VII. Growth: Guiding Principle
VII. GROWTH
A LIFELONG JOURNEY
“We continue our study of these Buddhist practices through reading, listening to dharma talks, visiting and becoming members of recovery and spiritual sanghas, and attending meditation or dharma retreats when we believe these practices will contribute to our understanding and wisdom. We undertake a lifelong journey of growth and awakening.” – Recovery Dharma Workbook
GUIDING PRINCIPLE
Ours is a program of continual growth, self-exploration, and discovery. The Recovery Dharma workbook represents the beginning of our recovery journey, not its end. We continue to explore and investigate additional Buddhist-inspired resources to aid us on our recovery journey. Given a firm foundation for our recovery, we commit to continual growth and the cultivation of these additional resources.
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
As the last of the seven guiding principles of ‘The Practice’ of the Recovery Dharma program, we offer you these words of encouragement to you.
“There are many ways up the mountain, but each of us must choose a practice that feels true to their own heart.” – Jack Kornfield
Foundational to our core values as a Buddhist-inspired recovery community is the belief that we do not ascribe to any one teacher, one book or even one teaching lineage. As a recovery community, we have explored that path before, and understand its perils.
Recovery Dharma is a program of empowerment, and does not limit us to seeking counsel and advice from any one teacher, but instead encourages us to forge our own path of recovery. With the help of our Wise Friends we realize the truth that there are ‘many ways up the mountain’. Find the Dharma teachers that speak to your heart most naturally, and find the Dharma inspired books that speak to you.
Wherever we go, whatever happens to us for the rest of our lives, we can always rely on our Practice. There is nothing that we will face in our lives, no difficulty and no challenge—that we cannot turn to our practice for help. We have found our path to recovery through The Practice of Recovery Dharma.
May you find your path of recovery. May you be free of the suffering of addiction.
PRACTICAL PRATICE TIP
WISE LIVING – PRACTICE IN A POCKET
– Take your Practice with you wherever you go in life. Carry your Practice with you and consider it your ‘Practice in a pocket’. Take it with you to work, to school, on the bus, and in the car. Trust it and rely on it. Take your mediation ‘off the cushion’ and into the world.