Dave42001

Daily Reflections

FORMING TRUE PARTNERSHIPS

But it is from our twisted relations with family, friends,
and society at large that many of us have suffered the most.
We have been especially stupid and stubborn about them. The
primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability
to form a true partnership with another human being.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 53

Can these words apply to me, am I still unable to form a true
partnership with another human being? What a terrible handicap
that would be for me to carry into my sober life! In my
sobriety I will meditate and pray to discover how I may be a
trusted friend and companion.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

When we came into A.A., we made a tremendous discovery. We
found that we were sick persons rather than moral lepers. We
were not such odd ducks as we thought we were. We found other
people who had the same illness that we had, who had been
through the same experiences that we had been through. They
had recovered. if they could do it, we could do it. Was hope
born in me the day I walked into A.A.?

Meditation For The Day

"He that heareth these sayings and doeth them is like unto a
man who built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and
the floods came and the wind blew and beat upon that house and
it fell not for it was founded upon a rock." When your life is
built upon obedience to God and upon doing His will as you
understand it, you will be steadfast and unmovable even in the
midst of storms. The serene, steadfast, unmovable life - the
rock home - is laid stone by stone - foundation, walls, and
roof - by acts of obedience to the heavenly vision. The daily
following of God's guidance and the daily doing of His will
shall build your house upon a rock.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that my life may be founded upon the rock of faith.
I pray that I may be obedient to the heavenly vision.

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As Bill Sees It

Release and Joy, p. 163

Who can render an account of all the miseries that once were ours, and who can
estimate the release and joy that later years have brought to us? Who can possibly
tell the vast consequences of what God's work through A.A. has already set in
motion?

And who can penetrate the deeper mystery of our wholesale deliverance from
slavery, a bondage to a most hopeless and fatal obsession which for centuries
possessed the minds and bodies of men and women like ourselves?

<< << << >> >> >>

We think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes
shocked when we burst into merriment over a seemingly tragic experience out of the
past. But why shouldn't we laugh? We have recovered, and have helped others to
recover. What greater cause could there be for rejoicing than this?

1. A.A. Comes Of Age, pp. 44-45
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 132

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Walk in Dry Places

Being right or wrong____ Honesty
Step Ten advises us to promptly admit it when we're wrong. Perhaps there should be another Step warning us not to be too confident when we're sure we're right.
It's true that there are many times when we are right. It's also possible, however, that we might be only 99 percent right, and that tiny fractions of error could mean our downfall.
Something is also wrong when we find ourselves vigorously asserting that we're right. We don't have to "admit it" when we're right because being right speaks for itself. In the long run, truth and right action don't really have to be defended. Part of being right is the willingness to believe that we may be wrong, however hard that is to accept.
If I'm wrong today, I'll admit it. If I'm right, I'll refrain from announcing it with too much assurance.

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Keep It Simple

The lust for power is not rooted in strength, but to weakness.
We believed Alcohol or other drugs could help us control our happiness. But now we’re learning to rely on faith for our happiness. Faith is about leaving things to our Higher Power's control. Instead of wanting the control ourselves, we trust our Higher Power will help us handle things that come along.
In recovery, we work at having more faith. Faith in a Higher Power. Faith in the Steps. Faith in our groups. Faith that our lives will get better, if we don't use chemicals and we work an honest recovery program. Faith makes life a lot easier.

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Each Day a New Beginning

If people only knew the healing power of laughter and joy, many of our fine doctors would be out of business. Joy is one of nature's greatest medicines. Joy is always healthy. A pleasant state of mind tends to bring abnormal conditions back to normal. --Catherine Ponder
Feeling joy may not come naturally to us most of the time. We may, in fact, have to act "as if" with great effort. We may not even recognize genuine joy in the beginning. A technique for finding it is living fully in the present and with gratitude for all we can see, touch, and feel.
The open and honest expression of gratitude for the presence of the ones closest to us now creates a rush within our breasts, a rush that will be shared by our friends, too. Joy is contagious. Joy is freeing. Joy brings into focus our distorted perceptions. Greeting life with joy alters every experience for us and for those we share it with.
I will bring joy wherever I go today. I will give the gift of joy to everyone I meet.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM

We heard no more of Fred for a while. One day we were told that he was back in the hospital. This time he was quite shaky. He soon indicated he was anxious to see us. The story he told is most instructive, for here was a chap absolutely convinced he had to stop drinking, who had no excuse for drinking, who exhibited splendid judgment and determination in all his other concerns, yet was flat on his back nevertheless.

p. 40

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

ACCEPTANCE WAS THE ANSWER - The physician wasn't hooked, he thought--he just prescribed drugs medically indicated for his many ailments. Acceptance was his key to liberation.

My major problems were marital. "If you had my wife, you'd drink too." Max and I had been married for twenty-eight years when I ended up in A.A. It started out as a good marriage, but it deteriorated over the years as she progressed through various stages of qualifying for Al-Anon. At first, she would say, "You don't love me. Why don't you admit it?" Later, she would say, "You don't like me. Why don't you admit it?" And as her disease was reaching its terminal stages, she was screaming, "You hate me! You hate me! Why don't you admit you hate me?" So I admitted it.
p. 407

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

Therefore, a great responsibility fell upon us to develop the best possible public relations policy for Alcoholics Anonymous. Through many painful experiences, we think we have arrived at what that policy ought to be. It is the opposite in many ways of usual promotional practice. We found that we had to rely upon the principle of attraction rather than of promotion.

pp. 180-181

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It is not enough to love those who are near and dear to us. We must
show them that we do so.
--Lord Eric Avebury

Never say more than is necessary.
--Richard Brinsley Sheridan

"The power behind me is greater than the problem in front of me."
--unknown

The surest sign of wisdom is constant cheerfulness.
--Montaigne

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, but only saps today of its
strength.
--A. J. Cronin

"... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but
are grateful for the abundance that's present--love, health, family,
friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us
pleasure--the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience
heaven on earth."
--Sarah Ban Brethnach

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

POTENTIAL

"There is no meaning to life
except the meaning man gives
his life by the unfolding of his
powers."
--Eric Fromm

My life was powerless when I was drinking. The drug alcohol stopped
me from reaching my full potential - I was depressed, tired, angry,
lonely and confused. Incredible as it may sound, I was the enemy to my
life. By drinking alcohol, I fed the disease and made my life
unmanageable.

Then I had a "moment" when I saw what I was doing to my life. The
pain caused by drinking outweighed any advantages. I had hit my
bottom. I began to change my life by refusing the first drink, and I
began to experience a new vitality and potential. A new and creative
life dawned. Friendships and relationships were possible again. God
became understandable in His world. My power as a human being
was unleashed in my sobriety.

Master, may I discover my potential in the loving decisions I
undertake.

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"For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Luke 18:25

Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate when people say unkind
things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what
God wants you to do, and he will bless you for it.
1 Peter 3:9

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17

The LORD will continually guide you.
Isaiah 58:11

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Daily Inspiration

The more generous and kind we are, the more thoughtful and forgiving, the closer we come to awareness of God's powerful love. Lord, let Your love take over in me and lead and guide me to goodness.

You cannot ask too much if you use your blessings ceaselessly. Lord, help me to reflect on and live in Your spirit.

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NA Just For Today

A Vision Of Hope

"Yes, we are a vision of hope..."
Basic Text, p. 51

By the time we reached the end of our road, many of us had lost all hope for a life without the use of drugs. We believed we were destined to die from our disease. What an inspiration it was, then, coming to our first meeting and seeing a room full of addicts who were staying clean! A clean addict is, indeed, a vision of hope.

Today, we give that same hope to others. The newcomers see the joyful light in our eyes, notice how we carry ourselves, listen to us speak in meetings, and often want what we have found. They believe in us until they learn to believe in themselves.

Newcomers hear us carry a message of hope to them. They tend to see us through "rose-colored glasses," They don't always recognize our struggle with a particular character defect or our difficulties with improving our conscious contact with our Higher Power. It takes them time to realize that we, the "old-timers" with three or six or ten years clean, often place personalities before principles or suffer from some other unsightly character defects. Yes, the newcomer sometimes places us on a pedestal. It is good, though, to openly admit the nature of our struggles in recovery for, in time, the newcomer will be walking through those same trials. And that newcomer will remember that others walked through that difficulty and stayed clean.

Just for today: I will remember that I am a beacon to all who follow in my path, a vision of hope.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
The more a diamond is cut the more it sparkles. --Anonymous
There is something of value to be found even in the worst of things. Consider the oyster. When a grain of sand penetrates an oyster's shell, it irritates the oyster, making it uncomfortable. The oyster relieves the pain by coating the sand with a soothing liquid. When this liquid hardens, a pearl is formed. The very process that healed the oyster creates a precious jewel for others to cherish and admire.
The way in which we deal with our own frustrations--painful though they may be--can make a difference. Pearls can be formed from our experiences, making us wiser and stronger, or grains of sand--anger, bitterness, resentment--can remain imbedded inside us. The choice is ours.
How can I turn my irritations into pearls today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Originality is unexplored territory. You get there by carrying a canoe - you can't take a taxi. --Alan Alda
We are on an adventure trip in this program. Each of us is a wilderness that is only partly explored and mapped. We can't know exactly what we will find along the way, but we can expect to find some great and moving beauty, some spectacular experiences, as well as awesome and frightening ones, and some soft, pleasant rest spots. Any day will have a mixture of various feelings.
This program is not a map of the uncharted territory. It is a guide for survival in the wilderness. It tells us how to orient ourselves when there are no familiar landmarks and how to learn and grow from the experience. The more time we spend in this wilderness, exploring the mystery of living, the more comfortable we become with it and the greater appreciation we have for its unique beauty.
Today, I pray for the courage to explore the original person I was created to be.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
If people only knew the healing power of laughter and joy, many of our fine doctors would be out of business. Joy is one of nature's greatest medicines. Joy is always healthy. A pleasant state of mind tends to bring abnormal conditions back to normal. --Catherine Ponder
Feeling joy may not come naturally to us most of the time. We may, in fact, have to act "as if" with great effort. We may not even recognize genuine joy in the beginning. A technique for finding it is living fully in the present and with gratitude for all we can see, touch, and feel.
The open and honest expression of gratitude for the presence of the ones closest to us now creates a rush within our breasts, a rush that will be shared by our friends, too. Joy is contagious. Joy is freeing. Joy brings into focus our distorted perceptions. Greeting life with joy alters every experience for us and for those we share it with.
I will bring joy wherever I go today. I will give the gift of joy to everyone I meet.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Spontaneity and Fun
Practice being spontaneous. Practice having fun.
The joy of recovery is that we finally get to experiment. We get to learn new behaviors, and we don't have to do them perfectly. We only need to find a way that works for us. We even have fun experimenting, learning what we like, and how to do what we like.
Many of us have gotten into a rut with rigidity, martyrdom, and deprivation. One of the "normal" experiences many of us have been deprived of is having fun. Another one is being spontaneous. We may not have the foggiest notion what we would like to do for fun. And we may hold ourselves in check so tightly that we wouldn't allow ourselves to try something fun, anyway.
We can let ourselves go a little now and then. We can loosen up a bit. We don't have to be so stiff and rigid, so frightened about being who we are. Take some risks. Try some new activities. What would we like to do? What might we enjoy doing? Then, take another risk. Pick out a movie we'd like to see; call a friend, and invite him or her to go along. If that person says no, try someone else, or try again another time.
Decide to try something, then go through with it. Go once. Go twice. Practice having fun until fun becomes fun.
Today, I will do something just for fun. I will practice having fun until I actually enjoy it.


Today I will honor my own values and be open to change as a result of growth. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey to the Heart

Recharge Your Battery

Rest when you’re tired. Take a break when life stales. Take time to recharge your battery.

Energy isn’t something you have– it’s something you are. To give and give, to put out without taking in, depletes your battery. It drains you, runs you down. Running on a low battery is no longer necessary, because now we know how to live differently.

Taking time to rest, renew, and refresh yourself isn’t wasted time. Recharge. Choose what energizes you. Nature. A song. The voice of a friend. A nap. A hot bath. A cup of tea. A favorite program. A movie that makes you laugh or cry. A walk. A run. A prayer. A poem. A book that speaks to your soul.

Actions that emerge from an energized source are easier, go further, accomplish more. Let your work and love come from a vital spirit.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Relaxing will help you work

Joe is a professional chef. He started working in kitchens before he was in his teens. Gradually, he worked his way up from washing dishes until he found himself running a successful catering operation. The only problem was, the more successful the business became, the less time Joe had for the rest of his life. Joe reveled in the knowledge that he was the hardest-working guy he knew. In his mind, the company existed solely because he was there.

Joe was surprised when his wife left him for someone less successful.

“How could she do that to me?” he moaned to friends. “I worked my tail off so she could have nice things and this is how she repays me?” Then one day while catering a wedding, he realized what happened. He hadn’t been present for his marriage. He had fallen victim to his own success, imprisoned by the company he had created. He took a day off. Then a weekend. Then he trained an assistant to help run the company. It cost him money at the outset, but he discovered life in the process. “I was so busy being a success,” he says, “that I didn’t realize how miserable I was.” When he took a vacation to the Southwest, his culinary instincts got the best of him and he spent half of the vacation learning new recipes, but he had fun.”For the first time in years, I was playing in the kitchen again rather than just working,” Joe says.

Today Joe has discovered the joy of balance. He no longer feels that he alone must bear the weight of the world, and is stronger for it. His business is growing and he has gotten a reputation as an innovator, largely due to things he has learned while not in the kitchen. When we’re successful, it’s difficult to take time away from our work; it feels like the success that we worked so hard for will slip away if we’re not there tending to it every moment. The truth is, we get so busy earning a living that we forget to have a life.

Take some time to see if you could spend a little less time at the office and a little more time with yourself and the ones you love. You might be pleasantly surprised at the effect a break can have on your motivation and the joy you have for what you do.

God, teach me– and help me learn– to have fun in my life, my work, and my relationships with the people I love.

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In God’s Care

When a person is concerned only with giving, there is no anxiety.
~~Gerald Jampolsky

Whatever we give away returns to us, many-fold. When we show love or understanding, when we are gentle or express genuine concern, usually the same will come right back to us. Perhaps not in kind, maybe not in ways we expected, nevertheless our gifts bear fruit.

Many of us have longed for love and security to come from others with a promise of forever; inevitably, we became anxious that, in time, that love or security would disappear. When we view life from such a narrow perspective, no amount of love can bolster our sense of worth.

How different the world looks when we unselfishly give out love rather than longingly await the love, attention, or understanding of others. We guarantee receiving the good feelings we crave every time we share those feelings with a fellow traveler.

I am in charge of what I receive from others today. I will get back what I willingly give.

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Wherever You Are
Home Is Where the Heart Is by Madisyn Taylor

Allow HOME to be a feeling you carry inside yourself, wherever you are.

The word “home” has a wide variety of connotations. To some, home is merely a place where basic needs are addressed. To others, home is the foundation from which they draw their strength and tranquility. Still, others view home as a place inexorably linked to family. Yet all these definitions of home imply somewhere we can be ourselves and are totally accepted. There, we feel safe enough to let down our guard, peaceful enough to really relax, and loved enough to want to return day after day. However, these qualities need not be linked to a single space or any space at all. Home is where the heart is and can be the locale you live in, a community you once lived in, or the country where you plan to live someday. Or home can be a feeling you carry inside yourself, wherever you are.

The process of evolution can require you to undergo transformations that uproot you. Moving from place to place can seem to literally divide you from the foundations you have come to depend on. Since your home is so intimately tied to the memories that define you, you may feel that you are losing a vital part of yourself when you leave behind your previous house, city, state, or country. And as it may take some time before you fashion new memories, you may feel homeless even after settling into your new abode. To carry your home with you, you need only become your own foundation. Doing so is merely a matter of staying grounded and centered, and recognizing that the pleasures you enjoyed in one place will still touch your heart in another if you allow them.

Your home can be any space or state of being that fulfills you, provided you are at peace with yourself and your surroundings. A person can feel like home to you, as can seasons and activities. If you feel disconnected from what you once thought of as home, your detachment may be a signal that you are ready to move one. Simply put, you will know you have found your home when both your physical environment and energetic surroundings are in harmony with the individual you are within. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Many of us have had difficulty ridding ourselves of the ravages of guilt. In my own case, during the early days in The Program, I either misunderstood certain of the Steps, or tried to apply them too quickly and too eagerly. The result was that I increased my feelings of guilt and worthlessness, rather than freeing myself as The Steps intend. Soon, though, I became at least willing to forgive myself, and I made a new beginning. I undertook all the soul-searching and cleansing Steps in our Program as they were intended to be taken, and not from a below-ground position of crippling hate and guilt. Have I made amends to myself?

Today I Pray

May I forgive myself, as God has forgiven me. May I know that if I am hanging onto an old satchel full of guilt, then I am to following the example He has shown me. If God can forgive me — and He has demonstrated His forgiveness by leading me to this healing place — then so can I. May I not begrudge myself what He has so generously offered.

Today I Will Remember

God forgives; so must I.

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One More Day

Develop an expanding sense of wonder at the world at yourself, at God. The world will never starve for wonders — only for the want of wonder.
– Bernard S. Raskas

A crisis in our lives can make us cruel and bitter but can also cause us to do some soul-searching. Those of us who take inventory, who soul-search, may have a personal awakening to our capacity for joy and giving. Being aware of the beauty and symmetry that constantly surround us allows the horizons of our minds to expand.

As our sense of spirituality becomes whole again, we are aware of our impact upon others and upon nature.

A spiritual sense of self is important in my quest to find out who I am and what kind of person I want to be.

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Food For Thought

More Than Bread

Without a Higher Power, we grasp at material things for security and inspiration. Since they do not give us the ultimate satisfaction we seek, we are left in despair. We need more than bread, but we do not know how to go about getting it.

OA leads us back to the spiritual basis of our lives, which we may have lost. All we have to do is be willing to believe in a Power greater than ourselves. When we see what has happened to others who have suffered from the same hunger that plagues us and who have found meaning and fulfillment, we let go of some of our doubt and cynicism.

Lack of faith is perhaps our greatest impediment to spiritual progress. We have been thing-oriented for so long that it is difficult to change. We can agree, however, that the food we overate was not enough to satisfy us. That there is a spiritual source of nourishment, which will be adequate for our needs, is a conviction, which grows stronger the longer we work the OA program.

I pray for the spiritual food which satisfies.

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One Day At A Time

EXPECTATIONS
“It’s astonishing in this world how things don’t
turn out at all the way you expect them to.”
Agatha Christie

My life has been strangled by expectations ~ expectations I’ve held for myself; expectations others had of me; expectations I had of others; expectations I had for my life; and expectations I had of the God of my understanding. Again and again, my expectations were not met ~ and I was angry. I felt grossly let down and I was filled with resentment and shame. Eventually I became consumed by a toxic sense of angry and depressing apathy. If nothing turned out as I expected, why bother? I’d held so tightly to my expectations that they choked the life out of my soul. They condemned me to an existence of futility, frustration, selfishness, and despair. I thought that my expectations were realistic and “right”; therefore each variance from my expectations seemed a violation of the natural order of things.

Since beginning my Recovery work, I’ve come to recognize that I virtually believed that I was God. I thought I knew what was “best”, what was “right”, and what was “supposed” to happen. Though I am sometimes resistant, I am learning to let go of my expectations. I am learning to change my focus from my finite understanding to the mysterious and omniscient plan held safely and sanely in the hands of God. As I work my steps and learn from others, I find that I am relieved that my earlier expectations did not come to fruition.

One day at a time...
I surrender my former expectations and now expect only one thing: that as I work my steps, God will bring me increasing depths of sanity.
~ Sharon

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Without knowing it, had we not been brought to where we stood by a certain kind of faith? For did we not believe in our own reasoning? Did we not have confidence in our ability to think? What was that but a sort of faith? Yes, we had been faithful, abjectly faithful to the God of Reason. So, in one way or another, we discovered that faith had been involved all the time! - Pgs. 53-54 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Just as we begin to learn that others are not responsible for us using or drinking, we learn that they are not responsible for keeping us clean and sober. Only we can not pick up that first fix, pill or drink. Only we can lay the foundation of our recovery -- abstinence.

When I am tempted to use again, let me see the excuses as the mental tricks they are. I will talk to a sober person first!

Healing

Sometimes, healing doesn't feel good. Sometimes, it involves deep pain. The effect of healing is gentle, freeing and wonderful, but the road leading to it can be hellish. Now, I understand what the Psalms mean by, 'valley of the shadow of death.' They were referring to a spiritual enlightenment involving a death and a rebirth. In order to be born into enlightenment, it is necessary that I face and clear out the dark and scary parts of myself. I need all of me for a life of spiritual freedom.

Today, I know that I was never alone along the way, and that I need never feel alone again.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

If there is someone weaker than you, be kind to them. If there is someone stronger than you, be kind to yourself.

What kind of person am I? The kind, kind.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

There is no situation so bad that a compulsive action can't make it worse.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I will honor my own values and be open to change as a result of growth; ok once more.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

A lot of alcoholics say: 'Well there's us, and then there's normal people.' Read my lips: There are no normal people. There are just people who haven't shared with you yet. - Ken D
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