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Courage to Change:

In the past, joy was a rare visitor to many of us. Al-Anon recovery often leads us to find it more frequently. But instead of sitting back and enjoying these pleasant moments, we tend to cling desperately to happiness, trying to freeze time and hold change at bay, as if our joy will be snatched away forever the moment our guard is down. We can become too busy avoiding change to enjoy the gifts we fear to lose. By clutching at what we most want to keep, we lose it all the more rapidly.

Change is inevitable. We can depend on that. When we become willing to accept change, we make room for a loving God. By letting go of our efforts to influence the future, we become freer to experience the present, to feel all of our feelings while they are happening, and to more fully enjoy those precious moments of joy with which we are blessed.

Today’s Reminder:

Today I will try to open myself to receive the abundance God holds out to me by experiencing what is and allowing God to decide what will be.

“The harder we try to catch hold of the moment, to seize a pleasant sensation… the more elusive it becomes. It is like trying to clutch water in one’s hands — the harder one grips, the faster it slips through one’s fingers.” – Alan Watts

From the book “Courage to Change”. Copyright Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. 1992