Daily Reflections
August 20
TOWARD EMOTIONAL FREEDOM
Since defective relations with other human beings have nearly always been the immediate cause of our woes, including our alcoholism, no field of investigation could yield more satisfying and valuable rewards than this one.
-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS , p. 80
Willingness is a peculiar thing for me in that, over a period of time, it seems to come, first with awareness, but then with a feeling of discomfort, making me want to take some action. As I reflected on taking the Eighth Step, my willingness to make amends to others came as a desire for forgiveness, of others and myself.
I felt forgiveness toward others after I became aware of my part in the difficulties of relationships. I wanted to feel the peace and serenity described in the Promises. From working the first seven Steps, I became aware of whom I had harmed and that I had been my own worst enemy. In order to restore my relationships with my fellow human beings, I knew I would have to change. I wanted to learn to live in harmony with myself and others so that I could also live in emotional freedom. The beginning of the end to my isolation – from my fellows and from God – came when I wrote my Eighth Step list.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
August 20
A.A. Thought For The Day
“When many hundreds of people are able to say that the consciousness of the presence of God is today the most important fact of their lives, they present a powerful reason why one should have faith. When we see others solve their problems by simple reliance upon some Spirit of the universe, we have to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work, but the God-idea does. Deep down in every man, woman, and child is the fundamental idea of God. Faith in a Power greater than ourselves and miraculous demonstrations of that power in our lives are facts as old as the human race.” Am I willing to rely on the Spirit of the universe?
Meditation For The Day
You should not dwell too much on the mistakes, faults, and failures of the past. Be done with shame and remorse and contempt for yourself. With God’s help, develop a new self-respect. Unless you respect yourself, others will not respect you. You ran a race, you stumbled and fell, you have risen again, and now you press on toward the goal of a better life. Do not stay to examine the spot where you fell, only feel sorry for the delay, the shortsightedness that prevented you from seeing the real goal sooner.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may not look back. I pray that I may keep picking myself up and making a fresh start each day.
Walk In Dry Places
August 20
All that Glitters
Tempting Moments
Though real sobriety means all lose of desire to drink, it’s not uncommon to have moments when the old life takes on a sudden appeal. This appeal is never based on a realistic look at things as they were. It is more a rush of feeling connected with some alluring aspect of the drinking life.
Such a false feeling will always pass if we let ourselves remember what happened to us and why we needed to seek recovery. We cannot have this rush of feeling when we remember the misery, despair, and other pain from that part of our lives.
All that glitters is not gold, goes an old saying. All the glittering scenes connected with drinking are not really golden moments, either. They are, for us, always preludes to disaster.
I’ll remember today to let realistic thinking rule my life even if there are moments when my feelings run temporarily awry.
Keep It Simple
August 20
Heaven and hell is right now. You make it heaven or you make it hell by your actions.
—-George Harrison
We used chemicals to feel better, but we started feeling worse. We were out of control. Life seemed like hell.
Now we have a program that tells us how to make life better. Some days, it even feels like heaven! But we have to work our program to make our own heaven.
Working the program isn’t too hard. And it makes us feel so good. So, why don’t we do it all the time? Maybe we’re a little afraid of heaven. It’s time to learn to love having a better life!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me work my program each day, so each day has a little bit of heaven in it. Help me get used to having a better life.
Action for the Day: Tonight, I’ll think about the moments of kindness, joy, hope and faith that put a little bit of heaven into my life today.
Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.
–M. Scott Peck
Let me tell thee, time is a very precious gift of God; so precious that it’s only given to us moment by moment.
–Amelia Barr
“You cannot give to people what they are incapable of receiving.”
–Agatha Christie
“I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.”
–Walter Anderson
“For many people, change is more threatening than challenging. They see it as the destroyer of what is familiar and comfortable rather than the creator of what is new and exciting.”
–Nido Qubein
Often when we’re being tough and strong, we’re scared. It takes a lot of courage to allow ourselves to be vulnerable, to be soft.
–Dudley Martineau
Heaven and hell is right now. . .You make it heaven or you make it hell by your actions.
–George Harrison
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
August 20
TOGETHERNESS
“A man who thinks of himself as belonging to a particular national group in Americas has not yet become an American.”
– Woodrow Wilson
Today I know that I belong. I am not alone. I do not exist outside of the human race. I am an important part of this world.
Addiction makes us feel different, separated and isolated. It keeps us divided within ourselves, our family and relationships. So long as it can do this, it wins.
Now I know that I belong. I make up a part of the whole. Something of this universe is mine.
I am not an island unto myself. I am an essential part of the human race. I am at home in my world.
One Day At A Time
August 20
AMENDS
“If you have behaved badly, repent; make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.”
–Aldous Huxley
I grew up with high expectations of perfection and a constant feeling of failure. I seldom recognized truly bad behavior in myself, but instead I apologized for the things I had taken on as my responsibility that were not under my control. I apologized when the weather spoiled plans. I apologized for an adult family member’s poor behavior. I felt intense shame when I accidentally slipped and fell, sure that I’d embarrassed the people with me. Yet I was oblivious to how I snapped at people simply because I was in a HALTS (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired, Sick) place. My temper was quick to rise and explode, but I always told myself I had a “good” excuse or cause.
On the other hand, I could feel so mortified over my behavior that it haunted me night and day for weeks, and even months, after the incident; long after any witness could recall it. Years later a phrase would bring the memory back to the forefront and shame me all over again as though it had happened mere minutes before.
I couldn’t seem to find a truthful middle ground until I began working the Twelve Steps. In studying the Steps I learned how to uncover and acknowledge the wrongs for which I am sincerely responsible, how to make proper amends, and how to let go and move on.
One Day at a Time …
I will remember that I am responsible only for my own behavior and actions. With the help of my Higher Power, I will acknowledge my wrongdoings quickly and make loving amends.
~ Rhonda H.
Today’s Gift
August 20
Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward.
—Soren Kierkegaard
Once, in a small village, there was a huge fire. The blaze spread and several homes and businesses were burned to the ground. After a long while, the fire was brought under control and put out. Villagers banded together to rebuild their town, but one quite persistent young man insisted on searching the rubble for the cause of the fire. Impatient townspeople scolded him, saying, “Why waste time searching for causes? Knowing them won’t put out the blaze or repair the damage.” “I know,” replied the young man, “but knowing why might prevent other fires.”
Sometimes we have to look at painful past experiences in order to prevent their recurrence. When we understand ourselves better, we can move beyond the past and walk toward the future with surer, safer steps.
How well can I use my past today?
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
August 20
“ … remember and think about the closeness of Wanka-Tanka. If they live in this wisdom, it will give them endless strength and hope.”
–Fools Crow, LAKOTA
The value of staying close to the Creator is the immediate help we have available to us whenever we need it.II can listen to the whisper of my heart for this is the place He communicates with me.
Staying close helps me remember that we are here to serve Him and to help other people.
The Grandfathers are my direct access to wisdom.
He who has wisdom has everything.
If we have wisdom, then we will see our lives become more effective in the areas of jobs, relationships, family, friends, and finances.
My Creator, today grant me the wisdom to seek Your wisdom. Help me to Walk of the Red Road.
Touchstones Meditations For Men
August 20
Every human being is a problem in search of a solution.
—Ashley Montagu
Each of us is a strong and fragile creature. We’re always subject to forces outside our control, and we’re learning steps for living that helps us cope and rise above these problems. Our particular situation might seem special to us but in another sense, everyone’s situation is a unique problem. Spiritual growth is the result of coming face to face with our own situation, feeling the brunt of our own puzzlement, recognizing no recipe will apply completely, and then trusting our Higher Power as we make unsure responses.
No school or parent can ever teach us enough to smooth our search for solutions. We become complete human beings by living through the muddle, by truly trusting our connections with God and other people to carry us along until we find clarity again. We progress into manhood when we meet our own particular life crises. We learn to see we have this process in common with every human being. Rather than resist our problems, we band together with others and pool our strength to find solutions.
My problems today are opportunities for spiritual growth.
Daily TAO
August 20
Labels
Don’t call me a follower of Tao.
Following Tao is an intensely personal endeavor in which you spend each minute of your life with the universal pulse. You follow the fluid and infinitely shifting Tao and experience its myriad wonders. You will want nothing more than to be empty before it – a perfect mirror, open to every nuance.
If you put labels on who you are, there is separation from Tao. As soon as you accept the designations of race, gender, name or fellowship, you define yourself in contrast to Tao.
That is why those who follow Tao never identify themselves with the name Tao. They do not care for labels, for status, or for rank. We all have an equal chance to be with Tao.
Reject labels.
Reject identities.
Reject conformity.
Reject convention.
Reject definitions.
Reject names.
Daily Zen
August 20
The water of the mind, how clear it is!
Gazing at it, the boundaries are invisible.
But as soon as even a slight thought arises,
Ten thousand images crowd it.
Attach to them and they become real,
Be carried by them, and it will be difficult to return.
How painful to see a person trapped
In the ten-fold delusions.
– Ryokan (1758-1831)