Daily Reflections
December 5
A NEW STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
“He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being.”
—TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p 107
Many of us in A.A. puzzle over what a spiritual awakening is. I tended to look for a miracle, something dramatic and earth shattering. But what usually happens is that a sense of well-being, a feeling of peace, transforms us into a new level of awareness. That’s what happened to me. My insanity and inner turmoil disappeared and I entered into a new dimension of hope, love and peace. I think the degree to which I continue to experience this new dimension is in direct proportion to the sincerity, depth and devotion with which I practice the Twelve Steps of A.A.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
December 5
A.A. Thought For The Day
In spite of all we have learned in A.A., our old way of thinking comes back on us, sometimes with overwhelming force, and occasionally some of us have slips. We forget or refuse to call on the Higher Power for help. We seem to deliberately make our minds a blank so far as A.A. training goes, and we take a drink. We eventually get drunk. We are temporarily right back where we started from. Those who have had slips say unanimously that they were no fun. They say A.A. had taken all the pleasure out of drinking. They knew they were doing the wrong thing. The old mental conflict was back in full force. They were disgusted with themselves. Am I convinced that I can never get anything more out of drinking?
Meditation For The Day
Give something to those who are having trouble, to those whose thoughts are confused, something of your sympathy, your prayers, your time, your love, your thought, your self. Then give of your own confidence, as you have had it given to you by the grace of God. Give of yourself and of your loving sympathy. Give your best to those who need it and will accept it. Give according to need, never according to deserts. Remember that the giving of advice can never take the place of giving of your self.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that as I have received, so may I give. I pray that I may have the right answer to those who are confused.
Walk In Dry Places
December 5
Holding hands and hugging
Sincerity
The custom of holding hands while saying the Lord’s Prayer has been adopted by many AA groups. We have also seen more hugging than in the past, even between the most unlikely members.
Are these new practices good or bad? In accordance with AA tradition, we have to leave such questions to the group conscience.
One thought, however, is that such physical actions do not necessarily mean that any true spiritual bonding has taken place. The old-timers who never held hands or hugged still had a great closeness in spirit and in feeling.
We must also consider that we may be violating the privacy of the person who doesn’t wish to hold hands or hug. If such a person chooses to stand outside the hand-holding circle, he or she maybe cast in the role of dissenter. Would that be fair?
Hand-holding and hugging may be here to stay, but let’s not make them out to be more than mere physical expressions. The program of the heart is still first.
I’ll remember today that true bonding is spiritual, not physical.
Keep It Simple
December 5
All over the world, recovering men and women use the same Twelve Steps to live their lives.
Our fellowship keeps growing. The bigger it gets, the faster it grows. Why? Because the program brings our spirits back to life. All over the world, many of us were dying, and now we’re full of life and love. We are bringing our world back to life. As we share our experience, strength, and hope, we help others join us in coming back to life.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me stay sober today. Guide me and all others who are doing Your will today.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll think of three things I can do to help spread the message of AA and NA.
“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.”
—William James“Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.”
—Henry David Thoreau“If you want to accomplish the goals of your life, you have to begin with the Spirit.”
—Oprah Winfrey“The principles you live by create the world you live in; if you change the principles you live by, you will change your world.”
—Blaine Lee“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.”
—John Lubbock“The ultimate lesson all of us have is unconditional love, which includes not only others but ourselves as well.”
—Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
December 5
BEAUTY
“Not every woman in old slippers can manage to look like Cinderella.”
—Don Marquis
Beauty is not what you wear or look like; beauty is within. We begin to love ourselves when we see the beauty that God has given to each and every one of us forever. God’s image and beauty is expressed through our attitudes and feelings, how we greet and listen to each other and the gentle dignity we afford to another human being.
For years I saw myself as ugly, boring, useless and stupid. This message came from parents who forever compared me with others and for years I believed their message. I hid through my teenage years and quietly tried to escape in food, alcohol and drugs.
Then after a crisis, I met people who had felt the same but were now feeling different. They loved me until I could begin to love myself. Now I like me. Now I can love me. Today I can like and love you.
Help me to see the beauty in the wrinkle; the power in the pain.
Daily Inspiration
December 5
Imagine joy and you will find it. Lord, I thank You for the people that need me and love me, for the ability to hope and especially for the ability to love.
One of life’s greatest rewards is not what we get, but what we become. Lord, give me the courage to be all that I can.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
December 5
“I’ve had a long regard for generational things: pottery, cultural things, participation in dancing, extended family. Only in that way does culture survive; only in that way is culture active.
—Tessie Naranjo, SANTA CLARA PUEBLO
Culture teaches us how to live and it ensures that knowledge about life is handed down from generation to generation. Culture gives us the feeling of belonging. It helps us raise our family in a good way. It teaches us how to treat one another. Culture sets boundaries for societies. We need to develop our culture. If we have left our culture, then we need to come back to it. Culture leads us back to the Great Spirit. Sometimes in our lives, we leave what we know works and experiment with something else. Then we get into trouble. So we need to come back home. Indian people are lucky to have a culture to return to.
Creator, thank you for the culture. Let me live it today.
Today’s Gift
December 5
“My true god is always with me. I am learning to trust myself … ”
—Joan Parsons
Sometimes a book we read at a very young age stays with us our whole lives.
One girl loved Heidi more than any other book. She always thought about the grandfather’s hut. It was a special place in the world—with the fresh mountain air, the spring flowers, the winter fire on the hearth. But the part she carried with her to adulthood was the part about the grandfather pouring goat’s milk into a bowl and telling Heidi to drink it all up so she could grow to be healthy and happy.
Now that girl is a woman. Sometimes, when she wants to feel taken care of, she pours herself a bowl of milk. Then she sits down, picks up the bowl with two hands, and drinks out of it like Heidi. She feels comforted and connected to the universe.
The private rituals we discover in childhood can befriend us all our lives, if we let them.
What do I want when I want comfort?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
December 5
“[A relationship] takes time and deeds, and this involves trust, it involves making ourselves naked, to become sitting ducks for each other.”
—Eldridge Cleaver
When we were lost in our excesses, we were limited in our relationships. The history of our friendships and loves may be evidence of that. Many of us had a primary relationship with a substance or an addictive behavior, and people had only second place. Many of us were so lost in our codependency that our relationships were two-dimensional. We didn’t know how to be there with our whole selves. In recovery our ability to relate to others charges slowly. We learn how to love like everyone else learned—only we are learning a little later.
We have to be willing to be vulnerable. We also must be willing to be accountable—willing to say to our loved ones, “You can count on me to never leave without saying goodbye.” “You can count on me to be respectful of you.” “You can count on me to tell you how I feel, even when it hurts.” As we mature, with the help of the Steps, we also grow in our relationships with others.
Today, I will be true to my relationships.
Daily TAO
December 5
LEARNING
Learning is the fountain of youth.
No matter how old you are,
You mustn’t stop growing.
Don’t think that creativity is only for artists, writers, and musicians. Creativity is an essential element for everyone. Unlike the outer-directed creativity of making art, solving problems, or writing, the creativity that everyone can engage in is learning.
As long as we continue to learn, welcome new ideas and ways of doing things, and continually expand our understanding of ourselves and the world around us, then we are engaging in the ultimate creativity of the self.
If one looks carefully at those seniors who are ongoing and vital participants in life, one will see that a common habit is continuous learning and interest. These seniors are not the same as they were in their youth. They have found new ways of learning and acting.