Visitors offer a good test of one’s peace of mind.
My niece and her husband were just here visiting us for a few days. We had a great time. I am so glad for my recovery because it has helped me to maintain my peace of mind in all circumstances. I don’t mean to imply it was difficult with my family. On the contrary. But I do know that being in recovery gives me the grounding that allows for any ripples that might occur with any one, any time.
My husband and I have a lot of visitors, actually. Living in Florida in the winter is automatically a great invitation to friends and being on a lake in the summer is inviting too. We love to entertain, but if we didn’t have a program that helped us maintain our serenity, it might not always be so easy. How grateful I am that I always have a solution for any niggling situation that occurs. One of the steps or the Serenity Prayer brushes away all the tension that might arise over any potential struggle, with any visitor.
How lucky we are. And when I say “we,” I mean all of us who share a 12 step path. Nothing is so grave that with the counsel of others or time out for prayer and meditation, we can’t move forward and through whatever bump in the road we hit. And my friends are the ones who help me remember that every bump is “heaven sent.” Every unexpected situation offers us an opportunity to practice all that we have been taught. It also offers us an opportunity to demonstrate for others what living the program looks like.
Peace of mind is what I strive for daily. And I experience it pretty consistently too. There is one reason and only one reason. It’s because I do trust that whatever is coming my way I have been prepared for. That doesn’t mean I always like what’s happening, but there really aren’t any surprises that come to us that we haven’t sought, in one way or another. Who we meet, what we get to experience, where we will go next are already figured out for us. We simply have to walk toward the events for them to materialize.
I didn’t always believe this. I used to live in fear until I read a book by Caroline Myss. Sacred Contracts is the name of the book. In it she explains, and I paraphrase, that we “created the life we will live, one person, one experience, at a time, before we awoke in this realm.” I resisted that idea initially. Now I love it. It has softened whatever blows I felt. It has made me excited for whatever the future will yet present me with. It’s already been decided. I will know what and whom I need to know when the time is right. Believing this makes all “visitors to my life, welcome guests.”
I hope you find comfort with this idea too.
