FOOD FOR THOUGHT - OA OCTOBER

[MajestyJo]

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Cutting Cords

Often we are bound in unhealthy ways to parents, husbands, wives, children, and friends. When dependency and manipulation are masked as love, it is difficult to cut the cords that bind us. By ourselves we are unable to break free.

Listening to other compulsive overeaters helps us to see our own situation and ourselves more objectively. Working the steps builds emotional and spiritual maturity. Abstaining from compulsive overeating gives us the perception we need to see unhealthy relationships for what they are. Our growing self-respect motivates us to make changes.

We ate because we were too weak to face our problems. Now that we see where we have been manipulated and where we have manipulated others, we need the strength to cut the cords of unhealthy dependency. This strength comes from our Higher Power. Since we recognize our complete dependency on Him, we are no longer weakened by pseudo dependencies on those close to us. We learn to relate to them positively, out of God's strength rather than our own weakness.

By Your power, may I cut the cords that bind me.

This is something that we need to keep remembering, that cord has many roots to many things. We use it to justify and rationalize a lot of things, especially the one about "that is how my mother did it." It applies to many things and stretches to many things and is applicable to many body memories.