PEACE,
The Journey of a Recovering__________
Fill in the blank
Acknowledgements
Most of all, I give all glory
to the Most High God, the True and Living God, and His Son, Jesus Christ, and my
Comforter and Teacher, Guide and Third Person of the Trinity, Holy Spirit. I learned to recognize patterns and problems
through the various disciplines and methods I practiced. I did not have the power to change a single
thing. It is so frustrating to see
patterns and see myself seemingly unable to make a difference. Of course, I was never meant to do anything
through my own strength. I did not know
that until decades after I began my journey of recover.
I want to graciously thank
every teacher, healer, practitioner, therapist, deliverer,
counselor, sponsor, inner healer and friend who asked questions and helped me
down the road. This journey has been a
lifetime and it is not over yet!
Introduction
What is the journey for?
What is “recovering”?
Why ‘fill in the blank’?
You CAN experience peace and
emotional wholeness! There is HOPE! You are not alone on the road.
I invite you to come
alongside me for a short while on this journey.
You may see yourself in some of the stories. You might pick up a useful map to take you
further on your own journey. It is my
intention-hope-desire that you will come away from our shared ‘journey’ with
some insights not seen before. You will
also acquire a few keys to take with you from our time together which will
unlock baggage compartments which have long haunted you. Do you say, “I wish I could……” and seem
powerless to make any lasting change?
On this journey towards inner
peace and contentment, I will show you some of the various sources of my/our
inner angst. I will present what some
people have found to be answers to a happier life. And I ask you to stay for the whole trip. It might get bumpy, but it will always be
safe!
Some of My Story
I, like so many on this
planet, arrived at my initial destination amidst a sea of YUCK! I know, not a very scientific word. It is an appropriate description of the muck
and mire which we as human beings experience, though.
I was born to a couple who did not like each other very much. By the time I was conceived, my mother had
had four miscarriages and had a seven month old baby girl. Wham, pregnant again! Would she lose this one? I was much longer and way more active, so my
folks figured I was a boy (they didn’t do sonograms then). Oh, the joy of an anticipated son. Hope for a failing marriage? I do not think so! Some of my therapy has shown me she did NOT
want to bring another child into a bad marriage. I don’t know who cheated first. I do know they were divorced by the time I
was two and a half.
My mother, the oldest of five
siblings, married my dad, the youngest of six.
If you have read books such as Kevin Lehman’s “The Birth Order”, you
will recognize this to be a common scenario.
John Bradshaw, known for popularizing the term ‘dysfunctional family’
also has a book about the family structure.
His understanding, and I see the point, is that each child born into a
family will instinctively assess the family dynamics and determine how they can
best balance it - the more unhealthy the perceived imbalances, the more drastic
the child’s attempt to correct it. Some
of the roles taken on are the Clown, the Black Sheep, and the Angel. Of course, this is not a conscious
process! It seems to be well established
before we are even talking!
Enough about me! What about you? What might you be recovering from? In what ways have you tried to find momentary
peace – by clouding your mind, distracting your senses, keeping yourself
busy? Over working? Over eating? Over
spending? Drugs? Alcohol? Uncontrollable, risky,
emotionless sex? Comfort eating?
Fixing other people? Religious activities?
So, what is “recovering”?
Recover, reclaim, retrieve: to regain, literally or figuratively, something
or someone. To recover: to obtain again what one has lost possession of:
to recover a stolen jewel. To reclaim: to bring back from error or wrongdoing, or from a rude or undeveloped state: to reclaim desert land by irrigation. To retrieve: to bring back or restore, especially something to
its former, prosperous state: to retrieve one's fortune. Heal; Mend;
Recuperate; Rally.
In the well known 12-Step Anonymous programs (i.e. Alcoholics
Anonymous, Narcotics A, Al-Anon, Al-a-teen, Codependent A, Overeaters A, Rageoholic, Shopoholic, Adult
Children of Alcoholics and other dysfunctional families) the term is used to
keep in the forefront of one’s mind the ongoing, never-ending definition of
oneself. In those programs, one is in
the constant state of recovering. Never
recovered!
I am using the term more as a
common thread. All human beings existing
on this terrestrial ball have experienced disappointment, hurts, traumas, and
worse! How we learn to handle these
experiences steers where our journey has taken us, how long we stay at a
stop-over in the trip, whether we go back to camp out at familiar grounds. All these go into our uniquely personal
journey.
So, hop on board and let’s
get going! There is the proverbial ‘light
at the end of the tunnel’ – and it is not an oncoming train!
Bibliography