The Road to Life

John William Waterhouse: The Danaïdes - 1903

‎"Is there another destiny for you? Do you choose a road that will take you to a place foreign to your own becoming? This question is sincere, it is not meant to deceive. No matter which road you take, you will become; but all roads do not lead to your becoming. If you think they do, it is you, not I, who is given to deception. All of your roads will end in death. Not all roads lead to life." ~ Cynthea Jones

Lots of personal work coming down the pipe lately, specifically relating to codependency in behavior and thought. The work is both gentler and deeper than what I have experienced in years past, heck, even in the recent past. It is more like a river wearing away rock than lighting taking out a tower, and I am thankful for that.

I've known I've had codependency issues for a long time. Early home life (which included living with a dry drunk and a codependent, a topic that will probably get its own blog post in the future) set a secure foundation for this pattern, but I've built the grand landscape I've been living in, and it's high time I made some architectural changes for better living conditions. It became abundantly clear to me that this is necessary and timely work a few weeks ago, and the Universe has conspired to get me moving through a variety of synchronistic events.

And so: I started reading "Codependents' Guide to the Twelve Steps" by Melody Beattie. The work is deep and appropriate and just challenging enough.

I am sure I will be able to write about this process with more depth and specifics at a future date. Today, however, it is enough to write that I am actively working on recovery.

Seeing the Bottom

 Some rights reserved by StarbuckGuy

I'm always working on something, it seems. Lately, helpful stuff has been coming to me month by month from an interesting and insightful little book entitled "The Art of Extreme Self Care:  Transform Your Life One Month at a Time" by Cheryl Richardson. Each month, a different aspect of self-care is brought forth to be contemplated and worked with, from self love to creating spaces at home that are nurturing to making pleasure a priority to learning how to say no properly.

I will admit, when I first started working with this book, I thought it was going to be a frothy and saccharine little jaunt. I was wrong. This book has given me some serious things to think about, and I keep going back to it when issues crop up in my life. 

Necessary Space

Dawna Markova says you can't grab God; instead, you have to become empty and make some space for God to enter.

After a beautiful, relaxing vacation full of rest and reading and long walks and time to just sit and be still, I can say with certainty that Ms. Markova is right.