[Leed]

Days of Healing, Days of Joy..................................Oct. 30th

"There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face
.....................................................................William Shakespeare

Babies' faces are wonderful - not only because they're physically beautiful, but because they're absolutely candid. It is a rarity and a joy to look into a face that pretends nothing, hides nothing, and disguises nothing. Such faces are beautiful because they reveal wholeness.

Few adults have such faces. And unlike babies, who are innocent because they lack experience and are yet untouched, adults may be survivors of brutal experiences.

For some adults, candor and openness have been reborn because they were willing, over time, to abandon their masks one by one. Now that they aren't hiding anything, they don't have to prevent anyone from looking in. Because their insides match their outsides, their faces clearly reflect the wholeness that was restored to them. It is a privilege as well as a joy to see such clarity and freshness shining out of an adult human being. And it is evidence that renewal is possible.
_______________________________
Personal renewal is possible for me; my program promises it.

Since doing more than one 4th & 5th steps, my life is an open book. And while my face may not reflect it due to physical pain, I have nothing to hide anymore and that feels GOOD. Before I got sober, I hid the fact that I was drinking, I hid how MUCH I was drinking, I'd call in "sick" at work due to being drunk, I could go on and on with the lies. After I got sober, I "confessed" all of that to my sponsor plus a load of other things, and got rid of it all. Today, I daily ask for help from my Higher Power to keep me sober and to keep me honest -- and so far it has worked. My life IS an open book and that's fine with me..

[Cherry73]

Thanks for sharing. Once I became clean it was an extreme relief to stop pretending, lying, and manipulating. It was as if a huge weight was lifted off my chest. I can't believe I lived in that hell for so many years and I never want to go back there. My life is finally good and will only get better as long as I remember where I've been and take nothing for granted.