Daily Reflections
April 6
A LIFETIME PROCESS
We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn’t control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn’t make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people. . . .
–ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 52
These words remind me that I have more problems than alcohol, that alcohol is only a symptom of a more pervasive disease. When I stopped drinking, I began a lifetime process of recovery from unruly emotions, painful relationships, and unmanageable situations. This process is too much for most of us without help from a Higher Power and our friends in the Fellowship. When I began working the Steps of the A.A. program, many of these tangled threads unraveled but, little by little, the most broken places of my life straightened out. One day at a time, almost imperceptibly, I healed. Like a thermostat being turned down, my fears diminished. I began to experience moments of contentment. My emotions became less volatile. I am now once again a part of the human family.
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
April 6
A.A. Thought for the Day
All alcoholics have personality problems. They drink to escape from life, to counteract feelings of loneliness or inferiority, or because of some emotional conflict within them, so that they cannot adjust themselves to life. Alcoholics cannot stop drinking unless they find a way to solve their personality problems. That’s why going on the wagon doesn’t solve anything. That’s why taking the pledge usually doesn’t work. Was my personality problem ever solved by going on the wagon or taking the pledge?
Meditation for the Day
God irradiates your life with the warmth of His spirit. You must open up like a flower to this divine irradiation. Loosen your hold on earth, its cares, and its worries. Unclasp your hold on material things, relax your grip, and the tide of peace and serenity will flow in. Relinquish every material thing and receive it back again from God. Do not hold on to earth’s treasures so firmly that your hands are too occupied to clasp God’s hands as He holds them out to you in love.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be open to receive God’s blessing. I pray that I may be willing to relinquish my hold on material things and receive them back from God.
Walk in Dry Places
April 6
The Barrier of Sick
Pride
Sharing Feelings
Pride can be either sick or healthy. It’s sick pride that keeps us in bondage to alcohol. It’s healthy pride that emerges when we have high self-esteem. Finding the right path in sobriety always involves a battle to keep sick pride out of our lives.
What if I’m at a discussion meeting and I feel reluctant to admit that certain character defects are still giving me trouble? Can this be sick pride carrying on the pretense that I have risen above such problems? What if someone takes issue with a point I’ve tried to make in a discussion? Does sick pride cause me to react in self-defense?
We learn in the 12 Step program that we gain nothing by attempting to conceal our character defects from our fellow members. We gain everything by sharing our true feelings and letting others know we are vulnerable human beings. There is never any need to defend or explain anything we’ve tried to say in a meeting. The real message always comes through in our attitude, and it will reach those for whom it’s intended.
I’ll check myself today to see if sick pride is dictating what I say and do. The more I can let others see me as I really am, the more honest my relationships will be.
Keep It Simple
April 6
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.
–Chinese proverb
We’re going down a new-road—in our recovery and in our lives. We don’t know the road. We only know we’re on the right one, because our Higher Power led us here. We ask for help from those who already know the road. We ask our sponsor, “How far is it until I get done feeling guilty?”
“How far to self-love?” “How bumpy is the road when I’m at Step Four?” We need people who have been in the program. They tell us where to slow down because this part of the trip is beautiful.
Someday, maybe today, we too will be called on to guide others.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You’ve put me on this road. You’ve also put others on this road. Let them be my guide. Let my guides become my friends.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll find someone who has been in the program two or more years longer than me. I’ll ask that person what the road ahead is like.
God, help me to let go of my need to control and to be open to the flow of the universe.
-Melody Beattie
It becomes a hard life when we pray to God for all sorts of help but we won’t be quiet, sit back, and listen for the answers God provides. Don’t dominate the conversation: Be silent and listen a little. In other words, meditate. Quiet down and observe your life.
–John-Roger
Positive mental energy, positive thinking, does not mean we think unrealistically or revert to denial. If we don’t like something, we respect our own opinion. If we spot a problem, we’re honest about it. If something isn’t working out, we accept reality. But we don’t dwell on the negative parts of our experience. Whatever we give energy to, we empower.
–Melody Beattie
“Notice the acts of kindness other people do rather than their wrongdoing. This is how the loving presence views you. We are all good, decent, loving souls who occasionally get lost.”
–Wayne Dyer
“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”
–Howard Ruff
We can trust God for daily protection.
–John D. Byers
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
April 6
PRIDE
“Though pride is not a virtue, it is the parent of many virtues.”
–M. C. Collins
I need to remember that “pride” is not necessarily a negative. It is sensible to have a balanced pride in my sobriety because self-esteem will grow from the pride and respect I give to myself. God has made me and is involved with me and, therefore, I am a beautiful person.
Balanced pride helps me with my appearance, grooming and personal etiquette that comes with clothes, fashion and hairstyles. Pride helps me with my communication skills – I work hard at being understood, speaking out clearly and developing better methods of being understood.
Pride stops me from being taken advantage of, enabling me to say “no” to others while still feeling good about myself. A healthy sense of pride is essential for spiritual growth.
Lord, let me have a realistic appreciation of myself that leads to achievement.
Daily Inspiration
April 6
Don’t think less of yourself than God thinks of you. He has created us with worth and value beyond our comprehension. Lord, help me to live daily knowing that I am very valuable and do make a difference.
The choices we make will affect our lives for better or for worse. Lord, You have given me all that I need to make wise choices. May I always take time to listen to You.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day – April 6
“Everybody should pray together, cheer along, root along. That brings the circle together. Everything is together.”
–Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
Life on the Earth can sometimes be very complicated. Sometimes we think we are alone in our problems. Sometimes we even withdraw. Then the problems become even more difficult. We need to watch out for one another, to care for one another, to pray together, to encourage one another; and we need to support one another. Behaving in this manner will bring the circle together.
Great Spirit, today, let me support my brothers and sisters.
Today’s Gift
April 6
In quarreling about the shadow, we often lose the substance.
—Aesop
There is a fable about a man and his camel who were hired by a wealthy man to get him across the desert. The journey was so hot that they stopped to rest one day, and the only shade to be found was in the shadow of the camel. The two of them began to argue about who had the rights to the camel’s shadow–the owner or the renter. They were so involved in their argument that the camel ran away and they didn’t notice until it was long gone.
Sometimes we get so caught up in being right that we become like these two, fighting over a shadow. Instead of paying attention to our journey and sharing what we have, we let ourselves get distracted. It is more important to notice what we have, to share it as best we can, and continue our journey.
What can I share with another today?
Touchstones
Meditations For Men
April 6
I had gone through life thinking I was better than everyone else and at the same time, being afraid of everyone. I was afraid to be me.
—Dennis Wholey
Looking back to the codependent or addictive times in our lives, we see with the perfect vision of hindsight. It is both embarrassing and humorous to see how misguided and deluded we were then. Grandiose images of ourselves isolated us from those around us and cut us off from true friendships with others. Many of us had strong feelings about ourselves that were in conflict – we felt both special and unworthy.
In this program we grow over time to have a more realistic self-concept. We are not exactly like everyone else, but we are more like them than different. It’s okay to be like others, and it’s comforting, too. Accepting this, we grow fully into the whole men we were meant to be, and we relish the joy of friendship.
May I accept the guidance of my Higher Power in developing a realistic and comfortable self-image.
Daily TAO
April 6
CONSTANCY
Clear sunlight on falling snow: fire and ice.
Bare-boned trees stark to the horizon,
Cold marshes, havens to ducks and geese.
A groundhog sits motionless on a post.
Wherever we are, the constant flow of Tao is ever present. We see the cycle of opposites, such as the juxtaposition of sunlight and snow. We notice the ongoing rhythms of life : waterfowl carrying on their lives even as spring is slow to warm and leafless trees stand in anticipation of warmer weather. All things change, all things move constantly. The world is like the ongoing turning of a magnificent wheel. All things come in their own time.
Just as a groundhog sits motionless in the moving of the seasons, so too should we look within and slowly absorb the time. Within all the movement, the groundhog takes time to be still. Within all the changing of spring, we must take time to notice the constancy of inner devotion.
No matter how much is going on outside of oneself, one still reaffirms what is in one’s heart, taking comfort in the regular pulse. What works in the shelter of home or temple works everywhere. Only when we know such constancy will be know that our quest is succeeding.
Daily Zen
April 6
To remove oneself from
all outer form is called “meditation.”
To be perfectly interiorized and still
is called “samadhi.”
– Hui-neng