Whoever is happy will make others happy, too. --Anne Frank
Anne Frank had good reason to be unhappy, full of fear, and deeply discouraged. Years of her life were spent in a small apartment hiding from the Nazis who wanted to destroy her and her family. Yet even in this little hiding place she had happiness. It was something she had inside which did not depend on what happened around her. She had riches of the heart. She had faith that kept her going. She had love and concern for her family and others, which made even a restricted life very rich with feelings. It is tempting to believe that we will be happy when we have something outside ourselves, which will make us happy. But happiness is not something we have to find outside; the seeds are in our hearts already.
What happiness can I find in my latest setback?
#######ROSIE.....Anne Frank was my idol, growing up, i read her book "Diary of Anne Frank" and it moved me to tears...i did a class report on it in literature, talking about her gentle yet feisty strength and her sense of "one day at a time"......Anne Frank , to me was the classic example of "let it begin with me" and "keeping things simple" .. she had the most positive attitude.....i know my life was hell!!! but lately i have been feeling a sense of huge gratitude that i was able to live through it and get a second chance at a happy life!!!! .....there was a movie on Lifetime television this past 2 nights about the trafficing of young girls ,for purposes of forced prostitution, by this greedy cartel ALL for money!!!! it was awful the degradation of those girls the total insult to their humanity... the daily threats of diseases and some of them DID contract HIV!!!!! it made me want to thank God, that at least i did not go through that!!!! ...it made me think of how*lucky* i was in my situation!!!!! SO many others had it SO much worse than i did, and they didn't hate their God about it.....oh some/ many lost faith, but they didn't curse and blame God like i did....i was humbled watching the tv movie...i am humbled thinking of Anne Frank and her DAILY knowledge that this day "may be the last"....i had no riches of the heart in that house......maybe it is because i had no *foundation* on which to lean.....from day ONE of my exhistence i believe i was traumatized....i had nothing to *fall back on*...so when the incest began, i was already so debilitated mentally and emotionally by the beatings and verbal abuse and the rampant violence in that house, i had nothing in my *sanity bank* to help me...but still, her book, and the move, did humble me....i look back at my having NO faith....NO commaraderie with anyone really, we were all tryin to survive and some of us were mean!!!!! to show compassion in that house got you punished..... i guess the whole bottom line is---- i shall think AGAIN if/when i go into another *pity party* becuz there are a WHOLE lot of people who got it *worse than i did*.....so i was NEVER alone!!! never *singled out* by life as a victim!!!!! i guess that is why when i hear shares from others about their pain, i do NOT put a thermometer on it and speculate *who got it worse* pain is pain!!! ...the deeper it is?? the deeper the recovery.... and i know the love / acceptance i get in the 12Steps is getting me through mine!!!! thank you DONE
Thanks for this thread. Sounds like we had the same childhood. Isn't it great though, to find serenity through recovery? I am realizing, like you, that there are lots of others who had it worse than I. I can throw away my "victim hat"; I played that role way too long.
Now, it's all about gratitude.....one day at a time
