Please join me by reading the daily meditation from “The Language of Letting Go” by Melody Beattie and share your thoughts in the comment space provided at the end of this post (Click on the Read More button to read the complete thought for the day).
Co-dependency is a result of attempting to control others when we feel that our lives are out of control due to some event or disease in our life. This attempt to control others as a way of tending to our needs deprives us of true nurturing and healing.
Recovery from Co-dependency requires that we focus upon meeting our needs by living the Serenity Prayer. “God Grant me the Serenity to accept the things that I can not change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.” Living the Serenity Prayer does not mean that we ignore the needs of others. What it does mean is that instead of attempting to control others we learn to live and let live as we accept that we can not change other people.
This shift from focusing all of our attention on how to get others to do what we need to them to do will result in our ability to mind our own business. Then we need to take responsibility to make the changes in our lives to change the unwanted situation we find ourselves in. The more we mind our own business the more we gain the courage to change our own attitudes and beliefs that are not working for us.
Which in turn, leads to wisdom to know the difference between what we can change and what we cannot change. As we nurture ourselves by tending to our needs, we are better able to see, hear and understand the needs of others. This process will result in self nurturing and we will find that we also allow others to nurture us as well. Which brings us to the promise made in the Serenity Prayer that if we allow ourselves to be nurtured by our selves then we will have serenity.
Today: I will begin my day by taking my inventory and focus on letting the change that I desire begin with me. I will listen to my feelings and tend to the issues that are identified as I nurture myself.
Diana Smith, PhD, LPC-MH owns and operates Serenity Mental Health Services and is licensed by the National Board of Certified Counselors. License number is LPC-MH2025 and she follows the ethical guidelines described by the NBCC found at their web site www.nbcc.org/webethics2. Diana is a member of the National Board for Certified Counselors, Certification Number 43911. In addition, she is also a member of the American Counseling Association, Member ID# 5140627. Online counseling can help you right now. Research has made it clear that this manner of offering therapy is effective and those who’ve experienced it have said they would seek it out again.
Dr. Diana is an APA (American Psychological Association) EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) approved Therapist in Training.