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One Breath at a Time

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Lori C

Hello everyone,

This week we read to Investigation at the bottom of page 157. We talked about Samadhi and the 3 aspects of meditation Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration and how blending them together was the way to get the best result from your meditation practice. Kevin says "what's most important is not to stop thoughts, but to change our relationship to thoughts... we have to stop letting conditioned, compulsive or automatic thoughts run our lives." p157

Can you relate to this? How has your relationship with your thoughts changed in recovery, or with a meditation practice?

Have you stopped - at least to some degree - letting conditioned, compulsive or automatic thoughts run your life?


I know that I am still often frustrated by the repetitive thought patterns that come up during my sits. Things that I thought I had worked through or forgiven or let gโ€ฆ

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Lori C

Hello Everyone,


This week we read up to pg 153 The Three Elements of Samadhi so we'll begin there next week. We discussed Step Seven as letting go and the Antidotes to the 5 Hindrances.

kevin said "Step Seven may be the crux of the whole recovery process....it embodies what recovery is all about, letting go." p150

He also said that letting go isn't really a passive activity... it's an intensely engaged, challenging and energetic act." p149


How do you feel about letting go as an energetic act? Can you relate to this in your own recovery?


I know for me that the process of letting go required me to do quite a lot of things...I only let go of my using by going to rehab and a halfway house...I only let go of my misery by working the twelve steps and going to a lot of meetings and workingโ€ฆ

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Lisa
Lisa
5 days ago
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Before program, I was using. I let go of my substances of choice, and I took my time before taking step 7. I have never been a fan of creditors charging me unfairly, or of cutting off services, whether I neglected to pay them on time or not. Early in my recovery, I was paying all of my utility bills on time, and my electricity went out. I was enraged at my power company, even more so of this happening in recovery, after I had paid the bill! I called them and had a self-righteous fit. But, at the end of the day,, when I reviewed myself, I realized that I was having dry drunk behavior. I did not even have the name of the poor customer service person who had been the object of my wrath.. I turned it over to my sponsor first, and became willing to have that defect of character removed, along with all of the others. Honestly, it comes back some times; I feel it growing when I am wronged. But at least today, I have a grip on it, recognize it early, and manage myself in such a way that I rarely have to make amends. When I do need to make them, I do it promptly before the day is over.

Lori C

Hello Everyone, This week we finished Step Six, so we will start Step Seven on pg 149 next week. We talked about language like "defects of character" and how the Buddhist language compares to the 12-step language. We also spoke about how what we believe about ourselves becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This week the discussion question is from the Exercise odn p148. How have your "negative qualities" or "character defects" changed over time? Since you've entered recovery. Do you now see them as human qualities, rather than personal to you?


For me, I see that some of my behaviors are still the same "unskillful behaviors" of old, but now they are just applied in different directions or areas of my life. My letting go of responsibility as "that's just how I am" like I did when I was "just an addict" still crops up when I overeat or overwork ouโ€ฆ


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Sam Bullock
Sam Bullock
Mar 18

Each day, I see how my survival / coping skills served me for a time, and now no longer do (for the most part). I am not sure whether my behaviors are softening or if perhaps the way I see them is beginning to be more allowing.


I liked especially being reminded that my flaws are not all of me, and that WHEN they crop up, it confirms that I am simply human, and not broken or wrong for being.


I am open to changing, even when it is challenging. And when I am not open to it, I have learned that that is when it is painful.


I am learning to let go of perfectionism, as it not "mine" any longer. I can try new things and feel a sense of belonging that I never have felt before now.


I appreciate this group and our discussions, and of course, our skillful leaders, as we all are all becoming,

Lori C

Hello Everyone,


This week we started Step 6 and read up to pg 141: Exercise: How do I Change? We talked about the power of sharing in a group and the fear of public speaking then into how intention comes before action and recognizing our own actions in the process of recovery.

We spole about being present to the moment and the different ways we slow down and find that "meditation" in different things.


This week's discussion question concerns the story on p 138 about a person asking the meditation teacher for help and then rejecting each suggestion made until the teacher said "Well, I guess you're just not ready to change."


Can you relate to this in your life? Either before recovery, in early recovery or even now? Or perhaps to someone else in your life?


For me, right now, I am struggling with a sponsee who complains aboutโ€ฆ


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Shannin Clarkson
Mar 04

I feel like when the horse is ready to drink the water, they will know where it is. I used to resist until I learned to go with the flow, trust the process and let life happen for me. What we resist, persists. I choose to take the easier, softer way today. Meditation definitely helps. I connect with a higher power and that always leads me in the right direction. I know it may not be the Buddhist way, but it works for me. We all learn how we learn and take the time we need to finally learn. The lessons will keep coming. When the pain is great enough, we will seek the guidance that was given to us when we weren't' ready.

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