Ann

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Letting Go of the Past

... in thy book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them.
--Ps. 139:16

Some people believe that each of our days were planned, Divinely Ordered, before we were born. God knew, they say, and planned exactly what was to transpire.

Others suggest we chose, we participated in planning our life - the events, the people, the circumstances that were to take place, in order to work through our issues and learn the lessons we needed to master.

Whatever our philosophy, our interpretation can be similar: Our past is neither an accident nor a mistake. We have been where we needed to be, with the necessary people. We can embrace our history, with its pain, its imperfections, and its mistakes, even its tragedies. It is uniquely ours; it was intended just for us.

Today, we are right where we need to be. Our present circumstances are exactly as they need to be - for now.

Today, I will let go of my guilt and fear about my past and present circumstances. I will trust that where I have been and where I am now are right for me.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990, Hazelden Foundation.

Ann

One reason I hang on to my recovery is that I never want to return to my past or how it was then. Yet, I am grateful for every moment because it led me to where I am today. That's hard to understand until you are out of the pain ...out of the problem and into the solution.

I've said this before but it bears repeating...I would not wish my life on my worst enemy, yet I would trade my life with no one.

Each life is a special gift, good times and bad, and today I just treasure the experience and let life lead me to where I am supposed to go.

Hugs

copperpenny

It is still hard for me after 8 plus years to accept that my ASD is where she wants to be. We remained detached with love while she was in jail recently and encouraged her to go to rehab (again) and then we would see about her being with us again. We have been detached for 2.5 yrs. We adopted her daughter who is 8 yrs. now after her rights were terminated. She said she would ask the judge for rehab but she didn't even though she said she would do anything to get clean again (in letters to us) He gave her 18 mos. community control for her vop and she had no where to go. We told her no, her sisters also. So she left jail 10 days ago without a place and she never checked in with her probation officer so there will be another vop and warrant. Now that we have adopted her daughter I have let go of the frantic attempts to keep her clean with my codie ways but it's still hard to imagine how she must feel. Mad at us, the world, her life. I am sure she used and prostitued the first night out of jail. I try to remember what I have learned but it is still so incredibly sad. A beautiful daughter who loves her so and she can't do it. A friend of mine who was in Alanon once told me some people have to die to get better, find peace. This sticks in my mind, how much longer can she escape the murderer? I pray she can get down on her knees one more time but it must be so painful for her to think the whole world has abandoned her.