DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
MORNING THOUGHTS
Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164
For many years I pondered over God's will for me, believing that perhaps a great destiny had been ordained for my life. After all, having been born into a specific faith, hadn't I been told early that I was "chosen"? It finally occurred to me, as I considered the above passage, that God's will for me was that I Practice Step Twelve on a daily basis. Furthermore, I realized that I should do this to the best of my ability. I soon learned that the practice aids me in keeping my life in the context of the day at hand.
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 am less critical of other people, inside and outside of A.A. I used to run people down all the time. I realize now that it was because I wanted unconsciously to build myself up. I was envious of people who lived normal lives. I couldn't understand why I couldn't be like them. And so I ran them down. I called them sissies or hypocrites. I was always looking for faults in the other person. I loved to tear down what I called "a stuffed shirt" or "a snob." I have found that I can never make a person any better by criticism. A.A. has taught me this. Am I less critical of people?
Meditation for the Day
You must admit your helplessness before your prayer for help will be heard by God. Your own need must be recognized before you can ask God for the strength to meet that need. But once that need is recognized, your prayer is heard above all the music of heaven. It is not theological arguments that solve the problems of the questing soul, but the sincere cry of that soul to God for strength and the certainty of that soul that the cry will be heard and answered.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may send my voiceless cry for help out into the void. I pray that I may feel certain that it will be heard somewhere, somehow.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Our own story
"When we honestly tell our own story, someone else may identify with us."
Basic Text, p. 98
Many of us have heard truly captivating speakers at Narcotics Anonymous conventions. We remember the audience alternating between tears of identification and joyous hilarity. "Someday," we may think, "I'm going to be a main speaker at a convention, too."
Well, for many of us, that day has yet to arrive. Once in awhile we may be asked to speak at a meeting near where we live. We might speak at a small convention workshop. But after all this time, we're still not "hot" convention speakers-and that's okay. We've learned that we, too, have a special message to share, even if it's only at a local meeting with fifteen or twenty addicts in attendance.
Each of us has only our own story to tell; that's it. We can't tell anyone else's story. Every time we get up to speak, many of us find all the clever lines and funny stories seem to disappear from our minds. But we do have something to offer. We carry the message of hope-we can and do recover from our addiction. And that's enough.
Just for Today: I will remember that my honest story is what I share the best. Today, that's enough.
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.
-Frank William Leahy, football coach (1908-1973)
Listen with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply.
~Stephen Covey
One Day At A Time
We live in today, with our senses in tune
And hope that our egos, will get us thru noon
The sun with its heat, was making us dry
We decided to sit, with a whiskey and rye
We thought for a moment of what was to be
By taking a drink, we'd be down on one knee
We paused for a sec, thank God that we did
The guy up above said, listen I bid
And just at that moment, thought's came to us clear
By now we were sweating, and rattled with fear
We needed to ask, for some help and we got
The answer's to question's, we'd alway's had sought
Keep it simple my friends, and treat yourselves kind
Get back to your usual, spiritual minds
Its good to look back, to the grateful and humble
Remember God's there, in case we might stumble
Dave G.
Emotional sobriety is when:
1. I am free of resentments, jealousy, and envy--and free to forgive quickly.
2. My emotions are not so violent that they cause me to go or be on a dry drunk.
3. I am able to make normal everyday decisions without my vision being unduly influenced by my emotions.
4. I am able to identify & live by my personal values without compromise to emotional pressure.
5. I am able to enjoy life as spiritual principles would dictate--such as being properly revolted by ugliness, sin and suffering, and positively rewarded by happenings of love, beauty and principle.
6. I am happy when others do things better or quicker than I have done them.
7. My emotions are in sync with my intellect and both are in synch with God's Will.
8. I can live freely without being emotionally subservient to another human being.
9. I can move freely between the emotional states of child, adult and parent.
10. I derive genuine, healthy pleasure from helping others without thought of reward, money, prestige or station.
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Remain silent, and you sink into a realm of shadows; speak, and you fall into a deep pit.
Try, and you’re as far away as sky from earth; give up, and you’ll never attain.
Enormous waves go on and on, foaming breakers flood the skies who’s got the bright pearl that calms the oceans?
-I-ch’ing
Native American
"I don't think that anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future, the future of the Cherokee people and of the Cherokee Nation."
--Wilma P. Mankiller, CHEROKEE
The world has changed in the last 50 years. It will change even more in the next 50 years, and it will change even faster. We must educate ourselves to ensure our future generations will maintain the language and the culture of our people. We need to be concerned about our land because when our land goes away, so will our people. We need to be concerned about leadership, our families and about alcoholism. We need to be concerned about what's going on around the world. We can only do this by being educated. Then we can control our future.
Great Spirit, please guide our children; let me know how I can help.
Keep It Simple
It may be those who do most, dream most. --- Stephen Leacock
Daydreaming gives us hope. It makes our world bigger. Daydreaming can be part of doing Step Eleven. As we meditate, we daydream. Through our daydreaming, we get to know ourselves, our spirit, and our Higher Power. What special work can we do? Our dreams can tell us.
There is time to work and time to dream. Daydreaming helps us find the work our Higher Power wants us to do.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, please speak to me through my daydreams.
Action for the Day: I'’ll set aside time to daydream. I will look into a candle flame, at picture, or out a window, and let my mind wander.
TWELVESTEPS
and
TWELVE TRADITIONS
Tradition Eight (pgs 170-171
We think the answer is “No. Members who select such full-time careers do not professionalize A.A.’s Twelfth Step.” The road to this conclusion was long and rocky. At first, we couldn’t see the real issue involved. In former days, the moment an A.A. hired out to such enterprises, he was immediately tempted to use the name Alcoholics Anonymous for publicity or money-raising purposes. Drunk farms, educational ventures, state legislatures, and commissions advertised the fact that A.A. members served them. Unthinkingly, A.A.’s so employed recklessly broke anonymity to thump the tub for their pet enterprise. For this reason, some very good causes and all connected with them suffered unjust criticism from A.A. groups. More often than not, these onslaughts were spearheaded by the cry “Professionalism! That guy is making money out of A.A.!” Yet not a single one of them had been hired to do A.A.’s Twelfth Step work. The violation in these instances was not professionalism at all; it was breaking anonymity. A.A.’s sole purpose was being compromised, and the name of Alcoholics Anonymous was being misused.
It is significant, now that almost no A.A. in our Fellowship breaks anonymity at the public level, that nearly all these fears have subsided. We see that we have no right or need to discourage A.A.’s who wish to work as individuals in these wider fields. It would be actually antisocial were we to forbid them. We cannot declare A.A. such a closed corporation that we keep our knowledge and experience top secret. If an A.A. member acting as a citizen can become a better researcher, educator, personnel officer, then why not? Everybody gains, and we have lost nothing. True, some of the projects to which A.A.’s have attached themselves have been ill-conceived, but that makes not the slightest difference with the principle involved.
This is the exciting welter of events which has finally cast up A.A.’s Tradition of nonprofessionalism. Our Twelfth Step is never to be paid for, but those who labor in service for us are worthy of their hire.
Big Book
"Highly competent psychiatrists who have dealt with us have found it
sometimes impossible to persuade an alcoholic to discuss his
situation without reserve. Strangely enough, wives, parents and
intimate friends usually find us even more unapproachable than do the
psychiatrist and the doctor.
But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is
properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire
confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an
understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 18~
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