Mistaken Belief

The Cookie Thief

by Valerie Cox

     A woman was waiting at an airport one night,
     With several long hours before her flight.
     She hunted for a book in the airport shops.
     Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.


     She was engrossed in her book but happened to see,
     That the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be.
     Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between,
     Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.


     So she munched the cookies and watched the clock,
     As the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.
     She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
     Thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”


     With each cookie she took, he took one too,
     When only one was left, she wondered what he would do.
     With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh,
     He took the last cookie and broke it in half.


     He offered her half, as he ate the other,
     She snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother.
     This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude,
     Why he didn’t even show any gratitude!


     She had never known when she had been so galled,
     And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
     She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate,
     Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.


     She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat,
     Then she sought her book, which was almost complete.
     As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise,
     There was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.


     If mine are here, she moaned in despair,
     The others were his, and he tried to share.
     Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
     That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

What are your mistaken belief's today?

A Deadly Bucket List

Codependency, just like any other addiction does kill. The person suffering from obsessive care-taking may not have the dramatic death or lock up of an active alcoholic or addict, but they will surely die a spiritual, emotional and mental death. The family members and loved ones of addicts need recovery too. They are suffering from the disease of addiction. First and foremost we recommend Al-Anon Family Groups, but many co-dependents need a residential treatment to learn the tools of recovery.
Here’s a story I heard from a speaker at the Banff Springs Round Up years ago. I call it:

Crabs in a Bucket

One day a little girl was down at a seaside dock with her parents. She skipped down the pier and came across an old man doing some crabbing. The little girl was fascinated! The old man pulled the crab trap out of the water and put several squirming, pinching crabs into a steel bucket that already contained some live crabs. He then turned away to re-lower his trap.
“Hey Mister!” the little girl was concerned, she spoke, “your crabs are trying to get out of the bucket! Don’t you want to put a lid on them, so they don’t get out?”
The old man turned to the little girl, and to the crabs, who were scrambling to pull themselves out of the bucket, he said, ” Girl, them crabs is just like people. When one crab gets a hold of the top of the bucket, and tries to pull his self up and out, dem other crabs reaches out and pulls him back down”.

Pay attention to who is in your bucket. Do they really want you to succeed and leave them behind? 
I think this little story is almost like a Zen Koan!

Can You Hear Me Now?

I love stories. If you are familiar with any of my blogs or work at all, you know by now, I love stories. Most people don't appreciate the "naked truth", but when it is wrapped up in a beautiful story, most people will welcome it in, sometimes without even knowing it is the truth. Stories can continue to reveal the truth slowly over time, meeting you where you are, showing back up in your psyche with the message you need - even if you don't want to see the truth.

So, here's a new favourite. It kind of reminds me of the saying (I love sayings too), When you are pointing a finger at someone, you have three fingers pointing back at you. Let me know if you like this story too, and what it means for you. Does an experience or belief come to mind?

Can You Hear Me Now?

The old man was sure that his wife was losing her hearing. He was frustrated that she refused to get her hearing checked, and scoffed at the idea of a hearing aid. The old man was getting quite worked up over it, and remembering and playing over all kinds of times when his wife would not listen to him - he felt he was usually right about most things. 

Wanting to prove his rightness around his wife's hearing loss, he decided to test her. One evening after supper, his wife was at her usual place by the fire with her Chai tea,  reading on her iPad. Her husband stood way back out of sight from the adjoining room, and called out, "Honey, can you hear me?" His wife did not look up, and did not answer.

He moved a little closer, "Honey, can you hear me now?" Again, there was no response from his wife. He moved right to the door and called again, "Honey, can you hear me now?" No response. He was feeling quite vindicated, he would be able to prove to her that she was going deaf! He quietly snuck up right behind her, and whispered to the back of her head, "Honey, can you hear me now?"

His wife whirled around impatiently, and said "Yes! For the fourth time, yes!" 

I think that the story stands for itself, so I won't clutter it up with rhetoric.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jane_Derry

Cross Exchange

These two little stories contain some spiritual truths that can help the addict or alcoholic look at the way they are living their lives. If you think that your troubles are worse than anyone else's you will remain in self-pity.

Tip: "Poor me. Poor me. Pour me a drink." Self-pity, which is always combined with resentments of some kind, kills. In order to stay sober you really need to look at this.

Having a "cross to bear" may be a term that has lost significance in contemporary North America as we aren't a primarily predominant Christian indoctrinated people anymore. But like a Zen Koan, or a First Nation story passed down through generations, there are rich truths to be mined from all spiritual tradition scriptures. 

The Poison Arrow or First Things First

Down in the Amazon Rainforest, when the people of the jungle stilled lived in the jungle, there was a small group of men, sitting in a circle around the fire. They were laughing and having a good time bragging about their hunting and stealth skills. They were painted up a bit, wearing their skin loin cloths, and their teeth were stained. They were all really good friends and family members of the same clan.

 One of the men stood up from the fire, and suddenly from out of the jungle a feathered blow dart came streaming in and plucked itself right into the man's backside! The man jumped high and let out a scream. All the other men jumped up too - they were very concerned and knew they must get the dart out right away before all the poison entered their friend.

The stricken man, however, was very angry and he was yelling, he said (in their own language of course), "What colour are the feathers in that dart? Who was the man that blew it into me? Did anyone see him? How long was the blow stick he used? What face painting did he have on? Was he very tall? What was his name?" and so on, he jumped around yelling. He was peering into the jungle, evading his friends who were trying to pull out the dart before it was too late.

 With a whole series of questions still on his lips, the man gave one last shiver, scowled, fell down and died.

Many people who come to face their addictions are like the dead man in this story. They feel angry too, and want to know how they came to have the disease. Who gave it to them? When? Who did what wrong and who is to blame? Nature? Nurture? They ask, ask, ask, jumping around and yelling while those that can help are unable to.

If the man in the story had listened to his friends, and let them help remove the dart, his chances of survival would have been greatly improved. What about answers to his questions? They may have some sort of interesting story to tell, what bird the feathers came from, how the feathers were obtained, who carved the blow gun, and who made the knife. What about the frog where the poison came from? What about the chemical formula of the poison? Lots of great stories here in a never ending array of possibilities.

None of it matters if you are dead. In treatment we encourage people to save their burning questions about the cause or causes of their addiction, for later, way later. First Things First - a basic AA slogan to pull out the poison dart before anything else.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jane_Derry