Daily Reflections
August 6
DRIVEN
Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate.
-ALCOHOLIC ANONYMOUS , p. 62
My selfishness was the driving force behind my drinking. I drank to celebrate success and I drank to drown my sorrows. Humility is the answer. I learn to turn my will and my life over to the care of God. My sponsor tells me that service keeps me sober. Today I ask myself: Have I sought knowledge of God’s will for me? Have I done service for my A. A. group?
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
August 6
A.A. Thought For The Day
Psychologists are turning to religion because just knowing about ourselves is not enough. We need the added dynamic of faith in a power outside of ourselves on which we can rely. Books on psychology and psychiatric treatments are not enough without the strength that comes from faith in God. And clergy and rabbis are turning to psychology because faith is an act of the mind and will. Religion must be presented in psychological terms to some extent in order to satisfy the modern person. Faith must be built largely on our own psychological experience. Have I taken what I need from both psychology and religion when I live the A.A. way?
Meditation For The Day
Refilling with the spirit is something you need every day. For this refilling with the spirit, you need these times of quiet communion, away, alone, without noise, without activity. You need this dwelling apart, this shutting yourself away in the very secret place of your being, away alone with your Maker. >From these times of communion you come forth with new power. This refilling is the best preparation for effective work. When you are spiritually filled, there is no work too hard for you.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may be daily refilled with the right spirit. I pray that I may be full of the joy of true living.
–Chinese Proverb
–Native American Proverb
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
August 6
LEARNING
“If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
–Matthew 15:14
I need to understand before I can teach; I need to listen before I give advice; I need to associate myself with the “winners” to become a winner.
For years I sought advice and direction from those who did not understand. They tried to help but they did not understand. Today I understand that part of my denial and manipulation was choosing those who did not understand to help me. This way I could stay sick!
My spiritual journey involves seeking out those who have that “something” that I want — and being willing to follow their directions; I surrender to live.
Teach me to develop the spiritual ego that is teachable.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day – August 6
“We have to have one mind for the Four Directions. Until we reach that one mind, we cannot be filled with understanding…. The Creator will not answer until you have just one mind, just like if you have one person.”
–Grandfather William Commanda, ALGONQUIN
The Elders have taught us to balance our lives emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually.
If I am out of control emotionally, I get angry, doubtful or erratic, I am out of balance.
If I trigger bad mental pictures of my brothers and sisters, I am out of balance.
If I get too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, I am out of balance physically.
If I don’t pray and talk to the Creator daily, I am out of balance spiritually.
To be centered, I must be in balance.
The Creator talks to me in the quiet and still place.
So if I get angry, what I should do first is to pause and get still so I can hear the guidance of the Grandfathers.
Oh Great Spirit whose voice I hear in the winds, protect and keep me safe today – hear my prayers.
Touchstones Meditations For Men
August 6
God respects me when I work, but he loves me when I sing.
—Rabindranath Tagore
We seek balance in our lives. The greatest sign of unmanageability in our past was the unbalanced lives we led. This is no easy lesson to learn. We are inclined to grasp for a single answer, thinking we now have the key insight to a happier way of life. As men, many of us have pursued our happiness in work with little time for anything else. Perhaps, for some, the singing and playing we have done were part of our addiction or participating with someone else in their addiction. This makes it feel dangerous or frightening now to be playful in recovery.
We can find ways to have more balance in our lives. Spiritual vitality grows when we make room in our day for lighthearted play as well as the serious tasks.
I pray for guidance from my Higher Power to help me find a balance in my life today.
Daily TAO
August 6
Ownership
A small boy drives
A hundred ducks to the lake
With a tasseled stick:
A most of excited white.
A small boy can command an entire flock of ducks with a slender stick. The ducks go contentedly down to the lake to play in the mud. In the end, of course, they end up as someone’s dinner.
They obey the stick because they respond to their conditioning. In truth, they don’t need to obey it. They don’t need to be someone’s meal. As for the boy, he is doing his job, but he does not own the ducks in an ultimate sense. He exercises his power over them, and they respond, yet neither realizes their bond is provisional.
Ownership of property is only an artificial construct as well. If can remember that ownership is something that exists only by definition, then we can give up possessiveness, defensiveness, and greed. What does it matter how much money on land you say you have? You cannot actually own it.
You don’t even own your own body. Ultimate ownership would mean total control. You would never age. You could make it as beautiful as you wanted. You would never suffer from accidents. But the fact is that we are all imprisoned in flesh that ages, decays, becomes diseased, and can be destroyed by some rather minor accidents. You don’t own your body. You live in a borrowed shell. Why not seek the truth that goes beyond the body?
Daily Zen
August 6
When you look, it is formless;
When you call, it echoes.
It is the great Dharma commander,
Transmitting the sutras
Through precepts of mind.
As saltiness in water,
Transparency in color,
Surely it is there,
But its form is invisible;
The Mind King is also thus,
Residing in the body.
– Master Fu (497-569)