Melody Beattie Quotes

Here’s another quirk some of us have. We’re able to demonstrate a lot of compassion for other people. We can understand why they did the things they did. But when we look in that mirror, we can’t seem to muster up any compassion, forgiveness, or understanding for ourselves.

It isn’t the head that sees clearly, nor does the head always see with love. Often, it sees with eyes of fear. The heart sees clearly. It balances the mind and emotions. It takes what’s real and processes it into truth, then into action.

When you let go of fear and the need to control, you’ll experience how mysterious, sacred, and interesting Life can be.

It’s not what we don’t know that hurts us,” people say. “It’s what we believe is true that isn’t that does the damage.” There

Learn the words: I feel. Let others say those words and learn to listen — not fix — when they do.

Many of us learned these things because when we were children, someone very important to us was unable to give us the love, approval, and emotional security we needed. So we’ve gone about our lives the best way we could, still looking vaguely or desperately for something we never got. Some of us are still beating our heads against the cement trying to get this love from people who, like Mother or Father, are unable to give what we need. The cycle repeats itself until it is interrupted and stopped. It’s called unfinished business.

Rescuing and caretaking mean almost what they sound like. We rescue people from their responsibilities. We take care of people’s responsibilities for them. Later we get mad at them for what we’ve done. Then we feel used and sorry for ourselves. That is the pattern, the triangle.

Prayer and meditation help us affirm that our Higher Power cares for us.

Prayer and meditation help us affirm that our Higher Power cares for

We can tell the truth. Lying about what we think, how we feel, and what we want isn’t being polite — it’s lying.

[Reactionaries] Just feeling urgent and compulsive is enough to hurt us. We keep ourselves in a crisis state...ready to react to emergencies that aren't really emergencies. Someone does something, so we must do something back. Someone says something, so we must say something. Someone feels a certain way, so we must feel a certain way. WE JUMP INTO THE FIRST FEELING THAT COMES OUR WAY AND THEN WALLOW IN IT.

If we want to change what happens, we change what we believe and expect.

Our feelings don’t need to control us. Just because we’re angry, we don’t have to scream and hit. Just because we’re sad or depressed, we don’t have to lie in bed all day. Just because we’re scared, doesn’t mean we don’t apply for that job. I

Sometimes codependents were blamed; sometimes they were ignored; sometimes they were expected to magically shape up (an archaic attitude that has not worked with alcoholics and doesn’t help codependents either). Rarely were codependents treated as individuals who needed help to get better. Rarely were they given a personalized recovery program for their problems and their pain. Yet, by its nature, alcoholism and other compulsive disorders turn everyone affected by the illness into victims — people who need help even if they are not drinking, using other drugs, gambling, overeating, or overdoing a compulsion.

And gratitude is the solution. Being grateful for what we have today doesn’t mean we have to have that forever. It means we acknowledge that what we have today is what we’re supposed to have today. There is enough, we’re enough, and all we need will come to us. We don’t have to be desperate, fearful, jealous, resentful, or miserly. We don’t have to worry about what someone else has; they don’t have ours. All we need to do is appreciate and take care of what we have today. The trick is, we need to be grateful first — before we get anything else, not afterward.