Appreciation

I am appreciated and I appreciate others...

Today I will surround myself with people who value my own worth as well as their own. Even though others might not express their appreciations, still I know that the world was created for my sake too. What more personal assurance of my own belonging to the universe can I find than the fact that a divine power has placed me here and arrayed all the bounty and the beauty of the world here before me.

I feel appreciated today, not just for what I do, but for who I am. I acknowledge my abilities and talents, as well as the special essence that is me.

Today I leave behind the competitive "you" or "me" from the past. Each of us has a special place in the universe. Knowing this, I can appreciate my friends and colleagues for all that they do and all that they are. Another person's success or achievement does not diminish my own.

This day I am part of the wonderful exchange of appreciation that makes each person feel needed, wanted and important.


Today I have realized that in the end the race is only with ourselves and its totally useless to compare ourselves with any one else. Because no one else is us. We are each unique and special and will make our own choices along the way based on who we are and what we want to or already have experienced. When I decided I was gonna change my life around, a full 360 degrees and be willing ot start from scratch, I went through a lot of hardship and heartache but I became obsessed with my decision: I was not going to surround myself any longer with abusive people. I had had enough and instinctively I knew I deserved better treatment, we all do. Nobody deserves to be abused and we basically let it happen and attract it to us because somehow we believe we are unworthy of any better, respectful treatment. For those of us who grew up in alcoholic homes we were kept off balance, taught to deny our feelings about something being terribly wrong and left without learning proper boundaries. Thus, we trust way too soon and sometimes allow our boundaries to be crossed abusively, or we avoid intimacy at all costs, not knowing who to trust and protecting ourselves from being hurt, sometimes even becoming abusive ourselves. Its seems to be a vicious cycle that spreads like a wildfire once started.


We need to remember that no matter where we are in our recovery we are moving forward.