Language of Letting Go - September 26
Nature Girl
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
Language of Letting Go - September 26
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go
Feeling Protected
Our task is not a naive one of feeling safe, of living and loving in a utopian world. One woman commented that our task is making ourselves feel safe while learning to live and love in a world that is unsafe.
We do not want to dwell on the danger for that gives power to the negative. Neither do we want to ignore them or pretend they don't exist.
If we were going to sunbathe, we would not be naive about the dangers from the sun. We know that harmful rays can burn. We would take steps to protect ourselves, so that we could enjoy the benefits of the sun.
That is our task in recovery.
This is what a woman, a helping professional, told me:
Picture a sunscreen surrounding you. Place it around yourself - not too heavy and thick so no light can penetrate, and not so thin that you are exposed to danger.
See yourself protected by a sunscreen that is effective. Make certain that the screen is open to the good. For a while, your screen was too heavy. It held back what you wanted. Now change it to let the good come through.
This is your screen for life and the world. See it. Imagine it surrounding you always. It wraps you in love, in comfort, in protection. No harm can enter. No negative energy can penetrate the screen.
Go in peace; go in safety. Go now, knowing you are protected. Go anywhere you need to go. The evil has been blocked; the goodwill comes pouring forth. You do not have to work so hard at protecting yourself. You can relax and enjoy life trusting that you are safe. Go without fear, for you are wrapped in love and protection. And you shall always be.
Today, I will envision myself wrapped in a shield that blocks the negative and harmful rays of the world, but it is constructed so that the good can enter.
From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990, Hazelden Foundation.
Feeling Protected
Our task is not a naive one of feeling safe, of living and loving in a utopian world. One woman commented that our task is making ourselves feel safe while learning to live and love in a world that is unsafe.
We do not want to dwell on the danger for that gives power to the negative. Neither do we want to ignore them or pretend they don't exist.
If we were going to sunbathe, we would not be naive about the dangers from the sun. We know that harmful rays can burn. We would take steps to protect ourselves, so that we could enjoy the benefits of the sun.
That is our task in recovery.
This is what a woman, a helping professional, told me:
Picture a sunscreen surrounding you. Place it around yourself - not too heavy and thick so no light can penetrate, and not so thin that you are exposed to danger.
See yourself protected by a sunscreen that is effective. Make certain that the screen is open to the good. For a while, your screen was too heavy. It held back what you wanted. Now change it to let the good come through.
This is your screen for life and the world. See it. Imagine it surrounding you always. It wraps you in love, in comfort, in protection. No harm can enter. No negative energy can penetrate the screen.
Go in peace; go in safety. Go now, knowing you are protected. Go anywhere you need to go. The evil has been blocked; the goodwill comes pouring forth. You do not have to work so hard at protecting yourself. You can relax and enjoy life trusting that you are safe. Go without fear, for you are wrapped in love and protection. And you shall always be.
Today, I will envision myself wrapped in a shield that blocks the negative and harmful rays of the world, but it is constructed so that the good can enter.
From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990, Hazelden Foundation.
Nature Girl
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
This reading today reminds me of how important it has been for me to learn to work the steps. There isn't a single problem in life, addiction-related or not, that working at least one of the steps cannot help me get through.
I can tend to be a "meeting thumper" sometimes, but without live meetings and finding a wonderful sponsor who helped me learn what each step meant and how to use it in my life, I don't know where I would be today.
Learning to work the 12-steps of recovery has been better than any high cost therapy I might have found...and all it cost me was willingness and work.
The steps are my sunscreen, knowing how to work them allows me to live in the solution instead of the problem.
Hugs
I can tend to be a "meeting thumper" sometimes, but without live meetings and finding a wonderful sponsor who helped me learn what each step meant and how to use it in my life, I don't know where I would be today.
Learning to work the 12-steps of recovery has been better than any high cost therapy I might have found...and all it cost me was willingness and work.
The steps are my sunscreen, knowing how to work them allows me to live in the solution instead of the problem.
Hugs
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