On This Day of Thanksgiving, Let's Be Grateful for All That Has Helped us to Grow Over the Past Year; Both the Good and the Bad




In the United States, today is considered Thanksgiving Day. This day is set aside every year as a day to reflect on our lives and to realize all that we have to be grateful for, and then to offer thanksgiving to God, or our Higher Power, and to the people who have blessed our lives.

Often when we think about the people who have blessed our lives, we are only grateful for those people who have blessed us with enlightenment, happiness or genuine caring. On this Thanksgiving Day, I choose to also be grateful for the people who, over the past year, have taught me very difficult, pain-filled lessons. These lessons are sometimes our greatest blessings in disguise. 

This is especially true if we have hurt or been hurt by someone we truly love deeply. Over the course of the past year, I realize today that some of the people I have loved the most, and have dedicated the most attention and caring toward, have hurt me the most during 2017. But, I also acknowledge that every relationship is a two-way street, and that I have also failed and hurt them at times as well.

So, even though the pain has been unbearable at times, it has taught me great lessons and taken me to a higher spiritual level and emotional maturity, especially in my recovery. We only truly grow in Recovery when we learn the difficult lessons that our mistakes, the mistakes of others and the pain that results have to teach us. And we learn those lessons by facing our pain, instead of addictively running from it.

Certainly over the past year, I am grateful for the emotional pain that I have faced after my addictive personality overruled my natural (sane) personality and I took steps backwards in Recovery. I am especially grateful for the times when I allowed myself to face all of the dark, often devastating, emotional pain I experienced as a result of these relapses, and the fact that when my pain was the greatest, my Higher Power provided me with the strength to face the pain. Emotionally I have grown greatly through facing that pain, even though a deep part of me wanted to medicate it away by losing myself in another person, or by shopping or by overeating sugary/salty foods.

My prayer for today is that we may all be grateful for those people who have blessed our lives in loving and hurtful ways. We have been nurtured by the love, and we have grown by facing our hurt, regaining our personal power and becoming stronger people. And I also pray that we be grateful to our Higher Powers for guiding us through the good and the bad times, and to our various support groups who have challenged and nourished us in our self-discovery and our personal growth, mentally, emotionally, physically-- and most importantly-- spiritually.

Happy Thanksgiving. It’s better to feel blessed by growing from the painful experiences of our lives, than to feel bitter by playing the victim of life.


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