Reality of the Unseen - Part 3

[Rusty Zipper]

for me, getting the heart, and mind working together, grows a bit easier each day...

[Ann]

It’s comforting to rely on the inner voice. It assures us we’re never alone. No decision has to be made alone. No wrong action need ever be taken. A sense of security accompanies the partnership between each of us and our Spirit.

Amen, sister, Amen

[Enquire]

Originally Posted by citychick

We just need to take small steps in the right direction...
what other people think of us is none of our business.

Originally Posted by rustyzipper

its none of our business what anyone thinks of us!

Generous thanks for the insights you all shared. About being OK with being ones own self, not living for others, not allowing their judgment to determine for me who or what I am or will be. One "small step" I need to take is a bit of self-assertiveness. Like...being able to read and write as I choose, for instance. I'm not "supposed" to be reading and writing so much, nor so expressive, nor so loving...

But I'm weak. It took days to get back to being able to revisit SR.

It makes me angry to have to defend myself in those areas, as though I feel I have to justify my right to express myself as I choose.

Ann, you're not the first to suggest to me I look at codependency. I rejected the notion because it didn't seem I fit that profile, as I am extremely independent, self-reliant, even self-assured. And yet, there's this cowardly side of me that hides from everyone, as though they have some right to tell me how and what I should be. Why do I cater to that? It's not like I feel I NEED anyone. Though I do want and like and love the people who are part of my life. I'm nearly 40 years old and still run and hide like a scared little kid when others get upset with things about me. I will research into that book, "Codependent No More." MUCH appreciate your thoughtful kindness, willingness to share and support, all.

[Enquire]

Originally Posted by citychick

It’s comforting to rely on the inner voice. It assures us we’re never alone. No decision has to be made alone. No wrong action need ever be taken. A sense of security accompanies the partnership between each of us and our Spirit.

Even alone, one is never alone. If one can so perceive of that interconnection between self and the Whole that surrounds. There is so much comfort and peace in that.

[citychick]

May 13, 2008.

You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.

Your sense of what will bring you happiness is so crude and blundering. Try something else as a compass. Maybe the moralists are right and happiness doesn’t come from seeking pleasure and ease.

-Joanna Field


We think we know what will make us happy. Seldom do we readily accept that painful moments are often the price tags for peaceful, happy times. Nor do we appreciate that happiness lives within each one us; never is it intrinsic to the events we experience. Because we look for happiness “out there’ and expect it gift-wrapped in a particular way, we miss the joy of being fully alive each passing moment. How distorted our sense of happiness was before finding our way to this program! How futile our search!

The way still isn’t easy every Step we take, but we will find happiness in those fleeting moments when we can get outside of ourselves long enough to be fully attentive to the people in our lives. We’ll find it because it’s been there all the time. It flows between us when we open our hearts to give and receive compassion. Being truly there for another person is the key which unlocks the gate holding happiness back.

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

I will let someone in today and feel the rush of happiness.

[Ann]

We think we know what will make us happy. Seldom do we readily accept that painful moments are often the price tags for peaceful, happy times. Nor do we appreciate that happiness lives within each one us; never is it intrinsic to the events we experience.

For most of my life, my happiness depended on the people I loved. If THEY were happy, then I was happy too, and if they were not then I had trouble finding happiness for myself.

I learned that nobody holds the key to my happiness except me, I have held that key all along. Anything else is an illusion.

What a gift of recovery that today I can find my own happiness, no matter how those around me behave. Today I know MY values, MY dreams and MY safe places emotionally and for that I am very grateful.

Thanks for this reminder, CC. Today I will make up my mind to be happy, to find joy in the world around me. It's been there all along, it just took me about 50 years to notice.

Hugs

[Rusty Zipper]

[citychick]

Originally Posted by Ann

What a gift of recovery that today I can find my own happiness, no matter how those around me behave. Today I know MY values, MY dreams and MY safe places emotionally and for that I am very grateful.

me too Ann.

God I love this program.

[citychick]

May 15, 2008.

You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.

Difficulties, opposition, criticism – these things are meant to be overcome, and there is a special joy in facing them and in coming out on top. It is only when there is nothing but praise that life loses its charm, and I begin to wonder what I should do about it.

-Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit


To be alive means to experience difficulties, conflicts, challenges from many directions. What we do with adverse conditions both determines and is determined by who we are. Resistance, most of us have learned, heightens the adversity. Acceptance of the condition, trusting all the while the lesson it offers us is for our benefit, ensures that we’ll ‘come out on top.’

Difficulties are opportunities for advancement, for increased self-awareness, for self-fulfillment. So often we hear and remind one another that we grow through pain. We can face any situation knowing we have the strength of the program to shore us up. Strangely, we need challenges in order to grow; without growth we wither. Happiness is the bounty for facing the momentarily unhappy conditions.

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

Any difficulty I meet today offers me a chance for even greater happiness; it guarantees my growth.

[Ann]

Acceptance of the condition, trusting all the while the lesson it offers us is for our benefit, ensures that we’ll ‘come out on top.’

Amen, sister. Thanks for this reminder today.

[citychick]

May 16, 2008.

While I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed here, could the word ‘storm’ be used any more extensively? lol

You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.

It is only the women who’s eyes have been washed clear with tears who get the broad vision that makes them little sisters to all the world.

-Dorothy Dix


The storms of our lives benefit us like the storms that hit our towns and homes and wash clean the air we breathe. Our storms bring to the surface the issues that plague us. Perhaps we still fear a job with responsibilities. Perhaps we struggle with the significant other persons in our lives. Possessiveness is a particular storm that often haunts our progress. Storms force us to acknowledge these liabilities that continue to stand in our way, and acknowledgment is a step necessary to letting go.

Recovery is a whole series of storms; storms that help us sprout new growth, storms that flushed clean our clogged drains. The peace that comes after a storm is worth singing about.

Each storm can be likened to a rung on the ladder to wholeness, the ladder to full membership in the healthy human race. The storms make climbing tough, but we get strength with each step. The next storm will be more easily weathered.

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

If today is a stormy day, let me remember it will freshen the air I breathe.

[Rusty Zipper]

wheres IO, she knows about storms!

storms of growth!

[citychick]

lol

IO's a breath of fresh air

[indigo]

So are you city, so are you.

[citychick]

thanks! indie

you're lovely..