Daily Reflections
March 27
A.A.’s FREEDOMS
We trust that we already know what our several freedoms truly are; that no future generation of AAs will ever feel compelled to limit them. Our AA freedoms create the soil in which genuine love can grow.
–LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 303
I craved freedom. First, freedom to drink; later, freedom from drink. The A.A. program of recovery rests on a foundation of free choice. There are no mandates, laws or commandments. A.A.’s spiritual program, as outlined in the Twelve Steps, and by which I am offered even greater freedoms, is only suggested. I can take it or leave it. Sponsorship is offered, not forced, and I come and go as I will. It is these and other freedoms that allow me to recapture the dignity that was crushed by the burden of drink, and which is so dearly needed to support an enduring sobriety.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
March 27
A.A. Thought For The Day
You get the power to overcome drinking through the fellowship of other alcoholics who have found the way out. You get power by honestly sharing your past experience by a personal witness. You get power by coming to believe in a Higher Power, the Divine Principle in the universe which can help you. You get power by working with other alcoholics. In these four ways, thousands of alcoholics have found all the power they needed to overcome drinking. Am I ready and willing to accept this power and work for it?
Meditation For The Day
The power of God’s spirit is the greatest power in the universe. Our conquest of each other, the great kings and conquerors, the conquest of wealth, the leaders of the money society, all amount to very little in the end. But one that conquers oneself is greater than one who conquers a city. Material things have no permanence. But God’s spirit is eternal. Everything really worth while in the world is the result of the power of God’s spirit.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may open myself to the power of God’s spirit. I pray that my relationships with others may be improved by this spirit.
Walk in Dry Places
March 27
If it works, don’t fix it.
Accepting life.
A lot of things in life are all right just as they are. This is hard to understand in a world that puts high value on improvement and progress, but since there are so many things that do need fixing, it’s best not to tamper with things that are working.
Sometimes we think something should be changed in another person’s life. Two AA members decided, for example, that a mutual AA friend deserved higher status employment than what he was doing. They seized upon an unusual profession that seemed to fit his talents and interests, and were disappointed and even a bit offended when he decided he wasn’t interested. He continued to follow his regular trade until his retirement thirty years later.
In truth, there had really been nothing that needed “fixing” in his choice of a vocation. He had been earning a living doing very honest but difficult work. It was somewhat presumptuous of his friends to outline a new career for him, and it could have led to considerable harm.
Let’s leave people and things alone unless our help is requested and something really does need fixing.
I’ll look around today and notice the things in my life that are working well and really don’t need changing. Then I’ll focus my attention on the things that really should be fixed.
Keep It Simple
March 27
The secret success is constancy of purpose.
— Benjamin Disraeli
In Twelve Step meetings, we don’t talk about counseling, treatment centers, or non-program reading. Many of us have been helped in these ways, but we shouldn’t confuse them with Twelve Step programs. We must keep our Twelve Step programs pure, no matter what is in style among counselors or at treatment centers, or what the latest books say. Certainly, we should use these sources if they help us, but not in our program meetings. There, we must stick to the basics that have helped addicts recover all over the world for many years. Steps, traditions, meetings, sponsorship—these things work, no matter what is in style.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, let me be there to help an addict in need, by sharing my Twelve Step program.
Action for the Day: I will help out today be being a sponsor or by calling a new member, just to say hello.
God, help me let go of my need to create drama to have a life.
–Melody BeattieYou dwell always in the heart of God.
–John-Roger“We don’t ask God for too much; in fact, we ask for too little. Turn to Him for everything. Give everything to God.”
–Marianne Williamson
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
March 27
GUILT
“It is all one to me if a man comes from Sing Sing or Harvard. We hire a man not his history.”
— Henry Ford
So often we can get so locked into our history — what we did, what we said, the events of which we were ashamed — that we miss the gift of the new day.
Those of us who suffer from the disease of addiction need to deal with past problems but not live in them. Our attitude towards today need not be based on what happened yesterday. Today is the beginning of the rest of our lives. Today I know that I create most of the pain and tragedy in my life, but I also know that I create the joys and successes. I am confident that my sobriety makes me a winner.
Lord, I forgive myself for yesterday and look forward to the healing that comes with today.
Daily Inspiration
March 27
Be wise enough to thank God for not giving you some of the things you’ve asked for and gracious enough to gratefully enjoy what He gave you in its place. Lord, You know better than I what is right and best for me.
If you are not happy with what you have, how will you be happy with what you want to have? Lord, may I appreciate the good things in my life and refuse to feel sorry for myself or compare myself to others.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
March 27
” … you have to believe it first. Not wait until you see it first, then touch it, then believe it…You have to say it from the heart.”
–Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
We are designed to function from faith. First we pray. Then we use our imagination to create a vision or picture in our mind. We surround this mental picture with our emotions or feelings. These feelings are available when we ask or say it from the heart. The combination of the mental picture and asking from the heart to create the emotions will cause us to believe it. Then we just need to wait. We need to believe as though it is already done.
Great Spirit, remove from me any doubt that comes up today.
Journey to the Heart
March 27
Resentments Hurt Everybody
Resentments only hurt ourselves. Not true. Resentments can hurt others,too.
When we brood and allow resentments to brew and fester, we send negative, mean, hurtful, spiteful energy to others. The more consciously and vividly we do this, the more pain we can cause everyone. The more bonded we are with others, whether they’re business associates, friends, lovers, or family members, the more powerfully our resentments can impact them as well as us.
So if you’re busy thinking resentful thoughts about someone close to you on the job or at home, consider the harm you are doing to him or her. The more powerful the emotions connected to these thoughts and the closer you are to the person, the more damage you can do. You can sabotage the other person, help keep him or her down. Even if you don’t speak your resentments aloud, even if you try to hide the way you feel, the energy is there in the air hurting both of you, just as we focus on clearing the air we breathe of toxins, we need to cleanse the air around us at work and at home from the toxic fumes of resentment.
Remember, when we harbor hate, jealousy, or rage, we connect to others in ways that hurt us all. Let’s set others free. Let’s release our resentments. Along the way, we’ll set ourselves and our hearts free,too.
Today’s Gift
March 27
We like someone because, we love someone although.
—Henri de Montherlant
Families are like scissors. They are joined in the middle but often spread wide apart, moving away from each other. When we’re not feeling close to other family members – when it’s hard even to like them – it seems as though we’ll never come together again.
But pity the scrap of paper that comes between our scissor blades! The scissors works together again and slices the trouble clean. When trouble threatens our family, we can slice it through if we move together in love and acceptance.
No matter our small differences, we are part of the same living organism, in a way. The family we live in has been together for many generations, and we are just the most recent members. When we look at one another, we see the products of centuries of love.
When I feel distant from my family, can I locate where we are still joined together?
Touchstones Meditation For Men
March 27
Man is in love
And loves what vanishes;
What more is there to say?
—W. B. Yeats
Throughout our lives we repeatedly make attachments and lose them. We are taken with the rich color of leaves in the fall, but we know that this beauty will soon be replaced with stark, empty branches. We give ourselves to caring for a baby, knowing someday this person will say good bye to make his or her own life. We lie close to our lover in a special moment, yet we know that this, too, will be limited by the years of our lives.
We want to defiantly say, “No! If I can’t have permanence I’ll take nothing at all!” Most of us have wished we could outmaneuver life with such a power play. The loss feels so painful we might think holding back our love will save us pain. But holding back brings a greater unhappiness. When we submit to it, life is generous in its kaleidoscope of forms. Each attachment, each loss, is followed by more rewards and attachments. Loss and death itself are part of life. There is peace in accepting and living fully in the cycle of seasons.
God, help me to engage with life fully and to accept change.
Daily TAO
March 27
IMAGES
Sound, smell, taste, image, touch, sleep.
Can you think without clinging to these forms?
A thought without shape is rare,
Knowledge of Tao rarer still.
Our mind needs to cling to some object in order to function in its usual modes. If you look at your memories, you will find that most are tied to some sensory image. The thought of being in the country brings up a certain fragrance. You “see” relationships in a certain way. We may do math problems, or compose something to say to our companions, but we will still think in numbers and words.
Some people make the mistake of rejecting this type of thinking, but we need to use these modes in order to function in the everyday world. When it comes to knowing Tao, thought tied to sensory images is not enough to bring complete realization. Dualistic thinking cannot be used to know Tao. But don’t discard it as long as ordinary functioning in the world is necessary.
When one meditates, one must use an aspect of consciousness that does not cling to external forms. This type of consciousness is beyond the senses. Some call these states of mind superconsciousness, samadhi, nirvana, or enlightenment. These are mere names. All that matters is getting to these states. Then all labels fall away.
Daily Zen
March 27
In the mountains,
A monk’s robe hangs
In the meditation hall.
Outside the window,
No one’s to be seen,
Only birds skimming over the creek.
As I descend,
Dusk meets me halfway
Down the mountain road.
Still hearing the creek fall,
I hesitate, reluctant
To leave these blue heights.
– Meng Hao-jan (689-740)