~ FOURTH STEP SECRETS ~
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"These are weighty secrets and we must whisper them."
Sarah Chauncey Woolsey (Susan Coolidge)
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When I came to the Recovery Group, I was
wearing the pain of a lifetime of
well-kept secrets - secrets about a
childhood of poverty and secrets about a
difficult marriage. No one ever saw my
secret pain; I never shared it with
anyone. But all could see the effects of
the food I used as a coping mechanism.
Because of my willingness "to do
whatever it takes," I shared these
secrets with the person who took my 5th
step. I later shared it with my sponsor
and some of them later with a sponsee
during her 5th step. Sharing this pain
the first two times was like the
bursting of a painful abscess, with
poison being released. The poison that
kept me living in resentful, negative
thinking has been gradually replaced
with gratitude for what I had and now
have, and with the ability to experience
joy in my many, many blessings.
ONE DAY AT A TIME . . .
I will experience gratitude for the
gifts I was given in my 4th and 5th
steps and for the gifts of this program.