SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
Oct 4, from “Strengthening My Recovery” daily reader
“ACA holds out hope and acceptance to the hurting adult children of the world, who can ‘hit a bottom’ and reach out for help. Allowing the True Self to emerge in the nurturing atmosphere of ACA is a spiritual experience that awaits any adult child stepping onto the broad highway of ACA recovery.” BRB p. xv
“Coming to ACA was a long and complicated journey for many of us. We might have known that our families were not right. Some of us may have even thought that maybe we were the problem and sought any number of ways of adjusting ourselves to the family’s dysfunction.
At some point, we finally hit a bottom, surrendering to the fact that we needed something different, but not knowing what it was.
Somehow our Higher Power opened the path, our eyes, and our minds so that we could find our first ACA meeting. Perhaps it was the suggestion of a friend or trusted counselor, or an internet search. Our Higher Power found us searching.
As we attend ACA meetings, we get the sense of belonging we had unknowingly sought. Here, the spiritual experience unties the entanglements of our childhoods. Our True Self comes out of the dark hidden places and sits among our fellow ACAs.
On this day I remind myself that my search has lead me to my Higher Power, my True Self, and support from my fellow ACAs.”
My experience:
How true this was for me. While sitting numbingly watching television one evening, some show or commercial mentioned aspects of an adult child. It hit me in that instant. I said to myself, “that sounds like me.” I immediately grabbed my laptop and searched for books on the subject. I probably purchased 6 or 7 books on the topic. Once arrived, I voraciously read them, gleaning all the knowledge I could and seeing some of myself in each passing page. One thing that kept being mentioned was to attend a meeting. I could read all this information, I could research some more on the internet, but there was no way I was going to go to a meeting. Then one night I found myself in the parking lot of a meeting. It was in a medical building. I found myself in the building searching for the meeting. But to no avail, I did not find the meeting that night. It would be weeks, perhaps months, later before I tried another meeting. I am so glad I did. It has been the most singular thing that I have done for myself that has provided tremendous help. I cried in my very first meeting as I thought, these people know my pain, I am not alone. And my weeping in this meeting did not seem to faze anyone there, even though I am considered a pretty big guy with a pretty intense job. The fact that my crying did not faze anyone was wonderment to me. But they all offered me a smile and a hug. That act alone brought me back into the room again and again. I now know that my higher power guided me here and I am forever grateful!! I invite you to come into the room and get your ACA smile and hug!!!
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