DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
POWERLESS
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol---that our lives had become unmanageable.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 21
It is no coincidence that the very first Step mentions powerlessness: An admission of personal powerlessness over alcohol is a cornerstone of the foundation of recovery. I've learned that I do not have the power and control I once thought I had. I am powerless over what people think about me. I am powerless over having just missed the bus. I am powerless over how other people work ( or don't work) the Steps. But I've also learned I am not powerless over some things. I am not powerless over my attitudes. I am not powerless over negativity. I am not powerless over assuming responsibility for my own recovery. I have the power to exert a positive influence on myself, my loved ones. And the world in which I live.
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 I came into A.A., I learned what an alcoholic was and then I applied this knowledge to myself to see if I was an alcoholic. When I was convinced that I was an alcoholic, I admitted it openly. Since then, have I been learning to live accordingly? Have I read the book Alcoholics Anonymous? Have I applied the knowledge gained to myself? Have I admitted openly that I am an alcoholic? Am I ready to admit it at any time when I can be of help?
Meditation for the Day
I will be renewed. I will be remade. In this, I need God's help. His spirit shall flow through me and, in flowing through me, it shall sweep away all the bitter past. I will take heart. The way will open for me. Each day will unfold something good, as long as I am trying to live the way I believe God wants me to live.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be taught, just as a child would be taught. I pray that I may never question God's plans, but accept them gladly.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Our Greatest Need
"We eventually redefine our beliefs and understanding to the point where we see that our greatest need is for knowledge of God's will for us and the strength to carry that out"
Basic Text p. 46
When we first arrived in NA, we had all kinds of ideas of what we needed. Some of us set our sights on amassing personal possessions. We thought recovery equaled outward success. But recovery does not equal success. Today, we believe that our greatest need is for spiritual guidance and strength.
The greatest damage done to us by our addiction was the damage done to our spirituality. Our primary motivation was dictated by our disease: to get, to use, and to find ways and means to get more. Enslaved by our overwhelming need for drugs, our lives lacked purpose and connection. We were spiritually bankrupt.
Sooner or later, we realize that our greatest need in recovery is "for knowledge of God's will for us and the strength to carry that out" There, we find the direction and sense of purpose our addiction had hidden from us. In our God's will we find freedom from self-will. No longer driven only by our own needs, we are free to live with others on an equal footing.
There's nothing wrong with outward success. But without the spiritual connection offered by the NA program, our greatest need in recovery goes unmet, regardless of how "successful" we may be.
Just for today: I will seek the fulfillment of my greatest need: a vital, guiding connection with the God of my understanding.
pg. 3
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
"You can choose your choices but you can’t choose your consequences"
Heard at Bristol's Lunch Bunch meeting ... shared by Philip L. as something his Uncle Joe shared when he was young
“Seek” the truth in love, before you “speak” the truth in love.
I Am A Pickle by Terri B.
I'm a little Pickle
But I didn't start this way
I started as a cucumber
And then I drank one day
It tasted kind of funny
But it made me feel so good
I found that I was drinking
A bit more than what I should
One day my eyes were opened
And I began to sway
I had become a Pickle
How did I get this way?
I want to be that cucumber
Like I was back in those days
But there's no going back
I Pickle I will stay
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Anyone who, even for a second, feels a pure, clear confidence on hearing the truth will experience immeasurable happiness. Why? Because, at that moment, that person is not caught up in the concept of a self or a living being or a life span. He is not caught up in concepts about the world, nor is he caught up in concepts about nothingness. He does not take any notice of the idea that this is a sign, or this or that is not a sign.
For if you are caught up in ideas, then you will be caught up in the self. And even if you are caught up in ideas about nothingness, you will still be caught up in the self. That's why we should not get attached to the belief that things either exist or do not exist. This is the hidden meaning when I say that my teachings are a raft to be abandoned when you see true being.
-Diamond Sutra
Native American
"We don't have to say or think what we don't wish to. We have a choice in those things, and we have to realize that and practice using that choice."
--Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE
Having choices makes us fully accountable. No one can make us think anything we don't want to think. No one can determine our behavior and how we act. It's not what's going on but how we look at what's going on. If someone does something and we get upset, we can change how we look at it any time we want. We can tell ourselves in the morning that the day is going to be beautiful and that we have expectations that great things will happen. Doing this daily sets our mind to look for the joy and the excitement of each day.
Great Spirit, help me to choose my thoughts with Your wisdom.
Keep It Simple
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn. --- Unknown
As we work Step One, we accept that alcohol and other drugs are poison to us. We accept our limits.
This means we know that hanging around our using "buddies" can remind us of "the good old days."
Hanging around "slippery places" means we could "slip" back into our old ways. This isn't testing our sobriety; it's being reckless with it. So let's accept our limits. Everybody has limits. When we know our limits, we protect our recovery against the people and places that pull us from our spiritual center. This is what true acceptance means.
Prayer for the Day: I pray for true acceptance. Higher Power, help me to stay away from slippery places. I will protect the gift You've given me.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list the people and places that are risky for me to be around. I will share this list with my sponsor, my group, and my sober friends.
Big Book - Quotes
"For a brief moment, I had needed and wanted God. There had been a
humble willingness to have Him with me -- and He came.
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, Page 12~
Birthday Blackout…
July 2013 AA Grapevine
A momentous night pushes her to do the unthinkable—go to AA!
Three years ago today I hit bottom. It was my 30th birthday and for most of the previous year, as I was spiraling downhill, I had told myself (and everyone else) that I was going to quit drinking when I was 30. Little did I know I was in for the fight of my life.
June 25, 2009, started out as a beautiful day. I was on my way home from a wonderful family vacation in Disneyland. My heart was filled with pride and excitement, for it was the day I had planned to quit drinking alcohol, once and for all. The radio was on as we were driving back from the airport, and that’s when I first heard it announced that Michael Jackson had just died. As a huge fan I was devastated, but I held it together just the same. When we got home my friend Julia invited me over to her house for a barbecue, and to celebrate my 30th.
There were lots of people there. I had not planned to drink. To this day I don’t know what happened or what made me decide to pick up that first drink that night. I still don’t have all the pieces of that evening. I have some unflattering pictures, but no more than second-long flashes of that night. All I really remember is coming to the next morning. The phone was ringing. I answered it half-awake. It was my friend calling to check in on me. She was loud, cheerful and a bit sarcastic and said, “Good morning sunshine! How do you feel?”
I looked around and saw that I was still in my clothes from the day before, in my own bed (thank God), but with orange puke all over my covers, floor and the waste-basket that my husband had brought in for me. My head was pounding and I hurt all over. My friend was laughing about the night before. I told her I didn’t remember a thing.
Still laughing, she asked if I remembered making out with Troy (a really young guy from out of town). I kind of laughed and thought she was joking, as I’ve been married since I was 18 and I’ve been 100% faithful the entire time. But when it became clear that she was not joking and that inappropriate things had taken place and lines had been crossed that I would never otherwise cross, I got off the phone, told my husband right away what had happened, and started trying to piece together the rest of the night. What I discovered only got worse. That was the start of my real fight with alcohol.
I’ve always prided myself on my word, my self-will and hardheadedness. When I said I was going to do something, I did it. Up until then, I had no idea just how powerless I was over alcohol. For the next nine months, I spiraled down much, much further and faster. I hit many more awful, demoralizing and incomprehensible bottoms. I fought tooth and nail. I tried everything imaginable to quit. Yes, I even went to some AA meetings! Finally, after nine months, I had to give up fighting. I was completely defeated.
It wasn’t until then that I turned my will and my life over to the care of something bigger than myself. I finally went to AA and did everything I was told to do, as ridiculous as it all sounded. It was that simple. Not easy—in fact, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I did lots of service, got a sponsor, started the Steps, read the Big Book and went to lots of meetings. On the last day of my 90 in 90, I was not only able to celebrate my 31st birthday, but I was also able to celebrate 90 days sober. Three months without so much as a sip of alcohol! Today, two years later as I turn 33, I’m happy to say that I’m able to celebrate not only my birthday, but two years and three months without a drink.
-- Carrie B.
Bend, Oregon
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