Value Just Being

[MajestyJo]

Value just being

"To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious."

-- Samuel Butler

Many of us have been taught to believe that we are valued for what we do, not just for who we are. ‘Doing’ is important, but to keep life in balance, we also need time to just ‘be.’

Henry David Thoreau expressed this so well in Walden Pond:

"There were times when I could not afford to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of the head or hand.

"Sometimes, on a summer morning, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a revery, amidst the pines and hickories and sumacs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sang around or flitted noiseless through the house, until by the sun falling in at my west window, or the noise of some traveller's wagon on the distant highway, I was reminded of the lapse of time.

"I grew in those seasons like corn in the night, and they were far better than any work of the hands would have been."

Higher Awareness - used with permission

Love this reading. It affirms what I learned early in recovery. It is alright to just be!

[MajestyJo]

So much of my mixed messages and so many of my old tapes are a result of my childhood. Yet when I look back, I am asked to go to a place where I see as a safe place, it was the farm. The place I couldn't wait to leave and wish I had it to go back to.

Those quiet times, even those stolen in the old outhouse when I was hiding from chores. Or the times in the hay loft of in the bins of grain, never mindful back then of allergies and dust, just the freedom of the moment and just hanging out.

Sometimes they were grasped because they were few and far between mainly because farming takes work. As many times as I may have complained, I can't think of anything better than being out in the fields picking wild strawberries. There is nothing to beat a wild strawberry pie. Like all good things good for me, it took lots and lots of work to get enough for the finished product.

How sad we can't take the time when it happens and only find the goodness of what we truly had by looking back in hindsight.

I feel so blessed to be able to see those moments in today and learn to live them and not run from them.

Hamilton has trees. That is what saved my sanity when I left the farm. It may be called the Steel City, and have polluted air and water in the bay, but it does have trees along the streets, parks, and I have a wonderful view of the bay which makes for good scenery on a sunny day. Wouldn't want to be on one because I can't swim and I can get sea sick in a bathtub, but they sure look peaceful and awesome when they are sailing along in the breeze.

I think that is what recovery is all about. Me being able to be alone with me.

[MajestyJo]

Many times we ignore what is going on with us. Sometimes it may seem minor, but in truth, it can lead to something big, if ignored.

I have a sister who did that most of her life, she is not an alcoholic and addict, although she has lived her life through others, and put her life on hold and ignored her needs.

She was a full blown diabetic before being dignosed, has had to have heart surgery, and has very little boundaries and very little self-care.

I use to pooh hoo my symptoms also, at 19 I was told that I needed to have treatment on my feet, but who wants to listen to a foot doctor and spend your money, for a foot doctor, who just may be out to get your money. That was my thinking and I ignored it, and today my issues are with my feet, due to neuropathy as a result of my diabetes, gout, and pseudo gout in my feet, hands, knees, shoulders, etc.

I have heard people say, I never felt this way until I got clean and sober. That was because I masked and covered up my feelings and physical pain, by using. Not just not alcohol and prescription pills, but food, people, relationships, work, and that almighty thing (Gambling, computer, church, shopping, etc.) that would take me out of myself so I didn`t feel. They were a commodity that stopped me from coping with life, a friend that became my enemy, because I became immune, and had to find other `things`to use. My long time solace came from my bed, I could hide away and hope the world would go and pass me by.

As I told my son today, the pain is always there. It is about me doing what I need to do to make it manageable. Things are unmanageable when managed by me. I had to look at my motive and intent, especially when it came to going to my bed. Did I need to go there or was I hiding from what I needed to do. I can`t allow my pain to rule my life.

[MajestyJo]

HAPPY CHILL DAY!



TAKE TIME FOR YOU! WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR YOUR HEALTH AND WELL BEING?

Believe In Miracles

"When things have gone wrong,
as they sometimes will do,
Or an obstacle
suddenly pops into view,
You've got to believe
This is merely a stop
And eventually you're bound
to come out on top...
So whatever you do,
Just Don't Quit!"

[MajestyJo]

There are two kind of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way."

- C. S. Lewis

[MajestyJo]

The strongest lesson my mother gave me is that you are not worthwhile if you are not doing.

- Ferrand

Addiction to work is not something that crops up suddenly in mid-life. The seeds have often been sown in our childhoods, and we are only living out the rules and expectations that our parents instilled in us.

How many of our parents really believed that idleness is the devil's workshop and that if they did not keep us constantly busy, there was no telling what we would get into? How many of us are really afraid of idle, quiet time when nothing is on the schedule?

One mayor of a large midwest city publicly stated that if he looked at his calendar and Tuesday night was free, he immediately thought that his staff had goofed. He also stated that his workaholism had ruined his marriage and his health.

Isn't it exciting to know that we do not have to live out our childhood messages? As adults, we have choices.

Not sure if this was written by me or just something I copied in 2004.

I have copied so much, I can't remember what I have done before, so just trying to post what speaks to me in today.

Busy as a bee.

[MajestyJo]

Pondering



She sits there and she ponders
The beauty of a Rose
The flower soft and gentle
Like velvet soft her pose

Looking into beauty
Her heart feels very blest
She knows this pretty flower
Is magnificence at best

Thinking of the precious gift
She's holding in her hands
Wants to be sure it will reach
All people on the land

Here it comes from up above
The rose of love now bound
Catch a petal from the sky
Her heart with you now found.

~ Francine Pucillo ~© original 2002

[MajestyJo]

Are you afraid to be different?

On the path of evolution, we move from being a willing and obedient
member of the group to wanting to take control over our own lives.
This is a necessary but difficult transition.

Andrew Schneider says, "At this point we are afraid of being
ourselves. We are afraid of being unique and different. We are afraid
of being individually powerful, and even successful. For all of these
things stand against the old ways that told us that conformity was
right and individualism was wrong.

"For as long as we possibly can, we make a compromise. We try to live
both lives - the dependent tribal life and the independent personal
life - as contradictory and opposite as they are.

"We want approval from others. We want to be accepted and popular. We
seek this comfort to overcome our fear and feel more secure. ...So,
at times when we conform, we don't feel the fear of living. But we
might lose the new sense of adventure, discovery, daring and
enthusiasm for life that the questioning and questing have brought
us."

"Nature never repeats herself, and the possibilities of one human
soul will never be found in another."

-- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

So much pressure in today's society to fit in. How difficult is it to stand up for what we believe in?

Had a guy say to me many years ago, "I didn't know you were a Christian?" You aren't a Bible thumper. I said, "Do I have to be a Bible thumper to be a Christian? Do I have to be a Big Book thumper to be a sober alcoholic. I just know that I prefer what my sponsee said, "I want what she has." I want what the lady said, "Oh, you are that spiritual lady." "I want to hear people say, "You are looking good" even when the inside doesn't feel good.

I want to be able to be me and not compromise myself.