“It is a paradox in the contemporary world that in our desire for peace we must willingly give ourselves to struggle.” - Linda Hogan, Native
The Grandfathers have taught us about sacrifice. We have been taught to pray for the people in a pitiful way. Struggle and conflict is neither good nor bad, it just is. Everything that grows experiences conflict. When the deer is born it is through conflict. When the seed first grows, it is through conflict. Conflict precedes clarity. Everything has the seasons of growth. Recognize, acknowledge, forgive, and change. All of these things are done through conflict.
By shaping our thoughts with spiritual ideals, we are freed to become who we want to be. Addiction shaped our thoughts in its own way. Whatever their shape may once have been, they became misshapen once our disease took full sway over our lives. Our obsession with drugs and self molded our moods, our actions, and the very shape of our lives. Each of the spiritual ideals of our program serves to straighten out one or another of the kinks in our thinking that developed in our active addiction. Denial is counteracted by admission, secretiveness by honesty, isolation by fellowship, and despair by faith in a loving Higher Power.
The spiritual ideals we find in recovery are restoring the shape of our thoughts and our lives to their natural condition. And what is that “natural condition”? It is the condition we truly seek for ourselves, a reflection of our highest dreams. How do we know this? Because our thoughts are being shaped in recovery by the spiritual ideals we find in our developing relationship with the Higher Power we’ve come to understand in Fellowship.
No longer does addiction shape our thoughts. Today, our lives are being shaped by our recovery and our Higher Power. Embrace the struggles, for they lead us to peace. Through conflict, we find clarity and growth. Let the spiritual ideals shape your thoughts and your life, leading you towards the higher self you aspire to be.
Just for today: I will allow spiritual ideals to shape my thoughts. In that design, I will find the shape of my own Higher Power.