Daily Reflections
March 16
AS WE UNDERSTAND HIM
My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea … “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?” That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning.
–ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 12
I remember the times I looked up into the sky and reflected on who started it all, and how. When I came to A.A., an understanding of some description of the spiritual dimension became a necessary adjunct to a stable sobriety. After reading a variety of versions, including the scientific, of a great explosion, I went for simplicity and made the God of my understanding the Great Power that made the explosion possible. With the vastness of the universe under His command, He would, no doubt, be able to guide my thinking and actions if I was prepared to accept His guidance. But I could not expect help if I turned my back on that help and went my own way. I became willing to believe and I have had 26 years of stable and satisfying sobriety.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
March 16
A.A. Thought For The Day
Before we decide to quit drinking, most of us have come up against a blank wall. We see that we’re licked, that we have to quit. But we don’t know which way to turn for help. There seems to be no door in that blank wall. A.A. opens the door that leads to sobriety. By encouraging us to honestly admit that we’re alcoholics and to realize that we can’t take even one drink, and by showing us which way to turn for help, A.A. opens the door in that blank wall. Have I gone through that door to sobriety?
Meditation For The Day
I must have a singleness of purpose to do my part in God’s work. I must not let material distractions interfere with my job of improving personal relationships. It is easy to become distracted by material affairs, so that I lose my singleness of purpose. I do not have time to be concerned about the multifarious concerns of the world. I must concentrate and specialize on what I can do best.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may not become distracted by material affairs. I pray that I may concentrate on doing what I can do best.
Walk in Dry Places
March 16
Anger … A dangerous weapon
Self-control
One reason some of us have trouble overcoming anger is that we’ve used it too often as an offensive weapon. It can be employed as an excuse to leave the house, it can bring an argument to an explosive end, and it can make others fearful and defensive. In the past this brought results of a sort, and helped reinforce the idea that anger works.
The trouble with anger, though, is that it’s destructive. Once angry, we hurt ourselves and we hurt others. Terrible things said in anger leave wounds that never heal, creating problems that lead to more anger.
The AA program can show us that there is virtually no justification for anger, under any and all circumstances. If we sense it coming on, we have the choice of taking charge of our feelings. If we’re angry over another’s behavior, we can remember that anger might be a way of reacting, but it’s not necessary in our lives.
I’ll make it through this day without a trace of anger. I’ll frequently remind myself that anger is destructive and that my real purpose is to build a better life.
Keep It Simple
March 16
Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
–Oscar Wilde
We all change. We learn, and change, and grow. We once made alcohol or other drugs our Higher Power. Perhaps we had other higher powers too–like money, gambling, food, or sex. But, it’s never too late to be in touch with a true Higher Power. Each day we follow a false higher power, we aren’t.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me put my life and will in Your hands today. Help me be a saint, just for today.
Action for the Day: How have my ideas about saints and sinners changed since I got into a Twelve Step program? I’ll talk with my sponsor about it today.
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart…Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”
–Carl JungNo matter how long a room is dark, turn on a light and the room brightens. Today marks a new beginning. You can claim a clean slate with God.
–Mary Manin MorrisseyThe principle we are working with today is STILLNESS. It is accomplished through the act of meditation, which is stilling of the physical/conscious mind to all external stimuli. Continuous, contemplative thought given to truth. A steady effort of the mind to know and hear the voice of God from within the being. The act of not doing in an attempt to expand the awareness of being. When we quiet the conscious mind to hear the Divine presence.
–Iyalna VanzantIs my way of handling anger pleasing to God?
–Marilyn WatsonI Am Responsible . . . When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of A.A. always to be there. And for that: I am responsible.
–Declaration of 30th Anniversary
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
March 16
RISK
“A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.”
— Adlai Stevenson
Tough love requires that at times I must say or do things that make me “unpopular”. That is part of the spiritual risk of loving: to be popular is not always to be right!
As an alcoholic I was a people-pleaser; concerned with saying what people wanted to hear, do what people expected, remain silent rather than cause upsets. I was afraid that if I said what I really thought, I might be rejected. My self-esteem was secondary to what other people thought of me.
Today in my sobriety I love myself enough to say what I believe and do what I consider right. I refuse to remain silent when confronted with injustice or the addictions of others. My spiritual program risks the possibility of being unpopular.
Teach me to always say and do what I believe to be true.
Daily Inspiration
March 16
Prayer turns the attention from ourselves to God and helps us see His hand working in our lives. Lord, You give me reasons for a daily commitment to achieving a full and energetic life.
Allow the power of God to work within you because He is able to accomplish far more than we can dream. Lord, Your spirit empowers me. May I do Your Will and always give glory to You.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
March 16
“Each of us must know in our minds and believe in our hearts that even though we are different, you are like me and I am like you.”
–Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA
One of the definitions of humility is having an awareness of one’s own character defects. To recognize and acknowledge that one has imperfections is being humble. We should never pray for ourselves unless by doing so it would help another person. To have self-importance puts self first and this is not humble. We each have strengths and we each have weaknesses. Both the strengths and weaknesses are sacred. Life is sacred. We learn sacred things from weaknesses also. Therefore, all lives are developed through trial and error, strength and weakness, ups and downs, gains and losses – all of these are part of life and life is sacred.
Great Mystery, let me see and know about the sacredness of life.
Journey to the Heart
March 16
Become Willing to Heal Your Heart
We don’t open our hearts by being a tower of strength. We don’t open our hearts by glossing over things in our head. We open our hearts by feeling what we feel. We open our hearts by being vulnerable, honest, and gentle.
We’ve become so strong, so self-sufficient. I can deal with that we say. No big deal. I’ll keep moving on.
Yet many circumstances we’ve been through, and some we’re going through now, cause break lines in our heart. Some of the fractures are small. Some are big. They really hurt. Maybe certain people in our lives weren’t there for us, aren’t there for us now in a way we’d like them to be. Maybe some deceived us unconsciously or betrayed us deliberately. I can deal with that we say. I understand. They have their own issues. I forgive.
Yes, people do have their own issues. And we do forgive. But now it may be time to learn gentleness, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness for ourselves as well.
We don’t open our hearts by ignoring the break lines. We take our hand, knowing it’s held by God, and gently run our fingers across each crack. Yes, it’s there. Yes, I feel it.
Yes, I’m ready to heal my heart.
Today’s Gift
March 16
‘Tis God gives skill, but not without men’s hands. He could not make Antonio Stradivarius violins without Antonio.
—George Eliot
When she was four years old, she climbed onto the piano stool. To her parents’ astonishment, a simple prelude she’d heard on the radio flew across the keys from her fingers. That very week they found her a teacher, and the house was filled with the music of her developing talent.
While other girls played, made the honor roll, starred on the basketball team, and dated boyfriends, she sat inside at her beloved piano and practiced. At seventeen, when she made her debut, the critics said, “She’s a natural. A genius!”
We know she was no natural, but through hard work, she made her piano playing part of her nature. When we put love into our labor, our own dreams grow into being.
Am I willing to make some sacrifices today to do the things I really want to do?
Touchstones Meditation For Men
March 16
When a man’s self is hidden from everybody else … it seems also to become hidden even from himself, and it permits disease and death to gnaw into his substance without his clear knowledge.
—Sidney Jourard
A man’s recovery is in knowing himself honestly and learning to have loving relationships with others. Many of us have had close calls with death as the consequence of our addictions or codependency. We ignored the dangers in our lives and many of us neglected our health. We wore ourselves out and wasted our energies.
Spiritual recovery and physical health go hand in hand. In recovery, moving toward fullness in life, our selves are returned to us. We leave behind our old learning and habits because they were lethal. We are becoming men who tune in to ourselves and to others around us. We are looking at ourselves and saying, “I’ll work with it!”
I will not hide myself; I will continue to be open with myself and others.
Daily TAO
March 16
BREAKTHROUGH
Lake shadows color of cold,
Willow branches weep ice.
Swan rises dazzling in the sunlight.
After long self-cultivation, one’s accumulated energy reaches a threshold and then bursts out full, breathing, and vibrant. Without the careful building of momentum, this moment of release would never have been possible. With long years of preparation and experience, the freeing of the soul will not be mere dissipation but will be so strongly focused that it lifts one into a higher state of awareness. When one’s spiritual energy emerges, it feels like a swan rising from the water.
Once you have reached this level of stored energy, you will be a different person. On one hand, you may take genuine comfort in the point of attainment that you have made. On the other hand, you now see all the other possibilities that remain for you to explore.
With the emergence of great possibilities comes the need for responsibility. If you diverge from your life’s path in order to explore new vistas, remember how far you are flying, and remember to return at the proper times. Only you can decide how to arrange your life. Once you are a strong flier, you must still use wisdom to direct your flight.
Daily Zen
March 16
Stop searching for phrases
and chasing after words.
Take the backward step
and turn the light inward.
Your body-mind of itself
will drop off
and your original face will appear.
If you want to attain just this,
immediately practice just this.
– Dogen (1227)