Daily Reflections
April 11
A WORD TO DROP: “BLAME”
To see how erratic emotions victimized us often took a long time. We could perceive them quickly in others, but only slowly in ourselves. First of all, we had to admit that we had many of these defects, even though such disclosures were painful and humiliating. Where other people were concerned, we had to drop the word “blame” from our speech and thought.
–TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 47
When I did my Fourth Step, following the Big Book guidelines, I noticed that my grudge list was filled with my prejudices and my blaming others for my not being able to succeed and to live up to my potential. I also discovered I felt different because I was black. As I continued to work on the Step, I learned that I always had drunk to rid myself of those feelings. It was only when I sobered up and worked on my inventory, that I could no longer blame anyone.
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
April 11
A.A. Thought for the Day
In that alcoholic world, one drink always leads to another and you can’t stop till you’re paralyzed. And the next morning it begins all over again. You eventually land in a hospital or jail. You lose your job. Your home is broken up. You’re always in a mess. You’re on the merry-go-round and you can’t get off. You’re in a squirrel cage and you can’t get out. Am I convinced that the alcoholic world is not a pleasant place for me to live in?
Meditation for the Day
I must learn to accept self-discipline. I must try never to yield one point that I have already won. I must not let myself go in resentments, hates, fears, pride, lust, or gossip. Even if the discipline keeps me separated from some people who are without discipline, nevertheless I will carry on. I may have different ways and a different standard of living than some others. I may be actuated by different motives than some people. But I will try to live the way I believe God wants me to live, no matter what others say.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be an example to others of a better way of living. I pray that I may carry on in spite of hindrances.
Walk in Dry Places
April 11
Helping Others
Motives
It may sound selfish, but you should always help others for no reason other than your own benefit. In giving assistance, guard against posing as an idealist or even a Good Samaritan. We are not saints, and our spiritual progress is interrupted the moment we begin to act more saintly than we really are.
Two things happen when we help others in the full knowledge that we are really helping only ourselves. First, we do not place the other person in a demeaning role or make him or her obligated to us. Second, we sidestep the swollen egotism that could arise if we view ourselves as rescuers.
In helping others, we are only passing on the good that has come to us. Any good action will always bring rich rewards in personal well-being. People we have helped will be grateful to us when it becomes clear that we don’t demand their gratitude. They will also be inspired to follow this example, which is the true AA spirit that became evident with the first Twelve Step calls.
I’ll look for opportunities to help others in the same way that a businessman looks for ways to increase profits. I know that I grow as a person when I help others in the right spirit.
Keep It Simple
April 11
Many of us as children, were taught to hide our pain, to act as if we had none. We look for ways to hide our pain. Alcohol and other drugs helped us do this. But the pain always returned. We were ashamed that we hurt. We thought we were the only one who hurt so badly. and, worst of all, we thought our pain meant we were bad people. Ours is a program of honesty. As we live life, there will be troubles, and there will be pain. But now we know that we don’t try to hide it. If we hide our wounds, they will not heal. We will listen to others pain and ask them to listen to ours. This will help us continue our journey in recovery.
Prayer for the Day: God, help me be honest about my pain. Help me see pain not as a personal defect, but as a part of life.
Action for the Day: I’ll share my pain with a friend, a family member, my group, or sponsor. I’ll ask them to do the same with me. I’ll think of pain as part of life.
The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results.
–Norman Vincent Peale
Thoughts have power. Thoughts are energy. You can make your world or break it by your thinking.
–Susan Taylor
Those who are awake live in a state of constant amazement.
–Buddha
“We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.”
–Martin Luther King Jr.
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
April 11
PRINCIPLES
“Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles. ”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
Slowly I am understanding what principles are in my life. I am learning to live with code of ethics that I do not always like, but I know is good for me and others. Although I do not always fully understand the “spiritual principles” of life, I know that my ongoing recovery should be based upon them.
Some of the “spiritual principles” by which I try to live are: Honesty, Truth, Openness, Forgiveness, Acceptance, Humility and Hope.
I am also experiencing a personal satisfaction in knowing that I am living today with a set of principles that work. They enable me to be a feeling and loving human being. Today I am beginning to feel what I always thought other people had. Today I am alive in my life.
May Your principles be my lifestyle.
Daily Inspiration
April 11
Discover how really nice today is by taking it less for granted. Lord, thank you for my health, my friends, my abilities and the people who enrich my life and I theirs.
Not one day passes without receiving wonderful blessings from our loving and generous God. Lord, may I forget the irritations that distract me from Your happiness.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day – April 11
“Spiritual matters are difficult to explain because you must live with them in order to fully understand them.”
–Thomas Yellowtail, CROW
To know something we must become one with it. We cannot know what a flower smells like until we actually smell it. Close your eyes and experience the fragrance. The Elders say there are two worlds, the Seen World and the Unseen World. To experience the Seen World we need to physically pick the flower and smell it. To experience the Unseen World we need to know about principles, laws and values; and no matter what our mind or our physical senses tell us, we must decide and act on these principles. If someone does wrong to us, we must pray for that person or persons to have peace, happiness and joy in their life. We must not get even or retaliate in any way. Only by doing this can we understand spiritual matters.
Great Spirit, give me your power whenever my weakness shows so I can live by spiritual decisions.
Today’s Gift
April 11
Listen to your feelings. They tell you when you need to take care of yourself, like finding a friend if you feel lonely, crying if you feel sad, singing and smiling if you feel happy, and acting frisky if you feel good.
—Pat Palmer
When we get too much of anything – too much fun or too much work – we may feel really crummy when it’s over.
One way to listen to our crummy feelings is to say, “Here comes the letdown after all that fun.” We can imagine a spaceship falling to earth, floating on the ocean. Coming down to earth is as much a part of the adventure as the countdown and blastoff.
A letdown for us means we need to let our bodies and minds rest, just like the spaceship, bobbing around without any special direction. We need to take it easy, do nothing, put off making plans.
Then we can ask God to help us let go of the crummy feelings that come along with a letdown. We can ask the spirit within us to guide us through this time of change. Then we will let down and let go.
What are some things I can do to take it easy the next time I feel down?
Touchstones
Meditations For Men
April 11
I have learned this: it is not what one does that is wrong, but what one becomes as a consequence of it.
—Oscar Wilde
There are countless ways to take shortcuts in life or to grab for pleasures. We could cheat on our income taxes, excuse a food binge, or lie to a loved one about where we’ve been. We say, “It won’t hurt anyone!” “I wouldn’t do it if it weren’t for the other guy.” Or, “Everyone does it.” But if we are to like and respect ourselves, we need to live by the rules we believe in. Whether we get caught or not isn’t the point. We cannot hold values and then repeatedly justify breaking them.
What does it do to us if we constantly fudge on our values? It undermines our self-esteem and damages the faith we have in ourselves. We do not expect to be perfect, but we must be accountable. If we are honest with ourselves, we admit our wrongs and reestablish our self-respect.
Today, I will take care to make choices that match my values.
Daily TAO
April 11
CONCENTRATION
Imagination, song, the soaring spirit.
Separate them to know them as aspects of the whole,
Join them to know the mystery of totality.
The mind, if focused, can become the most powerful force we know. Yet for most of us, we are lost in the vastness of our own uncharted minds. We play around with different aspects, find certain modes that we can get by with, and leave the rest unexplored. Those who follow Tao do not do this. They want to explore all the dimensions of the mind so that they may find a wholly integral mode of consciousness.
The primary means of exploration is through concentration of the mind. Practitioners first select an aspect and delve into it by daily focus. Only when they have fully understood do they go on. It is like studying. When you are first introduced to a subject, you must put your attention to work in order to master the knowledge. Such concentration leads to absorption, like mixing liquids together in a bottle : Once they are combined, they cannot be distinguished from one another.
With concentration, all the various aspects of the mind can be joined together into one superconscious mode. Sound is the same as sight, taste is the same as smell, touch is the same as thought, and all that we are is identical with the spiritual energy that resides within us. In this high concentration, there is complete union, and we feel the joy of total integration with all our facets.
Daily Zen
April 11
In the old Han Emperor’s
Chao-yang Palace,
A woman most rare
Sought to make Immortal.
Her name originally stood out
In palace records;
She was not yet familiar
With robes of colored clouds.
But she stopped
Singing and dancing
Both much praised,
And long followed
The flight of the crane.
Officials of the Court
Stood by as she entered
A mountain cave;
Then drove the jade-wheeled car
Home empty.
– Chang Chi (776-829)