NURTURING

Definition of Nurture:
Care for and protect (someone or something) while they are growing.

Synonyms of Nurture: 
Attend to, look after, rear, support, raise, foster, parent, mother, tend, etc.

These notes are from recovery in AA and/or related 12 step programs.
Readers are encouraged to click external links for more detail.
We hope you find them helpful.

Love in fellowship.

In years gone by, we may have taken too little care of others, or we overdid it. In either case, we probably neglected ourselves.

Today we’re aware of our choices. We’ve been making a number of good ones lately: We’re abstinent.

We’re living the Steps, and we’re choosing how to spend our time, and what to do with our lives. –Each Day a New Beginning/Karen Casey | More…
The child within each of us is fragile, but very much alive, and she interprets our experiences before we are even conscious of them. It’s quite amazing the strength that comes to us when we nurture ourselves, when we acknowledge the scared child within and hold that child making him or her secure.  –Each Day a New Beginning/Karen Casey | More…

In recovery we strive for a loving relationship with ourselves that works, so we can have loving relationships with others that work. When we hurt, we ask ourselves what we need to help us feel better.

When we feel alone, we reach out to someone safe. Without feeling that we are a burden, we allow that person to be there for us.

We rest when we’re tired; eat when we’re hungry; have fun or relax when our spirits need a lift. Nurturing means giving ourselves gifts.

As part of nurturing ourselves, we allow ourselves to give and receive positive touch—touch that feels appropriate to us, touch that is safe. We learn to give ourselves what we need in a gentle, loving, compassionate way.

Nurtured people are effective in their work and in their relationships. We will learn to feel loved by ourselves so much that we can truly love others and let them love us. –The Language of Letting Go/Melody Beattie | More…
We love to be loved; we love to be held; we love to be caressed. A show of appreciation we love too. And we love to know we’ve been heard. The friends, the spouses, the children in our lives want the same from us. Those we nurture will bless our growth.

Love is dynamic, not static. Since coming into this program where the sharing of oneself, the open expression of love, is profoundly evident, we each have changed. And our presence has changed others. We have learned to accept love and give it. But better yet, we have learned that we deserve love.–Each Day a New Beginning | More…