Saturday, April 8, 2023
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
— Edward Gibbon
Many people who have been sailing blame the weather for their misfortunes. “If only we’d had good winds.” Or “We’d have won the race if we hadn’t been becalmed.” Or “I never feel sick, but …”
So it is with our lives when we are under the sway of our addiction. We blame fate, chance, our genes, the devil, our parents, other people – always looking outside ourselves for some element to account for our defects and our failures.
But the good navigator knows how to read the signs and make the weather work to help the boat and crew. So, too, we can learn to be attentive to our relationships with the outside world, working in harmony with what is around us. The world is not a hostile place; we can come to feel at home here. But first we must learn to live at peace with ourselves.
I know I needn’t blame the world for my shortcomings. I am finding a harmony between my desires and reality as I learn to trust my relationship with the world.
Hazelden Foundation
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