05/10

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

FREE AT LAST

Another great dividend we may expect from confiding our defects to another human being is humility---a word often misunderstood. . . . it amounts to a clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 58

I knew deep inside that if I were ever to be joyous, happy and free, I had to share my past life with some other individual. The joy and relief I experienced after doing so were beyond description. Almost immediately after taking the Fifth Step, I felt free from the bondage of self and the bondage of alcohol. That freedom remains after 36 years, a day at a time. I found that God could do for me what I couldn't do for myself.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

One thing that keeps me sober is a feeling of loyalty to the other members of the group. I know I'd be letting them down if I ever took a drink. When I was drinking, I wasn't loyal to anybody. I should have been loyal to my family, but I wasn't. I let them down by my drinking. When I came into A.A., I found a group of people who were not only helping each other to stay sober, but who were loyal to each other by staying sober themselves. Am I loyal to my group?

Meditation for the Day

Calmness is constructive of good. Agitation is destructive of good. I should not rush into action. I should first "be still and know that He is God." Then I should act only as God directs me through my conscience. Only trust, perfect trust in God, can keep me calm when all around me are agitated. Calmness is trust in action. I should seek all things that can help me to cultivate calmness. To attain material things, the world learns to attain speed. To attain spiritual things, I have to learn to attain a state of calm.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may learn how to have inner peace. I pray that I may be calm, so that God can work through me.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

Becoming entirely ready

Page 136

"We... get a good look at what these defects are doing to our lives. We begin to long for freedom from these defects."

Basic Text, p. 34

Becoming entirely ready to have our defects of character removed can be a long process, often taking place over the course of a lifetime. Our state of readiness grows in direct proportion to our awareness of these defects and the destruction they cause.

We may have trouble seeing the devastation our defects are inflicting on our lives and the lives of those around us. If this is the case, we would do well to ask our Higher Power to reveal those flaws which stand in the way of our progress.

As we let go of our shortcomings and find their influence waning, we'll notice that a loving God replaces those defects with quality attributes. Where we were fearful, we find courage. Where we were selfish, we find generosity. Our delusions about ourselves will disappear to be replaced by self-honesty and self-acceptance.

Yes, becoming entirely ready means we will change. Each new level of readiness brings new gifts. Our basic nature changes, and we soon find our readiness is no longer sparked only by pain but by a desire to grow spiritually.

Just for Today: I will increase my state of readiness by becoming more aware of my shortcomings.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has

become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”

― Saint Augustine

The proud man counts his newspaper clippings, the humble man his blessings.

~ Fulton Sheen (thanks Gene H.)

God is a comedian, playing to an audience that's too afraid to laugh.

Recovery To Me

You shared experience, strength and hope,

You’ve showed me how to live.

“One Day at a Time” you said,

The rest to God you give.

Take 12 Golden Steps up from,

The pit of your despair.

And join us on Recovery Road,

With folks you have met there.

Honesty and willingness,

Are two parts of the key.

These and open-mindedness,

Bring the count up to three.

Through tears & laughter, pain and joy,

A common bond is found.

We try to keep our hearts with God,

And both feet on the ground.

“Keep It Simple” is still hard,

For this complicated soul.

Thank God for God, A.A. & you,

My life is now made whole.

I’m glad the helping hand was there,

It fills me with gratitude.

For me the A.A. symbol,

Also means Altered Attitude.

I’ve found here a truth or two,

Nothing happens by mistake.

Leave the stuff you do not need,

And what you do, please take.

There’s a quiet peace inside,

You call it serenity.

I want to thank you all so much,

For sharing it with me.

This self-centered soul has rambled on & on,

For sobriety I am richly blessed,

And without it I’d be gone.

Carli F – Oct 1991

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

Take no pleasure in worldly talk;

Take delight in what passes beyond the world.

Cause good qualities to grow in others

In the same way (you wish them) for yourself.

-Nagarjuna, "Precious Garland"

Native American

"When you go inside that power, there's no fear. It's so beautiful!! There's no fear there. There's no pain."

Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA

Imagine you are standing on the edge of a stage. In the center of the stage is a spotlight shining from above. If you stand anyplace outside the spotlight, in the darkness, you will experience fear. But as soon as you step into the light in the center of the stage, all fear and pain go away. When we stand in the power, fear cannot exist. How do we find this place of power? We pray our way into it. We ask the Creator to take our hand and help us. When we get to that place, we will feel the fear go away.

Great Spirit, hold my hand and guide me today.

Keep It Simple

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do. --- Andrew Carnegie

Doing something with our lives, not just talking about it, is important. When we were sick with our addiction, what we did was drink or use other drugs. We only talked about what we wanted to do. Now that we are sober, we can really live our lives.

We've already done a lot. we've gotten help for our chemical dependency. We've facing the harm we did to our families. We've let other people into our lives.

Before recovery, we didn't have to tell people we were alcoholics and addicts. Our actions showed it, if people knew what to look for. Now we don't have to tell people we were recovering, because our actions will show it.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, let my actions show that I am getting better every day.

Action for the Day: Today, I'll let my actions speak louder than words. I'll do one thing that I have been saying I want to do.

Big Book

Chapter 5 How It Works (pg 61 & top 62)

What usually happens? The show doesn't come off very well. He begins to think life doesn't treat him right. He decides to exert himself more. He becomes, on the next occasion, still more demanding or gracious, as the case may be. Still the play does not suit him. Admitting he may be somewhat at fault, he is sure that other people are more to blame. He becomes angry, indignant, self-pitying. What is his basic trouble? Is he not really a self-seeker even when trying to be kind? Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only manages well? Is it not evident to all the rest of the players that these are the things he wants? And do not his actions make each of them wish to retaliate, snatching all they can get out of the show? Is he not, even in his best moments, a producer of confusion rather than harmony?

Our actor is self-centered-ego-centric, as people like to call it nowadays. He is like the retired business man who lolls in the Florida sunshine in the winter complaining of the sad state of the nation; the minister who sighs over the sins of the twentieth century; politicians and reformers who are sure all would be Utopia if the rest of the world would only behave; the outlaw safe cracker who thinks society has wronged him; and the alcoholic who has lost all and is locked up. Whatever our protestations, are not most of us concerned with ourselves, our resentments, or our self-pity?