Gratitude: A Recovery Tip For Love AddictsBy Jim Hall, MS, Love Addiction Recovery Expert Recovering from love addiction is not easy. As love addicts, to break the ingrained relational patterns that has caused us so much pain takes time, patience, and persistence. Face it, as human beings rarely in our lives do great things do not come easy. If you are a love addict with a genuine desire to recover – I strongly encourage you to-- never give up- no matter how much you slip, no matter how many mistakes, no matter how many times you fall into the old painful love addicted patterns in your effort to change. There is hope. A healthier life, fulfilling love, and authentic inner-love will come if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. It often feels cumbersome, overwhelming, and distressing on our path to recovering. During this journey- I believe it is critical we put focus on things we can be grateful for in our lives today. This is not always an easy thing to do, especially early in recovery. Nevertheless, I encourage you to take just a few minutes a day, think and tell yourself what in your life can you be grateful for. Think of this as one of your recovery tools that just may become a lifelong habit. Gratitude improves a persons wellbeing. Have you ever heard this very wise quote: It's Not Happiness that Brings Us Gratitude... It's Gratitude that Brings Us Happiness If you have any difficulty thinking of gratitude in your life on any particular day, then keep this nearby to reflect on (what is stated is a reality): -If The World Were a Village of 100 People- If the world were a village of 100 people, of the 100 people in this village: 50 live in poverty 53 live on less than $2.00 a day 66 of adults are illiterate 24 do not have electricity 93 do not own a computer 30 are unemployed (many others are underemployed) 28 work in agriculture 20 of them are undernourished 20 have no clean, safe water to drink 44 have no access to clean sanitation Only 70 people of the 100 own an automobile Just under half of the married women in the village have access to and use modern contraceptives. In one year, 28 babies will be born. Ten people will die, 3 of them for lack of food, 1 from cancer, 2 of the deaths are of babies born within the year. If you do not live in fear of death by bombardment, armed attack, landmines, or of rape or kidnapping by armed groups, then you are more fortunate than 20, who do. If you can speak and act according to your faith and your conscience without harassment, imprisonment, torture or death, then you are more fortunate than 48 of the 100 villagers. If you have money in the bank, money in your wallet and spare change somewhere around the house, then you are among the richest 8 of them. If you can read this message, that means you are probably lucky! Now ask yourself: What can you be grateful for today? |