{"id":2730,"date":"2012-10-26T14:38:11","date_gmt":"2012-10-26T19:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=2730"},"modified":"2012-10-20T14:38:38","modified_gmt":"2012-10-20T19:38:38","slug":"helping-others-is-how-we-help-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=2730","title":{"rendered":"Helping others is how we help ourselves. . ."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There is no truer suggestion offered to us in recovery rooms than the above. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t get it when I came into the fellowship in 1974. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t understand why other women reached out to me. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t understand that <em><strong>&#8220;to keep what one had, it had to be given away.&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> \u00a0That went against everything I had ever been taught to believe. \u00a0My family wasn&#8217;t selfish, at least I didn&#8217;t think so; but they certainly didn&#8217;t believe that giving what one had to others assured us of keeping it too.<\/p>\n<p>My confusion then was because I thought only in terms of material possessions, and if you gave a favorite item away, it was lost to you. \u00a0Ever so slowly I began to see that the material world wasn&#8217;t the world that was favored by these new friends in the fellowship. \u00a0While it was true that certain &#8220;possessions&#8221; might be necessary: for instance, a place to live, clothes to wear, food to eat; and yet, any one of them can be lacking for a time and one&#8217;s life continues. \u00a0But I&#8217;m getting away from my point. \u00a0What we offer to others, in the way of help or support or prayers actually improves our own lives too. \u00a0That&#8217;s the principle I&#8217;m sharing here. \u00a0Giving those &#8220;gifts&#8221; to others, doubles them in our own lives too.<\/p>\n<p>This is on my mind today because one of my dearest friends received her six months chip in AA this morning. \u00a0I first met Carol in the early 80&#8217;s, after she had attempted recovery myriad times already. \u00a0She would put a few months together and go out again. \u00a0This had been her pattern dozens of times already. \u00a0For some unknown reason, this time, after I met her, I &#8220;hung on to her.&#8221; \u00a0I didn&#8217;t want her to get away, to die, when I sensed she had so much love in her heart for so many.<\/p>\n<p>The remarkable thing about Carol was that she never completely gave up on herself. \u00a0In the more than 30 years I have known her, I&#8217;ve watched her fall over and over and get up. \u00a0And fall again but never did she stay down. \u00a0Her 38 years of trying has once again paid off. \u00a0Watching her get a 6 month chip today gave all of us a moment&#8217;s pause. \u00a0She may have fewer days of recovery than the majority of the people who go to that meeting; but she doesn&#8217;t have any less heart. \u00a0I&#8217;d venture to say she has more. \u00a0Every day of her life she relishes the love of her grandchildren. \u00a0She relishes being able to contribute on her job. \u00a0She relishes just the mere fact of waking up sober.<\/p>\n<p>She is done with the old life, she says, and I can feel pretty certain she means it this time. \u00a0She got good and tired of being sick and tired. \u00a0She got good and tired of having to look all of us in the eyes, knowing our disappointment. \u00a0Being back, really back, is her way of helping us now. \u00a0What we gave to her she is giving back tenfold. \u00a0That&#8217;s how it works. \u00a0Aren&#8217;t we a lucky group? \u00a0Indeed, we are not a glum lot!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is no truer suggestion offered to us in recovery rooms than the above. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t get it when I came into the fellowship in 1974. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t understand why other women reached out to me. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t understand that &#8220;to keep what one had, it had to be given away.&#8221; \u00a0That went against everything [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections-in-the-mirror-you-and-yourself"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Helping others is how we help ourselves. . . | Karen Casey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=2730\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Helping others is how we help ourselves. . . | Karen Casey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is no truer suggestion offered to us in recovery rooms than the above. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t get it when I came into the fellowship in 1974. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t understand why other women reached out to me. \u00a0I didn&#8217;t understand that &#8220;to keep what one had, it had to be given away.&#8221; 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