Thank you. Your words made a nice dent, one that was needed.
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100% me. I need to reach with what i am feeling, just like I did when i wanted to drink. Simple to write, hard to do.
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Balance. Something in life I struggle with. Kinda like my drinking, 100% consumption. I recognize I am out of balance, then throw everything at my recovery program…then wonder why I have no blanace.
This time i got out of my stinky nest by fixing something stinky
Replaced all valves and seals, as I had a leak. As a member of my sanga said, “sometimes mediatation comes in different forms, yours came from a toilet this time”.
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Definitely a gem.
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Will not be my prefered method, but it helped
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Some of my most ‚present‘ moments of mindfulness were during nightly panic attacks. I‘m not claiming I wish them back, but boy was I motivated to stay in the present.
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I think this fits
from “The Pocket Pema Chodron (Shambhala Pocket Classics)” by Pema Chödrön -
“START where you are. This is very important. Meditation practice is not about later,”
Start reading this book for free: The Pocket Pema Chodron (Shambhala Pocket C... - Kindle
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My second Dharma Recovery meeting tonight. This is what I read as part of that meeting (and it became the theme of the meeting as well) :
Many of us lost the ability, if we ever had it, to form relationships without the social lubricant of alcohol or drugs. Sometimes that was because we dealt with rejection, trauma, or loss at an early age and became anxious and avoidant around others. Or maybe we just felt different from everyone else since the day we were born, or came from a small community (or a big family) and got sick of people nosing into our business. Whatever reasons we had to isolate, we got to a point where it stopped serving us. The substances and behaviors we used to protect ourselves began to harm ourselves and others. We drove people away to be safe, and as a result we became even more lonely.
Meditation was uneasy for me, as the previous time the compassion meditation I participated in triggered some vivid and nasty images of suffering in my mind. I was scared I would be bothered by the same, or similar images this time. And there were some, but not as strong this time. Not sure what to make of it yet. I’ve always been excellent at blocking out people, so sitting in a room full of strangers with my eyes closed for 20 minutes is no problem for me. The fly that kept landing on me was a bit of a problem. Made me think of the opening scene of Once upon a time in the West.
Still a valuable meeting, and I will return.
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That reading is like a biography for me.
I dont know what to make of it either. Maybe a form of healing?
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This is a very nice read. Has me thinking as reading it.
It made a lot of sense actually at the same time as what @Thirdmonkey mentioned it be a form of healing.
For me sometimes the obvious isn’t obvious and when it’s written out it just hits deep and makes sense and I felt that here.
Kind of giving me the option to look from the outside in on myself.
Having a chance to see things from an outside perspective instead my own perception but on myself, room for healing in the form of being able to see from the outside in which usually other people get to see from that view.
Not sure if Im making sense.
My vocabulary is limited today I’m 
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Meditation got me through the hardest darkest time of my life. It helped me stay balanced and in the moment. I need that back, it was peaceful although living through a storm I was able to navigate calmly.
I must get back into it more.
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Same feelings here. Meditation has helped me a lot and now that I’m sober (only day 22), I’ve been meditating daily, usually in the evening but gotta start also meditating in the morning too.
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I love this. I no longer want to escape myself as I am, and other people as they are. Without judgment, allowing us to be just as we are, whether or not it makes me uncomfortable. The whole spectrum, the truth. Not needing to hide, walking in with kindness, openness and honesty.
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You know, I have not one, but TWO Pema books packed away somewhere. Still. Ok, I will find one of them today … starting NOW
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. Ok, readyI love that book
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I need to read that daily
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Well said; a process. Little by little I look and listen. Yes to running off a lot and getting tea. This time, I am learning to stay. It’s not easy.
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I dare to say it’s a job for a life time.
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