Thursday, January 11, 2007

New daily meditation book

Well, harrumph. Hazeldon Publishers turned down my daily meditation book, so bear in mind that I have a slight attitude toward any meditation books they have published. One of my program friends was raving about a daily reading book and I thought, after hearing her talk about it, that I'd ignore my resentment and order this book, which was written in 1997. It arrived today from Amazon. (I love Amazon, don't you?)

Yesterday's Tomorrow: Recovery Meditations for Hard Cases is aimed at what the author describes as addicts or other '. . . ics' who have "perhaps a harder shell when it comes to receiving recovery wisdom." I admit that described me when I first arrived here.

If you don't mind a liberal sprinkling of profanity and a few good laughs, then I recommend the book. It's not a daily meditation book like you're used to. There are no dates like the traditional meditation book, but there is an index that lets you look up topics like "resentments," "embarrassment," "healthy relationships," and much more.

It's really more a book of vignettes, short stories about issues this addict has experienced, who is also, by self-admission, a compulsive overeater, incest survivor and an adult child. Whew! (As my friend Wendy says, "Hello, I'm not a gambler!") It's a collection of Barry L's experiences gained over his (then) 15 years of recovery.

I spent several hours reading it today and I'm enjoying it. I think that as our Fellowship continues to mature, we'll see more books of this nature appear.

What's good about this book is that just when we start once again thinking we're terminally unique, someone will come along with the same problems, thoughts, or insanities that we encounter, sometimes despite a number of years clean.

Until tomorrow, we're battening down for a Midwest storm, so me and twodogs are bundling up.

2 comments:

Meg Moran said...

Ok, I just ordered that book because lord knows I LOVE profanity and laughter..hey I go to meetings!!!!

On a more serious note if you are mad at Hazeldon, then I am mad at Hazeldon. You just let me know if there are any others we are mad at, becuz you & me .....we're gonna be tight sista.

Anonymous said...

F-ing Hazelden doesn't publish much of what isn't either writeen in MN or hasn't graduated from one of their educational programs -- I used to live there and I am VERY familiar with their "game." (I also used to be an addiction counselor, for what that's worth....lol!)
Forget Hazelden -- they are missing out on a good book. Please keep looking for a publisher cause we're missing out, too!
Peace and hunker down with the doggies,
Scout