CODEPENDENT WITH ALL

Codependency is when we feel dependent on others for fulfillment and our emotional well-being. We look to others rather than ourselves and become frustrated and disappointed when others aren't always there for us. As alcoholics are chemically and psychologically dependent on alcohol, so codependents are emotionally dependent on others to rescue and take care of them, or they, themselves, are the rescuers and caretakers. Yet there is a way in which we all live from each other. During the ancient Pueblo Indian rites of passage, a child at puberty was taken into the kiva and initiated into the spiritual rites and ceremonies of the tribe. Then he was sent out into the wilderness alone to experience his power vision, a spiritual event which united him to all life. When he returned, after having his power vision, he was accepted as a full-fledged adult member of the tribe. We too have our rites of passage, perhaps not as organized, but of equal validity. We too learn to release our dependency on others, only to eventually discover that we are one with all life everywhere and that we can stake our claim as full adult citizens in an infinitely friendly and receptive universe.