WEEKLY MEDITATION
Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.
-Joseph Campbell
The author of today’s quotation spoke often of the importance of viewing challenges as opportunities to develop self-awareness and self-knowledge—as one’s own personal hero’s journey. The path through addiction can be viewed as one of these challenges. Addictions are the unintentional result of the dysfunctional pursuit of important qualities—a sense of security, self-confidence, calm, and general wellbeing. Any trauma and tumult caused by active addiction can stand as a motivating factor to end the addiction, but it need not end the search for the qualities that may have propelled it. The process of effective recovery can and should lead to a renewed ability to navigate life with confidence and strength. Often, it is the very pain caused by addiction that leads to the development of deeper personal powers and abilities. Challenge is nothing to be avoided, often, it is the very force that will fuel the motivation necessary to effect real personal change.
