12/03

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

IN ALL OUR AFFAIRS

...we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p 106

I find that carrying the message of recovery to other alcoholics is easy because it helps me to stay sober and it provides me with a sense of well-being about my own recovery. The hard part is practicing these principles in all my affairs. It is important that I share the benefits I receive from A.A., especially at home. Doesn't my family deserve the same patience, tolerance and understanding I so readily give to the alcoholic? When reviewing my day I try to ask, "Did I have a chance to be a friend today and miss it?" " Did I have a chance to rise above a nasty situation and avoid it?" "Did I have a chance to say 'I'm sorry,' and refuse to?"

Just as I ask God for help with my alcoholism each day, I ask for help in extending my recovery to include all situations and all people!

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

There is some alcoholic thought, conscious or unconscious, that comes before every slip. As long as we live, we must be on the lookout for such thoughts and guard against them. In fact, our A.A. training is mostly to prepare us, to make us ready to recognize such thoughts at once and to reject them at once. The slip comes when we allow such thoughts to remain in our minds, even before we actually go through the motions of lifting the glass to our lips. The A.A. program is largely one of mental training. How well is my mind prepared?

Meditation for the Day

Fret not your mind with puzzles that you cannot solve. The solutions may never be shown to you until you have left this life. The loss of dear ones, the inequality of life, the deformed and the maimed, and many other puzzling things may not be known to you until you reach the life beyond. "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." Only step by step, stage by stage, can you proceed in your journey into greater knowledge and understanding.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be content that things that I now see darkly will some day be made clear. I pray that I may have faith that someday I will see face to face.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

Vision Without Limits

"Perhaps for the first time, we see a vision of our new life."

Basic Text pg. 34

In our addiction, our vision of ourselves was very limited. Each day, we went through the same routine: getting, using, and finding ways and means to get more. And that's all we could reasonably expect for the duration of our lives. Our potential was limited.

Today, our prospects are changed. Recovery has given us a new vision of ourselves and our lives. We are no longer trapped in the endlessly gray routine of addiction. We are free to stretch ourselves in new ways, trying out new ideas and new activities. In doing so, we come to see ourselves in a new way. Our potential is limited only by the strength of the Higher Power that cares for us - and that strength has no limits.

In recovery, life and everything in it appears open to us. Guided by our spiritual principles, driven by the power given us by the God of our understanding, our horizons are limitless.

Just for today: I will open my eyes to the possibilities before me. My potential is as limitless and as powerful as the God of my understanding. Today, I will act on that potential.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

"Don't look back on happiness, or dream of it in the future. You are only sure of today; do not let yourself be cheated out of it." --Henry Ward Beecher

"Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but look around in awareness." James Thurber

AA has given me the tools to learn to live in the 3rd dimensional world

with 4th dimensional awareness. Mildred F.

Gratitude Prayer that pretty well sums up my Life

Don M. - Mission Viejo California

Several years ago – I don’t remember when or where I heard a Gratitude Prayer that pretty well sums up my life. The prayer is:

“God,

Thank You for what You have given me.

Thank You for what You have taken away.

Thank You for what You have left me with.”

Prior to becoming an active alcoholic, I had what I always wanted.. a trophy wife , a wonderful daughter in college, two houses, three cars and a fantastic job. (Thanks for what You have given me)

Then my two best friends (Stolichnaya and Beefeaters) turned on me and became my master. Believing I could run my life all on my own, I plunged ahead. It seemed that life had become a battleground. Things like fear, shame, guilt, and remorse set in and all the things that I thought were so important were ripped away from me in what seemed to be an instant. The obsession and compulsion for alcohol and other harmful addictions has been removed. (Thanks for what You have taken away).

I never had another great paying job. One of the houses was gone. But my wife and daughter as well as my whole family stood behind me. There was a long period of reconstruction and there were times that were really gut wrenching. Forced into AA, I listened and heard people that had a common problem and they offered me a solution. I had to quit fighting. By the Grace of God, the program and fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, guidance from loving sponsors, and my own efforts, I have had a life that is far better than I could ever have hoped, and one that is supremely better than what I deserved. My God quest is never ending. Every day is an opportunity to express my gratitude by serving others both in and outside AA. I’ve been married the same wonderful woman for 51 years. I’ve been sober over half that time, and my daughter has given me two grandsons who light up my life. (Thanks for what You have left me with).

As my first sponsor was fond of saying-“ Who’d a thunk it”

Yes, November is gratitude month, but I’m going to take the time I have left on this earth and make every month in the years ahead a Gratitude month.

Don M

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

Overcoming attachment does not mean becoming cold and indifferent. On the contrary, it means learning to have relaxed control over our mind through understanding the real causes of happiness and fulfillment, and this enables us to enjoy life more and suffer less.

-Kathleen McDonald, "How to Meditate"

Native American

"Listen to the howl of our spiritual brother, the wolf, for how it goes with him, so it goes for the natural world."

--Oren R. Lyons, Spokesman, Traditional Circle of Elders

If we watch nature, we can tell a lot about what is going on in the world. The animals and the plants are great teachers. Some time ago, crops were sprayed with a poison to kill the insects. Other animals ate the insects. The small animals were eaten by the Eagles and the Wolves. We live in an interconnected system. What we do to one, we do to all. If our spiritual brothers are living in balance, chances are we humans are also living in balance.

Great Spirit, let me listen to my Earth teachers, the plants and the animals.

Keep It Simple

And to practice these principles in all our affairs ... --- Third part of Step Twelve.

This is a statement about us. We are now people of values. These values reflect our spiritual growth. We know how to help others. We know how to admit our wrongs.

We know how to look at ourselves and change our defects. We know how to live an honest life.

Step Twelve tells us. "Go use these tools for better living. Go be all you can be. Enjoy life and live a life you can be proud of." Step Twelve also tells us about how to have loving relationships. By the time we complete Step Twelve, we make or regain many relationships. The most important one is with our Higher Power. As we grow in the program, we realize all our relationships are spiritual gifts.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I now have one face instead of many masks. Help me be a person who will stand before You with pride, not shame.

Action for the Day: Today, I'll talk with a friend and talk about my new values. I will talk about how much my life has changed.

Big Book

"If a repetition is to be prevented, place the problem, along with

everything else, in God's hands."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, To Wives, Page 120~

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EMOTIONAL MATURITY

The mature person has developed attitudes in relation to himself and his environment which have lifted him above "childishness" in thought and behavior.

My Mind Is My Garden,

My Thoughts Are My Seeds.

I Will Harvest Either Flowers or Weeds.

________________________________________

Some of the characteristics of the person who has achieved true adulthood are suggested here:

1. He accepts criticism gratefully, being honestly glad for an opportunity to improve.

2. He does not indulge in self-pity. He has begun to feel the laws of compensation operating in all life.

3. He does not expect special consideration from anyone.

4. He controls his temper.

5. He meets emergencies with poise.

6. His feelings are not easily hurt.

7. He accepts the responsibility of his own actions without trying to "alibi."

8. He has outgrown the "all or nothing" stage. He recognizes that no person or situation is wholly good or wholly bad, and he begins to appreciate the Golden Mean.

9. He is not impatient at reasonable delays. He has learned that he is not the arbiter of the universe and that he must often adjust himself to other people and their convenience.

10. He is a good loser. He can endure defeat and disappointment without whining or complaining.

11. He does not worry about things he cannot help.

12. He is not given to boasting or "showing off" in socially unacceptable ways.

13. He is honestly glad when others enjoy success or good fortune. He has outgrown envy and jealousy.

14. He is open-minded enough to listen thoughtfully to the opinions of others.

15. He is not a chronic "fault-finder."

16. He plans things in advance rather than trusting to the inspiration of the moment.

Last of all, we think in terms of spiritual maturity:

1. He has faith in a Power greater then himself.

2. He feels himself an organic part of mankind as a whole, contributing his part to each group of which he is a member.

3. He obeys the spiritual essence of the Golden Rule: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

Emotional sobriety is when:

1. I am free of resentments, jealousy, and envy--and free to forgive quickly.

2. My emotions are not so violent that they cause me to go or be on a dry drunk.

3. I am able to make normal everyday decisions without my vision being unduly influenced by my emotions.

4. I am able to identify & live by my personal values without compromise to emotional pressure.

5. I am able to enjoy life as spiritual principles would dictate--such as being properly revolted by ugliness, sin and suffering, and positively rewarded by happenings of love, beauty and principle.

6. I am happy when others do things better or quicker than I have done them.

7. My emotions are in sync with my intellect and both are in synch with God's Will.

8. I can live freely without being emotionally subservient to another human being.

9. I can move freely between the emotional states of child, adult and parent.

10. I derive genuine, healthy pleasure from helping others without thought of reward, money, prestige or station.