ACCEPTANCE MONTH: DAY 10: “Now that she had actually seen and accepted reality, reality brought such a healing calm.”― Gloria Naylor
I like this simple quote. It reminds me of the process of acceptance I went through when I got involved in a recovery setting. I was not there because I believed I had issues with drugs or alcohol. Of course, it became a very “healing calm” that I received as I went about identifying with others in meetings.
This took about 30-60 days, as I see it. There were some real AHA moments, but they were all part of that acceptance process.
And one day I was not playing the game that I had to play to stay in that program. One day I became “convinced to my innermost self” that I was an addict. And I truly wanted to be where others were in the meetings…happy, joyous, and free.
I am eternally grateful that I did not know then how few of those folks were truly working an authentic and honest recovery program. I have never considered myself a naïve woman, too many experiences go against that idea, but I sure did not catch on to what so many people were truly like in those meetings until years later. Thank goodness! I believed it all. And in that process, I began to fall in love with not only these steps (which I remain forever in love with), but also the things that were happening in my life. As I go through this process more deeply every day, my life gets better and better. It has never “peaked” and then fallen off, probably because I have not let up on my work to maintain my spiritual condition.
But I love this quote because it reminds me that there was never a day when I wanted to use or drink or did so since that early time when I truly was taken to a place of absolute acceptance. What a great gift!
Dolphin Hug 