Daily Reflections
May 2
LIGHTING THE DARK PAST
Cling to the thought that, in God’s hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have – the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them.
-ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p 124
No longer is my past an autobiography; it is a reference book to be taken down, opened and shared. Today as I report for duty, the most wonderful picture comes through. For, though this day be dark – as some days must be – the stars will shine even brighter later. My witness that they do shine will be called for in the very near future. All my past will this day be a part of me, because it is the key, not the lock.
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
May 2
A. A. Thought for the Day
In A. A. we often hear the slogan “Easy Does It.” Alcoholics always do everything to excess. They drink too much. They worry too much. They have too many resentments. They hurt themselves physically and mentally by too much of everything. So when they come into A. A., they have to learn to take it easy. None of us knows how much longer we have to live. Its probable that we wouldn’t have lived very long if we had continued to drink the way we used to. By stopping drinking, we have increased our chances of living for a while longer. Have I learned to take it easy?
Meditation for the Day
You must be before you can do. To accomplish much, be much. In all cases, the doing must be the expression of the being. It is foolish to think that we can accomplish much in personal relationships without first preparing ourselves by being honest, pure, unselfish, and loving. We must choose the good and keep choosing it, before we are ready to be used by God to accomplish anything worthwhile. We will not be given the opportunities until we are ready for them. Quiet times of communion with the Higher Power are good preparation for creative action.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may constantly prepare myself for better things to come. I pray that I may only have opportunities when I am ready for them.
Walk in Dry Places
May 2
Look out for the power trips
Understanding hidden motives
We can often use a lofty reason to disguise a hidden motive behind our actions. We might be seeking power over people’s lives, for example, while claiming that “we’re only out to help them.” We may argue for a point of view only to establish a position of power. Such power trips are destructive, and others usually see them for what they really are.
If we’ve really accepted the principles of the Twelve Steps, we have no need for power trips. The logic of Step Eleven, for example, is that we’ll always have the power needed to carry out what’s in line with God’s will for us. We do not have to jostle and manipulate others to establish our importance or our authority.
When we really come to terms with our own tendencies to take power trips, we’ll be able to deal with others who come on strong with their power trips. We’ll soon perceive that such threats usually fade when we refuse to resist them or be upset by them.
I’ll undoubtedly meet people today who are maneuvering for power in different situations. I will neither criticize nor oppose them. My responsibility today is to avoid any of my own tendencies to take such power trips.
Keep It Simple
May 2
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.
-Eleanor Roosevelt
Most of us want to be happy. We just don’t know how. We aren’t sure what happiness is. We’ve learned the hard way that some things we wanted didn’t make us happy. We’re learning that happiness comes when we live the way our Higher Power wants us to live. That’s when we’re honest. When we do our best work. When we are a true friend. We make happiness; we don’t find it. Sometimes we don’t even know we’re happy. We’re too busy with our work, our recovery program, our friends and family. We need to slow down and know that when we do what we need to, happiness comes.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me know that I’m most happy when I listen to You and do Your will. You know better than I do what makes me happy.
Action for the Day: What parts of my program am I most happy about? Today I’ll think of these and enjoy myself.
“Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been put up to a critic.”
–Jean Sibelius
Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.
–Epictetus
One of the most valuable things we can do to heal one another is listen to each other’s stories.
–Rebecca Falls
“Sometimes you have to make music with what you got.”
–Izhak Perlman
“Don’t just do something, sit there! Sit there long enough each morning to decide what is really important during the day ahead.”
–Richard Eyre
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
May 2
FACTS
“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
-Aldous Huxley
Reality is not dependent upon our acceptance. Addiction does not have to be accepted to be real. Alcoholism was killing people long before it had a name!
I need to remember this in the recovery program for my life. A big part of my life was spent denying that I had a problem. My manipulative art was exercised in discovering more acceptable excuses for my drunkenness, rather than looking at the problem. I danced toward death with God and denial on my lips. Belief in the God of Truth did not stop my dishonesty.
The process of self-love and acceptance began in my cry for help. Surrender brought me sanity. God was working His purpose out in my life because I was getting out of my way; I was facing the facts. Spirituality is making the words fit the feelings, and the feelings make the action.
Daily Inspiration
May 2
Do not allow yourself to be disappointed by any thing or any person, but rather have faith that in all things God is leading you to your ultimate good.
Not one day passes without receiving wonderful blessings from our loving and generous God. Lord, may I forget the irritations that distract me from Your happiness.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
May 2
“Think only about what is holy. Empty your mind.”
-Archie Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA
If we let our minds wander, we will come up with a lot of junk; maybe bad thoughts about a brother or sister, maybe angry thoughts, maybe self-pity thoughts. Our minds are not the boss. We can instruct our mind to think about whatever we want to think about. We cannot stop thinking, but we can choose what to think about. The Elders say we move towards what we think about. That’s why they say, “Think about what is holy, think about the Grandfathers, think about culture, think about values, think about ceremonies, and think about good.”
Great Spirit, today, empty my mind and let me experience what it would be like to think about what is holy.
Journey to the
Heart
May 2
See the Divine All Around You
The woman was old, perhaps ninety. She had the frailness we sometimes see in the elderly, but her life force was strong, vital. She sat in the cafe eating breakfast with a younger woman.” You’ve been through a lot,” the younger woman said.” It must be hard since your husband died. How are you doing?”
The older woman chewed a bite of toast, then responded.” I’m okay,” she said.” Everything that’s happened has brought me to a closer walk with the Lord.”
“What do you mean by that?” the younger woman barked.
“This is what I mean,” the older woman said.” I see God in everything. In people. In things. In the world. In myself. It’s just a closer walk.”
I smiled to myself, quit eavesdropping, and finished my breakfast. Every religious faith has its own language. Each has its own frame of reference. But most roads lead to the same destination: taking our place in the Divine rhythm, recognizing Divinity in all that is– in others, in ourselves, and in all the creations of the universe.
Open to your connection to the world around you. Know that we really are one. The connection is God. The connection is the Divine as each of us understands it. The connection is love.
Today’s Gift
May 2
A bird came down the walk: He did not know I saw; He bit an angle-worm in halves And ate the fellow, raw.
—Emily Dickinson
We must look very different to the birds than we do to each other. Likewise, birds seem different to us than they do to each other. Neither the way we see birds or the way they see us is the “right” way. They are simply different ways of seeing.
If we could turn birds into people so they would see things the way we do, eat the way we do, and think the way we do, we would lose the idea of flying. The knowledge that flight is possible is a gift birds have given us.
We do well to remember this when we get upset at others for not doing things the way we would. Varieties of styles, appetites, and ideas are gifts that enrich the world and bring more possibilities into our lives.
When others disagree with me today, will I accept their gift?
Touchstones
Meditation For Men
May 2
Do not reveal your thoughts to everyone, lest you drive away your good luck.
—Sirach 8:19
We’ve had problems in our lives with limits. We have done some things to excess and others we have endlessly postponed. Sometimes we haven’t had good judgment about what we ought to tell someone or whom we ought to tell. We may have kept secrets that made us lonely and sick. Other times we exposed too much in inappropriate situations and hurt someone else or ourselves. Developing these internal limits is a quiet change that comes with recovery. Gradually, we gain a stronger feeling of self-respect and become more intuitive about when to express something and when not to.
Secrets are links in our chains of bondage to isolation, addiction, and codependency. Yet, when we are compelled to tell everything, we lack the feeling of self-containment that comes from maturity. We need a sense of privacy, which is the freedom to choose what and when to confide in a friend. What does our intuition tell us today about our privacy and our openness?
Today, I will listen to my inner messages about what I need to discuss with others and when I need to withhold.
Daily TAO
May 2
VALIDITY
A river new —
Ancient words unneeded.
See, touch, rushing beauty,
Drink crystal flow.
When we stand on the banks of a river, we must realize that it is constantly new. Although we might say that it was running long before we were born, its exact configuration — the particular currents, the way it flows around rocks, the shape of its banks, the paths of fish in its depths — is subtly unique at any given moment. To know the river, we only need to experience it directly : to touch it, to swim it, to contemplate it, to drink it. The same is true of Tao.
Tao is ever flowing. Although it was present since the beginning of time and though many have experienced it, it is here for us to explore today. Touch it. Swim it. Contemplate it. Drink it. If you have touched Tao, you should harbor no doubt about it, nor should you wonder that you need scripture to confirm it.
Daily Zen
May 2
Observe the example of Buddha Shakyamuni of the Jeta Grove, who practiced sitting up straight for six years even though he was gifted with intrinsic wisdom. Still celebrated is Master Bodhidharma of the Shaolin Temple, who sat facing the wall for nine years although he had already received the mind seal. Ancient sages were like this; who nowadays does not need to practice as they did?
– Dogen 1227