Daily Reflections
September 1
WILLINGNESS TO GROW
If more gifts are to be received, our awakening has to go on.
-As Bill Sees It, p.8
Sobriety fills the painful “hole in the soul” that my alcoholism created. Often I feel so physically well that I believe my work is done. However, joy is not just the absence of pain; it is the gift of continued spiritual awakening. Joy comes from ongoing and active study, as well as application of the principles of recovery in my everyday life, and from sharing that experience with others. My Higher Power presents many opportunities for deeper spiritual awakening. I need only to bring into my recovery the willingness to grow. Today I am ready to grow.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
September 1
A.A. Thought For The Day
Be careful not to brand new prospects as alcoholics. Let them draw their own conclusion. But talk to them about the hopelessness of alcoholism. Tell them exactly what happened to you and how you recovered. Stress the spiritual feature freely. If they are agnostics or atheists, make it emphatic that they do not have to agree with your concept of God. They can choose any concept they like, provided it makes sense to them. The main thing is that they be willing to believe in a power greater than themselves and that they live by spiritual principles.” Do I hold back too much in speaking of the spiritual principles of the program?
Meditation For The Day
“I will never leave or forsake thee.” Down through the centuries, thousands have believed in God’s constancy, untiringness, and unfailing love. God has love. Then forever you are sure of His love. God has power. Then forever you are sure, in every difficulty and temptation, of His strength. God has patience. Then always there is One who can never tire. God has understanding. Then always you will understand and be understood. Unless you want Him to go, God will never leave you. He is always ready with power.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may feel that God’s love will never fail. I pray that I may have confidence in His unfailing power.
Walk In Dry Places
September 1
Are we victimizing ourselves?
Finding the New Happiness
Some believe that people create their own trouble by attracting the wrong conditions and people in their lives. This may not be entirely true, but we can find that some element of it was at work with us.
Time and time again during our drinking, we set ourselves up for abuse and rejection, though our motives seemed right. Why did we do this? Supposedly to punish ourselves, the theory has it.
If this is true, then we should now call a halt to the process immediately. If we’ve emerged from the terrors of alcoholism, we’ve had all the punishment anybody needs.
We can change our bad patterns by looking carefully at the people and situations we seem to attract. Without resentment or condemnation, we can part company with any problems these have been bringing us. We can start building new relationships and attracting better conditions that will be immensely successful in terms of happiness and well-being.
I’ll remember today that in the new life I’m seeking, there’s no need for punishment. I will not go out of my way to attract people or conditions that create problems in my life.
Keep It Simple
September 1
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible …
—First half of Step Nine
In our illness, we harmed people. In Step Nine, we are to make amends. Making amends is about asking people we have harmed what we need to do to set things right. But making amends is more than saying, “I’m sorry.” If you ran a store and someone had stolen five dollars, you wouldn’t want them to just say, ”I’m sorry.” You’d want the person to pay back the money. The same is true with amends.
Many people we’ve harmed ask only that we don’t repeat our mistakes. Respect their wishes. Step Nine has healed many wounds. Step Nine allows us to grow up. Step Nine help us regain faith in ourselves. Remember, the best amend we make to all is to stay sober.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, give me courage. Help me face the trouble caused by my disease. Make me ready to help other heals from the harm I’ve caused.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll pray that those I’ve harmed will heal. I will be responsible for my actions.
Today I know my Higher Power is guiding me through the changes I choose to make in my life. I have all the energy I need today to make these changes as easily and effortless as I wish.–Ruth Fishel
–Melody Beattie
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
September 1
OPTIMISM
Today I am an optimist. I believe in life, and more importantly, I believe in me. I know that God cares and this brings me hope.
But when I was drinking I had a negative and destructive attitude in all areas of life; nothing pleased me, people were not to be trusted, everybody had a price, God seemed to be “out for lunch” and life had lost its meaning. I was a sad man. I was a lonely man. I was an angry man.
When I was told to put down the drink and follow some new directions, I halfheartedly agreed. I met people who laughed, shared their pain and lived in the realistic “now”. I began to listen. Slowly I changed. Peace was within my grasp.
Today I wonder at my halfhearted risk that started it all — and thank God.
A Day At A Time
September 1
Reflection For The Day
Based on their collective experience, The Program’s founders suggested a prayer to be said when taking the Third Step – and making a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. “God, I offer myself to Thee, to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy power, Thy Love, and Thy way of life. May I do Thy will always!” Have I abandoned myself to God as I understood Him?
Today I pray
I praise my Higher Power for my freedom to find my own understanding of God. May my life be God’s whether i think of Him as a Father whose hand and spirit I can touch with an upward reach of my own, or as a universal Spirit that I can merge with as the hard outlines of my “self”begin to melt, or as a core of Divine and absolute goodness inside myself. May I know Him well, whether I find Him within me, without me or in all things everywhere.
Today I Will Remember
I thank God, as I understand Him, for my understanding of Him.
One More Day
September 1
Being spiritual does not necessarily mean being religious. Instead, it can be an awakening of our deepest personal sense of caring about other people, as well as an awakening of our appreciation of the joy, symmetry, and balance of nature.
The spirituality we strive for and which comforts us best is based on our finding a similar balance within ourselves. When we possessively clutch our faith and expect all that we demand, our spirituality is weakened. Yet, if we expect nothing of it, it might seem to disappear. Our spiritual lives are strengthened as we find that precious balance between expectant trust in our Higher Power and responsible reliance on ourselves.
I am striving to find fullness and balance in my days. Certain experiences change the balance, but I can find it again.
One Day At A Time
September 1
SELF-KNOWLEDGE
The world I created before finding the Twelve Steps of recovery was a world in which I had no responsibility. Everything bad in my life was someone else’s fault: my parents’, my husband’s, society’s, and, when there was no one else to blame, it was God’s fault.
As I worked Step 4, I learned that I had been a part of all of these things for which I blamed others. I learned that I had defects of character that kept me from taking part in my life. As I recognized these defects, I asked my Higher Power to remove them, and that gradually happened.
One of the things I had tried to do for many years was bury my feelings of grief and pain. I seemed to have managed that fairly well, but in doing so, I had also buried all the other emotion. I no longer took enjoyment in anything. My child’s smile evoked no feeling and I felt no pride in anything I did. I felt none of the love that others gave to me. As I started dealing with the painful feelings, the positive emotions emerged as well.
The promise the Big Book speaks of became true for me: I no longer regretted the past nor wished to shut the door on it. I was able to feel my hurt and grief. Now I am also able to feel love and happiness. I have learned how to change my thinking through the process of working these wonderful Steps.
One Day at a Time …
I do a daily 10th, 11th and 12th Step and am reminded that it is my responsibility to listen to my Higher Power and do my part in creating the world around me. ~ Nancy
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
September 1
“Everyone has a song. God gives us each a song. That’s how we know who we are. Our song tells us who we are.”
–Charlie Knight, UTE
As we start to walk the Red Road and as we develop ourselves as Warriors, a song will come to us. This song is given to each of us from the Great Spirit. Whenever we sing this song, we will receive courage and strength not only for ourselves but if we sing this song for others, it will also help them. The song will give us power and make us feel really good. The song will make us see life in a sacred way. If you don’t have your song yet, ask the Creator in prayer if He will give you your song. With the song comes a responsibility – the responsibility to act and conduct oneself as a Warrior according to your song.
Oh my Creator, let me live my song. Let my song honor Your way of life. Let me sing my song each day. At the end of today, let my song tell people who I am. I am a beautiful child of the Creator.
Touchstones Meditations For Men
September 1
Everything is given to us. Our lives came forth with no plan on our part. We have no lease on life and no control, ultimately, over any possession. In the addictive and codependent families most of us came from, we learned something else. We learned a lonely arrogance that said, “I should be self sufficient. I have earned everything that ever came to me.” Deep down we probably knew how untrue that was, and we felt great self-doubt.
The cure we learn in this program for our lonely arrogance is a miracle and a blessing. We accept that we are part of a larger whole. Now it dawns on us – all of our friends and relatives share this basic powerlessness. We are all pilgrims. We are all guests. We are all stewards of creation. We can be close, and we must help one another because everyone is equally vulnerable.
I am grateful to my Higher Power today for the life, which has been given me. I pray for greater understanding of my responsibilities.
Daily TAO
September 1
FARMERS
Plain country folk with rounded bodies,
Skin turning to bronze in the valley heat.
Why talk to them about Tao?
They eat when they are hungry,
They sleep when they are sleepy.
Even a sage with infinite permutations
Could not match their simplicity.
Do you want to know about simplicity? Go live with farmers. Their
daily activities are coordinated with the seasons, they are close to the
earth, and they do not spend their time figuring out how to attain
status. They are honest and plain. They make no distinction between who
they are as individuals and who they are as farmers.
Those of us who live in cities would be hard pressed to equal the
farmer in simplicity. Simplicity, after all, is what Tao most
celebrates. Who needs to know all the digits of pi? Who needs to
engineer a new monetary policy? Who needs to strive for political
office? None of these things is necessary to be a human being.
Give up unnecessary things.
Daily Zen
September 1
Hanging scroll
Lovely display—
Just as in days of old,
Might this not be a future
Autumn moon,
This white chrysanthemum flower!
– Rengetsu (1791-1875)