DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
FOCUSING AND LISTENING
There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 98
If I do my self-examination first, then surely, I'll have enough humility to pray and meditate—because I'll see and feel my need for them. Some wish to begin and end with prayer, leaving the self-examination and meditation to take place in between, whereas others start with meditation, listening for advice from God about their still hidden or unacknowledged defects. Still others engage in written and verbal work on their defects, ending with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. These three—self-examination, meditation and prayer—form a circle, without a beginning or an end. no matter where, or how, I start, I eventually arrive at my destination: a better life.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
I have charity, another word for love. That right kind of love which is not selfish passion but an unselfish, outgoing desire to help other people. To do what is best for the other person, to put what is best for him or her above my own desires. To put God first, the other person second, and myself last. Charity is gentle, kind, understanding, long-suffering, and full of desire to serve. A.A. has given me this. What I do for myself is lost; what I do for others may be written somewhere in eternity. Have I charity?
Meditation for the Day
"Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you." God has unlimited power. There is no limit to what His power can do in human hearts. But we must will to have God's power and we must ask God for it. God's power is blocked off from us by our indifference to it. We can go along our own selfish way without calling on God's help and we get no power. But when we trust in God, we can will to have the power we need. When we sincerely ask God for it, we get it abundantly.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may will to have God's power. I pray that I may keep praying for the strength I need.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
No Matter What
"We eventually have to stand on our own feet and face life on its own terms, so why not from the start."
Basic Text p.85
Some of us feel that we should protect newcomers by telling them that, while everything used to be horrible, now we're in recovery it's all wonderful. We feel that we might scare someone away if we speak of pain or difficulties, broken marriages, being robbed, and the like. In a sincere and well-intentioned desire to carry the message, we tend to talk glowingly only about what's going well in our lives.
But most newcomers already suspect the truth, even if they've only been clean for a few days. Chances are that the "life on life's terms" the average newcomer is experiencing is quite a bit more stressful than what the average old-timer deals with each day. If we do manage to convince a newcomer that everything becomes rosy in recovery, we had better make sure we are there to support that newcomer when something goes wrong in his or her life.
Perhaps we simply need to share realistically about how we use the resources of Narcotics Anonymous to accept "life on life's terms," whatever those terms may be on any given day. Recovery, and life itself, contain equal parts of pain and joy. It is important to share both so the newcomer can know that we stay clean no matter what.
Just for today: I will be honest with the newcomers I share with and let them know that, no matter what life brings, we never have to use drugs again.
pg. 321
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
"Of all the 'attitudes' we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing."
--Zig Ziglar
(Zig Ziglar's Little Book of Big Quotes)
Sand & Stone
A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand:
"TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:
"TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"
The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."
LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
I have been insulted! I have been hurt! I have been beaten! I have been robbed! Anger does not cease in those who harbour this sort of thought.
I have been insulted! I have been hurt! I have been beaten! I have been robbed! Anger ceases in those who do not harbour this sort of thought.
Native American
"A sundance woman is like the morning star, filled with spiritual beauty, wisdom and knowledge. Men and women are the most powerful of the polarities. We walk beside men as equal partners. It takes men and women who have respect and love for one another to live within the embrace of Father Sky and Mother Earth."
--Dr. Henrietta Mann, SOUTHERN CHEYENNE
Our ceremonies bring out the best in us. It's in the ceremony that we find the place of honor and respect for each other. The place where the men honor the women and the women honor the men. We dance for each other. The ceremony helps us remember our responsibility toward each other. Men and women need to be strong, to love one another and be faithful. Only by doing this can we give our children knowledge of good relationships.
Great Spirit, today I will notice the power of the women; today I will notice the power of the men.
Keep It Simple
Words are the voice of the heart. --- Confucius
What does my heart have to say today? Am I happy ? Or I’m I troubled? We will find this out if we slow down and listen to our words. We can also hear our spirit in the tone of our words.
We are to meditate. Meditation is about slowing down so we can hear what our spirit is trying to tell us. Meditation is listening. Our spirit is but a quiet whisper inside us. To hear we must quiet ourselves.
Slowing down allows us to find our center. As we find our center we find our spirit and our Higher Power. Do I take the time needed to slow myself down? Do I take the time to listen---to listen to my heart?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, teach me to slow down. Teach me to hear Your whisper as well as Your yells.
Action for the Day: Today, I will take a half hour to slow down and listen. I will find a place to relax and listen to my heart and my words.
TWELVESTEPS
and
TWELVE TRADITIONS
Tradition Six (pgs 156-157)
It occurred to us that we could take what we had into the factories and cause laborers and capitalists to love each other. Our uncompromising honesty might soon clean up politics. With one arm around the shoulder of religion and the other around the shoulder of medicine, we’d resolve their differences. Having learned to live so happily, we’d show everybody else how. Why, we thought, our Society of Alcoholics Anonymous might prove to be the spearhead of a new spiritual advance! We might transform the world.
Yes, we of A.A. did dream those dreams. How natural that was, since most alcoholics are bankrupt idealists. Nearly every one of us had wished to do great good, perform great deeds, and embody great ideals. We are all perfectionists who, failing perfection, have gone to the other extreme and settled for the bottle and the blackout. Providence, through A.A., had brought us within reach of our highest expectations. So why shouldn’t we share our way of life with everyone?
Whereupon we tried A.A. hospitals—they all bogged down because you cannot put an A.A. group into business; too many busybody cooks spoil the broth. A.A. groups had their fling at education, and when they began to publicly whoop up the merits of this or that brand, people became confused. Did A.A. fix drunks or was it an educational project? Was A.A. spiritual or was it medical? Was it a reform movement? In consternation, we saw ourselves getting married to all kinds of enterprises, some good and some not so good. Watching alcoholics committed willy-nilly to prisons or asylums, we began to cry, “There oughtta be a law!” A.A.’s commenced to thump tables in legislative committee rooms and agitated for legal reform. That made good newspaper copy, but little else. We saw we’d soon be mired in politics. Even inside A.A. we found it imperative to remove the A.A. name from clubs and Twelfth Step houses.
Big Book
"If there be divorce or separation, there should be no undue haste
for the couple to get together. The man should be sure of his
recovery. The wife should fully understand his new way of life. If
their old relationship is to be resumed it must be on a better basis,
since the former did not work. This means a new attitude and spirit
all around. Sometimes it is to the best interests of all concerned
that a couple remain apart. Obviously, no rule can be laid down.
Let the alcoholic continue his program day by day. When the time for
living together has come, it will be apparent to both parties."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, Page 99
******************
My best action to arrive at a state of mind for continued personal growth and improvement, what that action is, and why I believe this action has worked.
by Jim C.
The action is my daily communion with my "Universal Spirit" consisting of 1.) reading Twenty Four Hours A Day and The Eye Opener 2.) conscious prayer and 3.) serene meditation.
Readings help refresh the past and help me recall the path I took to this place, the divine insights, the brutal learning experiences* and gifts of life given to me.
Conscious prayers involve recognition and gratitude for a self-limited list* of the endless blessings given to me. The prayers always include the turning over of self, health, wealth, heart and soul to God for his purpose, asking for guidance to do His will, knowing that my mission is to do my best, on a daily basis, to make heaven here on earth.
Meditation is a feeling process, not a thinking process for me. I have read "God is the oneness of all things, with communication between all things through a feeling, a feeling some refer to as Love". During meditation I attach this feeling to the things in my life in need of improvement. As my day unfolds I often feel this power helping me to make changes, almost like magic.
This action of daily communion has served me well, bringing me to a good mental state for continuous personal growth and improvement.
Why I believe daily communion has worked so well for me, is in the daily act of turning over of self, health, wealth, heart and soul to God for his purpose. In doing this daily act I remove all things I fear losing..or not gaining. When all fear is gone, life becomes simple.
The March 5th "Meditation for the day" reads:
Fear is the curse of the world. Many are our fears. Fear is everywhere. I must fight fear as I would a plague. I must turn it out of my life. There is no room for fear in the heart in which God dwells. Fear cannot exist where true love is or where faith abides. So I must have no fear. Fear is evil, but “perfect love casteth out all fear”. Fear destroys hope and hope is necessary for all humanity.
I have often thought fear to be the bedrock, or foundation, of insanity. I have also thought ego is nothing more than an illusion of self importance. An illusion is a creation of the mind, therefore it can have unlimited mind created vulnerabilities or threats, all of which result in fear. For me the letting go of ego, the illusion, eliminated a significant portion of my fear. I also believe the feeling of fear, in a way, is like telling God you do not trust him...fear being akin to a half measure of faith.
During my meditation period, this feeling some have described as the feeling of Love, is the connection of my conscious mind to my inner "Universal Spirit" where all my unconscious wisdom resides. Sometimes I amaze myself when inner wisdom oozes out of me unexpectedly...did I really say that? “I must not have been thinking", I chuckle to myself.
It is during this period of meditation that most progress is made by me in changing those things I can change and accepting those I cannot.
Jim C.
To subscribe click the link below:
https://app.getresponse.com/site/dailyponderables/webform.html?wid=108246