DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
TRUE AMBITION
True ambition is not what we thought it was. True ambition is the deep desire to live usefully and walk humbly under the grace of God.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 124-25
During my drinking years, my one and only concern was to have my fellow man think highly of me. My ambition in everything I did was to have the power to be at the top. My inner self kept telling me something else but I couldn't accept it. I didn't even allow myself to realize that I wore a mask continually,. Finally, when the mask came off and I cried out to the only God I could conceive, the Fellowship of A.A., my group and the Twelve Steps were there. I learned how to change resentments into acceptance, fear into hope and anger into love. I have learned also, through living without undue expectations , through sharing my concerns and caring for my fellow man, that each day can be joyous and fruitful. I begin and end my day with thanks to God, who so generously shed His grace on me.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
When people come back to A.A. after having a slip, the temptation is strong to say nothing about it. No other A.A. member should force them to declare themselves. It is entirely up to them. If they are well grounded in A.A., they will realize that it's up to them to speak up at the next meeting and tell about their slip. There is no possible evasion of this duty, if they are thoroughly honest and really desirous of living the A.A. way again. When they have done it, their old confidence returns. They are home again. Their slip should not be mentioned again by others. They are again a good member of A.A. Am I tolerant of other people's mistakes?
Meditation for the Day
It is in the union of a soul with God that strength, new life, and spiritual power come. Bread sustains the body but we cannot live by bread alone. To try to do the will of God is the meat and support of true living. We feed on that spiritual food. Soul starvation comes from failing to do so. The world talks about bodies that are undernourished. What of the souls that are undernourished? Strength and peace come from partaking of spiritual food.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not try to live by bread alone. I pray that my spirit may live by trying to do the will of God as I understand it.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Surviving Our Emotions
"We use the tools available to us and develop the ability to survive our emotions."
Basic Text pg. 30
"Survive my emotions?" some of us say. "You've got to be kidding!" When we were using, we never gave ourselves the chance to learn how to survive them. You don't survive your feelings, we thought-you drug them. The problem was, that "cure" for our unsurvivable emotions was killing us. That's when we came to Narcotics Anonymous, started working the Twelve Steps and, as a result, began to mature emotionally.
Many of us found emotional relief right from the start. We were tired of pretending that our addiction and our lives were under control; it actually felt good to finally admit they weren't. After sharing our inventory with our sponsor, we began to feel like we didn't have to deny who we were or what we felt in order to be accepted. When we'd finished making our amends, we knew we didn't have to suffer with guilt; we could own up to it and it wouldn't kill us. The more we worked the NA program, the better we felt about living life as it came to us.
The program works today as well as it ever did. By taking stock of our day, getting honest about our part in it, and surrendering to reality, we can survive the feelings life throws our way. By using the tools available to us, we've developed the ability to survive our emotions.
Just for today: I will not deny my feelings. I will practice honesty and surrender to life as it is. I will use the tools of this program to survive my emotions.
pg. 357
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (Mildred F. - Woodstock 2018)
"Absolute honesty without wisdom is brutality" Lou K.
Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.
~ Laurence Sterne (thanks Gene H.)
"However long a hug lasts, it doesn't last long enough."
- Kyle Schmalenberg (thanks Gary M.)
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Few cross over the river. Most are stranded on this side. On the riverbank they run up and down. But the wise person, following the way, Crosses over, beyond the reach of death. Free from desire, Free from possessions, Free from attachment and appetite, Following the seven lights of awakening, And rejoicing greatly in his freedom, In this world the wise person Becomes themselves a light, Pure, shining, free.
- from the Dhammapada
Native American
"A man should rely on his own resources; the one who so trains himself is ready for any emergency."
--Oral Tradition, OMAHA
Man is designed to function independently and to rely on the Creator for his resources. If we build our relationship with the Great Spirit, we are ready when emergencies occur. We need to build a trusting relationship with the Creator. We do this by constantly talking with the Creator. It's good to talk to Him many times a day. Then we will realize, even though we can't see Him, that He is always with us and He is ready to respond to our requests.
God, let me remember to talk to You many times today.
Keep It Simple
We are here to add what we can to, not to get what we can get from, Life.
--- Sir William Osler
Service is a word we hear in our recovery program. Service means work we do for others. It's the backbone of our program. The reason is simple. Service to our Higher Power and to others breaks down our wanting to be self-centered. Service brings us back into the world. We really are part of the group when we pitch in to make coffee, set up chairs, or talk in meetings. We really feel like part of the family when we run errands and help with meals and housework. We really connect with our Higher Power when we pray, "Use me today to help others." Service breaks down the feeling of being alone that being self -centered brings.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to be of service to You and others. Show me what is needed.
Action for the Day: Today will be a service day. I'll see how valued I am. I'll give to others, knowing that I, too, will receive.
Big Book
"In this book you read again and again that faith did for us what we
could not do for ourselves. We hope you are convinced now that God can
remove whatever self-will has blocked you off from Him. If you have
already made a decision, and an inventory of your grosser handicaps,
you have made a good beginning. That being so you have swallowed and
digested some big chunks of truth about yourself."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 70~
Quiet Desperation
"Quiet desperation,
it's how I play the game.
One foot after the other,
but still it's all the same.
I never found the happiness,
that peace within the mind.
That comes to others easily,
I'm always left behind.
My life once filled with hopes and dreams,
has run away and now it seems, my life ahead so dark and bleak, I need to scream, I need to speak.
My tears. My fears. My wasted years of quiet desperation."
Nanci D
Evergreen CO
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