Daily Reflections
October 22
TRUE TOLERANCE
Finally, we begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong, and then we approach true tolerance and see what real love for our fellows actually means.
-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 92
The thought occurred to me that all people are emotionally ill to some extent. How could we not be? Who among us is spiritually perfect? Who among us is physically perfect? How could any of us be emotionally perfect? Therefore, what else are we to do but bear with one another and treat each other as we would be treated in similar circumstances? That is what love really is.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
October 22
A.A. Thought For The Day
I am content to face the rest of my life without alcohol. I have made the great decision once and for all. I have surrendered as gracefully as possible to the inevitable. I hope I have no more reservations. I hope that nothing can happen to me now that would justify my taking a drink. No death of a dear one. No great calamity in any area of my life should justify me in drinking. Even if I were on some desert isle, far from the rest of the world, but not far from God, should I ever feel it right to drink. For me, alcohol is out–period. I will always be safe unless I take that first drink. Am I fully resigned to this fact?
Meditation For The Day
Day by day we should slowly build up an unshakable faith in a Higher Power in that Power’s ability to give us all the help we need. By having these quiet times each morning, we start each day with a renewing of our faith, until it becomes almost a part of us and is a strong habit. We should keep furnishing the quiet places of our souls with all the furniture of faith. We should try to fill our thoughts each day with all that is harmonious and good, beautiful, and enduring.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may build a house in my soul for the spirit of God to dwell in. I pray that I may come at last to an unshakable faith.
Walk In Dry Places
October 22
When the bath is negative
Personal relations
A member referred to getting a “negative bath” every day at work. She was talking about her boss’s bad disposition and the poor attitudes of several co-workers. How does one deal with this negativity?
It’s not satisfactory to say that this member created her own “negative bath” by her attitudes toward her boss and others. In fact, in many businesses, the atmosphere is negative… and dealing with it takes more than trite comment.
In such situations, we can employ detachment, as practiced in Al-Anon, and accept the things we cannot change, as stated in the Serenity Prayer.
The longer-term solution may require making a major change, such as finding a new job, but we must be careful not to exchange one negative situation for another. We will make the right decision if we’re careful to avoid resentment and self-pity while being completely honest about our own motives and intentions.
I may find myself in a “negative bath” of some kind today, but I can detach from it by avoiding resentment or the tendency to blame others.
Keep It Simple
October 22
Life is what happens to us while we’re making other plans.
-Thomas LaMance
What happened to our years of drinking and using other drugs? They seemed to pass so quickly with so little to show for them. We had plans, but we didn’t get where we wanted to go. There was always “tomorrow.”
What a difference today! Now we work a program that helps us really live each day. We’re not losing time out of our lives anymore. Now every day is full of life: sights, sounds, people, feelings—those things we used to miss out on. We have the help of a Higher Power who makes every day important.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me do Your will for me today. I place this day in Your care.
Action for the Day: Be on the lookout today for signs of life!
Express love through acknowledgment. Notice the good in those around you and freely comment on it.
-Mary Manin MorrisseyThe value of persistent prayer is not that He will hear us, but we will finally hear Him.
-William McGillS T E P S = Solutions To Every Problem in Sobriety.
-unknown
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
October 22
UNITY
“This land of ours cannot be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.”
-Richard Nixon
My sobriety has given me a comprehensive view of life and my neighbor. Today I believe that we are all connected and if I hurt or am hurt, then everybody at some level is affected. Because we are all children of God, it follows that we are all one big family — speaking different languages, having different customs, revealing different physical characteristics and complexions, requiring different satisfaction (both sexual and emotional), but we are still one big family under God.
This means I have a responsibility to all in the family and I can best exercise that responsibility by having a healthy respect for myself. I should treat people as I would want to be treated, allowing them the freedom and love I require in my life. I am the key to the world’s needs.
Lord, let me find my neighbor in myself.
Daily Inspiration
October 22
Do not take any action until you’ve prayed and listened and then you will have guidance to reach the understanding necessary to complete the things you need to do. Lord, I know that there is no obstacle for You and ask that You will guide me along the right path.
Rejoice and be happy for others when they are blessed. Lord, bless me with the ability to be free of envy so that I can truly share the joy of my neighbors.
A Day At A Time
October 22
Reflection For The Day
“not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well,” wrote La Rochefoucauld. The Program is of inestimable value for those of us, formerly addicted, who want to know ourselves and who are courageous enough to seek growth through self-examination and self-improvement. If I remain honest, open-minded and willing, The Program will enable me to rid myself of my self-deceptive attitudes and character flaws that for so long prevented me from growing into the kind of person I want to be. Do I try to help others understand The Program and Twelve Steps? Do I carry the message by example?
Today I Pray
I ask God’s blessing for the group, which has shown me so much about myself that I was not swilling to face on my own. May I have the courage to be confronted and to confront, not only to be honest for honesty’s sake — which may be reason enough — but to allow myself and the others in the group to grow in self-knowledge.
Today I Will Remember
We are mirrors of each other.
One More Day
October 22
This is the bitterest knowledge among men, to have much knowledge but no power.
-Herodotus
We have the power to influence others’ lives only when we share what we have learned. If we fail to or refuse to recognize the value of our knowledge, we force ourselves into a sort of isolation and — worse still — deprive others of our insights.
We know how to handle intricate personal relationships and delicate problems. We have gained the emotional stability to allow ourselves to depend on others and on our Higher Power. We can share this knowledge with others, not to serve our own needs, but to help our fellow human beings.
A loving power is mine when I gently share the knowledge I have with others.
One Day At A Time
October 22
Scars
“Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to its power.”
-Shirley MacLaine
I’ve lived most of my life filled with bitterness towards people, God and myself. My mind, soul, and body were consumed by hatred, self-pity, pain, hopelessness, and a complete sense of powerlessness. I focused my energy on reviewing my scars. I counted them, checked them, nurtured them, and flaunted them. They were proof of all the wrongs I’d endured. They were my source of energy. They were my identity. They were my badge of sorrow.
As I work my recovery, I am beginning to see everything from a new perspective. Gradually my head is lifted and my eyes are turned away from my once-beloved scars. The more I allow myself to accept that my powerlessness is not a prison of doom, the more I discover that it is my doorway to faith, surrender, and serenity.
My scars are still here. There is no magic potion to remove them. What is magical, however, is that I see them so differently. I find that I have a choice to make every day: I can cherish my scars as proof of the pain I have suffered, or I can be thankful for them as evidence of things I have survived. Scar tissue forms and creates a stronger, thicker skin in its place. I can either pick at it and make it bleed, or I can welcome the lessons and endurance it has built into my life.
One day at a time …
I will choose to see my scars as proof of the difficulties I have survived. I will choose to appreciate them as evidence that God has brought me through suffering and has used all things to strengthen my faith in Him, my hope for tomorrow, and my serenity for today.
~ Lisa
Today’s Gift
October 22
Sometimes it takes a rainy day just to let you know, everything’s gonna be alright.
—Cris Williamson
Rainy days let us slow down. We are busy people, driving ourselves to go places and get things done. But rain seems to slow life down, even in our hearts. And slowing down can show us the peace in our lives, the peace of knowing we have all we need right inside us. The pressures of the world can drop away for a time while we reflect.
As the rain soaks into the ground, its serenity enters our hearts. Leaves on trees begin to look more green. Plants and flowers are no longer thirsty. When we slow down, we can be comforted by what we have in our hearts, knowing everything is going to be all right.
What comfort can I find within myself right now?
The Language Of Letting Go
October 22
Holding Your Own
Trust yourself. Trust what you know.
Sometimes, it is hard to stand in our own truth and trust what we know, especially when others would try to convince us otherwise.
In these cases, others may be dealing with issues of guilt and shame. They may have their own agenda. They may be immersed in denial. They would like us to believe that we do not know what we know; they would like us not to trust ourselves; they would prefer to engage us in their nonsense.
We don’t have to forfeit our truth or our power to others. That is codependency.
Believing lies is dangerous. When we stop trusting our truth, when we repress our instincts, when we tell ourselves there must be something wrong with us for feeling what we feel or believing what we believe, we deal a deadly blow to our self and our health.
When we discount that important part of ourselves that knows what is the truth, we cut ourselves off from our center. We feel crazy. We get into shame, fear, and confusion. We can’t get our bearings when we allow someone to pull the rug from under us.
This does not mean that we are never wrong. But we are not always wrong.
Be open. Stand in our truth. Trust what you know. And refuse to buy into denial, nonsense, bullying, or coercion that would like to take you off course.
Ask to be shown the truth, clearly – not by the person trying to manipulate or convince you, but by yourself, your Higher Power, and the Universe.
Today, I will trust my truth, my instincts, and my ability to ground myself in reality. I will not allow myself to be swayed by bullying, manipulating, games, dishonesty, or people with peculiar agendas.
Touchstones Meditation For Men
October 22
Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.
—Eric Hoffer
A holier-than-thou attitude within us is often a sign of unconscious dishonesty. Who hasn’t had the feeling of being superior to the angry outburst or the near slip of another man – and then found himself in the very same spot the next day? What we least want to admit about ourselves is what we are most likely to feel self-righteous about.
Since our blind spots and self-deception leave us vulnerable to returning to old behaviors, we must attack them vigorously. The man we feel most self-righteous toward may be the man we could learn the most from. When we stop focusing on him, we may notice he touches our most sensitive area. We’re all creatures of God and equals in God’s sight. The ways we create inequality are the ways we fall short of God’s wisdom.
I will use my self-righteous feelings to point me to my own blind spots.
Daily TAO
October 22
SOLUTIONS
Don’t be afraid to explore;
Without exploration there are no discoveries.
Don’t be afraid of partial solutions;
Without the tentative there is no accomplishment.
Indecision and procrastination are corrosive habits. Those who wait for every little thing to be perfect before they embark on a project or who dislike the compromise of a partial solution are among the least happy. Ideal circumstances are seldom given to anyone for an undertaking. Instead there is uncertainty in every situation. The wise are those who can wrest great advantage from circumstances opaque to everyone else.
Wanting everything in life to be perfect before you take action is like wanting to reach a destination without travel. For those who follow Tao, travel is every bit as important as the destination. One step after another : That is still central to the wisdom of Tao.