Daily Reflections
March 23
… AND NO MORE RESERVATIONS
We have seen the truth again and again: “Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.” If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol. To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years.
–ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 33
These words are underlined in my book. They are true for men and women alcoholics. On many occasions I’ve turned to this page and reflected on this passage. I need never fool myself by recalling my sometimes differing drinking patterns, or by believing I am “cured.” I like to think that, if sobriety is God’s gift to me, then my sober life is my gift to God. I hope that God is as happy with His gift as I am with mine.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
March 23
A.A. Thought For The Day
Strength comes from the fellowship you find when you come into A.A. Just being with men and women who have found the way out gives you a feeling of security. You listen to the speakers, you talk with other members, and you absorb the atmosphere of confidence and hope that you find in the place. Am I receiving strength from the fellowship with other A.A. members?
Meditation For The Day
God is with you, to bless and help you. His spirit is all around you. Waver not in your faith or in your prayers. All power is the Lord’s. Say that to yourself often and steadily. Say it until your heart sings with joy for the safety and personal power that it means to you. Say it until the very force of the utterance drives back and puts to naught all the evils against you. Use it as a battle cry. All power is the Lord’s. Then you will pass on to victory over all your sins and temptations and you will begin to live a victorious life.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that with strength from God I may lead an abundant life. I pray that I may lead a life of victory.
Walk in Dry Places
March 23
Act As If
Finding Direction
Though it sounds like a game or a trick, there’s great power in “acting as if.” This means acting as if we’ve already succeeded, acting as if we expect everybody to cooperate with us, acting as if we’ve already reached whatever goal we’re seeking.
The principle behind this approach is that such acting helps focus our minds and energies on goals. It’s also important to believe that our success is inevitable if we are truly on the right path.
We should not employ this principle superstitiously or assume it’s a substitute for intelligent work and good judgment. It will be a substantial aid, however, in helping us eliminate the self-doubt and pessimism that dog so many alcoholics during their quest for sobriety. Too often, low self-esteem and a faulty belief that nothing will turn out right have led us to sabotage our own efforts.
We should go into any venture with the idea that we’ve already succeeded…. that much good is going to come out of it, even if the exact outcome is somewhat different from what we had in mind. “Acting as if” is just what we might need to summon our powers for the duties ahead.
An old saying affirms that “if God be for me, who can be against me?” I’ll carry on today with the confidence that my Higher Power is guiding all my efforts in the right direction.
Keep It Simple
March 23
If anything, we have tended to be people who have wanted it all now. To hope is not to demand.
–On hope
Maybe we were a bit demanding. Maybe we were a bit impatient. Maybe that’s why we such little hope.
Hope is believing good will, even in bad times. Hope is knowing that “this too, shall pass.” Hope is knowing that no mater how afraid we are, God will be with us. Hope is knowing we never have to be alone again. It is knowing that time is o our side. Hope is giving up control. Hope is knowing we never had control in the first place. Hope is believing in ourselves. Hope is what our program is all about.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, in our program we share our experiences, our strengths, and our hopes. Thank you for giving all three of these to me to share.
Action for the Day: I will share my hope for the future with myself, my Higher Power, and my friends. I also will share this with someone who has lost hope.
Don’t point a finger – lend a hand.
–Cited in Even More of … The Best of BITS & PIECES
“Every great move forward in your life begins with a leap of faith, a step into the unknown.”
–Brian Tracy“The healthy and strong individual is the one who asks for help when he needs it.”
–Rona Barrett“. . . just to be alive is a grand thing.”
–Agatha ChristieWe cannot sink so low that God cannot lift us to freedom.
–John Harrold
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
March 23
SELF-LOVE
“No matter how old you get, if you keep the desire to be creative, you’re keeping the man-child alive.”
— John Cassavetes
When I was a child, I used to play in the sand and make castles. I would build a strong and firm fortress around the castle so that it could withstand the force of the sea.
Today I also like to play in my life and I need to build strong and firm behavioral structures that will withstand pressure and stress. Today I need to build my life on a sure foundation — and that foundation must be me! I need to take care of me so that I can enjoy my life.
How do I take care of me? I watch what I drink. I am a recovering alcoholic, and so I choose not to drink alcohol. I drink soda, orange juice and milk — but no alcohol. This is an important part of my self-love program. I exercise regularly. I watch what I eat and I avoid sugar and needless carbohydrates. I rest in the evenings and take walks in the fresh air. The child that is in me still lives, but today he is healthy.
Help me to treat life responsibly, but not too seriously.
Daily Inspiration
March 23
How foolish it is to focus on our weaknesses and troubles, thereby giving them more power than they deserve. Lord, I ask for your wisdom and guidance in what I put into my mind.
You are good and beautiful and intelligent and loved. Lord, may I accept me for all that I am and focus on my goodness.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
March 23
“We must relearn how to cry. A strong man cries; it is the weak man who holds back his tears.”
–Archie Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA
Indian men and other men should really meditate on this Elder’s saying. So many men have been taught it is unmanly to cry, to show emotions or to feel. When people cry, the Elders say there are two types of tears ? one type will taste salty; the other type will taste sweet. One is caused by pain, and the other is caused by the release from the pain, or joy tears. A strong man knows himself and knows his relationship with the Great Spirit. The release of tears is a spiritual act. Our bodies are designed to cry. We should honor our bodies and use them as the Creator intended.
Great Spirit, Grandfather, today, teach me to cry.
Journey to the Heart
March 23
Comfort Yourself
I was driving through Montana, on my way to a town on the Flathead Indian Reservation. I was going there because an old hotel, opened in 1928, noted for its medicinal mineral waters had caught my attention. As I pulled off the highway and began the drive down the side roads, I felt an environmental ambiance I hadn’t experienced before.
The hills were huge mounds, covered with a soft-green, grassy moss. Not steep sharp mountains; comforting, rounded hills– one after another. A gentle energy emanated from them. It was more than love. More than kindness. I felt comforted, embraced, almost held by Mother Earth in her bosom. My body relaxed. My spirit soared. I felt warm. Cared for. Nurtured. Comforted.
Comfort is a place we can visit often, as often as we need to. Although certain places and objects help comfort us, it is really a place within each of us. Some of us may have thought that comfort was a waste of time, but now we know that there is tremendous power in comfort, the power to heal. We no longer have to deprive ourselves of comfort, of that warm feeling of being nurtured. We can visit it for ourselves; we can take others there with us.
What brings you comfort? What makes you feel safe, cozy, warm, loved? What places? What people? What events? Learn to comfort yourself. Learn to accept comfort, and learn to give it. Go to that special place of comfort whenever you need to. Stay as long as you wish. The healing power of comfort will make life better.
Today’s Gift
March 23
It feels so good to cry …
—Susan Cygnet
Some of us were taught that it’s bad to express our feelings directly – crying, wailing, jumping up and down for joy–that it’s good manners to talk softly, slowly, and politely and to sit still.
But what happens to our feelings when we sit still? If they don’t get expressed, they must be caught inside our bodies. Trapped feelings are like birds in a cage, or a rabbit in a trap–they try to get out any way they can. They peck on our heads and give us headaches. They scratch at our stomachs and make us hurt.
We must let them out. We must laugh and cry. Then our bodies will be happy, and our feelings will curl up in our laps like happy puppies.
Am I ignoring the physical symptoms of trapped feelings?
Touchstones Meditation For Men
March 23
If anything is sacred, the human body is sacred.
—Walt Whitman
A renewed relationship with our bodies is part of our spiritual renewal. Perhaps we have not known our bodies as part of our spiritual selves. We may have treated ourselves and others as objects. Too often genitals were “tools” to be used, objects of our egos, or a way of taking care of someone else. Maybe we have used sex compulsively as an escape from other emotions. Men in recovery commonly encounter problems with sexuality. Those problems often come from knowing deep within that we must change, but not knowing how.
It helps to create new images in our minds. We can imagine a totally relaxed playfulness with our partners, with no goal in mind and no judgment. We can imagine our Higher Power being with us. We can imagine talking in detail with someone – our partner or a friend – about our feelings, anxieties, or frustrations with sex. We can imagine ourselves as a whole body; alone, not with a partner, and okay Bringing sexuality into the whole of our lives is a spiritual thing to do.
May I find ways to include sexuality in my spiritual awakening.
Daily TAO
March 23
ATTUNEMENT
Traversing sun leads to a new season,
Vernal breath attunes the leaves.
Tao is here. It is we who are not always in harmony with it.
Tao proceeds on its own way. It is we who are not ready to follow.
Tao is absolutely sure in its movement. It is we who involve ourselves in amusements.
Tao has no consciousness, yet it is supreme. It is we who think compulsively.
Therefore, tuning ourselves to Tao is the basic task. We must make ourselves the perfect instrument, much in the way a beautiful harp has all its strings adjusted. If we are less than perfect, how will we harmonize with the universal music? Once we are attuned, we can become open to Tao. Where it leads, we follow without hesitation. Just as a musician expresses individual talent and understanding and yet blends with the swelling magnificence of the orchestra, so too does the follower of Tao remain human and yet in harmony with the universal.
When the sun begins its new pattern, spring follows. The air warms, and the world rejoices. A new breath comes over all things, and even the trembling leaves are attuned to the vernal rhythm. Turn your face to the sun, as flowers know how to do. Turn your face to Tao, as we should all do.
Daily Zen
March 23
Spring night—one hour worth
A thousand gold coins;
Clear scent of flowers,
Shadowy moon.
Songs and flutes upstairs—threads of sound;
In the garden, a swing,
Where night is deep and still.
– Su Shih (1037-1101)