Gentle Reminders for Co-Dependents: Daily Affirmations

378 Pages·1989·0.84 MB·English

by  Mitzi Chandler

Gentle Reminders for Co-dependents :
title:
Daily Affirmations
author: Chandler, Mitzi.
publisher: Health Communications, Inc.
isbn10 | asin:
print isbn13: 9781558740204
ebook isbn13: 9780585101019
language: English
subject Meditations, Devotional calendars.
publication date: 1989
lcc: BL624.C436 1989eb
ddc: 081
subject: Meditations, Devotional calendars.
Page i
Gentle Reminders for Co-dependents
Daily Affirmations
Mitzi Chandler
Health Communications, Inc.Deerfield Beach, Florida
Page ii
Mitzi Chandler
Port Angeles, Washington
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chandler, Mitzi.
Gentle reminders : daily affirmations / Mitzi
Chandler.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-55874-020-1
1. Meditations. 2. Devotional calendars. I. Title.
BL624.C436 1989
081dc 19 88-28454
CIP
© 1989 Mitzi Chandler
ISBN 1-55874-020-1
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part
of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission
of the publisher.
Published by: Health Communications, Inc.
3201 S.W. 15th Street
Deerfield Beach, FL 33442
Page iii
Nothing is so strong as gentleness,
and nothing is so gentle as real strength.
Ralph W. Sockman
Page v
Acknowledgments
My thanks to my husband, Bob; my sister, Ruth, and my friends,
Alice, Armand and Sheilah, for their wise counsel. And to my writer
friends who over the years have encouraged me to stop worrying
about semicolons and start writing.
Page vii
Introduction
NUDGINGS
I believe in nudgings.
Gentle reminders to hold our hands,
guide us toward the unknown,
murmur away our fear.
I believe in nudgings.
Soft words to open our hearts,
lead us from despair,
whisper to us of hope.
I believe in nudgings.
Lullabies to soothe the child within,
awaken us to new beginnings,
sing to us of joy.
I believe in you.
Mitzi Chandler
Page 1
January 1
A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.
Resolutions work only for a short while. Our resolve ends about the
same time that our set jaws and clenched teeth slacken from fatigue.
Miserable from deprivation we neglect what we swore we would do.
Our resolutions fizzle out because they are attempts at changing
ourselves from the outside in. Real change happens from the inside
out. What we need to do is make New Year's revelations.
When these disclosures and discharges cause a genuine change from
within, we will truly ring out the old and ring in the new.
I will open my heart and mind to New Year's revelations.
Page 2
January 2
I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free.
Charles Dickens
Mayflies are children of a day. They live only long enough to join in a
mating flight held over water and then they die. Without freedom even
this simple act of procreation could not take place.
Human beings are infinitely more complex. When our minds or
emotions are caged, we aren't able to fully use the natural gifts we
brought into this world at birth, nor will our souls learn how to soar.
Recovery is the process of freeing our bodies, minds and souls from
the cocoon of the past.
It is no small thing that I want to be free. I will become all I can be in
mind and spirit.
Page 3
January 3
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the
universe, no less than the trees or the stars; you have a right to be here.
From Desiderata
If ever there was a message that co-dependents need to take to heart, it
is the one above. We are so hard on ourselves.
As children most of us had a favorite stuffed animal, one who we
loved above all others. In time its fur wore thin, it lost a button eye, its
seams split and it slowly lost its stuffing. But it remained our favorite
all the more because it was imperfect. We loved it to death.
Like a tattered doll, the Child Within needs our gentleness, our
concern, our loyalty. It needs to be loved to life.
Today I will treat myself with gentleness.
Page 4
January 4
Patience is power. With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk.
Chinese proverb
Silk worms spin a cocoon to contain them while they hang from a
twig in a dormant state of development. These strong, elastic
filaments of silk are then processed into beautiful fabrics.
In the same sense, those of us from alcoholic homes spun a cocoon to
protect the most precious part of ourselves our feelings and we went
into a dormant state of survival. Now fully grown, we can patiently
weave the raw material of our cocoon into a blend of strong, pliable,
vibrant emotions that reflect the richness and shimmer of silk.
With time and patience I will become all that I was intended to be.