August 3, 2011

Thoughts on Nature and Why We Don't Cross Talk

Vacation in the Southern Appalachians was just what I needed.  It was a good time for all and it was a twelve-step retreat for me. Really enjoyed reading Thomas Keating's work on Divine Therapy using the twelve steps.  


As I have shared, Nature is an important aspect of my Higher Power and being out in her retreats is spiritually healing for me.   I continue to find it amazing that our mountains have almost no mosquitoes, and for that I am truly grateful.

I am also grateful for the July 30th Today reading in EA: it sparked a great variety of  responses in our most recent meeting.  I learned that I am not the only one who feels like they can try and try and words still fail to convey their true intentions. I've found that the place where I have felt most able to get my words "right", in writing, also can fail me. I now know that I can be powerless over words... (POW) and their effect on others.

I work hard on appreciating the provocative questions of newbies. (I would like to be as patient with my family when they ask questions. I am frequently powerless over my patience (POMP).  I am very very grateful that a newbie asked today why we don't cross talk in our meetings. We decided to answer that during the meeting.  

I didn't say it out loud, but I was reminded that this the no-crosstalk guideline in our meetings is especially important in groups like ours which deal with issues so come so close to the profession of Psychology... but in our groups none of us are professionals... and cannot possibly know enough about one another's history to make recommendations.... and some of us are changing quickly, while others MUST take years to really look at our triggers...

I am grateful for the answers  in our group, particularly one from a member who has lots of experience in a Sister program with deeper awareness than we sometimes have in our EA collective experiences... That member shared that when we don't cross-talk (give advice or have conversation) we allow each person to speak from their heart and to make contact with the best advisor of all, their Higher Power.  If any of us begin to fix another's problems, we get in the way of that person accessing their HP.... instead...

2 comments:

  1. Glad you had a good vacation Smitty. I love the fact that there is no cross talk in meetings. It really does let each of us speak from our hearts.

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  2. Tradition 8 is a good reminder about meetings being non-professional. We do share from our heart. No one is an expert about others. That is a good thing.

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