“In the beginners’ mind there are many possibilities,
but in the expert’s mind there are few.”
S. Suzuki
Recovery is beginning.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Again.
In our world, if you repeat yourself, people
think you are strange. Repeat yourself.
Beginning again, repeating something, feels foolish. People look at you funny when you need to do something again and again.
So what?
Just look back. And begin.
How else are we to do this thing called recovery? There is no perfect day, no perfect recovery.
Recovery begins in mess and it certainly does not end with perfection.
Recovery gives you and I the gift of learning to begin, again, but just a little quicker than last time.
Here are a few ways that you can begin again today:
- Compassion for yourself.
- Rather than rush to fix, to solve or push away… for just a while, sit with what you find difficult.
- Imagine that you are flexible. If a mood, a memory, a thought, an experience is difficult. Realize that it won’t break you. You can expand around it.
- Bring your attention to your body. And just be present with yourself for a moment.
- Be grateful that you are more than this. More than your thoughts. More than your memories. More than your experience.
Try an experiment today.
Let go of what the day should be. What it should feel like. How it should go. How it should work. Put your heart into it, but let go of the other stuff. Just do the beginning, focus on that part.
I will try this at home. I’ll just do the beginning part of my breakfast. I will get my cereal bowl. Open my box of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios. Pour in the milk. Eat the cereal. Then stop.
Get up, leave the cereal bowl on the table along with the milk and the cereal. I will pat myself on the back and feel good because I have begun.
Then I will go on my happy way to work.
Hmm.
Beginning does not mean that you make a mess everywhere
and expect other people to clean it up.
That’s just stupid.
At least, that is what I learned today.
Begin well. And don’t take yourself so seriously.
Keep it Real
Photo by Charles Knowles
Getting High on Recovery 