Sunday, November 5, 2023

Nov. 5, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Loss is another word for change.

— M. Tating

We don’t always realize how loss and grief are natural parts of life. Every change contains a loss within it. If we get a job promotion, we lose some elements of our work that are familiar and maybe enjoyable. If we get married, we lose the independence of the single life. If we choose recovery, we lose the friends we had in our addiction and codependency. And, of course, when we lose a loved one, the changes that follow are never chosen, but they may actually lead us toward new possibilities.

Surprisingly, every loss, every grief, has embedded within it the gift of a new beginning. In the midst of our losses, we can seldom see the gift. We don’t want to lose what we love. And grief is a necessary part of letting go. Grief is the wail of pain that comes when we know we must let go. And then life goes on. There is life after loss! It is a changed life. Perhaps nothing will ever be the same as it was. But it can become a new stage of our life, deeper and richer, even though we never could have imagined it.

Today, I embrace change, even knowing it means some loss.

Hazelden Foundation

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