With arms wide open
“As long as the ties that bind us together are stronger than those which will tear us apart, all will be well.” Narcotics Anonymous literature
Conversations with God, along with countless other spiritual and religious institutions, mention that we are all one. Many of us, myself included, would nod their heads in approval not truly knowing what this means, or if we really even believe it to be true. I mean, how can the guy who nearly ran me off the interstate today truly be one in the same with me and my God? You see, my God is loving and caring and compassionate, and always considerate! My eyes tell me we are not one in the same.
Ah, now there is the rub. We are one, just not the same, by design. We are one on our journey of self-improvement, evolution, and struggle to overcome what our eyes tell us we are separate from. We are cut from the same cloth of God and we come here to experience the grandness of life. Many times we become entrenched with the conflict between what our heart feels and what our senses pick up from external sources. Resistance and opposition are viewed as negatives while offering us the grandest of all gifts – contrast.
When I first began my sober life, I was fortunate to meet people who welcomed me in and identified with me. In fact, I was told that I was the most important person in the room that day. This was because the people who were already there needed to see that their old ways were not working. I was the gift for them that day; I was the contrast.
Together we are in this physical plane of life where we require a contextual field to provide us with a definition of ourselves. Without all of you, I have no way of knowing anything about me. God has given us this life, indeed. He has joined with us in this physical vessel we call our bodies so that she, too, may know the grand nature of his-herself.
The first thing that brought comfort to me when I entered the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous was the togetherness, the oneness, the comfort in knowing that I was not alone in my dis-ease. The 12 steps are the same regardless of which program you enter. The wording only changes slightly, but the meaning stays the same. So the reason there are so many different programs available is simple. We are all seeking like-minded people. We feel comfort around those who know what we have been through by their own experience.
Recovery in the purest sense is not possible without incorporating others into our healing process. Healing cannot take place without the help, support, and encouragement of others. This is not to say people can’t stop using on their own. They can and do. Recovery is a completely different than simply being abstinent; recovery is a state of being.
When in recovery, we are a light unto the darkness that others suffering with similar dis-ease can be drawn to. Our energy is shifted from that of reaction, to a place of creation. Each day brings about an opportunity to consciously observe and create our self in a more grand way. We look at areas of shortcomings and recognize the need for change. In moments of enlightenment, we can admit to others that we behaved in ways that we were not proud of and express our intention to make every attempt to correct our behavior.
Doing these things brings about a sense of pride in ourselves that we have not experienced in a very long time. We share with others our struggles and our victories. We ask each other for help in our times of weakness and we lend our shoulder to others when they experience theirs.
The sober/recovering person is a gift to the community and inspiration to those still suffering. In this state of beingness, one invites others into the dark corners of their life and does not hide behind excuses any longer.
Isolation is the partner of dis-ease. Experience tells us that where two or more are gathered, God is made flesh. Many years have gone by since I was greeted that fateful day. I owe a debt of gratitude to that room of people who opened their arms and welcomed me in. I have long since moved away from that room of people, but I have taken the gift they gave with me. It is now my place in recovery to welcome newcomers into the room, and tell them they are not alone anymore.
Join us Path to Peace recovery retreat in Orlando, Florida, October 24 – 27th. JR Westen and myself are taking the messages found within the ”Conversations with God” Cosmology, along with our combined 53 years of personal recovery from alcohol, drug, and food addictions, and offering these retreats as a means of returning people to their authentic selves. We understand the difficulty people face with overcoming these challenges in life and offer a simple, compassionate, and effective means of living a happy, joyous, and free life. These retreats are not simply a weekend long reprieve from our troubles. Each attendee will be introduced to past and future participants through our community Facebook page. In addition, any past participant can attend any future P2P retreat for any donation they wish to make. You read that right – any donation, from $1 to infinity. We have seen the lives of people change and remain changed from these retreats. If this is for you, click here to register.
We understand that there may be financial hardships keeping you from attending this retreat. If you feel you would benefit from this retreat but cannot afford it, please contact Will@cwg.org and ask about our scholarships. It is our deepest desire to help those who truly seek change and we want nothing to stand in the way of that.
(Kevin McCormack, C.A.d ,is a certified addictions professional and auriculotherapist. He is a recovering addict with 26 years of sobriety. Kevin is a practicing auriculotherapist, life coach, and interventionist specializing in individual and family recovery and also co-facilitates spiritual recovery retreats for the CWG foundation with JR Westen. You can visit his website here for more information. To connect with Kevin, please email him at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)
