August 19th

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

A FRAME OF REFERENCE

Referring to our list [inventory] again. Putting out of our minds the wrongs others had done, we resolutely looked for our own mistakes. Where had we been selfish, dishonest, self-seeking and frightened?

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 67

There is a wonderful freedom in not needing constant approval from colleagues at work or from the people I love. I wish I had known about this Step before, because once I developed a frame of reference, I felt able to do the next right thing, knowing that the action fit the situation and it was the correct thing to do.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

"People of faith have a logical idea of what life is all about. There is a wide variation in the way each one of us approaches and conceives of the Power greater than ourself. Whether we agree with a particular approach or conception seems to make little difference. There are questions for each of us to settle for ourselves. But in each case the belief in a Higher Power has accomplished the miraculous, the humanly impossible. There has come a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking." Has there been a revolutionary change in me?

Meditation for the Day

Worship is consciousness of God's divine majesty. As you pause to worship, God will help you to raise your humanity to His divinity. The earth is a material temple to enclose God's divinity. God brings to those who worship Him a divine power, a divine love, and a divine healing. You only have to open your mind to Him and try to absorb some of His divine spirit. Pausing quietly in the spirit of worship, turn your inward thoughts upward and realize that His divine power may be yours, that you can experience His love and healing.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may worship God by sensing the eternal Spirit. I pray that I may experience a new power in my life.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

First things first

Page 241

"We apply effort to our most obvious problems and let go of the rest. We do the job at hand and, as we progress, new opportunities for improvement present themselves."

Basic Text, p. 56

It's been said that recovery is simple-all we've got to change is everything! That can seem a pretty tall order, especially when we first arrive in Narcotics Anonymous. After all, not many of us showed up at our first meeting because our lives were in great shape. On the contrary, a great many of us came to NA in the midst of the worst crises of our lives. We needed recovery, and quick!

The enormity of the change required in our lives can be paralyzing. We know we can't take care of all that needs to be done, not all at once. How do we start? Chances are, we've already started. We've done the first, most obvious things that needed to be done: We've stopped using drugs, and we've started going to meetings.

What do we do next? Pretty much the same thing, just more of it: From where we are, we do what we can. We walk the path of recovery by picking up our feet and taking the step that's right in front of us. Only when that's been accomplished must we concern ourselves with what comes next. Slowly but surely, we'll find ourselves making progress down the path, visibly drawing closer each day to becoming the kind of person we'd like to be.

Just for Today: I will walk the path of my recovery by taking the step right in front of me.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

"Clearly understand, there isn't any situation that isn't made worse

by worry. Worry never solves anything. Worry never prevents anything.

Worry never heals anything. Worry serves only one purpose...

it makes matters worse.

--Bob Procter (Your Achievement Ezine - Issue No. 176)

I opened two gifts from my higher power this morning.......My eyes

Unsolicited advice is criticism (thanks Chuck B)

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

They are happy indeed who own nothing at all; Those with highest knowledge own nothing at all. See how people who own things are afflicted, Bound to others by their obligations.

- Udana 2.6

Native American

"If we keep everything in balance, we are in harmony with ourselves and are at peace."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

As within, as without, our present thought determines our future. If we want peace outside ourselves, we must first have peace inside ourselves. It's not what is going on but how we are looking at what is going on. We need to keep ourselves in balance. We must be careful to not get too hungry, angry, lonely or tired. We must know the times - time to work, time to rest, time to play, time to sleep, time to pray, time to lighten up, time to laugh, time to eat, time to exercise. There is a saying "The honor of one is the honor of all." This means when we work with all, we need to also work on one. We need to take care of ourselves. You cannot give away what you don't have.

Great Spirit, let me walk in balance today. Remove from me resentment, self pity and self seeking motives. Let me love myself so I can love my neighbors.

Walk In Dry Places

Handle Today's Problem - Living Today

Many of us face seemingly insurmountable difficulties, perhaps because of our compulsion or simply through misfortune. Whatever the scale of our problems, One Day at a Time and First things First, are keys to handling them. Today, we can deal only with today's problems. ]One of today's problems, of course, may be worrying about the future. A good method of handling that problem is to turn our concern about it over to our Higher Power. But when we do have work that clearly should be done today, we must carry through with it. It's neither reasonable nor sensible to put off things that we can and should do today.

There are certain tasks and responsibilities that must be dealt with today. I will not put them off.

TWELVE STEPS

and

TWELVE TRADITIONS

CONTENTS

THE TWELVE TRADITIONS

Tradition One pg. 129

“Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.”

Without unity, A.A. dies. Individual liberty, yet great unity. Key to paradox: each A.A.’s life depends on obedience to spiritual principles. The group must survive or the individual will not. Common welfare comes first. How best to live and work together as groups.

Tradition Two pg. 132

“For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in”our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.”

Where does A.A. get its direction? Sole authority in A.A. is loving God as He may express Himself in the group conscience. Formation of a group. Growing pains. Rotating committees are servants of the group. Leaders do not govern, they serve. Does A.A. have a real leadership? “Elder statesmen” and “bleeding deacons.” The group conscience speaks.

Tradition Three pg. 139

“The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.”

Early intolerance based on fear. To take away any alcoholic’s chance at A.A. was sometimes to pronounce his death sentence. Membership regulations abandoned. Two examples of experience. Any alcoholic is a member of A.A. when he says so.

Tradition Four pg. 146

“Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.”

Every group manages its affairs as it pleases, except when A.A. as a whole is threatened. Is such liberty dangerous? The group, like the individual, must eventually conform to principles that guarantee survival. Two storm signals—a group ought not do anything which would injure A.A. as a whole, nor affiliate itself with outside interests. An example: the “A.A. Center” that didn’t work.

Tradition Five pg. 150

“Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.”

Better do one thing well than many badly. The life of our Fellowship depends on this principle. The ability of each A.A. to identify himself with and bring recovery to the newcomer is a gift from God … passing on this gift to others is our one aim. Sobriety can’t be kept unless it is given away.

Tradition Six pg. 155

“An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.”

Experience proved that we could not endorse any related enterprise, no matter how good. We could not be all things to all men. We saw that we could not lend the A.A. name to any outside activity.