How Do We Get From Here to There?

My friend and colleague, Rich Whitman, COO of La Hacienda Treatment Center, recently shared with me the words below. I think his message of living in the moment and doing the next right thing is very appropriate and helpful for the holiday season. Thanks, Rich, for letting me share your words here!

In this fast passed world that we live in, it seems like more and more people want to get from here to there. The question is really not how we get from here to there, but why?  What are our intentions? 

Is it just to get all that you can --- like a raise, a bigger house, or a new car?  If these are your goals and how you measure success, then I can almost assure you that you will be successful.  Remember: I said “successful,” not happy. So many of us think that if we can get what we want, all will be good. And we will have arrived. 

Arrived where?  Will you be happy there?  Will you want to stay there?  At who’s or what expense did your great arrival cost?

I was recently in a 12-step meeting listening as people were sharing about their recovery.  In almost every case, those who shared talked about being “right where God wanted them to be.” They said things like, “I am learning to give rather than take,” and  “I have taken what has been given to me so that I might share it with others.” 

These people know where they have come from and where they are now.  Some are doctors, and others dig ditches or work in local coffee shops.  They are stay-at-home moms, working dads, someone’s son or daughter, brother or sister. The important thing is that they are all there for one another, happy where they are. They don’t want to go back to where they came from.

Someone once said that we must be in the here and the now. I have learned over the years to be content right where I am.  I know on any given day if I am in the will of the Father, He has something for me to do where I will be useful and at that given time, I know I have arrived. When I have finished with that task, I will move on to the “next right thing” He has in store for me.

- Rich Whitman, COO, La Hacienda Treatment Center

Comments

[Sofia]

Hi, I liked that you talk about wanting to get 'somewhere' and this is appropriate, for when we are overweight where we want to get to is 'slim' for we associate slim with being happier,prettier, problem free etc. I was a compulsive eater and a bulimic all my teenage years and a big part being healed twenty years now has been realising that being slim in and of itself was not the source of what could make me necessarily any prettier, happier of problem free - an influencing factor maybe but certainly not the source - now the source to help me be prettier, happier and problem free, lay in the resolving of those emotional issues that my 'eating when full' was 'stuffing down'. And this is where being in the moment or 'now' helped - For the moment I felt like 'eating when full' I would ask myself 'What feeling is this?' 'What feeling am I wanting to stuff down with 'food when full?' Then I asked myself in that moment when I was aware of how I was feeling - 'Given the fact I feel this way what would I like to do now?' This gave me the alternative to the binge and these two 'now' questions got me free of binge eating and bulimia. Amazing! I've conducted self-help support groups in London England and have written an eBook on how to overcome binge eating and have free info on my web site as it will be a useful resource for many. www.trueslimness.co.uk
Sofia

[sara]

Thanks for posting that--it really resonated that we all do not want to go back to where we become...and, we look towards what is next, in a positive manner, with support from many--whether that be God, family, friends, therapist....And, that success does not equal happy. In recovery, I have found that my happiness comes from small steps and seeing progress--even if it has not been "successful" by any normal definition at first.