“Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.”
– Pearl S. Buck (1892 – 1973) U.S. author & 1st female Nobel Prize winner
What makes sharing your feelings with others a “creative action of the spirit”?
Diamonds on the Inside – Ben Harper (3:44)
Qigong: 36 Touching Points for Self-healing
Wang Fei – Ancient Chinese Guqin Zither Meditation (6:59)
STRIKE A “CREATIVE ACTION OF THE SPIRIT” –
“When we feel trap-
ped or pressured, it
takes great spiritual and
emotional strength to be
honest. Sharing with others
keeps us from feeling iso-
lated and alone. This pro-
cess is a creative action
of the spirit.” (The Ba-
sic Text, p.85)
“Inside myself
is a place where
I live all alone and
that’s where you renew
your springs that
never dry up.”
– Pearl S. Buck (1892 – 1973) U.S. author & 1st female Nobel Prize winner
The Mongoose and The Child.
Once, there lived a farmer and his wife. They had a little son. The farmer had a pet mongoose. The little boy and the mongoose were fond of each other. They were good playmates.
One day the farmer was busy at his fields. The farmer’s wife had left to the market. The little boy was fast asleep in a cradle. The mongoose was lying down near the cradle.
A cobra somehow got into the house and it was nearing the little boy. The mongoose sniffed the snake and jumped up. He fought with the cobra. The cobra began to attack. There was a fierce fight between the cobra and the mongoose. The mongoose finally bit and killed the cobra.
The mongoose saw the farmer’s wife returning from market. He ran happily towards her to greet her. She saw blood around the mouth and paws of the mongoose. The farmer’s wife mistook that the mongoose had attacked her son.
The farmer’s wife took a long stick and gave heavy blows on the mongoose and then ran into the house. She was shocked to see a dead cobra lying on the floor near her son. Now she realised her mistake. Her sorrow knew no bounds.
I have found in the course of my time in recovery and in going to meetings, there is something phenomenal about coming together to share about our experience. The Big Book speaks of the disease of alcoholism as being really “incomprehensible” to others. I think it is, of course, incomprehensible in a way to ourselves, which is why we come together to share and support each other. This is a bit of a process of collectively parsing toward understanding the nature of this disease, being otherwise incomprehensible, which has a sort of collective, discursive function. Many in the program would probably regard this phenomenon as part of the “spiritual component” of the program. For my own purposes, I don’t use the term spiritual, but it is in being of service, in exchanging, in coming together, we make sense of this “incomprehensible” thing we labor under. There is a long tradition of kind of collective translation or divining between or with others. I think of concepts like drawing or writing through exquisite corpse. It is certainly creative. We are making something together. It is beautiful.
Doing something new and uncomfortable.
I dont know, however I do find sharing my feelings is very powerful
I have recently joined a writers’ collective. What I have found is a more profound serenity of spirit as I release the ideas swirling within me. How ever I choose to give voice to my talents, whether drawing, painting, dancing, cooking, etc. as I have been given, so must I return to the universe. Stay blessed and beautiful!
Good morning everyone + happy Monday. Here is today’s thought. I am 61 years old + I am 24 years sober. Lots has happened to me over my life; both good times + difficult times. But there is a constant, God. God has always been there for me, ALWAYS! When I look back on all the times He has given me love, courage, + strength to persevere in both happy + sad times, I feel loved + I feel renewed. I will never, ever forget what God has done for me. I wish the same feelings for you. Blessings. BB
Sometimes the act of sharing for me allows me to move beyond something that my head is tripped up on. And I sometimes get feedback that helps me move ahead as well. I share with friends and coworkers quite frequently, but I still don’t feel the need or desire to share in a meeting. That’s just where I’m at.
5 minutes of meditation at the beginning of the day will ensure that Spirit is in charge of your thoughts!
Constant effort to engage in the world – meetings help best.
This is a vicious cycle. When I isolate (not enough meetings, no phone calls, not reading the literature…and don’t even think about praying!), I begin to feel very bad about myself. The worse I feel about myself, the more I isolate, convinced that no one could ever forgive me or want to be around me. And the more I isolate, the worse I feel. When I notice I am not loving myself (or actually beating myself up), it doesn’t take much for me to figure out I need a meeting. Once I get to the meeting, I reconnect; and I once again understand that I am loved – that I am a child of a loving Higher Power.