DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
INTUITION AND INSPIRATION
. . . we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don't struggle.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 86
I invest my time in what I truly love. Step Eleven is a discipline that allows me and my Higher Power to be together, reminding me that, with God's help, intuition and inspiration are possible. Practice of the Step brings on self-love. In a consistent attempt to improve my conscious contact with a Higher Power, I am subtly reminded of my unhealthy past, with its patterns of grandiose thinking and false feelings of omnipotence. When I ask for the power to carry out God's will for me, I am made aware of my powerlessness. Humility and healthy self-love are compatible, a direct result of working Step Eleven.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
A better way than judging people is to look for all the good in them. If you look hard enough and long enough, you ought to be able to find some good in every person. In A.A. I learned that my job was to try to bring out the good, not criticize the bad. Every alcoholic is used to being judged and criticized. That has never helped anyone to get sober. In A.A. we tell people they can change. We try to bring out the best in them. We encourage their good points and ignore their bad points. People are not converted by criticism. Do I look for the good in people?
Meditation for the Day
There must be a design for the world in the mind of God. We believe His design for the world is a universal fellowship of men and women under the fatherhood of God. The plan for your life must also be in the mind of God. In times of quiet meditation you can seek for God's guidance, for the revealing of God's plan for your day. Then you can live this day according to that guidance. Many people are not making of their lives what God meant them to be, and so they are unhappy. They have missed the design for their lives.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may try to follow God's design for today. I pray that I may have the sense of Divine Intent in what I do today.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Not Just Surviving
"When we were using, our lives became an exercise in survival. Now we are doing much more living than surviving."
Basic Text p. 50
"I'd be better off dead!" A familiar refrain to a practicing addict, and with good reason. All we had to look forward to was more of the same miserable existence. Our hold on life was weak at best. Our emotional decay, our spiritual demise, and the crushing awareness that nothing would ever change were constants. We had little hope and no concept of the life we were missing out on.
The resurrection of our emotions, our spirits, and our physical health takes time. The more experience we gain in living, rather than merely existing, the more we understand how precious and delightful life can be. Traveling, playing with a small child, making love, expanding our intellectual horizons, and forming relationships are among the endless activities that say, "I'm alive." We discover so much to cherish and feel grateful to have a second chance.
If we had died in active addiction, we would have been bitterly deprived of so many of life's joys. Each day we thank a Power greater than ourselves for another day clean and another day of life.
Just for today: I am grateful to be alive. I will do something today to celebrate.
pg. 332
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
There is a time for everything. We should learn to wait patiently until the right time comes. Easy does it. We waste our energies in trying to get things before we are ready to have them, before we have earned the right to receive them. A great lesson we have to learn is how to wait with patience. We can believe that all our life is a preparation for something better to come when we have earned the right to it. We can believe that God has a plan for our lives and that this plan will work out in the fullness of time. (thanks Shannon H.)
"The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes." --Marcel Proust
RESENT SOMEBODY
The moment you start to resent somebody you become their slave. They control your dreams, absorb your digestion, rob you of your peace of mind and good will, take away the pleasure of your work.
They ruin your spirituality and nullify your prayers. You cannot take a vacation without them going along! They destroy your freedom of mind and hound you wherever you go. There is no way to escape the person you resent.
They are with you when you are awake. They invade your privacy when you sleep. They are close beside you when you eat, when you drive your car, and when you are on the job.
You can never have efficiency or happiness. They influence even the tone of your voice. They require you to take medicine for indigestion, headaches and loss of energy. They even steal your last moment of consciousness before you go to sleep.
So if you want to be a slave, harbor your resentment.
"Dead people receive more flowers than living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude "
- Anne Frank (thanks Stan F.)
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Don't forget to bring the good experiences of meditation into your daily activities. Instead of acting and reacting impulsively and following your thoughts and feelings here and there, watch your mind carefully, be aware, and try to deal skillfully with problems as they arise. If you can do this each day, your meditation will have been successful.
-Kathleen McDonald, "How to Meditate"
For me the best introduction is the human face. When I see two eyes, one mouth, one nose, I know I’m dealing with another human being like me. I’m like those young children who don’t care about their companions’ background so long as they smile and are willing to play.
~Dalai Lama's tweet for the day (thanks Shannon H.)
Native American
"The hearts of little children are pure, and therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss."
--Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa) OGLALA LAKOTA
Sometimes adults think they know more than the children. But the children are closer to the truth. Have you ever noticed how quickly they can let go of resentments? Have you ever noticed how free they are of prejudice? Have you ever noticed how well the children listen to their bodies? Maybe adults need to be more like children. They are so innocent. The children pray to the Creator and trust that He will take care of them.
Grandfather, today let the children be my teacher.
Keep It Simple
Make it a point to do something every day that you don’t want to do. --- Mark Twain
Self-discipline is a key part of living sober life. We need it t get to our meetings regularly. We need it to understand the Steps. We need it to work the Steps.
And we get much in return. With self-discipline, we learn to trust ourselves. We learn to do what is most loving and caring for ourselves. What a great relief! One of the worst parts of our illness was that we couldn'’t count on ourselves. We didn'’t know what we’d do next. Self-discipline heals this part of our illness.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You have given me much. It’s only right that I give You part of my day. I will pray and meditate on Your wonders.
Action for the Day: I will list areas of my program where I lack self-discipline. I will share the list with my group and sponsor, and I’ll let them know in a month how I’m doing.
TWELVESTEPS
and
TWELVE TRADITIONS
Tradition Nine (pgs 173-174)
You might think A.A.’s headquarters in New York would be an exception. Surely, the people there would have to have some authority. But long ago, trustees and staff members alike found they could do no more than make suggestions, and very mild ones at that. They even had to coin a couple of sentences which still go into half the letters they write: “Of course, you are at perfect liberty to handle this matter any way you please. But the majority experience in A.A. does seem to suggest…” Now, that attitude is far removed from central government, isn’t it? We recognize that alcoholics can’t be dictated to—individually or collectively.
At this juncture, we can hear a churchman exclaim, “They are making disobedience a virtue!” He is joined by a psychiatrist who says, “Defiant brats! They won’t grow up and conform to social usage!” The man in the street says, “I don’t understand it. They must be nuts!” But all these observers have overlooked something unique in Alcoholics Anonymous. Unless each A.A. member follows to the best of his ability our suggested Twelve Steps to recovery, he almost certainly signs his own death warrant. His drunkenness and dissolution are not penalties inflicted by people in authority; they result from his personal disobedience to spiritual principles.
Big Book
"So our rule is not to avoid a place where there is drinking, if we
have a legitimate reason for being there. That includes bars,
nightclubs, dances, receptions, weddings, even plain ordinary whoopee
parties. To a person who has had experience with an alcoholic, this
may seem like tempting Providence, but it isn't.
You will note that we made an important qualification. Therefore,
ask yourself on each occasion, 'Have I any good social, business, or
personal reason for going to this place? Or am I expecting to steal a
little vicarious pleasure from the atmosphere of such places?' If you
answer these questions satisfactorily, you need have no
apprehension. Go or stay away, whichever seems best. But be sure
you are on solid spiritual ground before you start and that your
motive in going is thoroughly good. Do not think of what you will
get out of the occasion. Think of what you can bring to it. But if
you are shaky, you had better work with another alcoholic instead"
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 101
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