Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul Daily Inspirations (Chicken Soup for the Soul) (20 page)

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I
have something now that I did not have as a child in an alcoholic home. I have choices. It wasn’t always like that. For example, we had the same thing for dinner every night–365 days a year! What we had for dinner was tension because no one wanted to be there. I am an adult and a father now. If I don’t learn new ways, if I don’t learn healthy behaviors and if I am not recovering, not only would it affect our children, but someday I could sit at a dinner table with grandchildren who learned to hate dinner. Family rituals are passed from generation to generation. Recovering shows us how to change them.

Robert J. Ackerman

I will be an adult child of an alcoholic until the day I die, but I am not going to die one more day because I am an adult child of an alcoholic.

Robert J. Ackerman

Footnotes for Life

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W
e may have become so accustomed to hardship and pain that we have lost our ability to recognize a good thing when it arrives. We have become preoccupied looking out for the next disaster that will somehow need to be handled. When better times arrive, many of us feel like imposters, undeserving of such favor. We must remember that simply because life has been a certain way in the past does not require it always to be so. We can train our hearts to recognize and accept the good.We do ourselves a great kindness in learning to gratefully accept positive, life-giving occurrences as easily as we once accepted gloom.

Rhonda Brunea

Nothing is too wonderful to be true.

Michael Faraday

Footnotes for Life

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I
f you want to change your behavior, focus on the thinking which causes it. Thoughts are like seeds. From them grow your attitudes and, in turn, your actions.

When you build a house, every brick counts. When you build character, every thought counts. So think constructively.

Brahma Kumaris
World Spiritual University

It is because you are determined, not flawless, that you attain perfection.

Brahma Kumaris

Footnotes for Life

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6

A
nother rainy day–and I was so hoping for some bright sunshine. At first I feel disappointed, but then I begin to realize how comfy and cozy I feel inside my home curled up in a throw with a good book. I listen to the soft patter of drops outside my window, and I think I can feel the Earth soaking up and drinking in the nourishing rain. I imagine seeing the roots of my perennials and vegetables; fat and juicy from the moisture they are taking in. I think about how relaxed and refreshed I now feel, having been gifted with a day of repose. What joy–another rainy day.

Anne Conner

You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Footnotes for Life

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7

M
y mother had a stroke that left her struggling to talk, walk and swallow. She had no trouble hearing. We spoke of love. We told her our secrets. Then, one night, we put Mom in a wheelchair and took her to church for a service for the sick. The place was packed. “Raise your hand,” said the priest, “if you think your illness is a punishment from God.” I watched in disbelief as my good mother slowly lifted her hand just inches off her lap. That’s when I learned that healing begins in the heart. In time, Mom walked and talked again. Trust God with your secrets.

Mary Lee Moynan

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.

Charles Caleb Colton

Footnotes for Life

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8

I
was a freshman in college, three hours from home and not one face at the meeting looked familiar. During a lecture the mention of “Al-Anon” had caught my attention. That was a new one on me. No harm in checking it out–for clinical research reasons, of course.

I looked for a seat way in the back and began having second thoughts when someone touched my arm. “Please, join us.” I didn’t know what to do, or if I belonged there. I felt eyes searching, looking for clues, trying to uncover my secrets, my memory. In a moment of true clarity, as I tried desperately to come up with an excuse for leaving, the woman simply said, “It’s okay–we know.”

Patricia Holdsworth

Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise– then you will discover the fullness of your life.

Brother David Steindl-Rast

Footnotes for Life

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9

T
here is a great deal of power in humility. Sometimes that power is useful for your own protection. Sometimes it is useful in the protection of others. The power of humility allows you to see the benefit in everything, even the criticisms of others. It enables you to say, “Maybe there’s something for me to learn here. Someone is saying this to me, there must be something to it.” Your own self-respect works to keep you steady, no matter what comes your way.

Brahma Kumaris
World Spiritual University

Dive deeply into life’s mysteries, and fly high above life’s challenges, all the while keeping your feet firmly on the ground.

Brahma Kumaris

Footnotes for Life