from Touchstones
To perceive is to suffer.
— Aristotle
As men in this program, we have given up our compulsive escapes from life. Our escapes may have been through dependent relationships with others, or with money, sex, food, drugs, work, or emotional binges. But now we are learning to live without them, and this has brought us in touch with our feelings. We feel more joy and more pain in recovery. Often the first feelings in recovery are painful or frightening.
We learn we can deal with life—all of it, a little at a time. We accept pain as part of life. Because of our escapes, our growing up was delayed. We didn’t learn how to deal with our pain because we escaped into an anaesthetic, a high, a relief.
Our spiritual recovery program brings us together with other men and women who have pledged to set aside these escapes. Among the many rewards is a reawakening to all of life. No longer will we filter out the suffering because that, too, is part of being aware.
Today, I am thankful for all the life that I perceive and pray for the strength to meet the pain.
From Answers in the Heart
If Winter comes Can Spring be far behind?
— Percy Bysshe Shelley
We do not need to be afraid of winter. In winter nature lies fallow in preparation for the new year. All life needs rest in order to grow with greater strength, and winter is the time of withdrawal that precedes renewal.
Sometimes it may seem that our lives have become dark and hopeless and we can’t see a way forward. Perhaps a relationship has gone sour and we think it must be the end. Work goes badly; money is a problem; our children go away. We become lost in our melancholy and feel things will never get better.
We can draw strength from the wisdom of the seasons. Bare trees will become clothed in green, and the hard earth will again yield harvests of plenty. We can appreciate this transformation as it happens every year, and we can take hope from it. We can also see our lives as bound to change.
Nothing in my life need defeat me, since I know that spring and summer will always come again.
Daily Meditation Books
Answers in the Heart - daily meditations for people recovering from sex addiction
Touchstones - daily meditations for recovering men
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