Daily Reflections
February 5
A GLORIOUS RELEASE
“The minute I stopped arguing, I could begin to see and feel. Right there, Step Two gently and very gradually began to infiltrate my life. I can’t say upon what occasion or upon what day I came to believe in a Power greater than myself, but I certainly have that belief now. To acquire it, I had to stop fighting and practice the rest of A.A.’s program as enthusiastically as I could.”
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.27
After years of indulging in a “self-will run riot,”Step Two became for me a glorious release from being all alone. Nothing is so painful or insurmountable in my journey now. Someone is always there to share life’s burdens with me. Step Two became a reinforcement with God, and I now realize that my insanity and ego were curiously linked. To rid myself of the former, I must give up the latter to One with far broader shoulders than my own.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
February 5
A.A. Thought For The Day
One thing we learn in A.A. is to take a long view of drinking instead of a short view. When we were drinking we thought more about the pleasure or release that a drink would give us, than we did about the consequences which would result from our taking that drink. Liquor looks good from the short view. When we look in a package store window, we see liquor dressed up in its best wrappings, with fancy labels and decorations. They look swell. But have I learned that what’s inside those beautiful bottles is just plain poison to me?
Meditation For The Day
I believe that life is a school in which I must learn spiritual things. I must trust in God and He will teach me. I must listen to God and He will speak through my mind. I must commune with Him in spite of all opposition and every obstacle. There will be days when I will hear no voice in my mind and when there will come no intimate heart to heart communion. But if I persist, and make a life habit of schooling myself in spiritual things, God will reveal Himself to me in many ways.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may regularly go to school in things of the spirit. I pray that I may grow spiritually by making a practice of these things.
Walk In Dry Places
February 5
Is it really honesty?
Honesty
No matter how cruel the results, the need to criticize others can be a compulsion. Such criticism is sometimes justified by the defense “Well, I had to be honest” or “it was only the truth.”
But is it really honesty to gratuitously bring our a hurtful truth? Not when the critic’s real motives are to wound and humiliate someone, not to foster self-improvement and better behavior. Under those circumstances, the critic is really the dishonest person…. For not having detected the ugly personal motives that triggered the criticism.
Honesty is closely related to humility, and the truly honest person is usually humbly aware of person shortcomings in his or her own life. This alone makes the honest person reluctant to criticize and always careful to do it in ways that avoid inflicting pain or hurt.
Real honesty is rare, especially in people who hurt others under the guise of honesty.
With God’s help, I’ll look carefully at my motives today.
Keep It Simple
February 5
Don’t bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.
–Thomas Jefferson
Pleasure is important in recovery. But at times we think pleasure is the answer to life’s pains. Alcohol and other drugs were what we liked best. We need to watch out so we don’t switch to another addiction–such as gambling, food, sex, or work. The real answer to life’s pains is in having a strong spiritual center. It is also our best way to avoid another addiction. Recovery lets us turn our pain over to the care of our Higher Power. Our Higher Power can handle any problem we may have. Our program can help us with our problems too. Recovery is a three-way deal. Higher Power, program, and us.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me avoid another addiction. When I have problems, have me come to You and to my program before anything else.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll set aside time and ask the question, “Am I headed for another addiction/” I’ll also ask my sponsor what he or she thinks.
I just sit down for a few minutes, do a little thinking, and God writes the songs for me.
–Hank Williams (1923 – 1953)Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
–Confucius“You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”
–Max Ehrmann“Settle for nothing less than what you truly desire, and do not be afraid to ask for what you feel will bring you joy and fulfillment.”
–Emmanuel“Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him.”
–Aldous Huxley“Our own rough edges become smooth as we help a friend smooth her edges.”
–Sue Atchley Ebaugh
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
February 5
MONEY
“Capital, as such, is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
Today I am not afraid to say that I am concerned for my prosperity — not just in terms of health, friendship and employment but also concerning money. For years I was concerned to have the best, buy the best, own the best and not “shortchange” myself — yet I felt guilty in having such feelings. Today in my sobriety I truly believe that I deserve the best. In this way I am loving myself. Money, prosperity and capital are not “bad” in themselves; it is how we use them.
Today, as promised in my recovery, things are certainly getting better and I am able to invest and buy wisely. Some years ago I would squander money on my addiction. Today I am able to appreciate and share my monetary benefits. Family, friends and the “needy” can genuinely share my prosperity: the more I give away today, the more I get.
Thank You for all the many benefits You have showered upon me in my recovery, not least capital. May I always use it responsibly.
Daily Inspiration
February 5
Today do what you can and expect no more of yourself. Lord, I will feel joy in my accomplishments today and gratitude for the things I have to do tomorrow.
Do not act as though you are watching a parade because we are each one of the marchers. Lord, things change so quickly. Help me to celebrate the constant newness of my life.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
February 5
“Let the person I serve express his thanks according to his own bringing up and his sense of humor.”
–Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa), SANTEE SIOUX
“It is better to give than receive.” But it doesn’t really matter if we are giving or receiving. There is an identical feeling associated with both. We get this feeling every time we receive. We can’t control when we receive gifts but we can control when we give gifts. Therefore, the more we give, the better we feel. When we are given gifts, or someone does something for us, it is the Indian way to honor this person.
Great Spirit, let me honor and be respectful to those who are good to me today.
Today’s Gift
February 5
Let there be spaces in your togetherness.
—Kahlil Gibran
Sometimes it is just as important to know when to leave others alone as it is to know when to talk with them. We all need to be alone at times – to think, to work out a problem, or just to be quiet with ourselves. This is especially true in families, where we’re often surrounded by others. If we tune in to our other family members, we can develop sensors that will let us know when they need some time alone. Part of good communication is knowing when not to talk, too.
Can I be sensitive to my family’s needs for privacy today?
Touchstones
February 5
The human animal needs a freedom seldom mentioned: freedom from intrusion. He needs a little privacy quite as much as he wants understanding or vitamins or exercise or praise.
—Phyllis McGinley
The boundaries between us in our families and our friendships often need to be reshaped in recovery. We need to know our feelings are private. We reveal them at our choosing, with whom we choose. We give up on mind reading or probing because it intrudes upon another’s privacy. We actively engage in our relationships by sharing ourselves and listening to each other.
A secret that makes a relationship dishonest is destructive and ought to be told. But we cannot force another person to be honest, or pry the truth from a loved one. We can only be honest ourselves and guard our own right to privacy. Intimacy is the bridge, which is built between two separate people. Only when we let others have their privacy and we take ours can our relationships be more intimate.
I will maintain the boundaries of my privacy today and respect the right of others to do the same.
Daily TAO
February 5
VANTAGE
Distant ridges, far away clouds
All events come from a distance.
With a high vantage point,
Foretelling the future is elementary.
It is often superstitiously said that one who follows Tao knows magic. This is nonsense. Superiority is simply a matter of using the best of one’s abilities and being in the right position. For example, a wise person who lives high in the mountains and who is not blinded by wine, sensuality, intellectuality, poor health, or greed will be better able to see events in the distance that one who lives in a closed room, eyes on some obscure project.
A storm does not happen abruptly; it takes hours, sometimes days, to develop. Travelers do not arrive suddenly; they can be seen in the distance. Knowing things in advance is possible with a high vantage point. For this reason, the follower of Tao appears to know magic.
Daily Zen
February 5
Two methods enable us to rectify the heart:
The first is study,
Enriching our mind through practice
And discipline; training, studying
Until an inner light begins to grow within.
This seed of consciousness,
The sages teach, should be nourished
And kept in silence.
The second is the cultivation of virtue.
A sincere student discovers the
Workings of Tao by overcoming all
Manner of temptation.
Hordes of riches are outweighed in
Merit by a single word, Virtue.
– Loy Ching-yuen 1879-1960’s)
Food for Thought
February 5
Slumps
Most of us go through periods in our lives when nothing seems interesting, when our motivation and enthusiasm have deserted us. We feel dull and bored and depressed. Whether the slump lasts for an afternoon or for a month or for a year, the compulsive overeater tends to turn to food as a way out. For us, food has been exciting, and eating often used to be the most pleasurable activity we could imagine.
As most of us know all too well, eating is not a permanent solution to boredom. We may get a temporary high from food, but we invariably eat too much and end up feeling infinitely worse than before we started. Boredom is better than a binge. Food does not motivate nor does it generate enthusiasm. Overeating has just the opposite effect.
Joining OA does not ensure that we will never again experience boredom or have the blahs. What it does provide is a program of action to which we may turn when we are in a slump. Going to meetings, making phone calls, reading the literature, working the Steps – these are concrete actions we can take.
We have tried food and found that it eventually made things worse. Now let’s try the OA program.
Give me grace to act.
In God’s Care
February 5
It is not true that life is one damn thing after another–it is one damn thing over and over.
–Edna St. Vincent Millay
If there’s one thing you can say for addicted people, it’s that we’re hardheaded. It takes us a long time to be convinced that something is bad for us, particularly if it feels good momentarily. It’s also hard to convince us that something is good for us, even when we desperately want to stop feeling bad. As a result we’ve spent much of our life doing things over and over–spinning our wheels.
Luckily, there’s a cure for this. It’s called turning it over. We quit trying to figure out what is good or bad for us, or even what is in our best interest. We know that , on our own, there’s no sure way we can tell, Instead we ask a higher authority to handle it for us. That authority is God.