DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
MY CHECKLIST, NOT YOURS
Gossip barbed with our anger, a polite form of murder by character assassination, has its satisfactions for us, too. Here we are not trying to help those we criticize; we are trying to proclaim our own righteousness.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 67
Sometimes I don't realize that I gossiped about someone until the end of the day, when I take an inventory of the day's activities, and then, my gossiping appears like a blemish in my beautiful day. How could I have said something like that? Gossip shows its ugly head during a coffee break or lunch with business associates, or I may gossip during the evening, when I'm tired from the day's activities, and feel justified in bolstering my ego at the expense of someone else. Character defects like gossip sneak into my life when I am not making a constant effort to work the Twelve Steps of recovery. I need to remind myself that my uniqueness is the blessing of my being, and that applies equally to everyone who crosses my path in life's journey. Today the only inventory I need to take is my own. I'll leave judgment of others to the Final Judge -- Divine Providence.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Am I deeply grateful to A.A. for what it has done for me in regaining my sobriety and opening up an entirely new life for me? A.A. has made it possible for me to take on other interests, in business and in various other associations with people. It has made a full life possible for me. It would perhaps be wrong if all my activities were limited to A.A. work. It has made a well rounded life possible for me in work, in play and in hobbies of various kinds. But will I desert A.A. because of this? Will I accept a diploma and become a graduate of A.A.? Do I realize I could have nothing worth while without A.A.?
Meditation For The Day
There is only one way to get full satisfaction from life and that is to live the way you believe God wants you to live. Live with God in that secret place of the spirit and you will have a feeling of being on the right road. You will have a deep sense of satisfaction. The world will have meaning and you will have a place in the world, work to do that counts in the eternal order of things. Many things will work for you and with you, as long as you feel you are on God's side.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may have a sense of the eternal value of the work I do. I pray that I may not only work for now, but also for eternity.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Choices
"We did not choose to become addicts."
Basic Text p. 3
When we were growing up, all of us had dreams. Every child has heard a relative or neighbor ask, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Even if some of us didn't have elaborate dreams of success, most of us dreamed of work, families, and a future of dignity and respect. But no one asked, "Do you want to be a drug addict when you grow up?"
We didn't choose to become addicts, and we cannot choose to stop being addicts. We have the disease of addiction. We are not responsible for having it, but we are responsible for our recovery. Having learned that we are sick people and that there is a way of recovery, we can move away from blaming circumstances - or ourselves - and into living the solution. We didn't choose addiction, but we can choose recovery.
Just for today: I choose recovery.
pg. 301
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
"You have always had the Power" Glinda the Good Witch
Everything I think does NOT have to be shared...
(thanks Karla F.)
Sobriety is never owned. It's rented and the rent is due everyday
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Enlightenment is a way of saying that all things are seen in their intrinsic empty nature, their Suchness, their ungraspable wonder. Names or words are merely incidental, but that state which sees no division, no duality, is enlightenment.
-Prajnaparamita
Native American
"All of us begin to rethink what is good about ourselves - put the past where it belongs - and get on with the possibilities of the present!"
--Howard Rainer, TAOS PUEBLO-CREEK
There is a saying, you move toward and become that which you think about. So the question for today is, what are you thinking about? Are you thinking bad things about yourself or are you thinking good things about yourself? Are you thinking about a worldly life? Are you thinking good things about people or are you gossiping about people? Are you focusing on past things or are you living in the future? We need to bring our thoughts into the NOW, right here.
Great Spirit, let me experience living in the present moment.
Keep It Simple
Not to decide is to decide. --- Harvey Cox
We are winners, because everyday we decide to stay sober. Every day we decide to listen to our Higher Power. We win by making active choices. We’ve stopped acting as if we have no choice. Our old way was to us by accident. Not true. We pretend we had no power. Also not true. We lost our power over alcohol and other drugs, but we still had the power to ask for help. Each time we used chemicals was a decision, just as to stay sober each day is a decision.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thanks for giving me choices. I will not run from them. Help me make good choices. Help me decide every day to listen to you.
Action for the Day: Not for one minute will I pretend I am a victim. I’ll face my choices squarely and decide.
TWELVESTEPS
and
TWELVE TRADITIONS
THE TWELVE TRADITIONS (pgs 129-188)
Tradition One (pgs 129-130)
“Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.”
THE unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend squarely upon it. We stay whole, or A.A. dies. Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; our world arteries would no longer carry the life-giving grace of God; His gift to us would be spent aimlessly. Back again in their caves, alcoholics would reproach us and say, “What a great thing A.A. might have been!”
“Does this mean,” some will anxiously ask, “that in A.A. the individual doesn’t count for much? Is he to be dominated by his group and swallowed up in it?”
We may certainly answer this question with a loud “No!” We believe there isn’t a fellowship on earth which lavishes more devoted care upon its individual members; surely there is none which more jealously guards the individual’s right to think, talk, and act as he wishes. No A.A. can compel another to do anything; nobody can be punished or expelled. Our Twelve Steps to recovery are suggestions; the Twelve Traditions which guarantee A.A.’s unity contain not a single “Don’t.” They repeatedly say “We ought…” but never “You must!”
To many minds all this liberty for the individual spells sheer anarchy. Every newcomer, every friend who looks at A.A. for the first time is greatly puzzled. They see liberty verging on license, yet they recognize at once that A.A. has an irresistible strength of purpose and action. “How,” they ask, “can such a crowd of anarchists function at all? How can they possibly place their common welfare first? What in Heaven’s name holds them together?
Big Book
"Now we try to put spiritual principles to work in every department
of our lives. When we do that, we find it solves our problems too;
the ensuing lack of fear, worry and hurt feelings is a wonderful
thing."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, To Wives, pg. 116~
To subscribe click the link below:
http://www.getresponse.com/site/dailyponderables/webform.html?wid=108246