Monday Thoughts 5/18/2020 - Women for Sobriety

“You are never alone. You are eternally connected to everyone.” ~~Amit Ray

“Growth is uncomfortable because you’ve never been here before. You’ve never seen this version of you. So give yourself a little grace and breathe through it.” ~~Kristin Lohr

“No man was ever wise by chance.” ~~Seneca

_______________________________________________________________

#8 The fundamental object of life is emotional and spiritual growth.

Daily I put my life into a proper order, knowing which are the priorities.

_______________________________________________________________

Growth? What growth? Before my New Life, growth was for other people; those people who wrote self-help books and did motivational speaking. Unaware that I was living in a pattern of immobility, life was something to be reacted to. I had little to no understanding of cause and effect and felt life was basically unfair but Statement #8 and the WFS New Life Program helped me update that thought process.

Practicing Statement #8 became incredibly freeing; soon I felt free from self-limiting beliefs and expectations. One of the first beliefs to fall from the wayside was the belief that I was stuck where I was. In our WFS Reflections for Growth booklet it states (on Nov 1), “From sunrise to sunset, the day experiences many changes. In fact, the changes are constant, although most of us are not continually aware of them—only the drastic difference between dawn, midday, twilight and night. This is the way it is with each of us. We are in constant change but we don’t notice it until after the fact. Today I will be aware of the changes in myself.” This is such a beautiful example to embrace and become aware of change.

Here is a helpful tool to practice Statement #8 from Lara Fielding, author of Mastering Adulthood: Go Beyond Adulting to Become an Emotional Grown-Up:

When we are distressed by a situation in our lives, we can do a quick writing exercise in which we detail:

· What happened, what we saw, heard etc.

· The thoughts that this provoked in us, or how we interpret the event

· The emotions we immediately felt

· The bodily sensations we immediately felt

· What action we took in response

How will you practice Statement #8 this week? How is your life different today in sobriety?

Hugzzz

Karen

“““““““““““`

Hi 4C Women,

If there ever was a time for me to consider the above questions, it would certainly be now. I thought it was challenging to handle life’s issues before current circumstances but now I find myself with a lot of time for self-reflection and feeling like a lost child sometimes. Perhaps even a rebellious teenager who wants everything to be corrected to my liking and immediately no less! Thank goodness I have the WFS Statements to pull me back to emotional maturity (I’m trying) and putting my priorities in order as best I can. This is what I’ve learned so far – I really like helping and supporting others on this journey, it is my reward and as I recently heard, my sobriety insurance. It centers me, makes me grateful for the opportunity and to feel others value my input. I’ve also learned that I love ice cream way too much and I am not happy with my talking scale as she is exaggerating my weight gain during this isolation period. It seems that priorities were easier to do when I was busy outside my home, but it also helped me realize that many of those priorities were tasks and not much to do with emotional and spiritual growth. So, the questions Karen posed are quite relevant. How much time do I give to spiritual growth now that I have more time? What is a true priority that promotes my emotional growth?

I have previously shared the monthly Action for Happiness calendar as it provides a positive action for each day of the month. Last week they launched 10 Days of Happiness, a free online coaching program which guides individuals through daily actions for happier living, all based on the latest research. I joined and am so grateful that I did. Each day there are 3 different actions to take to promote happiness and it has made me accountable to follow through. The one that helped most in changing my attitude was reaching out to treat people with a little extra kindness, including myself; Asking a loved one how they’re feeling and really listen to them; Offering to help someone who might be lonely or in need of support. I reached out to my neighbor, a women from years ago who I met through WFS and their joyful response truly inspired me. It reminded me of what I treasure and that is the relationships I have developed over the years. A plus to all of this is that my son called me 3 times in one month! That’s a record so maybe he is thinking about listening, really listening, to his mom!

Bonded in developing emotional and spiritual growth, Dee