August 8th

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

"MADE A LIST. . . . "

Made a list of all persons we had harmed, . . . .

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS , p. 77

When I approached the Eighth Step, I wondered how I could

list all the things that I have done to other people

since there were so many people, and some of them weren't

alive anymore. Some of the hurts I inflicted weren't bad,

but they really bothered me. The main thing to see in

this Step was to become willing to do whatever I had to

do to make these amends to the best of my ability at that

particular time. Where there is a will, there's a way,

so if I want to feel better, I need to unload the guilt

feeling I have. A peaceful mind has no room for feeling

of guilt. With the help of my Higher Power, if I am honest

with myself, I can cleanse my mind of these feelings.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

For awhile, we are going back to the Big Book, Alcoholics

Anonymous, and pick out passages here and there, so that

they may become fixed in our minds, a little at a time,

day by day, as we go along. There is no substitute for

reading the Big Book. It is our "bible." We should study

it thoroughly and make it a part of ourselves. We should

not try to change any of it. Within its covers is the

full exposition of the A.A. program. There is no substitute

for it. We should study it often. Have I studied the Big

Book faithfully?

Meditation For The Day

All of life is a fluctuation between effort and rest. You

need both every day. But effort is not truly effective until

first you have had the proper preparation for it, by resting

in a time of quiet meditation. This daily time of rest and

meditation gives you the power necessary to make your best

effort. There are days when you are called on for much effort

and then comes a time when you need much rest. It is not good

to rest too long and it is not good to carry on great effort

too long without rest. The successful life is a proper

balance between the two.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be ready to make the proper effort. I pray

that I may also recognize the need for relaxation.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

Responsible recovery

Page 230

"...we accept responsibility for our problems and see that we're equally responsible for our solutions."

Basic Text, p. 97

Some of us, well accustomed to leaving our personal responsibilities to others, may attempt the same behavior in recovery. We quickly find out it doesn't work.

For instance, we are considering making a change in our lives, so we call our sponsor and ask what we should do. Under the guise of seeking direction, we are actually asking our sponsor to assume responsibility for making decisions about our life. Or maybe we've been short with someone at a meeting, so we ask that person's best friend to make our apologies for us. Perhaps we've imposed on a friend several times in the last month to cover our service commitment. Could it be that we've asked a friend to analyze our behavior and identify our shortcomings, rather than taking our own personal inventory?

Recovery is something that has to be worked for. It isn't going to be handed to us on a silver platter, nor can we expect our friends or our sponsor to be responsible for the work we must do ourselves. We recover by making our own decisions, doing our own service, and working our own steps. By doing it for ourselves, we receive the rewards.

Just for Today: I will accept responsibility for my life and my recovery.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in

your years.

-- Abraham Lincoln

It is not what you gather, but what you scatter,

that tells what kind of life you have lived.

~Anonymous

“Don’t let the wreckage of the future wreck the present.”

Too many years of drugs and drinking

Somehow set my soul to thinking

There must be more to life than this

But drugs and booze enslaved me

No human power could save me

And even if it could I wouldn’t ask

Lying, stealing, cheating, doubting, disbelieving

Drowning at the bottom of a glass

No one asked how far I fell

But the burning bowels of hell

Saw me seek the God who made me

Asking Him to save me

Knowing in my heart it couldn’t be

Yet even as I asked

He gave meaning to my past

And opened up a whole new world for me.

Author Unknown

(thanks Dried Mud Fence)

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

He who wherever he goes is attached to no person and to no place by ties of flesh; who accepts good and evil alike, neither welcoming the one nor shrinking from the other — take it that such a one has attained Perfection.

"Bhagavad-Gita"

Native American

"The Creator told everyone of us in our tribal beginnings to look after our ceremonies, and each other."

--Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

Our ceremonies are important and each has a purpose. They teach us about the Creator and about each other. The ceremonies teach us to be humble and teach us to pray. They teach us to look inside ourselves. We should remember to pray each morning. Ask the Creator to guide our thinking. Think only good thoughts. Think good thoughts about our relatives and about our brothers and sisters. Pray for our children in ceremony. Give thanks to the Great Mystery for life. All life is sacred. Pray in a sacred way.

Oh Great Spirit, I come to You this morning in ceremony. I come to this sacred place to talk to You. I thank You for Your guidance and protection. Give me Your eyes today so I may see the beauty in all things.

Keep It Simple

Adventure is not outside a man; it is within. --- David Grayson

Sobriety. It's an exciting adventure. It's a spiritual adventure. We look inward. We find where our Higher Power lives: within us. We then reach outward. We share our joy with others. Not with words and preaching, but by trying to help others. Sobriety is faith turned into action.

Sobriety. It's an adventure in coming to know one's self. At times, we'll have to face our fears. But we'll also find just how much love we have for life.

Sobriety. It's as if we're on a trip. Our Higher Power holds the map. Our job is to listen. And we go in the direction we're told.

Prayer for the Day: I pray to be an adventurer. Higher Power, I pray to follow Your direction.

Action for the Day: I'll ask some friends to tell me about an adventure their Higher Power has taken them on.

Big Book

Chapter 11 A Vision For You (pg 156 & top 157)

One morning he took the bull by the horns and set out to tell those he feared what his trouble had been. He found himself surprisingly well received, and learned that many knew of his drinking. Stepping into his car, he made the rounds of people he had hurt. He trembled as he went about, for this might mean ruin, particularly to a person in his line of business.

At midnight he came home exhausted, but very happy. He has not had a drink since. As we shall see, he now means a great deal to his community, and the major liabilities of thirty years of hard drinking have been repaired in four.

But life was not easy for the two friends. Plenty of difficulties presented themselves. Both saw that they must keep spiritually active. One day they called up the head nurse of a local hospital. They explained their need and inquired if she had a first class alcoholic prospect.

She replied, "Yes, we’ve got a corker. He’s just beaten up a couple of nurses. Goes off his head completely when he’s drinking. But he’s a grand chap when he’s sober, though he’s been in here eight times in the last six months. Understand he was once a well-known lawyer in town, but just now we’ve got him strapped down tight."

Here was a prospect all right but, by the description, none too promising. The use of spiritual principles in such case was not so well understood as it is now. But one of the friends said, "Put him in a private room. We’ll be down."