Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.

-- Mortimer Adler

In some areas of our lives, we are right on target. Our level of maturity is exactly as it should be, and we are going through the stages that people of our age ought to be going through. In other areas, this is not so. We are complex people, irregular, uneven. In all of us, there are areas fixated in some emotional ice age, areas that have not felt the freeing warmth of the sun.

We cannot expect ourselves to move forward all at once. Not only is it okay to move slowly -- it's often the only way it can be. Confusion, conflict, or pain may have caused us to let our memories or feelings be frozen safely away. This has been a long process, and we can allow ourselves more time to heal. The task now is not to deny or hide from these changes, but to have confidence that the healing warmth of the program will reflect on all areas of our lives and help make us whole.

I am thankful I am given both time and patience in which to continue my growth.

Hazelden Foundation

Sobriety and sanity: A lifeline to both