Daily Reflections
November 3
FOCUSING AND LISTENING
“There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit.”
–TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 98
If I do my self-examination first, then surely, I’ll have enough humility to pray and meditate—because I’ll see and feel my need for them. Some wish to begin and end with prayer, leaving the self-examination and meditation to take place in between, whereas others start with meditation, listening for advice from God about their still hidden or unacknowledged defects. Still others engage in written and verbal work on their defects, ending with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. These three—self-examination, meditation and prayer—form a circle, without a beginning or an end. No matter where, or how, I start, I eventually arrive at my destination: a better life.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
November 3
A.A. Thought For The Day
I have charity, another word for love. That right kind of love which is not selfish passion but an unselfish, outgoing desire to help other people. To do what is best for the other person, to put what is best for him or her above my own desires. To put God first, the other person second, and myself last. Charity is gentle, kind, understanding, long-suffering, and full of desire to serve. A.A. has given me this. What I do for myself is lost; what I do for others may be written somewhere in eternity. Have I charity?
Meditation For The Day
“Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” God has unlimited power. There is no limit to what His power can do in human hearts. But we must will to have God’s power, and we must ask God for it. God’s power is blocked off from us by our indifference to it. We can go along our own selfish way without calling on God’s help and we get no power. But when we trust in God, we can will to have the power we need. When we sincerely ask God for it, we get it abundantly.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may will to have God’s power. I pray that I may keep praying for the strength I need.
Walk In Dry Places
November 3
Living with impossible dreams
Hope and false hope.
No matter how badly we managed our lives while drinking, many of us survived by holding on to the hope that some great stroke of luck would rescue us. Either we would find a windfall to pay off our debts, or a kind benefactor would appear to set things right.
These are impossible dreams, but they helped sustain us in the miserable half-world of alcoholism. We could not see that drinking was the real problem.
But we did have our great stroke of luck in finding AA. This helped us face our debts. At the same time, we found benefactors i the form of sponsors and other friends. We also found a Higher Power.
Even in sobriety, we have to guard against the impossible dreams we nourished while drinking. Again and again, we must remind ourselves that sober living is based on reality. Even reality, however, can have its miracles.
I’ll keep my dreams alive today, but I’ll make sure that they have a good foundation in reality.
Keep It Simple
November 3
“Words are the voice of the heart.”
–Confucius
What does my heart have to say today? Am I happy ? Or am I troubled? We will find this out if we slow down and listen to our words. We can also hear our spirit in the tone of our words.
We are to meditate. Meditation is about slowing down so we can hear what our spirit is trying to tell us. Meditation is listening. Our spirit is but a quiet whisper inside us. To hear we must quiet ourselves.
Slowing down allows us to find our center. As we find our center we find our spirit and our Higher Power. Do I take the time needed to slow myself down? Do I take the time to listen—to listen to my heart?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, teach me to slow down. Teach me to hear Your whisper as well as Your yells.
Action for the Day: Today, I will take a half hour to slow down and listen. I will find a place to relax and listen to my heart and my words.
“Lay hold of today’s task, and you will not depend so much on tomorrow’s.”
–Seneca
“The secret of life is not to do what you like, but to like what you do.”
–American Proverb
“A saddened heart is not made happier with a change of place.”
–Capt. Michael Hobson
“Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons.”
–Ruth Ann Schabaker
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
November 3
CHOICES
“Another good reducing exercise consists in placing both hands against the table edge and pushing back.”
–Robert Quillen
I am an alcoholic and today I choose not to drink. When alcohol is offered, I say “no.” I do not go into “wet places,” spend time with drinkers or put myself in awkward situations. I assist my abstinence by the choices I make.
The recovering gambler avoids Las Vegas. The drug addict avoids sick relationships. The compulsive overeater must exercise the spiritual power of choice around food. “No” must involve both hands! For the recovering addict, talk must be accompanied by action. Some people, places and things must be avoided.
Spirituality is making my talk a visible reality.
Daily Inspiration
November 3
Be able to do more today by expanding your vision of what you can accomplish. Lord, help me realize that my limits are beyond what I think and fill me with motivation to reach higher.
When you have faith in yourself and God, you will know that you are loved and safe and never alone. Lord, I am these things because You are always with me.
Journey to the Heart
November 3
You Haven’t Lost Your Place
Sometimes when life shifts and changes, it can feel like we’ve lost our place.
During those times when our lives are changing, we may feel out of tune, out of rhythm, out of balance. Out of step. Maybe an old feeling is surfacing, clearing, so that we can learn something new and move forward to a new place. Maybe our attention is being diverted to a new focus so we can find and experience another lesson. Sometimes the form or shape of our life is changing dramatically. The old picture is being erased so a new one can be drawn. Familiar people are leaving; new people are entering. We may ache, feel irritable, and doubt the course of our entire journey. We may doubt whether the magical way we were living was even real and whether the magic will ever return.
Let the changes happen. Take extra loving care of yourself. Be attentive to what you need. The magic isn’t gone; it hasn’t disappeared. You’re just going through a shift. That means things are moving, and movement is good.
For now it may feel like you can’t find your place, but that’s because your place is changing.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
November 3
“A sundance woman is like the morning star, filled with spiritual beauty, wisdom and knowledge. Men and women are the most powerful of the polarities. We walk beside men as equal partners. It takes men and women who have respect and love for one another to live within the embrace of Father Sky and Mother Earth.”
–Dr. Henrietta Mann, SOUTHERN CHEYENNE
Our ceremonies bring out the best in us. It’s in the ceremony that we find the place of honor and respect for each other. The place where the men honor the women and the women honor the men. We dance for each other. The ceremony helps us remember our responsibility toward each other. Men and women need to be strong, to love one another and be faithful. Only by doing this can we give our children knowledge of good relationships.
Great Spirit, today I will notice the power of the women; today I will notice the power of the men.
Today’s Gift
November 3
“Here’s Sulky Sue
What shall we do?
Turn her face to the wall … ”
–Mother Goose
When she put her Sulky Sue up against the wall, was this mother a wise or silly goose? If Sue was confused, could she talk sense with a wall? If she was angry, would the wall ever know why? If she was sad, would the wall wipe her tears away? If she was lonely, would the wall take her by the hand? Some walls are built for support, others to keep people away. To sulk is to look for support, someone strong to hold us up, not a silly goose who will turn us away.
Sulking is not the best way to look for help, and when we sulk, we are likely to end up isolating ourselves in some corner of our own making. And on the other hand, when we see another sulking, how much better it is to offer support instead of isolation!
Do I build walls of isolation, or walls of support?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
November 3
“I, God, am your playmate! I will lead the child in you in wonderful ways for I have chosen you.”
–Mechtild of Magdeburg
Our relationship with our Higher Power is not all solemnness. Facing the pains and guilts and grief’s of our codependent relationships and our addictions might lead us to think recovery is only serious business. Not so!
This program liberates us from the heaviness by facing it. We are not meant to stay stuck there. Recovery teaches us to enjoy life. Our Creator has concocted a world of many pleasures and delights to play in. As we progress in our recovery we learn to let our hair down and play. Some of us have become more able to enjoy good-natured roughhousing with our children. Maybe we have become more free to joke and banter with friends. Our spiritual lives grow with good-natured fun.
I am grateful for the child who still lives in me. He keeps alive my delight in the world.
Daily TAO
November 3
LILY
Dormant bulb, skin of tea-stained parchment,
Reaches into water with pubic tendrils—
It is the roots that make tall green shoots possible.
A lily bulb is the center of the future plant, containing all that is needed for growth. When it is set over water, it will first reach down with many white roots to drink deeply. Only then will it begin to split and put forth splendid green shoots. The same is true of life. We need to put deep roots down in order to bring forth beauty.
While most people can accept that anyone needs a strong foundation in life, we are speaking here of a more literal interpretation. Those who follow Tao believe in meditating upon all the centers of the body. It would be wrong to think of spirituality as wholly brain-oriented. Quite the contrary. One must establish a deep connection to one’s very energy, which arises in all parts of the body. One must come to terms with one’s sexual energy, which comes from the loins. One must become aware of one’s legs (what else holds you up all the time?) in order to become more stable. What is below is essential to what is above. What is below is the source of tremendous energy.