Today's Gift for Families...for July 2014

[MajestyJo]

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

You are reading from the book Today's Gift

I was forced to live far beyond my years when just a child. Now I have reversed the order and I intend to remain young indefinitely.
—Mary Pickford

We can all learn to change our lives so the child within each of us can live in balance with the people we have become. We can learn to give the child a voice, let the child play, let the child express needs and fears and pleasures.

We might look at our old baby pictures for a valuable lesson. We will see pictures of ourselves on rocking horses, grinning and waving; pictures of ourselves with our most precious toy - a crude metal car, perhaps; pictures of ourselves rolling in the grass. The lesson we learn is that it doesn't take much to make this child happy - even today.

We keep our own happiness safe inside us to call on whenever we need it, as long as we keep a healthy relationship with the child within. When we nourish the child, we can be assured the child will also nourish us.

What simple thing will make me happy today?

One thing that makes me happy today is the fact that I can choose to turn my music on, have a choice as to what music I listen to, and I can choose not to have the music or the TV on.

Prior to recovery, I had to fill that space. I didn't realize it was a void within me that had the hunger, and it had to be filled with something. I could hide and shut down if I had something to divert me or help me shut down and shut off. When you do that, you shut off the good and the not so good feelings, and when that happened, there was no happiness.