Monday Thoughts 8/16/2021 - Women for Sobriety

“If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.” ~~Unknown

“You have done all you can on a physical level, and now must enter sacred waiting. The hardest most integral step is turning all over to the grace of life and the coming transformative powers born from the steps you have already taken.” ~~Sarah Blondin

“Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.” ~~Gail Sheehy

#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.

Learning that sobriety is the beginning of New Life, and recovery is the discovery of New Life, keeps me focused on moving forward. In the beginning, it took all of my energy to just stay sober and during this time I felt like a sponge; absorbing information from all around me. As I began to feel more comfortable, growth became more focused and directed inwards. This is where Statement #8 in action opens a portal for exploration.

Beginning to practice this Statement, I felt like an adult and thought why do I need to grow? Yet as I traveled down the road of recovery, I soon realized that even though I was physically mature, my thoughts and mind tilted towards immaturity. Yet, there was something quite positive in that knowledge: I was starting with a clean slate and was in charge of the chalk. A masterpiece was ready to be expressed and created.

For me, Statement #8 will always be in motion and it is not a destination. It is a road to define, explore and discover. The WFS Program offers the starting direction and it is up to each 4C woman to set out and chart her own path. I absolutely love that Statement #8 simply opens the door, yet we get to build and design our New Life. This week, reflect on where you started and note where you are right now. How does it feel? Do you feel content or satisfied? What do you need right now? Where do you see yourself in 5, 10 or 15 years?

Hugzzz

Karen

Hi 4C Women,

Karen has presented some thought-provoking questions. Thinking about what I feel right now, I find myself fluctuating between contentment and uncertainty. And these fluctuating feelings are why I am so grateful to know that Statement #8 is all about accepting where we are at the moment, being able to grow emotionally and spiritually as we discover and uncover our needs, creating our own individual path. Most important to me has been my willingness to change, to step out of my comfort zone at my own pace. In the past, change was a scary place for me to even consider. Usually, my fear of change was like most, the unknown, not being able to control an outcome, unrealistic expectations and wondering if I was making choices that would actually support my personal growth.

In our meeting, we talk about our authentic feelings of that day, and it has been a great source of understanding and comfort. The comfort is accepting and acknowledging all of our feelings. It is teaching me that, with Statement #8 guiding us, there is so much insight to gain. We not only acknowledge what we’re feeling but also why. What happened that we are feeling sad, angry, joyful, content? If our goal is to gain emotional and spiritual growth, understanding the reason for those feelings is key to learning the direction we want to go and to fill our tool box with impactful resources and knowledge of our inner needs to do so. It helps us to consider whether we need to dig deeper into our needs and find a way to move forward or celebrate and even repeat the action of that joyful and contented feeling. It’s like a puzzle that needs to be solved putting the pieces together, creating the big picture.

The action part of Statement #8 can be daunting – daily putting your life into a proper order and knowing what those priorities are. For me, it depends on what is happening in my life on any given day. Sometimes it’s survival and other days, it’s exploring new directions. I used to think priorities were the tasks that needed to be accomplished. While I am a list maker and love to just check off those tasks, I do understand that a priority needs to match the genuine purpose of my emotional and spiritual growth. This is how it was explained at a workshop I attended: A priority is whatever has first claim on your time, energy, and resources. That one sentence stopped me in my tracks. How do I spend my time and energy and resources? Does it truly match my core values, what I consider the essence of who I am and want to be? If my answer was giving back for what I have received in this New Life, does my priority reflect that? One way to know your core values is to think about what feeds your spirit, what emotional needs are left unattended to begin the practice of self-care so that your core values become clearer.

Bonded in creating a huge tool box of understanding our emotional and spiritual needs and ways to support them, Dee