To a degree, he has already done this when taking moral inventory, but now the time has come when he ought to redouble his efforts to see how many people he had hurt, and in what ways. -TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS , p. 77
As I continue to grow in sobriety, I become more aware of myself as a person of worth. In the process, I am better able to see others as persons, and with this comes the realization that these were people whom I had hurt in my drinking days. I didn’t just lie, I lied about Tom. I didn’t just cheat, I cheated Joe. What were seemingly impersonal acts, were really personal affronts, because it was people – people of worth – whom I had harmed. I need to do something about the people I have hurt so that I may enjoy a peaceful sobriety.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day August 10
A.A. Thought For The Day
“The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We who have found this solution to our alcoholic problem, we who are properly armed with the facts about ourselves, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic. We who are making the approach to new prospects have had the same difficulty they have had. We obviously know what we are talking about. Our whole deportment shouts at new prospects that we are people with a real answer.” Am I a person with the real answer to the alcoholic problems of others?
Meditation For The Day
For straying from the right way there is no cure except to keep so close to the thought of God that nothing, no other interest, can seriously come between you and God. Sure of that, you can stay on God’s side. Knowing the way, nothing can prevent your staying in the way and nothing can cause you to seriously stray from it. God has promised peace if you stay close to Him, but not leisure. You still have to carry on in the world. He has promised heart-rest and comfort, but not pleasure in the ordinary sense. Peace and comfort bring real inward happiness.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may keep my feet on the way. I pray that I may stay on God’s side.
Walk In Dry Places August 10
Can’t or Won’t?
Willingness
“I can’t do it,” a person declared as the meeting opened. “I simply can’t stop drinking.” That launched the evening’s discussion as thirteen people offered their ideas and suggestions.
One idea that emerged was that CAN ‘T was really WON’T. The individual was still holding back on recommended actions, such as attending more meetings and making excuses for not doing so. It became clear that the quest for sobriety was still only half-hearted. In dealing with a powerful addiction, we learned long ago that half-hearted approaches don’t work. That’s why willingness is called the KEY to recovery. If the “Won’t” factor isn’t eliminated, our chances for recovery are very poor.
Some people recognize their “won’t” attitude but still desire sobriety. For them, the answer is to continue attending meetings and doing the other things that bring sobriety. This can result in a breakthrough when they least expect it.
I’ll remember today that can’t is often won’t. If I’m not taking the right steps to help myself, I’ll check myself for willingness.
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart … Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. –Carl Jung
“We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.” –Jim Rohn
“The time is always right to do what is right.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.
“What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.” –Lao Tsu
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation August 10
FAITH
“Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense and understanding.” — Martin Luther
An obstacle to my understanding the spiritual life was my intellectualization; my head was forever getting in the way of my heart. It was much easier to me to think rather than to feel; my faith was smothered by logic. My manipulating and controlling mind was stopping me experiencing the adventure of faith.
The poet in me grew as I began to trust others. God became alive in my confusion. The answer was in not having to have the answers. Today spirituality involves all the varied confusions and paradoxes of life that I have discovered in me and in others — and it’s okay.
Today the love I give and receive is beyond my wildest dreams, and I smile at the joy of my confusion.
May my head unite with my heart in the daily maze of life.
Touchstones Daily Meditations for Men August 10
According to the teachers, there is only one thing that all people possess equally. This is their loneliness. —Hyemeyohsts Storm
Many of us have tried to find a way to outwit our loneliness, or to escape its truth. We have learned that we cannot. As fathers looking at our children we may wish to spare them this pain. As men with our mates, we have dreamed of an ideal connection where all loneliness was dispelled.
We can’t obliterate loneliness. But we can learn to accept and deal with it. There is no need to compulsively cover all traces and all reminders that we are alone. We can accept this universal truth. We are alone, but so is everybody. We can make true contact with each other out of our aloneness. True intimacy with another man or woman comes out of first seeing our separateness, and then bridging the gap.
Today, I accept the feeling of loneliness as part of life. I can make contact with my brothers and sisters, knowing we are all in the same condition.
“Nature is the storehouse of potential life of future generations and is sacred.” –Audrey Shenandoah, ONONDAGA
We need to honor and respect our Mother Earth. She is the source of all life. The sun shines life to the earth, then the earth produces life in all forms and in a balanced way. Everything is here to serve everything else.
If we interrupt the flow in any way, we leave nothing for the future generations. Before every decision is made, we should ask, and answer, a final question; “If we do this, what will be the effects on the seventh generation? What will we cause our children to live with?” We need to have respect and love for all things and for all people. We need to do this for ourselves and for all the children still unborn.
My Creator, let me look at nature today and let me have the highest respect for all the things I see. All the two legged, the four legged, the winged ones, the plants, the water, the air, the Mother Earth. Let me have respect for myself.
Daily TAO August 10
Be
Tao is within us; Tao surrounds us. Part of it may be sensed, And is called manifestation. Part of it is unseen, And is called void. To be with Tao is harmony. To separate from Tao is disaster. To act with Tao, observe and follow.
To know Tao, be still and look within.Tao is within us; we are Tao. It is also outside us; it is all the known universe. All we can know of ourselves and our universe cannot account for all that is Tao. What we know is merely the outer manifestations of Tao.The ultimate Tao is called absolute. We cannot know it directly because it has no definitions, references, or names. Our normal minds are incapable of perceiving where there is no contrast. Yet is is precisely this colorless infinity that is the underlying reality to this life.The only way to fathom it is to remove our sense of division from it. In essence, we must plunge into the mystery itself. Only then will we know peace.
Daily Zen August 10
If you put down one thought, That will be one instance of Buddha mind. If you put down all thoughts, Then you will have continuous Buddha mind.
