Eating Disorders - OA June 2014

[MajestyJo]

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Conflicts

To be alive is to have conflicts. We find ourselves in disagreement with other people and in conflict with ourselves. Often, the things we want seem mutually exclusive, such as more money and more free time, more food and fewer pounds.

Our Higher Power does not promise us freedom from conflict, at any rate, not in this life. Like all growing organisms, we struggle with opposing forces. Frequently, our overeating is an attempt to escape the conflicts, which we should be facing. Sometimes we need to be more self-assertive with those around us instead of futilely trying to suppress justifiable indignation with food. There are times when we need to fight for our legitimate requirements.

We cannot always resolve our internal conflicts without a long and difficult battle. Time and maturity are often necessary before a problem is seen in its proper perspective. Some problems we may expect to wrestle with as long as we live. Having faith in the light, even when we cannot see it, makes our darkness bearable.

Lighten our darkness, Lord.

As my sponsor told me many years ago,"You didn't get this way over night, you can't expect to heal overnight.

The biggest thing I had to learn, was to bring that conflict out of the darkness into the light and allow the healing to take place. It isn't going to change and get better, if we internalize and keep it there. It needs to be acknowledged, the feelings felt, in order to be able to let go of the conflict and not feed into it.