Good morning everyone:

Todays reading is a description of recovery work with focus on two parts: taking personal responsibility and finding emotional intimacy with others. The writer describes the first part as taking responsibility for his/her own happiness, growth, choices and consequences.  Other peoples words and/or behavior may bring out feelings, but we are responsible for those feelings. Because we are responsible for our own life means we are not responsible for directing anyone elses.  We have the option of sharing experience, strength and hope if asked or we can stay quiet and listen.

The second part is finding our trusted people.  We can reveal our feelings to others, and the people we trust will be compassionate and let us know we are not alone. 

Many of us who have lived with alcoholics struggle with personal accountability because as enablers (in some cases)we were part of the system that prevented that in our qualifiers. For those of us who have spent energy trying to figure out or worse, control what someone else is doing- before it was time to demonstrate personal accountability we may have felt depleted.  Forming trusted relationships could be another area of difficulty as well, but having someone who is accepting but will also gently/firmly hold us accountable for our words and actions is crucial.

The Thought for the Day gives us: Taking responsibility for my life can be overwhelming. I need intimate relationships with others. They help me make the hard decisions that move me in a positive direction and join me in celebrating the wonderful results of doing so.

I am grateful for the people in my life that fill the role described above and hope that others count me among their trusted people as well.  I hope everyone enjoys a peaceful Sunday:)

Mary