step 11, spiritual awareness

by Terrie C.  The principle of Step 11 is SPIRITUAL AWARENESS.  Prayer means asking.  Meditation is a form of listening.  AWARENESS comes from recognizing that we have had a Higher Power who cares for us, even when we may be not in touch with that knowledge.  My experience of prayer is asking the Higher PowerContinue reading “step 11, spiritual awareness”

Justice

an essay on Step 9 by Terrie C. In the Aqua CoDA book for Step 8 which is the preparation step for making amends it advises that the first person we need to have on our list is ourselves.  That we have harmed ourselves the most and been unable to escape ourselves.  Yet, what mostContinue reading “Justice”

The codependent parent trap

Parenting is hard. Being a codependent is challenging. Being a codependent parent is, well… something else. And even better, I find myself faced with the colliding specters of my own menopause and my daughter’s adolescence. The compulsive nature of my behaviors can be frustrating. For many years, I kept falling into a codependent parent trap.Continue reading “The codependent parent trap”

The Winding Road

– by Beth I don’t know about you, but my life journey feels like it has had so many twists and turns within that I lost sight of what was right or wrong and how to make a decision without feeling any fear that the decision would be the wrong one. Just when I thoughtContinue reading “The Winding Road”

Love is an ability

I was listening to an interview of meditation teacher and author, Sharon Salzberg this morning. She quoted a line from a movie which said, ‘love is not a feeling, love is an ability”. She went on to ask what if we thought about love primarily as an ability? Sharon explained…That means it’s not in theContinue reading “Love is an ability”

Perseverance

by Terrie C I am a survivor of childhood trauma and also ongoing trauma.  In recovery, it has been important to me to acknowledge my successes as well as my mistakes.  In the book THE ADDICTIVE ORGANIZATION by Anne Wilson Schaef and Diane Fassel, they describe codependent behaviors as a fatal disease and say, “InContinue reading “Perseverance”

be true to yourself

by Terrie C. I am a trauma survivor.  I had difficulty feeling like I belonged in my family.  I have struggled most of my life to feel like I belong.  I feel fear in meetings because I choose not to identify myself as a codependent.  And, I know, that to be true to myself, thatContinue reading “be true to yourself”

finding personal healing in recovery

Many codependents suffer from the effects of trauma. The tools of co-dependents anonymous along with self-compassion can help the healing process. It is an individual growth process.

Step 11-finding my higher power

The principle of Step 11 is SPIRITUAL AWARENESS.  Prayer means asking.  Meditation means listening.  One of the things I love about this step is that it gives permission to define our own Higher Power.  What does my spirit tell me?    Many experiences over the last 40 years of recovery work have brought me giftsContinue reading “Step 11-finding my higher power”