DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
FIXING ME, NOT YOU
If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 90
What a freedom I felt when this passage was pointed out to me! Suddenly I saw that I could do something about my anger, I could fix me, instead of trying to fix them. I believe that there are no exceptions to the axiom. When I am angry, my anger is always self-centered. I must keep reminding myself that I am human, that I am doing the best I can, even when the best is sometimes poor. So I ask God to remove my anger.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
When new members come into my A.A. group, do I make a special effort to make them feel at home? Do I put myself out to listen to them, even if their ideas of A.A. are vague? Do I make it a habit to talk to all new members myself, or do I often leave that to someone else? I may not be able to help them, but then again it may be something that I might say that would put them on the right track. When I see any members sitting alone, do I put myself out to be nice to them, or do I stay among my own special group of friends and leave them out in the cold? Are all new A.A.'s my responsibility?
Meditation for the Day
You are God's servant. Serve Him cheerfully and readily. Nobody likes a servant who avoids extra work, who complains about being called from one task to do one less enjoyable. A master would feel ill served by such a servant. But is that not how you so often serve God? View your day's work in this light. Try to do your day's work the way you believe God wants you to do it, never shirking any responsibility and often going out of your way to be of service.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be a good servant. I pray that I may be willing to go out of my way to be of service.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Consequences
"Before we got clean, most of our actions were guided by impulse. Today, we are not locked into this type of thinking."
Basic Text p. 87
Ever been tempted to do something even when you knew the results would be disastrous? Ever thought about how much it was going to hurt to do what you were tempted to do, then proceed to do it anyway?
It is said that there are consequences to every action. Before we got clean, many of us simply didn't believe this. But now we know exactly what it means. When we act, we know there will be consequences to pay. No longer can we decide to do something in ignorance when we know full well that we won't like the price we'll have to pay.
There's a prize and a price. It's okay to act despite the consequences if we're willing to pay the price, but there's always one to pay.
Just for today: I will think about the consequences of my actions before I take them.
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
AA gives me what alcohol promised me!
The chosen and still suffering…
by Gordon R. (inspired after reading "Why We Were Chosen")
In the eyes I see the sadness
of the pain life has inflicted…
I see the misery and madness,
of the tortured and afflicted.
I hear the whispering cries for help,
only the chosen hear…
For those of you still suffering,
I hear you loud and clear.
I know the pain that you are feeling,
for I have felt it too…
The secrets you're concealing,
are tearing into you.
Your eyes have shed a thousand tears,
and will a thousand more…
Cease your battles waged for years,
and surrender to this war.
You need not be alone,
as you suffer in your silence…
To thy self you must atone,
and be rid of self reliance.
I've walked a distant mile,
in the shoes that you now wear.
They may have been on different feet,
...but exactly the same pair.
God’s hands and heart reach out to you,
take hold this gift He’s offering.
He will be there to guide you through,
…the chosen and still suffering.
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Half the spiritual life consists in remembering what we are up against and where we are going.
-Ayya Khema, "When the Iron Eagle Flies"
Native American
"I think that's what unity is - knowing one another and coming together and working with no conflict."
--Chief Alan Wilson, HAIDA
When we are aligned with spiritual values, we cannot be in fear or conflict. When we are aligned to spiritual values, we have the Creator whispering solutions in our ears. Unity is one of the spiritual values. When we value unity we value solutions. If we think this way, then we have no conflict within ourselves.
Great Spirit, let me see through Your eyes.
Keep It Simple
The foolish and the dead never change their opinions.
--- James Russell Lowell
We need to stay fresh in our program. We need to be open to new ideas. We need change. The ways we work the Steps should change for us as the years go by. And as we grow, more of the fog of our denial clears away. Then we see the world and our program in different ways.
We need to allow this to happen. At times, it’s scary to give up old ways and old opinions, but this is what allows new growth. Every day, we wake up to a new world. Being alive means change. Opinions and ideas are like a strong tree: the base is strong, but leaves change with the seasons.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me stay fresh and alive. Help me stay open to new ideas and attitudes. Help me to not become rigid.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll ask two friends to tell me how I may be rigid. I will listen to what they say.
TWELVESTEPS
and
TWELVE TRADITIONS
Step Twelve (pgs 116-119)
This new outlook was, we learned, something especially necessary to us alcoholics. For alcoholism had been a lonely business, even though we had been surrounded by people who loved us. But when self-will had driven everybody away and our isolation had become complete, it caused us to play the big shot in cheap barrooms and then fare forth alone on the street to depend upon the charity of passersby. We were still trying to find emotional security by being dominating or dependent upon others. Even when our fortunes had not ebbed that much and we nevertheless found ourselves alone in the world, we still vainly tried to be secure by some unhealthy kind of domination or dependence. For those of us who were like that, A.A. had a very special meaning. Through it we begin to learn right relations with people who understand us; we don’t have to be alone any more.
Our fortunes had not ebbed that much and we nevertheless found ourselves alone in the world, we still vainly tried to be secure by some unhealthy kind of domination or dependence. For those of us who were like that, A.A. had a very special meaning. Through it we begin to learn right relations with people who understand us; we don’t have to be alone any more.
When alcoholism strikes, very unnatural situations may develop which work against marriage partnership and compatible union. If the man is affected, the wife must become the head of the house, often the breadwinner. As matters get worse, the husband becomes a sick and irresponsible child who needs to be looked after and extricated from endless scrapes and impasses. Very gradually, and usually without any realization of the fact, the wife is forced to become the mother of an erring boy. And if she had a strong maternal instinct to begin with, the situation is aggravated. Obviously not much partnership can exist under these conditions. The wife usually goes on doing the best she knows how, but meanwhile the alcoholic alternately loves and hates her maternal care. A pattern is thereby established that may take a lot of undoing later on. Nevertheless, under the influence of A.A.’s Twelve Steps, these situations are often set right.*
When the distortion has been great, however, a long period of patient striving may be necessary. After the husband joins A.A., the wife may become discontented, even highly resentful that Alcoholics Anonymous has done the very thing that all her years of devotion had failed to do. Her husband may become so wrapped up in A.A. and his new friends that he is inconsiderately away from home more than when he drank. Seeing her unhappiness, he recommends A.A.’s Twelve Steps and tries to teach her how to live. She naturally feels that for years she has made a far better job of living than he has. Both of them blame each other and ask when their marriage is ever going to be happy again. They may even begin to suspect it had never been any good in the first place.
____________
* In adapted form, the Steps are also used by Al-Anon Family Groups. Not a part of A.A., this worldwide fellowship consists of spouses and other relatives or friends of alcoholics (in A.A. or still drinking). Its headquarters address is 1600 Corporate Landing Pkwy., Virginia Beach, VA 23454-5617.
Big Book
"We alcoholics are sensitive people. It takes some of us a long time
to outgrow that serious handicap."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 125~
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