Good morning Exer’s!!
And so another day begins as the last one finds itself coming to an end. With every ending comes a new beginning. A new perspective. A new outlook on things that we thought we already knew. So goes the story of life.
Each new experience that we must face can be a stepping stone to continue to improve. Every crave that we beat gives us strength for the next one. Every moment of clarity that we find free of the influences of the addict within will give us the peace that we need each day to strengthen our resolve to continue on the path to freedom.
My point is that life brings us to the brink of so many wonderful opportunities. We can wake in the morning and assess how we feel but more importantly, we have the opportunity to change how we feel in the first few seconds of the day. We can wake up dreading yet another long day on the road to freedom or we can embrace our situation, proud of the fact that though the day before might not have been easy, we still stayed focused on our plan to remain smoke free.
At those times when we find ourselves thinking about those cigarettes, we again find an opportunity to improve for you see, at this crossroad we can either agonize over the misery of our quits or we can use this thought to remind us of why we want to quit. We can use that moment to understand that in our heart, we really want to be rid of this addiction. We really want to find our way out of the shackles and into that new and wonderful future that awaits us.
Me, I always fired up the old visualizations. I’d look to the summit of Mt. Freedom and understand that though I’m not there yet, the summit is getting closer. My new reality is up there waiting for me so long as I choose to continue climbing. So long as I choose freedom over slavery. And that banner of freedom is the true symbol of tranquility.
And by looking to that summit, I always understood that climbing isn’t always easy and yet we still do it in order to feel the satisfaction of achievement as we reach the hard fought for summit. We long to see the view from the top so much that we’re willing to forget our current discomforts in order to get there.
And as we climb, our experience gives us confidence that propels us onward past the slippery slopes of the snow fields and into the boulder fields where we learn a new method of walking because we normally don’t walk through boulder fields. But each step brings us closer to that summit. Each crave that we kick to the curb give us the strength to beat the next one.
Soon our new normal is ignoring those craves and by so doing, we take away their power to do our quits wrong. And once the craves lose their power, the climb to the summit becomes so much easier. But it all had to start with that first fragile step into the once unknown land of addiction. It had to start with an ability to see through that cloud of addiction to the other side where our freedom lies.
It had to start with a desire to make our lives different. A desire to walk an unfamiliar path to reach a goal that at one time seemed so unattainable. A goal of life is what it is! A goal of health is what it is! A goal of freedom is what it is!
So it’s really up to us how we want our day to go. And what determines that day is our perception of it. If things seem intolerable, use the mind to create your own little world. A place where you can escape to when the addict within screams at you. A place that occupies the mind with the wondrous joys of the world. With the light that is your shining future for you know you’ve found the path to freedom. You also know that you’re walking it. All you have to do is ignore all of the noise on the sides of the path and stick to that single goal. Freedom!!
See you on the summit!!
ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!
