August 1st

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

LIVING IT

The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 83

When new in the program, I couldn't comprehend living the spiritual aspect of the program, but now that I'm sober, I can't comprehend living without it. Spirituality was what I had been seeking. God, as I understand Him, has given me answers to the whys that kept me drinking for twenty years. By living a spiritual life, by asking God for help, I have learned to love, care for and feel compassion for all my fellow men, and to feel joy in a world where, before, I felt only fear.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

The Alcoholics Anonymous program has borrowed from medicine, psychiatry, and religion. It has taken from these what it wanted and combined them into the program which it considers best suited to the alcoholic mind and which will best help the alcoholic to recover. The results have been very satisfactory, We do not try to improve on the A.A. program. Its value has been proved by the success it has had in helping thousands of alcoholics to recover. It has everything we alcoholics need to arrest our illness. Do I try to follow the A.A program just as it is?

Meditation for the Day

You should strive for a union between your purposes in life and the purposes of the Divine Principle directing the universe. There is no bond of union on earth to compare with the union between a human soul and God. Priceless beyond all earth's rewards is that union. In merging your heart and mind with the heart and mind of the Higher Power, a oneness of purpose results, which only those who experience it can ever dimly realize. That oneness of purpose puts you in harmony with God and with all others who are trying to do His will.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may become attuned to the will of God. I pray that I may be in harmony with the music of the spheres.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

Freedom from guilt

Page 223

"Our addiction enslaved us. We were prisoners of our own mind and were condemned by our own guilt."

Basic Text, p. 7

Guilt is one of the most commonly encountered stumbling blocks in recovery. One of the more notorious forms of guilt is the self-loathing that results when we try to forgive ourselves but don't feel forgiven.

How can we forgive ourselves so we feel it? First, we remember that guilt and failure are not links in an unbreakable chain. Honestly sharing with a sponsor and with other addicts shows this to be true. Often the result of such sharing is a more sensible awareness of the part we ourselves have played in our affairs. Sometimes we realize that our expectations have been too high. We increase our willingness to participate in the solutions rather than dwelling on the problems.

Somewhere along the way, we discover who we really are. We usually find that we are neither the totally perfect nor the totally imperfect beings we have imagined ourselves to be. We need not live up to or down to our illusions; we need only live in reality.

Just for Today: I am grateful for my assets and accept my liabilities. Through willingness and humility, I am freed to progress in my recovery and achieve freedom from guilt.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

~~ Carl Jung

"Every time I thought

I was being rejected from something good,

I was actually being re-directed to something better."

~Steve Maraboli (thanks Tom M.)

Gracefully Broken

“I was at a store last night and there was a mother and her two children behind me in a LONG line. One child was older, the second a toddler. The older one had a pack of glow sticks and the toddler was screaming for them, so the mom opened the pack and gave him one, which stopped his tears. He walked around with it, smiling, until the older boy took it. The toddler started screaming again. Just as the mom was about to fuss at the older child, he bent the glow stick and handed it back to the toddler. The toddler noticed that the stick was now glowing and his brother said "I had to break it so that you could get the full effect from it." I almost ran because l could hear God saying to me, "I had to break you to show you why I created you. You had to go through it so that you could fulfill your purpose." That little toddler was so happy just swinging that "broken" glow stick around in the air, not understanding that it was created to “glow”, but had to be “broken” before it’s glow light could truly shine.

There are some people that God knows will be content just "being". There are also those of us that have to be "broken". We have to experience the pain, the hurt. We have to get sick. We have to lose a job. We have to go through divorce. We have to bury our spouse, parents, best friend, or child, because, in those moments of desperation and after the breaking is done, only then are we able to see the reason for which we were created. Only then are we able to truly let our light shine...” Heather S.

Interesting website: Let's Ask Bill

http://westbalto.a-1associates.com/LetsAskBill.htm

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

Faith is the basis of the path, the mother of virtue; it nourishes all roots of goodness.

- Wu-chien

Native American

"Everyone got to find the right path. You can't see it so it's hard to find. No one can show you. Each person got to find the path by himself."

--Charlie Knight, UTE

There are certain times in our lives when a voice whispers to us. The voice doesn't always talk. Usually we hear it best when we are sick an tired of being sick and tired. Inside of every person is the knowledge that a Supreme Being exists. Sometimes a restlessness occurs and it makes me feel I need to be doing something or I need to be going somewhere or maybe I start wondering who am I? Often when this happens, I feel lost. Inside of everyone is the natural, built-in desire to be walking the Red Road, or to be seeking a relationship with the Creator. No one can force us to make this journey. We must make this journey because we want to. This journey is not on the outside. The path is inside of ourselves. It is inside that we must begin our search.

Oh Great Spirit, help me this day to look within myself. If trouble arises, let me realize that it's not what is going on but how I am looking at what's going on. Give me Your power this day to conduct myself according to Your way of life.

Keep It Simple

Made a list of all persons we had harmed . . . --- First half of Step Eight

By the time we get to Step Eight, we're ready to work on our relationships.

We start by making a list of all persons we've harmed. We look at where we

have been at fault. We own our behavior.

Now we're healing, and we must help others to heal too. Our list must be as

complete as we can make it. As our recovery goes on we'll remember others

we have hurt. We add them to our list. By doing this, we heal even more.

Remember, this Step is for us. It is to help us stay sober.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me make a complete list. Help me keep it open-ended. Allow me and those I've harmed to be healed.

Action for the Day: Even if I've made a list before, I'll make another one today. I will list all those I have harmed.

Big Book

Chapter 10 To Employers (pg 148 & top 149)

Your junior executive may not agree with the contents of our book. He need not, and often should not show it to his alcoholic prospect. But at least he will understand the problem and will no longer be misled by ordinary promises. He will be able to take a position with such a man which is eminently fair and square. He will have no further reason for covering up an alcoholic employee.

It boils right down to this: No man should be fired just because he is alcoholic. If he wants to stop, he should be afforded a real chance. If he cannot or does not want to stop, he should be discharged. The exceptions are few.

We think this method of approach will accomplish several things. It will permit the rehabilitation of good men. At the same time you will feel no reluctance to rid yourself of those who cannot or will not stop. Alcoholism may be causing your organization considerable damage in its waste of time, men and reputation. We hope our suggestions will help you plug up this sometimes serious leak. We think we are sensible when we urge that you stop this waste and give your worthwhile man a chance.

The other day an approach was made to the vice president of a large industrial concern. He remarked: “I’m glad you fellows got over your drinking. But the policy of this company is not to interfere with the habits of our employees. If a man drinks so much that his job suffers, we fire him. I don’t see how you can be of any help to us for, as you see, we don’t have any alcoholic problem.” This same company spends millions for research every year. Their cost of production is figured to a fine decimal point. They have recreational facilities. There is company insurance. There is a real interest, both humanitarian and business, in the well-being of employees. But alcoholism-well, they just don’t believe they have it.