Daily Reflections
March 2
HOPE
Do not be discouraged.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 60
Few experiences are of less value to me than fast sobriety. Too many times discouragement has been the bonus for unrealistic expectations, not to mention self-pity or fatigue from my wanting to change the world by the weekend. Discouragement is a warning signal that I may have wandered across the God line. The secret of fulfilling my potential is in acknowledging my limitations and believing that time is a gift, not a threat.
Hope is the key that unlocks the door of discouragement. The program promises me that if I do not pick up the first drink today, I will always have hope. Having come to believe that I keep what I share, every time I encourage, I receive courage. It is with others that, with the grace of God and the Fellowship of A.A., I trudge the road of happy destiny. May I always remember that the power within me is far greater than any fear before me. May I always have patience, for I am on the right road.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
March 2
A.A. Thought For The Day
Over a period of drinking years, we’ve proved to ourselves and to everybody else that we can’t stop drinking by our own willpower. We have been proved helpless before the power of alcohol. So the only way we could stop drinking was by turning to a Power greater than ourselves. We call that Power God. The time that you really get this program is when you get down on your knees and surrender yourself to God, as you understand Him. Surrender means putting your life into God’s hands. Have I made a promise to God that I will try to live the way He wants me to live?
Meditation For The Day
Spirit-power comes from communication with God in prayer and times of quiet meditation. I must constantly seek spirit-communication with God. This is a matter directly between me and God. Those who seek it through the medium of the church do not always get the joy and the wonder of spirit communication with God. From this communication comes life, joy, peace, and healing. Many people do not realize the power that can come to them from direct spirit-communication.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may feel that God’s power is mine. I pray that I may be able to face anything through that power.
Walk in Dry Places
March 2
Do we need some Fear?
Courage
It’s easy to get into an argument about the role of fear in our lives. Some say that we need some fear … It helps us get out of the path of an oncoming truck.
Is that really true? If it is, it’s still not like the fear that was present with alcoholism. This fear was more likely to make us freeze and lose all power of action in the face of a threat. It was the sort of fear that paralyzes us, making us unable to move out of the way when the truck is bearing down on us.
Fear is even more destructive when it keeps us from doing the simple things we need to function in our lives. Fear certainly can’t be helpful when it makes us unable to face a new customer or ride in an airplane for necessary business travel. Some people even put off medical exams simply because they fear bad news … and thus delay treatment, so that their condition becomes worse.
We might not need to get rid of all fear, but we do need to dispose of the unhealthy kind that keeps us from necessary actions on our own behalf.
A really strong sense of the program can help me deal with fear today. One good idea for coping with fear is to remember that if God is for us, nobody can really be against us. Keeping that thought in mind can help stabilize our feelings in the face of threatening situations.
Keep It Simple
March 2
Love conquers all; let us surrender to love.
–Virgil
In Step Three, we turn our lives over to God’s care, God love. If we turn our lives over to a loving God, we can conquer all. If you need proof, look around at your next meeting. The room will be full of people who know that love conquers addiction. Like them, we’ve surrendered to love. Once we’ve done this, we can’t use again. For us, using alcohol or others drugs is an act of hate, not love. To Face the hard things in life, we’ll need a lot of love. We’ll find love in our Higher Power, groups, and friends. We’re all working at turning our lives over to love.
Prayer for the Day: There was a time that love scared me. It still does, at times. Higher Power, help me see that You are love, and I must follow where love takes me.
God, help me remember that letting go is a powerful behavior, one that can change my life and impact the lives of others. Help me be patient with others and myself as letting go becomes a way of life.
–Melody BeattieLaughter, like a drenching rain, settles the dust, cleans and brightens the world around us, and changes our whole perspective.
–Jan PishokA big part of my “conversion” has been full acceptance of myself, warts and all.
–Mary ZinkGod is all around us, all the time.
–Martha Leonard“Let us always be open to the miracle of the second chance.”
–Reverend David Stier
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
March 2
INTEGRITY
“Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squalor.”
— John Gardner
I understand integrity to be a willingness to make sacrifices for what we believe to be true. The living of a spiritual program must lead to integrity.
Not so many years ago integrity was not an understood word in my vocabulary because of my unwillingness to make sacrifices. I was so selfishly preoccupied with my “wants” that I gave little thought to the needs of others. The more I lost myself in “self,” the greater was the emotional pain.
Today I live the paradox that it is only in giving that I truly receive.
May I daily express the paradox of sacrifice in my life.
Daily Inspiration
March 2
Speak to God openly and honestly from your heart and then do not allow yourself to worry. Lord, You are my protection and my provider when I put my trust in you.
Keep yourself young in spirit always by thinking new thoughts and getting rid of old habits. Lord, may my spirit never become frail and my abilities never become barren.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
March 2
“The voice and the heart are not working together.”
–Barney Bush, SHAWNEE
We can say any words we want with our voice but we cannot hide the true meaning and the true spirit behind the words. The true meaning is always understood. The voice is heard in the physical world, but the meaning is transmitted in the spiritual world. If our voice says one thing but the heart is saying something else, it’s the something else that is heard. It is said that the truth will set you free. Reaching the truth means your voice and your words will be in alignment with the heart.
Great Spirit, let my tongue, speak the truth today.
Journey to the Heart
March 2
Value Your Past
Value your past and all the lessons you have learned.
How easy it is to diminish the importance of our past and look on our history with a critical eye. We see the mistakes, we see what we think we should have known, we see what we could have done better. What we forget is that the reason we are able to see so clearly is because of the past and because of what we have learned. Often, it is the very experiences we regret that have created this clear vision.
Value what you’ve learned in your past. Each lesson has led to the next. Every person and event in each part of your life has been invaluable in shaping and forming you– in creating the person you are today. Each part of your past, each person who has come into your life and shared experiences with you has helped you to open your heart more to life, love, God, others, and yourself. Even those experiences you think of as wrong, or mistakes, have been an important and necessary part in creating you. Sometimes, those experiences formed the most important parts of you because they created in you compassion and understanding for others. Often the most painful events of your life are the ones that opened you to your ability to bring healing, help, and hope to others. Your past taught you to love– others and yourself. It has helped you become a channel for Divine love and a force for good in this world.
When you look back at your past, look tenderly and gently at all you have been through. Look with the eyes of the soul. See that each experience was necessary to bring you home to your heart.
Today’s Gift
March 2
I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.
—William Blake
We have a right to claim our own feelings. Sometimes we get angry, but hold it inside because we think it’s wrong to feel it. If anger builds inside us, it expands like a balloon ready to burst. If not released, it can make us depressed, or even physically ill. When we give ourselves permission to feel anger, we are better able to get rid of it in a healthy way. Our inner voice can tell us how to let go of our anger. And once we’ve released it, we can easily get in touch with the feelings that caused it.
When we recognize our anger for what it is–one feeling among many others that makes us unique–it loses its significance, and we can prevent it from consuming us. Indira Ghandi said, “You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.” When we let go of our anger we can honestly embrace each other with open arms.
Am I carrying around anger which could be released today?
Touchstones Meditation For Men
March 2
The fir tree has no choice about starting its life in the crack of a rock. What [nourishment] it finds is often meager, and above the ground appears a twisted trunk, grown in irregular spurts, marred by dead and broken branches, and bent far to one side by the battering winds. Yet at the top … some twigs hold their green needles year after year, giving proof that – misshapen, imperfect, scarred – the tree lives.
—Harriet Arrow
We often wish we had been born into better circumstances or blame our parents for our problems. Like the fir tree we could say, “If only I had taken sprout in a fertile meadow, life would be easier.” “If only I had had a better life as a boy … ” “If only I didn’t have my particular hardships … ”
By accepting the facts of our own lives, we mature into feelings of joy and pleasure alongside our griefs. Every man has to struggle with his own unique set of circumstances, even if they are not fair. Fairness is not an issue. Reality is what we have to deal with.
I will accept life on its own terms and rejoice in it.
Daily TAO
March 2
SORROW
Rain scatters plum petals;
Weeping stains the earth.
One can only take shelter
And wait for clearing.
When sorrow comes, its bitterness soaks everything. The sages say that life is illusion, but does that change its poignancy? Let us be sad; it is feeling that makes us human. If we gain enlightenment, understanding all life to be a dream, sadness and happiness will fall away soon enough.
The greatest sorrow of life is witnessing. Experiencing our own sufferings is not as difficult as watching others held in fate’s mighty grip. Bearing our own problems is easier because we are always aware that we can exercise other options — up to the final one. However, it hurts the most when we can do nothing for others. The greatest sorrow is to see those we love suffer helplessly.
When faced with a sad situation, it is best not to languish in it. We can change things by being with different people, moving to other places, or, if all else fails, adjusting our own attitudes to take the initiative. Sadness is transitory, like everything else. If we want to deflect it, we need only alter its context and allow it to be subsumed back into Tao.
Daily Zen
March 2
When someone who has not attained the Way practices Zen for a time, that person is Buddha for the duration; if one practices Zen for a day, one is Buddha for a day; if one practices Zen for one’s entire lifetime, one is Buddha for a lifetime. And whoever fosters this faith is a person of great capacity for the Dharma.
– Enni Ben’en (1201-1280)