Soulshine

Seems most of us enter recovery with a very dire need to control life. The concept of flowing with life is totally foreign to us. We are so used to scripting every moment of every day in our heads. We decide what we think others should or should not do in order to please us. Thoughts like “No one should bother me today,” “He should have called me,” “She should want to see the movie I want to see” run through our heads second by second. These are all controlling thoughts. They are designed to ensure our personal happiness—and yet they do just the opposite: They make us miserable because we can rarely enforce them and make them reality. Every day we have a choice. We can script out our day and set ourselves up on a course of manipulation (control) and disappointment, or we can let go and ease into the flow of the day as determined by our Higher Power. I have learned to stop scripting not only my work days but also my free days and vacation days. Sure, I take time to plan what I...

Recently I have been praying to “flow with the positive energy of the Universe,” and it’s working. God is spirit, or the energy that keeps the entire universe flowing, and I’d rather be aligned with that energy than aligned against it. I started saying this prayer for positive flow on Sunday and I have to say that yesterday (Monday) was one of the best days I’ve ever experienced. I felt nothing but positive energy all day. And I got tremendous positive energy back from others as well. My first stop yesterday was the carwash. Usually I’m preoccupied, self-conscious and impatient for my car to be ready, but yesterday I was focused and I journaled the entire time. Before I knew it, my car was ready. I then ran a couple of errands before heading to Baggins, one of my favorite sandwich shops, for lunch. I’m familiar with all of the clerks/sandwich makers there as they are with me, but yesterday we all had really positive energy flowing between us just like we were old frie...

Today I choose to let go of all of my fears and of all my need to control life I allow myself to flow with the Universe in my rightful place and I choose to flow with complete freedom with self-love and the joy of knowing that all is as it should be whenever I choose to keep myself from getting in the way of the natural flow of the Universe. Let’s flow together world toward our Divine purpose. Amen.

"His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people — his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island , sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that--   and he must be about His Father's business.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby How many of us see ourselves as a “son of God” or a daughter of God? If we are the average addictive person, who is struggling with believing in him or her self, then I would say we most likely have never really seen ourselves as a son or daughter of God; at least not in the truest sense of a character like Jay Gatsby. But aren’t we all truly sons and daughters of God? Yes we are. And aren’t we all created for a specific purpose to be fulfilled in this lifetime? Yes, we are. And what is that purpose? Primarily our purpose is to grow into being our unique selves 100 perc...

In watching the TV series American Dreams , it’s easy to see how family relationships are based on control. Everyone in the Pryor family is trying to control and manipulate everyone else to ensure their individual happiness. Dad (Jack Pryor) wants his eldest son (J.J.) to attend Notre Dame University on a football scholarship. Notre Dame means nothing to J.J. but he’s constantly coerced by Dad into believing that Notre Dame is actually his (J.J.’s) dream. Of course J.J, rebels. The night a football scout from Notre Dame is coming to the Pryor’s home for dinner, J.J. goes off and gets drunk with a buddy instead of showing up for the dinner. He’s also slow about filling out his application and so Dad takes care of making sure it gets to Notre Dame on time. Dad’s living HIS dream and he can’t accept that it’s not J.J.’s dream, too. Mom (Helen Pryor) doesn’t want to have any more children. She has four already. She wants a life of her own, outside of being a housewife and ...

Here is a new prayer that I've written. I hope it helps you to "flow" freely with life by letting go of your need to control life. The flow of the Universe is natural and life-affirming I am an essential part of the universal flow I free myself to flow forward in every positive way I free myself of all self-imposed constraints I let go of all demands, expectations and assumptions And I flow with the Universe in my rightful place And I flow with love, peace and purpose And all is as it should be, all is well. Amen.