Readings

For Today: "How seek the way which leadeth to our wishes? By renouncing our wishes. The crown of excellence I renunciation." Hafiz Divan How I struggle to get what I want? Where is that perfect friend, mate, child I so hoped for? What can i do to attain the prestige, power, money and success i feel i deserve Here, took their OA program shows me the answer: Thought I may think I want all these things, what I really want is to be at peace with myself. No person, possession or acclaim can do that for me. OA's suggestion is: Let go your wishes, turn them over to your Higher Power to grant or not as God sees fit. An immediate result of renouncing my wishes is that I stop thinking about them. i live in the moment, giving the best thought I am capable of to each task that comes to hand. For today: I have complete faith that, as I turn over what I want, God will give me what I need. -- Voices of Recovery: "At the very first meeting we attended, we learned that we were in the clutches of a dangerous illness, and that willpower, emotional health, and self-confidence, which some of us had once possessed, were no defense against it." OA second edition, p. 1 The only defense I have against the disease of compulsive overeating is a spiritual one. After years in the program, after weight loss, after learning and practicing healthy eating habits, after discovering better ways to react to life's changes. I must continue to search for and accept guidance from a Higher Power. How many times have I fallen for the mistaken notion that after a few days or months of successful eating and living. I can again take charge of my life? I've learned the hard way, by successful relapses and humiliations, that no matter how much better I look, act, or feel, God must always be in charge of my life. My continued recovery depends on the emotional maintenance and growth of my spiritual condition. That hasn't changed from the day i set foot in my first Overeaters Anonymous meeting, and it never will. -- In This Moment: In This Moment, I'm envious. I hate it when I feel envy and I was just feeling it tonight. I feel tightness in my throat and there's a knot inside my chest. I called my sponsor to talk about this flaw. Talking with her diffuses the power of the envy and I'm able to own up to it. now, I'm entirely ready to ask God to remove this character defect. -- The Language of Letting Go: Giving Ourselves What We Deserve I worked at a good job, making a decent salary. I had been recovering for years. Each morning, I got into my car and I thanked God for the car. The heater didn't work. And the chance of the car not starting was almost as great as the chance that it would. i just kept suffering through, and thanking God. One day, it occurred to me that there was absolutely no good reason I couldn't buy myself a new car - that moment - if i wanted one. I had been gratitude-ing myself into unnecessary deprivation and martyrdom. I bought the new car - that day. Anonymous Often, our instinctive reaction to something we want or need is, "No! I can't afford it!" The question we can learn to ask ourselves is, "But, can I?" Many of us have learned to habitually deprive ourselves of anything we might want, and often things we need. Sometimes, we can misuse the concept of gratitude to keep ourselves unnecessarily deprived. Gratitude for what we have is an important recovery concept. So is believing we deserve the best and making nan effort to stop depriving ourselves and start treating ourselves well. there is nothing wrong with buying ourselves what we want when we can afford to do that. learn to trust and listen to yourself about what you want. There's nothing wrong with buying yourself a treat, buying yourself something NEW. There are times when it is good to wait. There are times when we legitimately cannot afford a luxury. But there are many times when we can. Today, I will combine the principles of gratitude for what I have with the belief that I deserve the best. if there is no good reason to deprive myself, I won't. ==