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DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

NO MORE STRUGGLE

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone — even alcohol.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84

When A.A. found me, I thought I was in for a struggle, and that A.A. might provide the strength I needed to beat alcohol. Victorious in that fight, who knows what other battles I could win. I would need to be strong, though. All my previous experience with life proved that. Today I do not have to struggle or exert my will. If I take those Twelve Steps and let my Higher Power do the real work, my alcohol problem disappears all by itself. My living problems also cease to be struggles. I just have to ask whether acceptance—or change—is required. It is not my will, but His, that needs doing.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

We're all looking for the power to overcome drinking. When we alcoholics come into A.A., our first question is: "How do I get the strength to quit?" At first it seems to us that we will never get the necessary strength. We see older members who have found the power we are looking for, but we don't know the process by which they got it. This necessary strength comes in many ways. Have I found all the strength I need?

Meditation for the Day

You cannot have a spiritual need that God cannot supply. Your fundamental need is a spiritual need, the need for power to live the good life. The best spiritual supply is received by you when you want it to pass on to other people. You get it largely by giving it away. God gives you strength as you pass it on to another person. That strength means increased health; increased health means more good work, and more good work means more people helped. And so it goes on, a constant supply to meet all spiritual needs.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that my every spiritual need will be supplied by God. I pray that I may use the power I receive to help others.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

The principle of self-support

Page 84

"In our addiction, we were dependent upon people, places, and things. We looked to them to support us and supply the things we found lacking in ourselves."

Basic Text, pp. 70-71

In the animal kingdom, there is a creature that thrives on others. It is called a leech. It attaches itself to people and takes what it needs. When one victim brushes the leech off, it simply goes to the next.

In our active addiction, we behaved similarly. We drained our families, our friends, and our communities. Consciously or unconsciously, we sought to get something for nothing from virtually everyone we encountered.

When we saw the basket passed at our first meeting we may have thought, "Self-support! Now what kind of odd notion is this?" As we watched, we noticed something. These self-supporting addicts were free. By paying their own way, they had earned the privilege of making their own decisions.

By applying the principle of self-support in our personal lives, we gain for ourselves the same kind of freedom. No longer does anyone have the right to tell us where to live, because we pay our own rent. We can eat, wear, or drive whatever we choose, because we provide it for ourselves.

Unlike the leech, we don't have to depend on others for our sustenance. The more responsibility we assume, the more freedom we'll gain.

Just for Today: There are no limits to the freedom I can earn by supporting myself. I will accept personal responsibility and pay my own way today.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

"Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world."

--Annie Lennox

Letting Go

As a blind man

searches for a crack

in the wall

So am I

fingers in place

holding onto this space

how to know

It's in letting go

forgetting all

big and small

free fall

hands to side

arms open wide

no conditions

no regrets

nobody wins

'til surrender

is.

Angie M.

Ten Rules for Being Human

1. You will receive a body.

You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

2. You will learn lessons.

You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "life."

Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons.

You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant or stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.

Growth is a process of experimentation - trial and error. The so-called "failed experiments" are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work".

4. A Lesson is repeated until learned.

It will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it.

When you have learned it you can then go on to the next lesson. If you do not learn easy lessons, they become harder. You will know you have learned a lesson when your actions change.

5. Learning lessons does not end.

There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. Every person, every incident is the universal teacher. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better than "here."

Nothing leads to happiness. When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that again will look better than "here."

7. Others are merely mirrors of you.

You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate in yourself.

8. What you create of your life is up to you.

You have all the tools and resources your need; what you do with them is up to you.

9. All your answers lie inside you.

All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

10. You will forget all of this.

Cherie Carter-Scott, Ph.DO.

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

If happiness hasn't been recognized when alone, a group of people will be a cause of distraction.

-Adept Godrakpa, "Hermit of Go Cliffs"

I shoot an arrow right. It lands left.

I ride after a deer and find myself chased by a hog.

I plot to get what I want And end up in prison.

I dig pits to trap others And fall in.

I should be suspicious of what I want. (thanks Henry C.)

Native American

"Everything's so simple, and we make everything so complicated. That's why we're confused."

--Vickie Downey, TEWA/Tesuque Pueblo

The Creator designed a very simple set of Laws for us to follow. If we follow these simple things, we'll be happy. If we don't follow these simple things, our lives become complicated. For example:

Respect Mother Earth

Love one another

Be truthful

Give to your brother and sisters

Be gentle with each other

Be happy

Following these simple Laws will have great rewards.

Great Spirit, let me lead a simple life.

Keep It Simple

If anything, we have tended to be people who wanted it all now. To hope is not to demand. --- On Hope

Maybe we were a bit demanding. Maybe we were a bit impatient. Maybe that’s why we had such little hope.

Hope is believing good will come even in bad time. Hope is knowing that “this, too, shall pass.”

Hope is knowing that no matter how afraid we are, God will be with us. Hope is knowing we never have to be alone again. It is knowing that time that time is on our side. Hope is giving up control. Hope is knowing we never had control in the first place. Hope is believing in ourselves. Hope is what our program is all about.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, in our program we share our experiences, our strengths, and our hopes. Thank you for giving all three of these to me to share.

Action for the Day: I will share my hope for the future with myself, my Higher Power, and my friends. I also will share this with someone who has lost hope.

Big Book

Chapter 1 BILL'S STORY (pg 9 & top 10)

The door opened and he stood there, fresh-skinned and glowing. There was something about his eyes. He was inexplicably different. What had happened?

I pushed a drink across the table. He refused it. Disappointed but curious, I wondered what had got into the fellow. He wasn't himself.

"Come, what's all this about?" I queried.

He looked straight at me. Simply, but smilingly, he said, "I've got religion."

I was aghast. So that was it-last summer an alcoholic crackpot; now, I suspected, a little cracked about religion. He had that starry-eyed look. Yes, the old boy was on fire all right. But bless his heart, let him rant! Besides, my gin would last longer than his preaching.

But he did no ranting. In a matter of fact way he told how two men had appeared in court, persuading the judge to suspend his commitment. They had told of a simple religious idea and a practical program of action. That was two months ago and the result was self-evident. It worked!

He had come to pass his experience along to me-if I cared to have it. I was shocked, but interested. Certainly I was interested. I had to be, for I was hopeless.

------------------------------------

Four Men

Grapevine --- April 1946 --- Vol. 2 No. 11

(The following is reprinted from the well known Southern newspaper column, Everyday Counselor, with the permission of the author, The Rev. Herbert Spaugh, D.D.)

A thumb-nail sketch of the program of the Alcoholics Anonymous is given for the benefit of many readers who have inquired about it. The picture presented is general, and will be seen to be a fine program for the church or any organization designed to help others.

In the first place, the patient must be willing to be helped, must admit his need of help. He is then urged to make the acquaintance and face squarely four men.

THE FIRST MAN. This man is yourself. Stand in front of a mirror and honestly look at yourself alone. This is difficult, as it is the last thing which many want to do, but it is the necessary first thing. Look beyond your face and down into your heart. You may fool the world, your family, your friends, but you can never fool yourself. A guilty conscience is poor company. It is responsible for more sickness, misery and suffering than anything else in the world. You may try to run away from it in work, in play; but it is always within you; you can't escape it.

THE SECOND MAN. This man is your God. To the Christian, He is The Man, Christ Jesus. He who rules all creation, guides the heavenly bodies in their courses, plans and directs the workings of nature, is ready to help you, if you will let Him. He stands ready to help you with every problem. You will never know how to live happily, successfully, victoriously with yourself until you learn to live with your God. Only in Him can you find a clean and pure conscience.

THE THIRD MAN, for the one who would take the program of the Alcoholics Anonymous, is your fellow-member of the local A.A. club. These clubs meet every week, report on themselves and on each other. If a member has been unfortunate enough to have slipped and fallen, the other members go after him and bring him back.

THE FOURTH MAN WITHOUT WHOM YOUR LIFE WILL NOT BE COMPLETE is the man with whom you must share your new experience. One requirement in an A.A. club is that each member must share his new strength with other alcoholics; this is their strongest aid to sobriety.

Four is the world-number of completion. To live successfully in this world you must meet and know these four men.