While watching ocean waves wash up on the shore, I realize that those waves did not start here. Forces beyond my sight started them way out in the ocean, and they meet the shore all along the coastline. In some places the shore is rocky, and the waves strike the rocks with turbulence and ocean spray. In other places the waves gently lap up on a sandy beach and recede.
The waves impact every shore, not just the one I happen to be standing on.
I think of those waves as life events that sometimes upset me and my serenity. Their impact on me is different depending on how I perceive them and how prepared I am to cope with them. Like waves against a rocky shore, if I am rigid and unyielding and see them as personal attacks, life events can create turbulence. But if I can be like the sandy shore, ready to receive the waves with acceptance and serenity, recognizing that they happen to everyone, life events ebb and flow around me without my seeing them as personal attacks.
My recovery in ACA is my preparation to receive the waves of life without constant upset and with an attitude of acceptance of my powerlessness. The fury of crashing whitecaps or the more peaceful rhythm of successive waves on a beach—that is my choice. And, occasionally, those waves bring me a message in a bottle or a beautiful seashell, a gift from my Higher Power!
Chris M