Language of Letting Go - May 2014

[MajestyJo]

Thursday, May 1, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Recovery Prayer

This prayer is based on a section of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous:
Thank you for keeping me straight yesterday. Please help me stay straight today.

For the next twenty-four hours, I pray for knowledge of Your will for me only, and the power to carry that through.

Please free my thinking of self-will, self-seeking, dishonesty, and wrong motives.

Send me the right thought, word, or action. Show me what my next step should be. In times of doubt and indecision, please send Your inspiration and guidance.

I ask that You might help me work through all my problems, to Your glory and honor.

This prayer is a recovery prayer. It can take us through any situation. In the days ahead, we'll explore the ideas in it. If we pray this prayer, we can trust it has been answered with a yes.

Today, I will trust that God will do for me what I cannot do for myself. I will do my part - working the Twelve Steps and letting God do the rest.

[MajestyJo]

Friday, May 2, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Our Higher Power

For the next twenty-four hours ...

In recovery, we live life one day at a time, an idea requiring an enormous amount of faith. We refuse to look back - unless healing from the past is part of today's work. We look ahead only to make plans. We focus on this day's activity, living it to the best of our ability. If we do that long enough, we'll have enough connected days of healing living to make something valuable of our life.

...I pray for knowledge of Your will for me only...

We surrender to God's will. We stop trying to control, and we settle for a life that is manageable. We trust our Higher Power's will for us - that it's good, generous, and with direction.

We're learning, through trial and error, to separate our will from God's will. We're learning that God's will is not offensive. We've learned that sometimes there's a difference between what others want us to do and God's will. We're also learning that God did not intend for us to be codependent, to be martyrs, to control or care take. We're learning to trust ourselves.

. . . and the power to carry that through.

Some of recovery is accepting powerlessness. An important part of recovery is claiming the power to take care of ourselves.

Sometimes, we need to do things that are frightening or painful. Sometimes, we need to step out, step back, or step forward. We need to call on the help of a Power greater than ourselves to do that.

We will never be called upon to do anything that we won't be empowered to do.

Today, I can call upon an energizing Power Source to help me. That Power is God. I will ask for what I need.

Love this, affirms what I learned many years ago, "Put it out to the Universe and see what you get back." The Bible says, "God created the heavens and the earth." I firmly believe we are one under His Care.

[MajestyJo]

Saturday, May 3, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Freedom from Self-Seeking

Please free my thinking of self-will, self-seeking, dishonesty, and wrong motives.
—paraphrased from Alcoholics Anonymous

There is a difference between owning our power to take care of ourselves, as part of God's will for our life, and self-will. There is a difference between self-care and self-seeking. And our behaviors are not as much subject to criticism as are the motives underlying them.

There is a harmonic, gentle, timely feeling to owning our power, to self-care, and to acts with healthy motives that are not present in self-will and self-seeking. We will learn discernment. But we will not always know the difference. Sometimes, we will feel guilty and anxious with no need. We may be surprised at the loving way God wants us to treat ourselves. We can trust that self-care is always appropriate. We want to be free of self-will and self-seeking, but we are always free to take care of ourselves.

God, please guide my motives today, and keep me on Your path. Help me love myself, and others too. Help me understand that more often than not, those two ideas are connected.

As my sponsor said, "Examine your motive and intent."

[MajestyJo]

Sunday, May 4, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Freedom from Compulsive Disorders

Thank you for keeping me straight yesterday. Please help me stay straight today.
—paraphrased from Alcoholics Anonymous

When I first began my recovery from codependency, I was furious about having to begin another recovery program. Seven years earlier, I had begun recovery from chemical dependency. It didn't seem fair that one person should have to address two major issues in one lifetime.

I've gotten over my anger. I've learned that my recoveries aren't isolated from one another. Many of us recovering from codependency and adult children issues are also recovering from addictions: alcoholism, other drug dependency, gambling, food, work, or sex addiction. Some of us are trying to stay free of other compulsive disorders - ranging from caretaking to compulsively feeling miserable, guilty, or ashamed.

An important part of codependency recovery is staying clean and free of our compulsive or addictive behaviors. Recovery is one big room we've entered called healthy living.

We can wave the white flag of surrender to all our addictions. We can safely turn to a Power greater than ourselves to relieve us of our compulsive behavior. We know that now. Once we begin actively working a program of recovery, God will relieve us of our addictions. Ask God each morning to help us stay free of our addictions and compulsions. Thank God for helping us the day before.

Today, God, help me pay attention to all my recovery issues. Help me know that before I can work on the finer points of my recovery, such as my relationships, I must be free of addictive behaviors.

Freedom from active addiction. Free from the thinking behind my dis-ease, which led me to search for something that was missing in my life. I didn't know it was me, I kept looking outside of myself.

[MajestyJo]

Monday, May 5, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Control

Many of us have been trying to keep the whole world in orbit with sheer and forceful application of mental energy.

What happens if we let go, if we stop trying to keep the world orbiting and just let it whirl? It'll keep right on whirling. It'll stay right on track with no help from us. And we'll be free and relaxed enough to enjoy our place on it.

Control is an illusion, especially the kind of control we've been trying to exert. In fact, controlling gives other people, events, and diseases, such as alcoholism, control over us. Whatever we try to control does have control over our life and us.

I have given this control to many things and people in my life. I have never gotten the results I wanted from controlling or trying to control people. What I received for my efforts is an unmanageable life, whether that unmanageability was inside me or in external events.

In recovery, we make a trade off. We trade a life that we have tried to control, and we receive in return something better - a life that is manageable.

Today, I will exchange a controlled life for one that is manageable.

As they say in the rooms of recovery, `Control is an illusion. If you have to control it, it is already out of control.`

My life is unmanageable when managed and controlled by me.

[MajestyJo]

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Feeling Good

Make yourself feel good.

It's our job to first make ourselves feel better and then make ourselves feel good. Recovery is not only about stopping painful feelings; it is about creating a good life for ourselves.

We don't have to deny ourselves activities that help us feel good. Going to meetings, basking in the sun, exercising, taking a walk, or spending time with a friend are activities that may help us feel good. We each have our list. If we don't, we're now free to explore, experiment, and develop that list.

When we find a behavior or activity that produces a good feeling, put it on the list. Then, do it frequently.

Let's stop denying ourselves good feelings and start doing things that make us feel good.

Today, I will do one activity or behavior that I know will create a good feeling for me. If I'm uncertain about what I like, I will experiment with one behavior today.

There are a lot of natural highs in recovery. So many good, good feelings, if we open ourselves to be aware and appreciate them. Just waking up each morning is a gift in and of itself. Remembering what happened yesterday is bonus.

Don't have to be an alcoholic or a drug addict to shut off and shut down. We use people, places, and things to take us out of reality.

[MajestyJo]

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Letting Go of Fear

Fear is at the core of codependency. It can motivate us to control situations or neglect ourselves.

Many of us have been afraid for so long that we don't label our feelings fear. We're used to feeling upset and anxious. It feels normal.

Peace and serenity may be uncomfortable.

At one time, fear may have been appropriate and useful. We may have relied on fear to protect ourselves, much the way soldiers in a war rely on fear to help them survive. But now, in recovery, we're living life differently.

It's time to thank our old fears for helping us survive, then wave good-bye to them. Welcome peace, trust, acceptance, and safety. We don't need that much fear anymore. We can listen to our healthy fears, and let go of the rest.

We can create a feeling of safety for ourselves, now. We are safe, now. We've made a commitment to take care of ourselves. We can trust and love ourselves.

God, help me let go of my need to be afraid. Replace it with a need to be at peace. Help me listen to my healthy fears and relinquish the rest.

As they say, fear and faith can't occupy the same space. It is easy to say let go, but not something that I found easy to do. One of those things that I had to pray for the willingness to be willing.

[MajestyJo]

Thursday, May 8, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Giving Ourselves What We Deserve

I worked at a good job, making a decent salary. I had been recovering for years. Each morning, I got into my car and I thanked God for the car. The heater didn't work. And the chance of the car not starting was almost as great as the chance that it would. I just kept suffering through and thanking God. One day, it occurred to me that there was absolutely no good reason I couldn't buy myself a new car - that moment - if I wanted one. I had been gratitudeing myself into unnecessary deprivation and martyrdom. I bought the new car - that day.
—Anonymous

Often, our instinctive reaction to something we want or need is, No! I can't afford it!

The question we can learn to ask ourselves is, But can I?

Many of us have learned to habitually deprive ourselves of anything we might want, and often things we need.

Sometimes, we can misuse the concept of gratitude to keep ourselves unnecessarily deprived.

Gratitude for what we have is an important recovery concept. So is believing we deserve the best and making an effort to stop depriving ourselves and start treating ourselves well.

There is nothing wrong with buying ourselves what we want when we can afford to do that. Learn to trust and listen to yourself about what you want. There's nothing wrong with buying yourself a treat, buying yourself something new.

There are times when it is good to wait. There are times when we legitimately cannot afford a luxury. But there are many times when we can.

Today, I will combine the principles of gratitude for what I have with the belief that I deserve the best. If there is no good reason to deprive myself, I won't.

For so many years, I didn't think I was deserving. It seemed like I broke or bent all the rules of "Thou Shall Not."

Like the thought, "Principle of Gratitude." As the 12th Step say, "Practice the principles in all our affairs.

Be grateful for what I have, instead of focusing on what I don't have and think I am deserving of. I am reminded, I am where I am in today, as a result of choices made.

[MajestyJo]

Discover The Power Of Loving Yourself

Sometimes it's hard to trust life with all its sudden twist,
turns, and storms. When something unexpected or
painful happens, when we become blocked or
frustrated, when life takes a different course than we
hoped it would, it's easy to stop trusting the flow of our
lives.

It didn't ask for this. It's not fair. I don't want this, we think.
This road isn't leading anywhere, at least no where I
want to go. Often, when we feel life has turned on us,
we respond by turning on ourselves. But turning on
ourselves doesn't help. In fact, it can compound the
situation.

It can prevent us from healing and acting on the very
guidance that will lead us through, get us through,
and take us to the next place. It can prevent us from
hearing our heart.

Keep loving yourself, and taking care of yourself, no
matter what__through the storms, the twist, the turns,
and the blocks.

Take a moment, breathe deep, restore yourself to that
sacred place of self-love and self-responsibility.
Feel all your feelings. Them let them go.

Love yourself until you can hear your heart
and what it tells you to do.

Love yourself until you find the courage to act
on that guidance.

Loving yourself is a powerful tool, a powerful force for change.
It can reconnect you to creativity, to universal love,
to the best possible flow of events within your life.
It can and will reconnect you to life's magic.

There's a trustworthy road through whatever life brings.
Loving yourself will help you find it.


-- Melody Beattie

Love this, have been going back looking at old posts for spiritual food for today.

[MajestyJo]

Friday, May 9, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Learning New Behaviors

Sometimes we'll take a few steps backward. That's okay too. Sometimes it's necessary. Sometimes it's part of going forward.
—Codependent No More

Life is a Gentle Teacher. She wants to help us learn.

The lessons she wants to teach us are the ones we need to learn. Some say they are the lessons we chose to learn before we were born. Others say they are the lessons that were chosen for us.

It's frustrating to be in the midst of learning. It is like sitting in algebra class, listening to a teacher explain a subject beyond our comprehension. We do not understand, but the teacher takes the understanding for granted.

It may feel like someone is torturing us with messages that we shall never understand. We strain and strain. We become angry. Frustrated. Confused. Finally, in despair, we turn away, deciding that that formula will never be available to our mind.

Later, while taking a quiet walk, we break through. Quietly, the gift of understanding has reached that deepest place in us. We understand. We have learned. The next day in class, it's hard for us to imagine not knowing. It is hard to remember the frustration and confusion of those who have not yet caught on. It seems so easy . . . now.

Life is a Gentle Teacher. She will keep repeating the lesson until we learn. It is okay to become frustrated. Confused. Angry. Sometimes it is okay to despair. Then, it is okay to walk away and allow the breakthrough to come.

It shall.

Help me remember that frustration and confusion usually precede growth. If my situation is challenging me, it is because I'm learning something new, rising to a higher level of understanding. Help me be grateful, even in my frustration, that life is an exciting progression of lessons.

Growing pains aren`t fun. As I was told in early recovery, `No pain, no gain.`

[MajestyJo]

Saturday, May 10, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Enjoying the Good Days

Good feelings can become a habitual part of our life.

There is absolutely no virtue in the unnecessary suffering, which many of us have felt for much of our life. We don't have to allow others to make us miserable, and we don't have to make ourselves miserable.

A good day does not have to be the calm before the storm. That's an old way of thinking we learned in dysfunctional systems.

In recovery, a good day or a good feeling doesn't mean we're in denial. We don't have to wreck our good times by obsessively searching for or creating a problem.

Enjoying our good days doesn't mean we're being disloyal to loved ones who are having problems. We don't have to make ourselves feel guilty because other people aren't having a good day. We don't have to make ourselves miserable to be like them. They can have their day and their feelings; we can have ours.

A good feeling is to be enjoyed. More than we can imagine, good days are ours for the asking.

Today, I will let myself enjoy what is good. I don't have to wreck my good day or good feeling; I don't have to let others spoil it either.

Amen!

[MajestyJo]

Sunday, May 11, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Perfection

Many of us picked on ourselves unmercifully before recovery. We may also have a tendency too pick on ourselves after we begin recovery.

If I was really recovering, I wouldn't be doing that again . . . I should be further along than I am. These are statements that we indulge in when we're feeling shame. We don't need to treat ourselves that way. There is no benefit.

Remember, shame blocks us. But self-love and acceptance enable us to grow and change. If we truly have done something we feel guilty about, we can correct it with an amend and an attitude of self-acceptance and love.

Even if we slip back to our old, codependent ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving, we do not need to be ashamed. We all regress from time to time. That's how we learn and grow. Relapse, or recycling, is an important and necessary part of recovery. And the way out of recycling is not by shaming ourselves. That leads us deeper into codependency.

Much pain comes from trying to be perfect. Perfection is impossible unless we think of it in a new way: Perfection is being who and where we are today; it's accepting and loving ourselves just as we are. We are each right where we need to be in our recovery.

Today, I will love and accept myself for who I am and where I am in my recovery process. I am right where I need to be to get to where I'm going tomorrow.

Like the thought and the question of being where I need to be to get to tomorrow.

Perfectionism isn't a recovery tool. It is part of my disease.

When I turn my day over to my God, my day will unfold as it should unless I choose to shut off and decide to go my own way. When I do that, I am playing god with my life and that of others.

Perfection means it has to be just so or it is wrong. We are perfect in God's Sight, whether we are flawless or flawed. It is all in our own mind and the selfish, self-centeredness of our disease that is at work in our lives. I know, I have been there.

Having said that, I realized that I didn't format my post. ;)

[MajestyJo]

Monday, May 12, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Intimacy

We can let ourselves be close to people.

Many of us have deeply ingrained patterns for sabotaging relationships. Some of us may instinctively terminate a relationship once it moves to a certain level of closeness and intimacy.

When we start to feel close to someone, we may zero in on one of the person's character defects, and then make it so big it's all we can see. We may withdraw, or push the person away to create distance. We may start criticizing the other person, a behavior sure to create distance.

We may start trying to control the person, a behavior that prevents intimacy.

We may tell ourselves we don't want or need another person, or smother the person with our needs.

Sometimes, we defeat ourselves by trying to be close to people who aren't available for intimacy - people with active addictions, or people who don't choose to be close to us. Sometimes, we choose people with particular faults so that when it comes time to be close, we have an escape hatch.

We're afraid, and we fear losing ourselves. We're afraid that closeness means we won't be able to own our power to take care of ourselves.

In recovery, we're learning that it's okay to let ourselves be close to people. We're choosing to relate to safe, healthy people, so closeness is a possibility. Closeness doesn't mean we have to lose ourselves, or our life. As one man said, "We're learning that we can own our power with people, even when we're close, even when the other person has something we need."

Today, I will be available for closeness and intimacy with people, when that's appropriate. Whenever possible, I will let myself be who I am, let others be who they are, and enjoy the bond and good feelings between us.

Another big issue for me, didn't want people close to me. I couldn't stand myself, so didn't think anyone else could. I kept coming back because I was told, let us love you, until you can love yourself.

[MajestyJo]

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Property Lines

A helpful tool in our recovery, especially in the behavior we call detachment, is learning to identify who owns what. Then we let each person own and possess his or her rightful property.

If another person has an addiction, a problem, a feeling, or a self-defeating behavior, that is their property, not ours. If someone is a martyr, immersed in negativity, controlling, or manipulative behavior, that is their issue, not ours.

If someone has acted and experienced a particular consequence, both the behavior and the consequence belong to that person.

If someone is in denial or cannot think clearly on a particular issue, that confusion belongs to him or her.

If someone has a limited or impaired ability to love or care, that is his or her property, not ours. If someone has no approval or nurturing to give away, that is that person's property.

People's lies, deceptions, tricks, manipulations, abusive behaviors, inappropriate behaviors, cheating behaviors, and tacky behaviors belong to them, too. Not us.

People's hope and dreams are their property. Their guilt belongs to them too. Their happiness or misery is also theirs. So are their beliefs and messages.

If some people don't like themselves, that is their choice. Other people's choices are their property, not ours.

What people choose to say and do is their business.

What is our property? Our property includes our behaviors, problems, feelings, happiness, misery, choices, and messages; our ability to love, care, and nurture; our thoughts, our denial, our hopes and dreams for ourselves. Whether we allow ourselves to be controlled, manipulated, deceived, or mistreated is our business.

In recovery, we learn an appropriate sense of ownership. If something isn't ours, we don't take it. If we take it, we learn to give it back. Let other people have their property, and learn to own and take good care of what's ours.

Today, I will work at developing a clear sense of what belongs to me, and what doesn't. If it's not mine, I won't keep it. I will deal with my issues, my responsibilities, and myself. I will take my hands off what is not mine.

[MajestyJo]

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Honesty

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
—Step Five of Al-Anon

Talking openly and honestly to another person about ourselves, in an attitude that reflects self-responsibility, is critical to recovery.

It's important to admit what we have done wrong to others and to ourselves. Verbalize our beliefs and our behaviors. Get our resentments and fears out in the open.

That's how we release our pain. That's how we release old beliefs and feelings. That's how we are set free. The more clear and specific we can be with our Higher Power, ourselves, and another person, the more quickly we will experience that freedom.

Step Five is an important part of the recovery process. For those of us who have learned to keep secrets from others, and ourselves it is not just a step - it is a leap toward becoming healthy.

Today I will remember that it's okay to talk about the issues that bother me. It is by sharing my issues that I will grow beyond them. I will also remember that it's okay to be selective about those in whom I confide. I can trust my instincts and choose someone who will not use my disclosures against me, and who will give me healthy feedback.

When I share, it helps me to get honest. When the words come out of my mouth, I can hear what has been rattling around in my head. Today's reading is a day ahead of where I was at yesterday. I got to share with a dear friend, someone I have known for a long time, and I can be honest with her and we accept each other. It is a real gift of recovery, loving unconditionally, even though someone else is in a place I wouldn't choose for myself. Hopefully they chose to have the same attitude toward me. I don't have to go outside of myself for validation and affirmation, but it helps. :40:

[MajestyJo]

Thursday, May 15, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Taking Risks

Take a risk. Take a chance.

We do not have to indulge in obviously foolhardy or self-defeating risks, but we can allow ourselves to take positive risks in recovery. We cannot afford to keep ourselves paralyzed.

We do not have to keep ourselves stymied and trapped out of fear of making a mistake or failing. Naturally, we will make mistakes and fail from time to time. That's part of being fully alive. There are no guarantees. If we are waiting for guaranteed courses of action, we may spend much of our life waiting.

We do not have to shame ourselves or accept shame from anyone else, even those in recovery, for making mistakes. The goal of recovery is not to live life perfectly. The goal of recovery is to live, learn our lessons, and make overall progress.

Take a risk. Do not always wait for a guarantee. We don't have to listen to "I told you so." Dust yourself off after a mistake, and then move on to the success.

God, help me begin to take healthy risks. Help me let go of my fear of failure, and help me let go of my fear of success. Help me let go of my fear of fully living my life, and help me start experiencing all parts of this journey.

Was told this early in recovery. I was told if I wanted to grow, I had to let go of the fear of putting the next foot forward and I had to expand my horizons. I had to have faith in my God and the program and know it would work for me too.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/mammals-pigs-18/0095.gif

[MajestyJo]

Friday, May 16, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Self Love

"I woke up this morning and I had a hard time for a while," said one recovering man. "Then I realized it was because I wasn't liking myself very much." Recovering people often say: I just don't like myself. When will I start liking myself?

The answer is: start now. We can learn to be gentle, loving, and nurturing with ourselves. Of all the recovery behaviors we're striving to attain, loving ourselves may be the most difficult, and the most important. If we are habitually harsh and critical toward ourselves, learning to be gentle with ourselves may require dedicated effort.

But what a valuable venture!

By not liking ourselves, we may be perpetuating the discounting, neglect, or abuse we received in childhood from the important people in our life. We didn't like what happened then, but find ourselves copying those who mistreated us by treating ourselves poorly.

We can stop the pattern. We can begin giving ourselves the loving, respectful treatment we deserve.

Instead of criticizing ourselves, we can tell ourselves we performed well enough.

We can wake up in the morning and tell ourselves we deserve a good day.

We can make a commitment to take good care of ourselves throughout the day.

We can recognize that were deserving of love. We can do loving things for ourselves.

We can love other people and let them love us.

People, who truly love themselves do not become destructively self-centered. They do not abuse others. They do not stop growing and changing. People who love themselves well, learn to love others well too. They continually grow into healthier people, learning that their love was appropriately placed.

Today, I will love myself. If I get caught in the old pattern of not liking myself, I will find a way to get out.

Found that once I learned to love myself, I had to learn to like myself.

[MajestyJo]

Saturday, May 17, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Boundaries

Sometimes, life and people seem to push and push. Because we are so used to pain, we may tell ourselves it doesn't hurt. Because we are so used to people controlling and manipulating us, we may tell ourselves there is something wrong with us.

There's nothing wrong with us. Life is pushing and hurting to get our attention. Sometimes, the pain and pushing are pointing toward a lesson. The lesson may be that we've become too controlling. Or maybe we're being pushed to own our power to take care of ourselves. The issue is boundaries.

If something or somebody is pushing us to our limit, that's exactly what's happening: we're being pushed to our limits. We can be grateful for the lesson that's here to help us explore and set our boundaries.

Today, I will give myself permission to set the limits I want and need to set in my life.

Something so important to recovery. I need to set them out of respect for myself and protect myself from other people's stuff. They were hard for me because my son and ex-husbands, tended to ignore them, step over them, and disrespected me as a person. If I want respect, I have to earn it. I am worthwhile, and I have a right to respect my space. If they knocked them down, I had to reinstate them. If they were ignored, I had to remind them that they were there. Boundaries can be set near and far, and it is up to me as to who I let into my space, and how close I will allow them to come into my life.

[MajestyJo]

Releasing boundaries begins at the level of the heart as we unwrap the barbed wire of resentment and non-forgiveness that keep certain people from the embrace of our caring. It continues as we are willing to cross the no-man's-land of negativity about differences of ideology, religion, culture, or practice that we do not understand and, therefore, fear.

Understanding and connection grow as we sit and talk together, taking time away from chronic busyness to create the sacred space to truly be with each other, look into the eyes across from us, ask questions, and share answers that give birth to awareness and insight. Collaborative possibilities for new creation are born as we welcome the collective wisdom that emerges from our
communication carrying us past doctrine to revelation.

- Dr. Kathy Hern

Rev. Dr, Kathy Hearn has been a practicing Religious Scientist since 1980, ordained by Rev. Terry Cole-Whittaker in 1985 and by UCRS in 1989. She founded Pacific Church of Religious Science in San Diego where she was Senior Minister for 15 years. She has been active in the leadership of UCRS, having held the positions of President and Vice President of United Clergy of Religious Science and Vice Chair of the International Board of Trustees. She is the former Director of Holmes Institute--San Diego Regional Center, and is an instructor in the Holmes Institute Graduate School of Consciousness Studies. She served as Chair of the
Organizational Renewal Project and as a Member of the New Organization Design Team.

Most recently, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree at this year's Annual Gathering in Albuquerque. Rev. Kathy is the mother of two wonderful children, Ian and Susana, and she lives in La Jolla, California. http://www.revkathy.com/


Please include link back to Antesian Road To Enlightenment in forwarded material antesianroadtoenlightenment-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

NOTE: So much of my belief system was made up of old tapes and other people's concepts and beliefs. It wasn't until I made God personal, that I was able to determine what God meant to me. I couldn't restrict Him/Her/It with my narrow outlook and limiting beliefs. I realized was God was all things, and is revealed daily when I am open to be learning. Boundaries can be restricting or freeing. Blocking out the old and making room for the new hope and belief.

I see it more as letting people in, no matter what their beliefs and circumstances into our lives. People who may not think and act like us, people who are different. For me, they are saying they can enrich my life and I can learn from them. Old tapes and thou shall nots can keep people out because we are programmed as to what is right and what is wrong or they don't live up to our standards and we need to let go of our resentments and prejudices. i.e. Often the look on a person's face when they find out that I use to be an alcoholic and street people, people who have lost everything and have no home, often through no fault of their own who just got caught up in the system. How many people resent people who are on welfare and resent them as a person because they feel they are paying their way. I was on welfare, left with a teenager, with no car and no food with no idea as to whether I would have a roof over my head and food to put in his or my stomach.

People look at my disease and think it is worse than their own. They only use people, they didn't use alcohol. There was a time when I use to look at a person and say he used heroin, I only used pills. It all leads to the same soul sickness. We are no greater than, no less than any other addict in the rooms. People in Al-Anon and Nar-Anon are addicts just as much as the people in their lives. They are addicted to caretaking, they are codependent and they are looking outside of themselves to make them feel better. How do I know? Been there and wore the T-Shirt. I had the thinking long before I had the drinking and drugging and can still have the thinking even though I haven't drank or drugged in twenty-one years.

I think that this means that I need to put down the walls and love everyone. They are all children of God and are just as deserving of love and forgiveness as the next person.

Now I could be wrong on this, but that is what I got from the reading.

From my site Caressa's Spiritual Place



...knowing my boundaries does not mean forcing others to change; it means that I know my own limits and take care of myself by respecting them.

- Courage to Change


For so many years, I did not respect myself, I allowed others to come first and discounted my needs. Knowing my limits today are important, not only setting boundaries with others, but acknowledging and reminding myself not to overdo.

It is important that I respect my needs and do what I need to get them met, not just with my family, but with other people in my life.

Think this was posted on the old site.

[MajestyJo]

Sunday, May 18, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Don't stop living your life!

So often, when a problem occurs, inside or around us, we revert to thinking that if we put our life on hold we can positively contribute to the solution. If a relationship isn't working, if we face a difficult decision, if we're feeling depressed, we may put our life on hold and torment ourselves with obsessive thoughts.

Abandoning our life or routines contributes to the problem and delays us from finding the solution.

Frequently, the solution comes when we let go enough to live our life, return to our routine, and stop obsessing about the problem.

Sometimes, even if we don't feel like we have let go or can let go, we can act as if we have, and that will help bring about the letting go we desire.

You don't have to give up your power to problems. You can take your focus off your problem and direct it to your life, trusting that doing so will bring you closer to a solution.

Today, I will go on living my life and tending to my routine. I will decide, as often as I need to, to stop obsessing about whatever is bothering me. If I don't feel like letting go of a particular thing, I will act as if I have let go of it until my feelings match my behavior.

Lived my life through others for so many years. Put my life on hold waiting for others to make up their mind as to what they want to do.

What I learned in recovery was, "Live and Let Live." Live my own life and let the As in my life live theirs.

When I say As, I mean the alcoholic, addict, and/or abusive person in my life.

[MajestyJo]

Monday, May 19, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Solving Problems

"Shame is the first feeling that strikes me whenever I, or someone I love, has a problem," said one recovering woman.

Many of us were raised with the belief that having a problem is something to be ashamed of.

This belief can do many damaging things to us. It can stop us from identifying our problems; it can make us feel alienated and inferior when we have, or someone we love has, a problem. Shame can block us from solving a problem and finding the gift from the problem.

Problems are a part of life. So are solutions. People have problems, but we, and our self-esteem, are separate from our problems.

I've yet to meet a person who didn't have problems to solve, but I've met many who felt shamed to talk about the problems they actually had solved!

We are more than our problems. Even if our problem is our own behavior, the problem is not who we are - it's what we did.

It's okay to have problems. It's okay to talk about problems at appropriate times, and with safe people. It's okay to solve problems.

And we're okay, even when we have, or someone we love has, a problem. We don't have to forfeit our personal power or our self-esteem. We have solved exactly the problems we've needed to solve to become who we are.

Today, I will let go of my shame about problems.

About 15 years ago, I was sharing with a young guy who came up to me after a meeting. He said, "I can't seem to get by the shame." I said if you take the me out of shame, you are left with a sham.

I had to realize that my addiction dictated my life. I kept making the same mistake over and over again, and expecting this time to be different. It wasn't about prescription drugs and alcohol, it was about relationships too.

[MajestyJo]

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Sadness

Ultimately, to grieve our losses means to surrender to our feelings.

So many of us have lost so much, have said so many good byes - have been through so many changes. We may want to hold back the tides of change, not because the change isn't good, but because we have had so much change, so much loss.

Sometimes, when we are in the midst of pain and grief, we become shortsighted, like members of a tribe described in the movie Out of Africa.

"If you put them in prison," one character said, describing this tribe, "they die."

"Why?" asked another character.

"Because they can't grasp the idea that they'll be let out one day. They think it's permanent, so they die."

Many of us have so much grief to get through. Sometimes we begin to believe grief, or pain, is a permanent condition.

The pain will stop. Once felt and released, our feelings will bring us to a better place than where we started. Feeling our feelings, instead of denying or minimizing them, is how we heal from our past and move forward into a better future. Feeling our feelings is how we let go.

It may hurt for a moment, but peace and acceptance are on the other side. So is a new beginning.

God, help me fully embrace and finish my endings, so I may be ready for my new beginnings.

It is okay to feel sad, it is a natural feeling. For me, it is about how long I wish to stay there, and let it slide into depression, or pick up the tools of recovery, process it and let it go.

Sadness is part of the grieving process. Grief is not always about the loss of a loved one, it can be a change in their life style, a change in your own life, like a job, a friend, an hold habit or behaviour from your past.

I was told it could be anything that is a detour on life's journey. It can be as simple as a detour on your road to work that means you have to leave 10 minutes earlier for work.

It can be a change in medication or the fact that you have to go on one. Don't play doctor with your life, but get the fact, the whys and wherefores.

[MajestyJo]

Stages of grief.

http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/000617

http://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/

http://www.recover-from-grief.com/7-stages-of-grief.html

[MajestyJo]

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Getting Needs Met

I want to change careers . . . I need a friend . . .I'm ready to be in a relationship . . .

Regularly, we become aware of new needs. We may need to change our behavior with our children. We may need a new couch, love and nurturing, a dollar, or help.

Do not be afraid to recognize a want or need. The birth of a want or need, the temporary frustration from acknowledging a need before it's met, is the start of the cycle of receiving what we want. We follow this by letting go, then receiving that which we want and need. Identifying our needs is preparation for good things to come.

Acknowledging our needs means we are being prepared and drawn to that which will meet them. We can have faith to stand in that place in between.

Today, I will let go of my belief that my needs never get met. I will acknowledge my wants and needs, and then turn them over to my Higher Power. My Higher Power cares, sometimes about the silliest little things, if I do. My wants and needs are not an accident. God created me and all my desires.

It was after reading this that I named one of my original sites on MSN Get Your Needs Met. Have always believed that my God meets my needs, and sometimes my wants and desires too, if the motive and intent are coming from the right place.

[MajestyJo]

Thursday, May 22, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Times of Reprogramming

Do not ask for love unless you're ready to be healed enough to give and receive love.

Do not ask for joy unless you're ready to feel and release your pain, so you can feel joy.

Do not ask for success unless you're ready to conquer the behaviors that would sabotage success.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could imagine ourselves having or becoming - and then immediately receiving - what we wanted? We can have and be the good things we want. All good things are ours for the asking. But first, groundwork - preparation work - must be done.

A gardener would not plant seeds unless the ground was adequately prepared to nurture and nourish those seeds. The planting would be wasted effort. It would be wasted effort for us to get what we wanted before we were ready.

First, we need to become aware of our need or desire. This may not be easy! Many of us have become accustomed to shutting off the inner voice of our wants, needs, and desires. Sometimes, life has to work hard to get our attention.

Next we let go of the old programming: the behavior and beliefs that interfere with nurturing and nourishing the good. Many of us have strong sabotaging programs, learned from childhood, that need to be released. We may need to act as if for a while until the belief that we deserve the good becomes real.

We combine this process with much letting go, while we are being changed at the core.

There is naturalness to this process, but it can be intense. Things take time.

Good things are ours for the asking, if we are willing to participate in the work of groundbreaking. Work and wait.

Today, God, give me the courage to identify the good I want in my life and to ask for it. Give me also the faith and stamina I need to go through the work that must be accomplished first.

Really like this, can't process it in the moment, in too much pain. Hopefully I can remember to read it again tomorrow.

[MajestyJo]

Friday, May 23, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Enjoyment

Life is not to be endured; life is to be enjoyed and embraced.

The belief that we must square our shoulders and get through a meager, deprived existence for far off rewards in Heaven is a codependent belief.

Yes, most of us still have times when life will be stressful and challenge our endurance skills. But in recovery, we're learning to live, to enjoy our life, and handle situations as they come.

Our survival skills have served us well. They have gotten us through difficult times - as children and adults. Our ability to freeze feelings, deny problems, deprive ourselves, and cope with stress has helped us get where we are today. But we're safe now. We're learning to do more than survive. We can let go of unhealthy survival behaviors. We're learning new, better ways to protect and care for ourselves. We're free to feel our feelings, identify and solve problems, and give ourselves the best. We're free to open up and come alive.

Today, I will let go of my unhealthy endurance and survival skills. I will choose a new mode of living, one that allows me to be alive and enjoy the adventure.

As I have said many times, "If you aren't enjoying sobriety (soundness of mind) in recovery, what are you doing wrong?"

Life is for living. I didn't get clean and sober to stay in survivor mode.

[MajestyJo]

Saturday, May 24, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Letting the Cycles Flow

Life is cyclical, not static. Our relationships benefit when we allow them to follow their own natural cycles.

Like the tide ebbs and flows, so do the cycles in relationships. We have periods of closeness and periods of distance. We have times of coming together and times of separating to work on individual issues.

We have times of love and joy, and times of anger.

Sometimes, the dimensions of relationships change as we go through changes. Sometimes, life brings us new friends or a new loved one to teach us the next lesson.

That does not mean the old friend disappears forever. It means we have entered a new cycle.

We do not have to control the course of our relationships, whether these be friendships or love relationships. We do not have to satisfy our need to control by imposing a static form on relationships.

Let it flow. Be open to the cycles. Love will not disappear. The bond between friends will not sever. Things do not remain the same forever, especially when we are growing and changing at such a rapid pace.

Trust the flow. Take care of yourself, but be willing to let people go. Hanging on to them too tightly will make them disappear.

The old adage about love still holds true: If it's meant to be, it will be. And if you love someone, let them go. If they come back to you, the love is yours.

Today, I accept the cyclical nature of life and relationships. I will strive to go with the flow. I will strive for harmony with my own needs and the needs of the other person.

They say our cycle changes every 7 years. I have only 3 months to the end of my 3rd cycle. Even when I look back at my life from birth, there was events in my life, that were lessons, but I took them on as resentments.

[MajestyJo]

Sunday, May 25, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Loving Ourselves Unconditionally

Love yourself into health and a good life of your own.

Love yourself into relationships that work for you and the other person. Love yourself into peace, happiness, joy, success, and contentment.

Love yourself into all that you always wanted. We can stop treating ourselves the way others treated us, if they behaved in a less than healthy, desirable way. If we have learned to see ourselves critically, conditionally, and in a diminishing and punishing way, it's time to stop. Other people treated us that way, but it's even worse to treat ourselves that way now.

Loving ourselves may seem foreign, even foolish at times. People may accuse us of being selfish. We don't have to believe them.

People who love themselves are truly able to love others and let others love them. People who love themselves and hold themselves in high esteem are those who give the most, contribute the most, and love the most.

How do we love ourselves? By forcing it at first. By faking it, if necessary. By acting as if. By working as hard at loving and liking ourselves as we have at not liking ourselves.

Explore what it means to love yourself.

Do things for yourself that reflect compassionate, nurturing, self love.

Embrace and love all of yourself - past, present, and future. Forgive yourself quickly and as often as necessary. Encourage yourself. Tell yourself good things about yourself.

If we think and believe negative ideas, get them out in the open quickly and honestly, so we can replace those beliefs with better ones.

Pat yourself on the back when necessary. Discipline yourself when necessary. Ask for help, for time; ask for what you need.

Sometimes, give yourself treats. Do not treat yourself like a pack mule, always pushing and driving harder. Learn to be good to yourself. Choose behaviors with preferable consequences - treating yourself well is one.

Learn to stop your pain, even when that means making difficult decisions. Do not unnecessarily deprive yourself. Sometimes, give yourself what you want, just because you want it.

Stop explaining and justifying yourself. When you make mistakes, let them go. We learn, we grow, and we learn some more. And through it all, we love ourselves.

We work at it, and then work at it some more. One day we'll wake up, look in the mirror, and find that loving ourselves has become habitual. We're now living with a person who gives and receives love, because that person loves him or herself. Self-love will take hold and become a guiding force in our life.

Today, I will work at loving myself. I will work as hard at loving myself as I have at not liking myself. Help me let go of self-hate and behaviors that reflect not liking myself. Help me replace those with behaviors that reflect self-love. Today, God, help me hold myself in high self-esteem. Help me know I'm lovable and capable of giving and receiving love.

No one hurt me more than me. I was my own worst critic. I beat myself up royally, if I didn't meet my expectations and that of others. I had to learn to lower my expectations, love myself unconditionally. Perfectionism, people pleasing, and care taking were part of my disease. I had to learn to love and care for myself, so that I had something to share with others. As they say in Al-Anon, "Let it begin with me."

[MajestyJo]

Monday, May 26, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Gossip

Intimacy is that warm gift of feeling connected to others and enjoying our connection to them.

As we grow in recovery, we find that gift in many, sometimes surprising, places. We may discover we've developed intimate relationships with people at work, with friends, with people in our support groups - sometimes with family members. Many of us are discovering intimacy in a special love relationship.

Intimacy is not sex, although sex can be intimate. Intimacy means mutually honest, warm, caring, safe relationships - relationships where the other person can be who he or she is and we can be who we are - and both people are valued.

Sometimes there are conflicts. Conflict is inevitable. Sometimes there are troublesome feelings to work through. Sometimes the boundaries or parameters of relationships change. But there is a bond - one of love and trust.

There are many blocks to intimacy and intimate relationships. Addictions and abuse block intimacy. Unresolved family of origin issues prevents intimacy. Controlling blocks intimacy. Off balance relationships, where there is too great a discrepancy in power, prevent intimacy. Caretaking can block intimacy. Nagging, withdrawing, and shutting down can hurt intimacy. So can a simple behavior like gossip -- for example, gossiping about another for motives of diminishing him or her in order to build up ourselves or to judge the person. To discuss another person's issues, shortcomings, or failures with someone else will have a predictable negative impact on the relationship.

We deserve to enjoy intimacy in as many of our relationships as possible. We deserve relationships that have not been sabotaged. That does not mean we walk around with our heads in the clouds; it means we strive to keep our motives clean when it comes to discussing other people.

If we have a serious issue with someone, the best way to resolve it is to bring the issue to that person.

Direct, clean conversation clears the air and paves the way for intimacy, for good feelings about ourselves and our relationships with others.

Today, God, help me let go of my fear of intimacy. Help me strive to keep my communications with others clean and free from malicious gossip. Help me work toward intimacy in my relationships. Help me deal as directly as possible with my feelings.

Posted on this the other day, don't feed into it, don't listen to it. Don't repeat things, and only with someone else's permission, unless you heard it from the original source.

Word out mouth and man's interpretation, can often get changed in the telling.

[MajestyJo]

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Recognizing Choices

We have choices, more choices than we let ourselves see.

We may feel trapped in our relationships, our jobs, our life. We may feel locked into behaviors such as caretaking or controlling.

Feeling trapped is a symptom of codependency. When we hear ourselves say, I have to take care of this person . . . I have to say yes . . . I have to try to control that person . . . I have to behave this way, think this way, feel this way . . . we can know we are choosing not to see choices.

That sense of being trapped is an illusion. We are not controlled by circumstances, our past, the expectations of others, or our unhealthy expectations for ourselves. We can choose what feels right for us, without guilt. We have options.

Recovery is not about behaving perfectly or according to anyone else's rules. More than anything else, recovery is about knowing we have choices and giving ourselves the freedom to choose.

Today, I will open my thinking and myself to the choices available to me. I will make choices that are good for me.

We do have freedom of choice. It was that fre edom that kept me coming back to the rooms of 12 Step meetings.

I went to Women for Sobriety when in treatment, the treatment house gave us a choice as to where we felt comfortable. I didn't like it, and vowed never to go back. It moved to a facility a block away, and I decided to go. For me I don't think I could have stayed sober in the fellowship, yet it later gave me a new perspective on my recovery. I stopped going because I didn't find it was spiritual, and it was about the almighty I, with little regard to God almighty, who gives me the good orderly direction as to what I need to do to stay sober.

I was glad that I went to AA before I went to Adult Children of Alcoholics. I was able to get rid of my denial about being an alcoholic, because I identified so much with ACoA's literature, I might have died as a result of my denial.

My sponsor had been in OA, I never went to a meeting. I didn't think I believe I was a true OA member as I didn't have Anorexia or Bulimia. Yet I have an eating disorder, and it is my thinking behind the eating that was an issue. A drug is a drug, no matter what I picked up to suppress my feeling and/or a drug that I felt would help me cope. My body tells me that I need more, and the drug just puts a band aid on things, and I needed to heal and get to the root of the issue, that made me pick up in the first place.

Nothing changes, if nothing changes. I can choose to life or to die. My bother died at the age of 40 due to her disease. She qualified for OA and Al-Anon. When I put on weight, I thought I would die too. Then it got to a stage of I don't care, what is the use. That is not a recovery thought, the 12 Steps are applicable to all areas of my life.

[MajestyJo]

Many times my son has ate in soup kitchens and in shelters, because like you say, you can't cushion the bottom so they want to continue using. I don't mind helping someone who is staying clean. It is another thing to help to allow them to continue to use. Sometimes, with my son it is a hard line to discriminate because the addict isn't always able to be honest with you let alone with himself.

Enabling is allowing the disease to continue unchecked in a person's life. If there are no consequences, why should they stop using.

What I find difficult is when I don't hear from and I don't know if he is alive or dead. Yet that isn't his problem, it is mine. It is my control issues and something I hav been trying to work on. I love him no matter what he chooses to do. I just don't like his actions.

I am always willing to help him if he is willing to help himself. If I do give out money as a response to a plea, then I ask myself 1) Can I afford to give it away and 2) Is my giving him this enabling him to continue using. If the answer is no, he doesn't get. I can't give them to him even when he lived in another province and talks of going back there. He knows what he has to face, he saw a documentary on Hasting Street where he used to live. He like the province, but he can't enjoy the blessing if he doesn't choose sobriety.

The last time I talked to him, he said it all. He wasn't ready to be honest. He never had an open mind and wasn't willing to stay sober. That is his choice, he has been in treatment many times, and he knows there is another way and doesn't want to go there.

This disease is cunning, baffling, and powerful.

[MajestyJo]

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Letting Go of Self Doubt

A married woman who had recently joined Al-Anon called me one afternoon. She worked part-time as a registered nurse, had assumed all the responsibilities for raising her two children, and did all the household chores, including repairs and finances. "I want to separate from my husband," she sobbed. "I can't stand him or his abuse any longer. But tell me, please tell me," she said, "do you think I can take care of myself?"
—Codependent No More

Not only is it okay to take care of ourselves, we can take good care of ourselves.

Many of us, so confident about our ability to take care of others, doubt our inherent strength to care for ourselves. We may have come to believe, from our past or present circumstances, that we need to take care of others and we need others to take care of us. This is the ultimate codependent belief.

No matter where this self-defeating belief was born, we can release it and replace it with a better one, a healthier one, a more accurate one.

We can take care of ourselves -- whether we are in or out of a relationship. Everything we need will be provided. We will have loved ones, friends, and our Higher Power to help.

Knowing that we can take care of ourselves doesn't mean we won't have feelings of fear, discomfort, doubt, anger, and fragility at times. It means we practice "courageous vulnerability," as Colette Dowling called it in Cinderella Complex. We may feel scared, but we do it anyway.

Today, God, help me know how I can take care of myself.


As I have said many times before, my co-sponsor told me early in recovery, "If you are doubting yourself, you are doubting your God."

[MajestyJo]

Thursday, May 29, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Powerlessness and Unmanageability

Willpower is not the key to the way of life we are seeking. Surrender is.

"I have spent much of my life trying to make people be, do, or feel something they aren't, don't want to do, and choose not to feel. I have made them, and myself, crazy in that process," said one recovering woman.

I spent my childhood trying to make an alcoholic father who didn't love himself be a normal person who loved me. I then married an alcoholic and spent a decade trying to make him stop drinking.

I have spent years trying to make emotionally unavailable people be emotionally present for me. I have spent even more years trying to make family members, who are content feeling miserable, happy.

What I'm saying is this: I've spent much of my life desperately and vainly trying to do the impossible and feeling like a failure when I couldn't. It's been like planting corn and trying to make the seeds grow peas. Won't work!

By surrendering to powerlessness, I gain the presence of mind to stop wasting my time and energy trying to change and control that which I cannot change and control. It gives me permission to stop trying to do the impossible and focus on what is possible: being who I am, loving myself, feeling what I feel, and doing what I want to do with my life.

In recovery, we learn to stop fighting lions, simply because we cannot win. We also learn that the more we are focused on controlling and changing others, the more unmanageable our life becomes. The more we focus on living our own life, the more we have a life to live, and the more manageable our life will become.

Today, I will accept powerlessness where I have no power to change things, and I'll allow my life to become manageable.

I am powerless over people, places, and things. My life is unmanageable when managed by me.

[MajestyJo]

Friday, May 30, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Commitment

As we walk through life, there are many things and people we may lose, or lose out on, if we are unwilling to commit. We need to make a commitment for relationships to grow beyond the dating stage, to have the home or apartment we want, the job we want, or the car we desire.

We must commit, on deep levels, to careers, to goals, to family, friends, and recovery. Trying something will not enable us to succeed. Committing ourselves will.

Yet, we need never commit before we are ready.

Sometimes, our fear of commitment is telling us something. We may not want to commit to a particular relationship, purchase, or career. Other times, it is a matter of our fears working their way out. Wait, then. Wait until the issue becomes clear.

Trust yourself. Ask your Higher Power to remove your fear of commitment. Ask God to remove your blocks to commitment. Ask God for guidance.

Ask yourself if you are willing to lose what you will not commit too. Then listen, quietly. And wait until a decision seems consistently right and comfortable.

We need to be able to commit, but we need never commit until we are ready. Trust that you will commit when you want to.

God, guide me in making my commitments. Give me the courage to make those that are right for me, the wisdom to not commit to that which does not feel right, and the patience to wait until I know.

When it came to committing to recovery, I felt like I had no choice, it was live or die.

Through working the steps, I tried to not take on things that I couldn't commit to. In recent years, I said, "Yes" and found that the mind was willing but the flesh is weak. I finally had to accept, "God Willing," and if possible, I will be there. I had to quit my community service, working at an internet cafe as a volunteer.

[MajestyJo]

Saturday, May 31, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

What If?

I was talking to a friend one day about something I planned to do. Actually, I was worrying about how one particular person might react to what I intended to do.

"What if he doesn't handle it very well?" I asked.

"Then," my friend replied, "you're going to have to handle it well."

What if's can make us crazy. They put control over our life in someone else's hands. What if's are a sign that we have reverted to thinking that people have to react in a particular way for us to continue on our course.

What if's are also a clue that we may be wondering whether we can trust ourselves and our Higher Power to do what's best for us. These are shreds of codependent ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving, and they signal fear.

The reactions, feelings, likes or dislikes of others don't have to control our behaviors, feelings, and direction. We don't need to control how others react to our choices. We can trust ourselves, with help from a Higher Power, to handle any outcome - even the most uncomfortable. And, my friend, we can trust ourselves to handle it well.

Today, I will not worry about other people's reactions or events outside of my control. Instead, I will focus on my reactions. I will handle my life well today and trust that, tomorrow, I can do the same.

Not one of my favourite phrases, what is is, and can not be changed. When I question myself, I question my God, especially if I have invited Him along for the day.