Coincidence is God's way of being anonymous. I'd come home the other night from a business meeting for our neighborhood association meeting. Those of us attending were put on the spot by the president's need to stand down after five years of service. While I knew I had no business volunteering to do the job, I allowed my sense of inadequacy to talk me out of all the serenity I had experienced that week. When I came back from our neighborhood meeting, I was consternated by the sudden change in me, and I wanted my peace back! I fortunately had two program friends I could contact by phone, and a sponsor by email. It was the third contact that gave me relief, and largely just because the two of us know each other face to face and have a life in common in our community.
After that night in which I felt awful about myself, I caught up on my reading in Al-anon, and found the October 1st reading exactly explained what had happened to me. Now I have a new tool for identifying unmanageability when it occurs, and doing something about it! And of course, I want to share in case it helps shed some light on another person's experiences.
"Suddenly I [was] aware of thoughts racing and crashing through my mind at an alarming speed--memories, broken promises, fears about the future, failed expectations of both myself and other people. This is a familiar chaos and one I now recognize."
I can see all too clearly how the of feeling of unleashed chaos prevents me from focusing on my life as it is, and on making the best of the life I have in front of me. When I have this chaos it is "a signal that my life has, for the time being, become unmanageable."
"At such a time, serenity is often just a phone call away. A simple acknowledgment of the chaos immediately diminishes it. I step back, step outside the madness, and all at once it washes away or scatters in all the myriad directions from which it came. The pieces of my chaos return to their proper places, where I can either leave them alone or chose to confront them one at a time.
Today's Reminder
If problems arise today, I will try to acknowledge them--and then put a little spiritual space between my problems and myself. If I can share about them with another person, I will further diminish their power. Recognizing that my life is unmanageable is the first step towards managing it."
...When we bring things out into the light, they lose their power over us.
I like the idea of putting space between my problems and myself. Good idea.
ReplyDelete