I hope wherever you are, you know Recovery is with you right where you are.
We have only to follow the string of the Recovery path. Where we thought we would find suffering, we find healing. Where we thought we would extinguish a person, we discover that we are extinguishing ourselves. Where we thought we would walk outside ourselves, we are led inward, toward our true self and our purpose. Where we thought we would be alone, we discover that we are in union with the world around us.
The paragraph above is adapted from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
The stages of the Recovery journey will help uncover what this blog is trying to say. We are going to unpack this classic journey and bring out many of the themes that are clearer to us today, both in Recovery and in our spiritual lives.
The design of the Recovery journey is steady. Those of us who walk this path will experience these stages in one form or another.
- We begin where we are. We live in a world that we can begin to see as a gift. We discover that, even in our struggles, we have enough for today.
- We step beyond what is safe. We find the purpose and courage to leave the safety of our external world, move beyond our comfort zone, and travel inward to our heart.
- We find our wounds. Along the Recovery journey, we discover the places where we have been hurt. A wound can become sacred when we allow God to use it to change us and lead us toward healing.
- We discover the deeper work. What we first thought was the journey may only have been the beginning. We must fall deeply into ourselves to discover our “Real Life.” We are called to find our soul and become the person we were created to be.
- We return with a gift. We return to where we started and, as T. S. Eliot wrote, “know the place for the first time.” We see our lives with new eyes. As the final step of Peer Recovery reminds us, we pass what we have learned on to others. Otherwise, the gift we received has not yet been fully shared.
These stages are lived out at our own pace. There is no need to rush. It is important to begin exactly where we are on our Recovery journey.
When we try to avoid the journey, our healing remains incomplete. We cannot skip the wounds that need our attention. We must be willing to look within, face our suffering, and allow the light of Recovery to reach the places we have kept in the dark and hidden.
Tomorrow, I will share my stages of Recovery using these five steps.
I believe that going deeper into our souls to face our pain is where spiritual freedom is found. Only then can we begin to shed light on our past, live more fully in the present, and walk with hope toward our future.
Remember, Recovery is happening right now, in this moment.