Begin by finding a comfortable position.
Allow yourself to arrive.
Exactly as you are.
There is nowhere else you need to be right now.
Nothing you need to solve.
And nothing you need to figure out.
Just notice that you are here.
Let's take a slow breath in.
And a long,
Easy breath out.
Again,
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
Let the body soften a little.
Perhaps relaxing the shoulders.
Bring a soft smile to your mouth.
With this soft smile.
Feel the muscles around the eyes settle.
Feel the brow becoming smooth.
And clench the jaw.
And feel the tongue fill the bottom of your mouth.
I invite you to notice your experience right now by being aware of any physical sensations Emotions or thoughts running through your mind.
Pause.
And what is here now.
The simple act of noticing is part of our practice.
We begin by turning toward our experience rather than away from it.
Step 1.
Asks us to acknowledge powerlessness.
And powerlessness can sometimes sound like defeat.
The powerlessness is not the same as helplessness.
Powerlessness.
Recognizes things we can't control.
Hopelessness tells us there's nothing we can do.
Mindfulness offers us possibility.
We may not be able to control everything that's happening.
But we can learn to be present.
With what is happening.
Let's bring to mind something in your life right now that you cannot completely control.
Nothing overwhelming.
Maybe it's something you're struggling with.
Trying to change.
Trying to predict.
Or wishing were different.
Notice what happens inside you when you acknowledge I cannot completely control this.
Perhaps there is tightening.
Resistance.
Beer.
Maybe even relief.
Whatever is here,
Simply notice.
And ask yourself.
Can I notice what is happening?
Within me.
Before my mind moves into trying to change it.
Fix it.
Or push it away.
This is step one as a living practice.
Turning toward reality instead of away from it.
Not because we like everything that's happening.
Not because we approve it.
But because freedom begins when we stop fighting with the fact that this moment is already here.
When we experience suffering,
Our natural instinct may be to resist it.
We might think,
This shouldn't be happening.
I don't want to feel this.
I need this to be different.
And when we struggle against what is happening.
We can begin to pull away.
From the experience,
From ourselves.
And sometimes from other people.
We may begin to believe no one understands.
My situation is different.
I need to handle this myself.
And in that isolation.
A desire to escape and grow.
We look for something,
Anything.
That will help us not feel what we are feeling.
So the pattern can become suffering,
Resistance.
Isolation.
Escape.
Mindfulness and recovery offer another path.
We still experience our suffering.
But rather than immediately resisting it,
We bring awareness to it.
We just notice it.
Awareness begins to make space for acceptance.
We could say.
I may not like this.
But I can acknowledge that this is my experience right now.
And acceptance can open the door to something we may have forgotten was available to us.
That is connection.
The path of suffering.
Awareness.
Acceptance.
Connection.
Notice how different that path feels from this one.
Suffering.
Resistance.
Isolation.
Escape.
We are not being asked to eliminate suffering.
We are learning a different way of moving through it.
Or bring your awareness to the people who have walked beside you in recovery.
Visualize their faces and even maybe sense their energy.
Perhaps it's someone who welcomed you at your first meeting.
Someone who sat beside you.
Someone who listened to you without trying to fix you.
Someone who shared honestly enough that you've heard a little of your own story in theirs.
Perhaps someone who reminded you that you could come back.
Off for a difficult day.
After a difficult season.
Or simply after forgetting for a while that you didn't have to do this alone.
Now imagine these people beginning to gather around you.
Feel their warmth.
Acceptance and presence.
You may see familiar faces.
Perhaps faces you don't even know.
People at the beginning of recovery,
And people who have been walking this path for many years.
Each carrying a different story,
Different joys,
Different losses.
Different struggles.
Different understandings of a higher power.
And yet,
Beneath all those differences,
There is something deeply shared.
We know what it's like to struggle.
We know what it's like to lose our way.
And we know what it's like to need help.
Take a moment and feel yourself among them.
There is nothing you need to prove here.
Nothing you need to hide.
You are simply here.
Among others who understand something about this journey.
This is the Great We.
Not my recovery over here and your recovery over there.
But a shared path.
A movement from me Toward We… and perhaps notice what it feels like in your body to remember.
I belong here.
I am part of something larger than myself.
I do not have to carry everything alone.
And as you look around,
Notice that some have been here for days,
Some for months.
Some for decades.
No one graduates from being human or the program.
Life continues to meet each of us with change.
Uncertainty.
Loss,
Relationships.
Fear.
On circumstances we simply cannot control.
And so we return.
Back to one another.
Back to the present moment.
And sometimes back to step one.
Not because we have failed.
But because step one gives us a place to begin again.
Take a slow breath in.
And as you breathe out,
Allow yourself to rest for a moment in this sense of connection.
Many stories.
Many paths.
One Shared Humanity The Great We Take a deeper breath in.
And exhale.
There is a path toward freedom,
And that is mindfulness,
Compassion.
Ethical living.
The 12 steps.
Fellowship.
We can use our practices for walking that path.
We don't have to walk it perfectly.
And we do not have to walk it alone.
Perhaps silently offer yourself these words.
May I have the courage to see clearly.
May I accept what I cannot control.
May I respond wisely to what mine is to do.
May I remember that I belong.
Take one final breath in… and slowly breathe out.
And as you return to the room.
Carry this with you.
I can meet what is here.
And I do not want to meet it alone.
May your higher power and the energy of your essence create and express in you.
With you.
I'm through you.
With gratitude and love.
Namaste.
