The slogan "Live and Let Live" can be extremely helpful when we are having trouble tolerating other people's behavior. We know for certain that nobody's behavior - no matter how offensive, distasteful or vicious - is worth the price of a relapse. Our own recovery is primary, and while we must be unafraid of walking away from people or situations that cause us discomfort, we must also make a special effort to try to understand other people - especially those who rub us the wrong way. Can I accept the fact, in my recovery, that it is more important to understand than to be understood?
Today I Pray
When I run headlong into someone's unpleasant behavior, may I first try my best to understand. Then, if my own sobriety seems threatened, may I have the courage to remove myself from the situation.
Nature, the Gentlest Mother, is Impatient of no Child . . . . --Emily Dickinson
When a girl sits on the seashore, the waves do not try to slap her around. When a boy wanders alone in a field, the sky does not accuse him of talking back. When a man is alone in the woods, does the earth nag him for failing once more? And when a woman is alone in the park, does the wind whisper behind her back? Nature never blames or condemns: she gives us freedom of thought and plenty of space. Nature's ways are proven and true; she lets us grow at our own rate. Nature brings us sleep, dawn, new days; she is full of new life.
We are a part of nature, and everything we do is part of it. We can find comfort in this knowledge, if we take the time to remember it when we are feeling bad. Nature is always willing to share its serenity.
When we escape to nature, what feelings do we have that we want to take back home with us?
oh i get hit by this alot.......to "live and let live" close relatives trying to TELL me how to pray how to live, how to how to how to......used to be i would get mad/ explode!!!! now???? i just say "well thats one way of looking at it" or "thats an interesting point" AS i do what i want to do, as long as i am not harming another????? i am FREE to live the way i want.......being in alignment with this program gives me the confidence, that i am doing OK, cause i have so much faith in my new found way of life.......thanks/ rosie
Nature, the Gentlest Mother, is Impatient of no Child . . . .--Emily Dickinson When a girl sits on the seashore, the waves do not try to slap her around. When a boy wanders alone in a field, the sky does not accuse him of talking back. When a man is alone in the woods, does the earth nag him for failing once more? And when a woman is alone in the park, does the wind whisper behind her back? Nature never blames or condemns: she gives us freedom of thought and plenty of space. Nature's ways are proven and true; she lets us grow at our own rate. Nature brings us sleep, dawn, new days; she is full of new life. We are a part of nature, and everything we do is part of it. We can find comfort in this knowledge, if we take the time to remember it when we are feeling bad. Nature is always willing to share its serenity. When we escape to nature, what feelings do we have that we want to take back home with us?
It has some type of magical and mystical feeling to it.
I love the slogan Live and Let Live. It has been very beneficial for my recovery. It reminds me of 449 of the BiG Book on Acceptance. This was a daily reader for me for 1 year. This was my sponsors suggestion. Today this is my favorite. It is one of the keys that I finally understood in depth after about 5 years. We did weekly meetings on slogans for quite sometime. It helped a lot of people, including myself.
