2001

MAP
MAPPING THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

I have been using the essences for a couple of years now. We have all five sets, and I test myself every morning and night. I use calibrations frequently and MAP regularly. I am in a pretty intense process of personal healing. Nature has told me quite clearly that so far as they are concerned, I am doing all I can for global healing with the personal work I am doing, and I take comfort and encouragement from that. There isn't time or energy left over from it for much else. Sometimes I wish I could do something more visible, like a garden, but that's not where my life is now.

I find the Calibration Processes in particular helpful in my 12-step work. It's a great way to facilitate moving forward. I also use it with my therapy work, which is pretty intense, and I use the Calibration Processes, MAP and essences to stay balanced and to keep from being overwhelmed. They give me confidence that I'm doing everything I can to stay balanced and not get out of kilter. (I've tried many things over the years, and there's a strong tendency for different interventions to go too far in one direction or another.) The knowledge that nature was intelligent, benevolent and interested in a partnership was staggering to me. I knew as soon as I understood what Machaelle was talking about that I would spend the rest of this life coming to understand the significance of that information. I see more and more clearly how a traditional "soul-energy-only" approach (like my church) never worked for me and why it couldn't. It's like trying to fix a car without taking it to the mechanic, like just sitting there reading the owner's manual. So fasting and study alone had no real effect on me.

Another big piece for me has been the emphasis on teamwork. While Machaelle's expansion took her out of this world, as she describes in Dancing, I feel mine is taking me more healthfully into it — because that's the direction I need to go in. My mother is also an alcoholic, but in my case I'm only now (at the age of 45) starting to deal with the effects of that, and making others a part of my life and recovery — something I resisted for a long time. So nature helps me integrate all that.

Perelandra and nature work have become so important to my recovery and life. God bless, and thank you for all you do.

— L.H., Maryland