This one is universal and has many therapeutic applications, one of which does not apply to the silence over the last month or so! I could blame it on holiday re-entry followed by the full moon or something, but I think I'll just say distraction by overwhelm is my only excuse.
We've all had those moments when our head was shouting at our mouth to stop talking. No, we really didn't mean that the dress made you look fat. No, we weren't laughing at you. The list goes on. There are very few comments, save those that would move people out of Harm's way, that can't wait a minute or until tomorrow! That's an important lesson.
Sam pointed out an important corollary to this one:
Never, never distrust your gut instinct!
It's a hard contradiction, but an important one. Many of us learn growing up to lie about the truth. Janet Woititz in her book "Adult Children of Alcoholics" says that one of the rules of Adult Children is that they will lie when it would be easier to tell the truth. In Recovery, one of our greatest tasks becomes learning our own truth and standing firmly on it. Learning to say "No"w when that is our truth and need is essential to believing in ourselves and beginning to change the negative core beliefs into positive, self-supporting ones. Learning to tell the truth about ourselves, even when it is painful, is also essential to the serenity that comes with this Process.
We all have that "Inner Voice" that guides us in decision making. Unfortunately, over the years, we may have been taught by parents, peers, addictions and other things that we could not trust that inner voice. That Voice is the thing that tells innocent little children that they can laugh their wonderful belly laugh when something is funny to them and to nobody else. It tells them it's okay to cry when things hurt or when they lose their first helium balloon. It tells us we are in love for the first time and that our heart is broken when it doesn't work out. In truth, sometimes, it tells us to go ahead and have one more binge, knowing that the setup is in place for us to get caught, have a consequence or whatever it takes to get us into Recovery. This whole thing of Trust is difficult. Listing to our Gut Instinct and Intuition is also difficult, mainly because we need our Brain or Mind, that great distorter of all things to listen and act. That's why these two bumper stickers need to be very close together. (It's a good thing Life has a very large bumper!) [By the way, there's a third that goes with it and it will take a whole blog -- "The Opposite is Equally True."]
Never Pass Up an Opportunity to Shut UP
Never, Never Distrust Your Gut Instinct
We've all had those moments when our head was shouting at our mouth to stop talking. No, we really didn't mean that the dress made you look fat. No, we weren't laughing at you. The list goes on. There are very few comments, save those that would move people out of Harm's way, that can't wait a minute or until tomorrow! That's an important lesson.
Sam pointed out an important corollary to this one:
Never, never distrust your gut instinct!
It's a hard contradiction, but an important one. Many of us learn growing up to lie about the truth. Janet Woititz in her book "Adult Children of Alcoholics" says that one of the rules of Adult Children is that they will lie when it would be easier to tell the truth. In Recovery, one of our greatest tasks becomes learning our own truth and standing firmly on it. Learning to say "No"w when that is our truth and need is essential to believing in ourselves and beginning to change the negative core beliefs into positive, self-supporting ones. Learning to tell the truth about ourselves, even when it is painful, is also essential to the serenity that comes with this Process.
We all have that "Inner Voice" that guides us in decision making. Unfortunately, over the years, we may have been taught by parents, peers, addictions and other things that we could not trust that inner voice. That Voice is the thing that tells innocent little children that they can laugh their wonderful belly laugh when something is funny to them and to nobody else. It tells them it's okay to cry when things hurt or when they lose their first helium balloon. It tells us we are in love for the first time and that our heart is broken when it doesn't work out. In truth, sometimes, it tells us to go ahead and have one more binge, knowing that the setup is in place for us to get caught, have a consequence or whatever it takes to get us into Recovery. This whole thing of Trust is difficult. Listing to our Gut Instinct and Intuition is also difficult, mainly because we need our Brain or Mind, that great distorter of all things to listen and act. That's why these two bumper stickers need to be very close together. (It's a good thing Life has a very large bumper!) [By the way, there's a third that goes with it and it will take a whole blog -- "The Opposite is Equally True."]
Never Pass Up an Opportunity to Shut UP
Never, Never Distrust Your Gut Instinct
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