GRATITUDE

Feb 1, from “Strengthening My Recovery” daily reader

“The ACA program has brought me the miracle of life. I am able to experience compassion, forgiveness, love, and gratitude, the emotions that make my life worth living.” BRB p.140

Before ACA, many of us were so mired in our dysfunctions that if someone asked us how we felt, we usually just said, “Fine.” We probably didn’t even know how to describe our feelings, since many of us couldn’t think of more than a few anyway. This was the result of consistently stuffing them in our childhood and adult lives.

In ACA, we learn to change our thoughts, to gradually free ourselves from the things that are weighing us down. We see that the sky is often a beautiful blue; it’s not always cloudy. We start to see so many more possibilities for ourselves about the way we truly want to live our lives. We find that it’s possible to have compassion for others in a way that doesn’t mean we want or need to fix them. We understand that we all have struggles; we offer help where we can, with no strings attached. Instead of carrying resentments, we learn forgiveness. We begin to release any bitterness and anger. Instead of being a victim and feeling as if we don’t have enough, we learn to have gratitude for what we have and for our potential. We find the miracles.

On this day I will remember the emotional gifts this program has given me, and with gratitude I promise to continue to open myself up to life’s possibilities through ACA.

 My Experience:

I am so grateful that this program has provided me the tools to feel things.  I am especially grateful for the opportunity to feel forgiveness.  I have lived a life of keeping a score of hurts in my mind.  This was justification for when I hurt you or if you hurt me first, I reasoned that it was ok for you to hurt me.  Score even!!  How sick that thinking was.  I now live a life where if someone hurts me, I really look at how I am feeling.  Am I embarrassed, am I angry, am I abandoned, am I alone, etc.  Then I try to see it from the other persons point of view.  Most likely it was not done to personally hurt me, perhaps they needed to do this for their own sanity.  This clarity of mind keeps me from dwelling on things from the past and to better enjoy the moment right now.  Hurts come and go, I want to experience everything life has to offer, and forgiving allows me to let go of the negative thoughts and move forward.  Join me on this journey, what a beautiful journey it is.