apologize simply and sincerely means that we are not bound by pride and egotism. We do not always have to be right. By accepting our human fallibility, we are free to be ourselves, to make mistakes, to correct them, and to make amends.
Admitting wrongs keeps us honest with ourselves, with others, and with our Higher Power. We stay anchored in the real world and we practice healthy humility.
May I not be too proud to admit I am wrong.
Being Honest with Ourselves
Our relationship with ourselves is the most important relationship we need to maintain. The quality of that relationship will determine the quality of our other relationships.
When we can tell ourselves how we feel, and accept our feelings, we can tell others.
When we can accept what we want and need, we will be ready to have our wants and needs met.
When we can accept what we think and believe, and accept what's important to us, we can relay this to others.
When we learn to take ourselves seriously, others will too.
When we learn to chuckle at ourselves, we will be ready to laugh with others.
When we have learned to trust ourselves, we will be trustworthy and ready to trust.
When we can be grateful for who we are, we will have achieved self-love.
When we have achieved self-love and accepting our wants and needs, we will be ready to give and receive love.
When we've learned to stand on our own two feet, we're ready to stand next to someone.
Today, I will focus on having a good relationship with myself.
***********************************************
Today's thought from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Reflection for the Day
When a person says something rash or ugly, we sometimes say they are "forgetting themselves," meaning they're forgetting their best selves in a sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury. If I remember the kind of person I want to be, hopefully I won't "forget myself" and yield to a fit of temper. I'll believe that the positive always defeats the negative: courage overcomes fear; patience overcomes anger and irritability; love overcomes hatred. Am I always striving for improvement?
Today I Pray
Today I ask that God, to Whom all things are possible, will help me turn negatives into positives - anger into super-energy, fear into a chance to be courageous, hatred into love. May I take time out to remember examples of such positive-from-negative transformations from the whole of my lifetime. Uppermost is God's miracle: my freedom from the slavery of addiction.
Today I Will Remember
Turn negatives into positives.
Reflection for the Day
When a person says something rash or ugly, we sometimes say they are "forgetting themselves," meaning they're forgetting their best selves in a sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury. If I remember the kind of person I want to be, hopefully I won't "forget myself" and yield to a fit of temper. I'll believe that the positive always defeats the negative: courage overcomes fear; patience overcomes anger and irritability; love overcomes hatred. Am I always striving for improvement?
Today I Pray
Today I ask that God, to Whom all things are possible, will help me turn negatives into positives - anger into super-energy, fear into a chance to be courageous, hatred into love. May I take time out to remember examples of such positive-from-negative transformations from the whole of my lifetime. Uppermost is God's miracle: my freedom from the slavery of addiction.
Today I Will Remember
Turn negatives into positives.
You are reading from the book:
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