“To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.” ~~Dr. Seuss
“If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” ~~Fred Rogers
“You don’t love someone because they’re perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they’re not.” ~~Jodi Picoult
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#10 All love given returns.
I am learning to know that I am loved.
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In our WFS Program booklet, Nancy Cross states, “All recovery roads lead to the ability to love and be loved.” Statement #10, the second of the “Love” Statements is profoundly life changing. It is an act of self-love to live every day sober. It states that we are deserving and worthy of love. It is connecting; being fully alive in living life. This simple act of love that we give ourselves returns in unlimited ways.
What happens when love is freely shared? Statement #10 asserts that it will be returned, not necessarily as a ‘this for that’ situation, but it does return. This week is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the many ways love has been returned in your life; from a message or warm words in the WFS Forum or face to face meeting to the excitement of seeing dear friends at the next WFS Conference.
In your reflections on love this week, consider how love has evolved throughout your life. How would you describe what love feels like today? How is this different in sobriety than beforehand? Do you find it easier to give love than to receive it? If so, why? and what can you do to create a greater sense of balance? Finally, recall a moment when you felt awed by love in your life and carry this awareness close whenever you need a hug from within.
Hugzzz and love,
Karen
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Hi 4C Women,
Powerful, thought-provoking questions. I am filled with gratitude to WFS that my answers today in recovery are quite different than they were in my active days of drinking. I didn’t like myself very much although I pretended I was just fine. Inside I was in a lot of emotional pain. It sometimes still feels odd to acknowledge that I have learned to love myself and accept love from others. I have always found it easier to give love and I have a feeling that might be true for many of us. It’s difficult to accept love when you feel unlovable. Most of my unlovable feelings stem from being rejected throughout much of my life by my biological father. Then I married a man who was much like my father which I learned in therapy, was me trying to recreate history with a better outcome. I needed to prove I was lovable. Well, that didn’t work out as I had hoped but I sure tried my hardest. What drew me to WFS was the philosophy that women drank for very different reasons than men and each Statement felt as though they were written just for me, telling me I wasn’t being silly, over emotional or too sensitive. The greatest gift was that I wasn’t alone. I would never have to figure all of this out on my own ever again. So, describing love before WFS was living constantly in the fear of rejection and today, love is living with acceptance of loving who I am now and traveling this journey alongside caring, compassionate friends in sobriety. The last question Karen asked us to consider, a moment of awe through love, brought to mind a very specific moment. I am going to keep that moment in my heart during these very hectic holidays as I do believe it will bring balance when I need it most and logic, something that seems to escape me when the holiday rush begins to feel more like a hurricane.
Bonded in learning self-love, self-worth and receiving love in return, a 4C sister