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I SAW THE ENEMY
Always interesting to see what thoughts run through my head as I try to shut down my conscious thinking and spend quiet time in the morning.
About fifteen years ago I sat in a treatment centre, Homewood, in Guelph, Ontario. I had been alcohol and drug free for about 3 months, and this did allow some clarity in thought as I went through a fabulous rehab program. That Homewood is a part of a mental health facility made the experience that much more rewarding.
As part of my new pattern of life recovery, I was introduced to a daily journal. I was told that this was an easy way to get what was going on inside outside of me. I was reluctant at first; to me it seemed like they were asking me to be like a young girl doing a diary. But I gave it a shot.
This morning, the thoughts of one of my “in house” journals came rushing back. I’m sure the words were said before me by some great person Like Winston Churchill, but no matter, they provided a real moment of clarity and personal truth to me.
“Today I saw the enemy, and the enemy was me.”
For years I had battled myself inside. I was filled with internal pain and had turned to substances and actions to escape the pain inside. The pain was caused, I thought, by the world and all the “YOUS” who were part of my world.
The moment of clarity was startling. I had been fighting inside of myself for a long time and it hurt. There was constant inner conflict, and over a period of time life experience learning and defenses had grown in strength and were dominant. I had learned how to shut down the small quiet voice of truth that had been inside of me since birth. The voice that was now dominant was the enemy, and that voice (the enemy) had now become who you saw as me. Scary stuff how that happens.
A milestone day on the road to recovery! And that thought just came right out of conscious “no where” as I was doing my journal!
Today, I am conscious that that part of me still exists. My defects of character are a part of that side of me. Through the practice of good mental hygiene and working daily at my spiritual fitness, the small quiet voice now seems to be the dominant voice in my life. The process of life recovery has given me a new outlook and attitude as I face the ups and downs of life, and for that I am grateful. It is a power that is not me but that lives within that dominates these days, and for many days I have not has to turn to “mood altering actions” to face troubled times.
Do you know who your enemy is? If I can help you find out within, please feel free to contact me through www.hopeserenity.ca. You do have choices as to which part of you runs the show.

WANT TO MASTER FEAR ?

The key to mastery is courage

When I started my journey to recovery of a life I wanted, I was told that many of the obstacles in my path were fear based. Fear is a natural instinct given to us for a reason. My fears, as I found out had gone beyond reasonable.

So what did I have to focus on??  COURAGE.

In my daily living and my coaching practice, the 12 Steps form a foundation that is strong if practiced! With the good mental hygiene given to me through this foundation, I can differentiate today between things which justify fear (a bear approaches me) and things I have no justifiable foundation to fear.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
--Mark Twain

Which of the Twelve Steps teach us how to handle our fear? The Steps that scare us the most! For many of us, that would be Step Three, Step Five, and Step Nine. These Steps ask us to move from one place in our life to a new place.

Step Three asks us to let go of the life we are leading and to step into a new life. We have faith that it is okay to do so because we have come to believe in a Higher Power that will restore us to balance and sanity.

Step Five asks us to move from a secret life to a life of openness. We have to leave our hiding place, take off our masks, and let someone else see us as we really are.

In Step Nine, we take responsibility for our past actions. We face the people we have hurt, and we do what we can to repair the damage we caused.

Each of these Steps teaches us courage.

Looking for a path filled with new courage? Looking for a confidential trained listener who is on the journey? Maybe we can help at www.hopeserenity.ca.