Daily Reflections
August 5
LISTENING DEEPLY, p.226
How persistently we claim the right to decide all by ourselves just what we shall think and just how we shall act.
-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 37
If I accept and act upon the advice of those who have made the program work for themselves, I have a chance to outgrow the limits of the past. Some problems will shrink to nothingness, while others may require patient, well-thought-out action. Listening deeply when others share can develop intuition in handling problems which arise unexpectedly. It is usually best for me to avoid impetuous action. Attending a meeting or calling a fellow A.A. member will usually reduce tension enough to bring relief to a desperate sufferer like me. Sharing problems at meetings with other alcoholics to whom I can relate, or privately with my sponsor, can change aspects of the positions in which I find myself. Character defects are identified and I begin to see how they work against me. When I put my faith in the spiritual power of the program, when I trust others to teach me what I need to do to have a better life, I find that I can trust myself to do what is necessary.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
August 5
A.A. Thought For The Day
We in A.A. are offering a spiritual program. The fundamental basis of A.A. is belief in some Power greater than ourselves. This belief takes us off the center of the universe and allows us to transfer our problems to some power outside of ourselves. We turn to this Power for the strength we need to get sober and stay sober. We put our drink problem in God’s hands and leave it there. We stop trying to run our own life and seek to let God run it for us. Do I do my best to give spiritual help?
Meditation For The Day
God is your healer and your strength. You do not have to ask Him to come to you. He is always with you in spirit. At your moment of need He is there to help you. Could you know God’s love and His desire to help you, you would know that He needs no pleading for help. Your need is God’s opportunity. You must learn to rely on God’s strength whenever you need it. Whenever you feel inadequate to any situation, you should realize that the feeling of inadequacy is disloyalty to God. Just say to yourself: I know that God is with me and will help me to think and say and do the right thing.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may never feel inadequate to any situation. I pray that I may be buoyed up by the feeling that God is with me.
Walk In Dry Places
August 5
Can We Fix Other People’s Problems?
Problem Solving
In Twelve Step work, we never run out of people who face serious problems. We’re often tempted to use our own expertise and resources to fix these problems for others.
This can be a mistake. It is always risky to undertake such assignments without a great deal of thought and understanding. Such attempts to fix others usually deal only with symptoms rather than causes.
Unless another person is totally helpless, the best course is to share experiences and knowledge with others, but to leave the problem solving to them. We should not encourage anyone to become dependent on us, nor should we set ourselves up as godlike individuals who have all the answers. We actually may be showing off instead of helping, and we may also be robbing others of the self-confidence and growth that come from fixing their own problems.
I’ll share my experiences and hope today, while refraining from trying to fix people. I don’t have answers for everybody, and it’s wrong to believe I do.
Keep It Simple
August 5
—Billy Joel
Listen to the kind voice inside. Listen to the voice that tells you you’re good enough. Listen to the voice that tells you it’s okay to make mistakes—you’ll learn from them. Listen to the voice that tells you to go to your meeting even though it’s cold outside and you’re tired. Listen and let this voice become more and more clear. Listen, and welcome it in your heart. Talk with the voice.
Ask it questions and seek it out when you need a friend. This voice is your Higher Power. Listen as your Higher Power speaks to you. Listen as your Higher Power tells you what a great person you are.
Prayer for the Day: I pray to the gentle, loving voice that lives in me. Higher Power, You’ve always been kind to me. You’ve always loved me. Help me to remember You’re always there—inside me.
Action for the Day: I will take time from my busy day to listen and talk with the loving voice that lives inside me.
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
August 5
THOUGHT
therefore endeavor to think well, that is the only morality.”
– Blaise Pascal
I think that human beings are very imitative creatures; we imitate clothes, hair styles, mannerisms, and lifestyles. A man’s mind will be influenced by what he listens to and what he reads. And what we think is very important to sobriety.
Today I make an effort to examine my thinking and check it out with a sponsor or in a support group. I know that my dignity in sobriety is connected not only with what I do but also with my attitudes and thoughts — when my thinking begins to go crazy, I know I am in a dangerous place and I need to talk. God created me with the ability to think, therefore, I need to safeguard the information I put in my mind.
Let me learn to develop morality of mind.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
August 5
we must willingly give ourselves to struggle.”
–Linda Hogan, CHICKASAW
The Grandfathers have taught us about sacrifice.
We have been taught to pray for the people in a pitiful way.
Struggle and conflict is neither good nor bad, it just is.
Everything that grows experiences conflict.
When the deer is born it is through conflict.
When the seed first grows, it is through conflict.
Conflict precedes clarity.
Everything has the seasons of growth.
Recognize – acknowledge – forgive and change.
All of these things are done through conflict.
Great Spirit, give me the courage today to see that struggle and conflict are here to teach me lessons that are a gift from you.
Touchstones Meditations For Men
August 5
—E. B. White
We are like many-faceted gemstones. Each side represents a different aspect of us. We have our emotional sides with different feelings and responses. We have our competencies and strengths, hopes and desires, destructiveness and negativity, self-doubts and resentments. We also possess a drive for power and knowledge, a desire to serve, and a wish to connect with others.
Our spiritual masculinity requires that we know our many sides. We need a working relationship with our thoughts and feelings so they can be appreciated, accepted, and understood. When we tell our story in a meeting, we let others know us, and we get to know ourselves better. When we are spontaneous in what we say or do, we communicate with ourselves. We discover ourselves through meditation, journal writing, playfulness, physical activity, and conversations with others. In that way we become more honest.
Today, I will use my lines of communication with myself and become more self-accepting and more honest.
Daily TAO
August 5
Runaway
They call her useless
And yet push for achievement.
“I want a baby.”
They bicker between themselves,
And reproach her for being distant.
“My friends have so much fun.”
They dwell on money,
And indenture her to loyalty.
“I can’t stand this every day.”
She is innocent.
They have ambitions.
There was a girl who was both a good student and a good athlete. Her family did not find that to be enough. They pushed her to spend all her time studying or practicing for her next sport competition. Finally, she could stand it no further. She ran away.
Her family was firmly convinced it was a kidnapping.
In so many families, a girl is told how useless she is. Is it any wonder she gets pregnant? A boy is told how lazy he is. Is it any wonder he rebels as an act of individuality?
When parents demand without understanding, they thwart development. Forcing children to fulfill parental ambitions destroys individuality. Before parents blame their children, they should first look to how their daughters and sons were raised.