Daily Reflections
March 28
EQUALITY
Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.
–ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 565
Prior to A.A., I often felt that I didn’t “fit in” with the people around me. Usually “they” had more/less money than I did, and my points of view didn’t jibe with “theirs.” The amount of prejudice I had experienced in society only proved to me just how phony some self-righteous people were. After joining A.A., I found the way of life I had been searching for. In A.A. no member is any better than any other member; we’re just alcoholics trying to recover from alcoholism.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
March 28
A.A. Thought For The Day
When you come into an A.A. meeting, you’re not just coming into a meeting, you’re coming into a new life. I’m always impressed by the change I see in people after they’ve been in A.A. for a while. I sometimes take an inventory of myself, to see whether I have changed and if so, in what way. Before I met A.A., I was very selfish. I wanted my own way in everything. I don’t believe I ever grew up. When things went wrong, I sulked like a spoiled child and often went out and got drunk. Am I still all get and no give?
Meditation For The Day
There are two things we must have if we are going to change our way of life. One is faith, the confidence in things unseen, that fundamental goodness and purpose in the universe. The other is obedience, that is living according to our faith, living each day as we believe God wants us to live, with gratitude, humility, honesty, purity, unselfishness and love. Faith and obedience, these two, will give us all the strength we need to overcome sin and temptation and to live a new and more abundant life.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may have more faith and obedience. I pray that I may live a more abundant life as a result of these things.
Walk in Dry Places
March 28
Keep coming back … it works if you work it.
Fortitude
A popular self-help book noted that there is tremendous power in repetition … like the tap-tap-tap of a hammer that finally drives the nail through a board. AA works in much the same way; attendance at meetings is the steady tap-tap-tap that helps bring about lasting sobriety and personal improvement.
Attending meetings is also much like attending school. Nobody learns everything in one classroom session, and it’s also true that the student must put forth an effort to learn.
We should accept AA as something that will gradually grow on us if we become part of it and apply ourselves to its principles. The willingness to continue attending meetings is some evidence of sincerity and commitment. We discover that there are few meetings that bring us world-shaking revelations and experiences, but as we keep coming back and working the program, our own lives will improve steadily. This is the result of many meetings, not just a few.
I’ll do everything possible today to strengthen my sobriety and my understanding of the program. Rather than seeking shortcuts, I’ll be grateful for steady progress.
Keep It Simple
March 28
God is not a cosmic bellboy.
–Harry Emerson Fosdick
We have to laugh when we look back at the times we treated God like our servant. Who did we think we were, ordering God to do something for us? But we got away with it. God even did some of the things we asked. Now we know that our Higher Power is not a servant. As we work the Steps, we know we don’t give orders to our Higher Power. We don’t expect God to work miracles every time we’d like one. we’re asking our Higher Power to lead us. After all, who knows what is best for us–our Higher Power or us? Our Higher Power has many wonderful gifts for us. Our Higher Power will show us goals, help us live in love and joy, and give us strength.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, show me ways to help others as You’ve helped me. I’m grateful that You love me and help me.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll make a list of times my Higher Power has helped me out of trouble.
God, help me be so clear on who I am that I can generously afford to let other people be who they are, too. Help me to set aside my defensive behavior, and teach me to blend with other people and see their point of view while not relinquishing my own.
–Melody BeattieGod, help me search myself to see if I’m holding on to blame for myself or someone else. If I am, help me get it out in the open, then help me let it go.
–Melody Beattie“Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.”
–Stephen CoveyThose who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves.
–William Hazlitt
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
March 28
FUTURE
“The future is hidden even from the men who made it.”
— Anatole France
Life is a glorious mystery. We can never fully understand it and it will always confuse and amaze us. After we have understood one thing, we are presented with a fresh problem. We are not perfect. We are not God. We will never understand completely.
Some years ago this used to anger and irritate me. I wanted to know everything. I wanted to have the answer to all life’s problems. I wanted the “power” that comes with perfection. I hated being vulnerable, weak and confused! I hated being human. Yes, that was my problem. I hated being a human being.
Today I am enjoying the adventure of life, and I kneel in awe at its mingled complexity. Today life is a paradox that I can live with.
Help me to accept the mystery of life.
Daily Inspiration
March 28
Faith is complete surrender to the will of God and acceptance of His plan for us. Lord, You carry me through each moment of my day.
Learn to be peaceful in all situations and trust that through all stages of our lives, God has a plan. Lord, may I have the wisdom to be able to turn my stumbling blocks into building blocks.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
March 28
“Sacred sites and areas are protection for all people ‘the four colors for man’ and these sites are in all areas of the earth in the four directions.”
–Traditional Circle of Elders, NORTHERN CHEYENNE
The Elders say that values come from the Mother Earth. Different places and areas around the Earth have different values. The Water people live in harmony and know the values that correspond to that particular part of the Earth. The Desert people know the values of the desert and respect and live in harmony with that part of the Earth. The Woodland people know the values of their part of the Earth and live in harmony. If you live in harmony with the Earth, you will live a life that is full of values. We should have great respect for the Mother Earth.
Grandfather, today, let me learn values from Mother Earth.
Journey to the Heart
March 28
Discover New Beliefs
The drive from Zion National Park to Bryce Canyon in Utah was a short one. I had traveled the same route several times. At a certain pass, no matter how sunny the day and cloudless the sky, it was raining there every time. Although it was hard to see, a small dark cloud seemed to hang over this one particular place, this one area of the road, all the time.
It may be like that in a particular area of our lives. A certain belief seems almost stuck to us, stuck to one area of our lives, and no matter how sunny the rest of the drive, it’s raining there all the time. What cloud is hanging over you? Could it be one you’re helping to create?
Some beliefs– My choices are wrong. I make bad decisions, I’m wrong– can create a dark heaviness that hangs over us like a cloud. These beliefs may be so subtle we don’t notice them. What we do notice is a lingering pain or anxiety, a cloud that seems to follow us around. What we don’t see is that we’re helping create and maintain our own cloud with these beliefs.
The lesson may not be to make better decisions or be a better person. The lesson may be much simpler: change your beliefs. Make some new decisions. Let yourself discover some new, better, sunnier beliefs about yourself and your life. Allow yourself to believe that the decisions you make are fine.
Who you are is okay. You always have been.
Today’s Gift
March 28
I have a feeling I should paint what I am supposed to paint. So I sit. And there my hand moves and I made a picture.
—Norval Morriseau
The writer sits, head in hands, amid a mound of crumpled paper wads. The deadline is tomorrow and not even the first paragraph is written. The writer has been working nonstop since the early morning hours. Frustration pushes the writer up from the chair and out on a long walk in the woods to the stream. After an hour of plunging through lush woods, a rest by the stream listening to the sounds of the rippling water is refreshing. Back at the typewriter, the fingers move, the words flow, the job is done.
Sometimes we need to quiet ourselves to let our inner resources flow through our outer noise. We are always doing what we are supposed to do. Even when things don’t seem to come together just right, there is a purpose; even if only to let us know we need to do something else for a while.
How much simpler our lives can be if we only have the faith to accept what happens as a guidepost along a path that is naturally correct.
Am I frustrated with something I should step away from?
Touchstones Meditation For Men
March 28
There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.
—Han Suyin
It may take a while to learn to be gentle with ourselves. We have long standing patterns of abusing and shaming ourselves. Maybe we became this way because we were victims. Now it’s easier to attack ourselves for mistakes we’ve made than to be accountable and make amends. We think we deserve to be rejected if we let our friends know our deepest secrets. In the midst of stress we fly to self-doubt and self-abusing thoughts. We withdraw emotionally, we pout, we expect rejection rather than gentleness.
For today, let us pledge to be gentle with ourselves. Gentleness isn’t dishonest; it isn’t arrogant or self-centered. It is taking reality – with whatever pain that includes – and treating ourselves as worthwhile men. We will be stronger and less self-centered when we accept this gentleness. We will be as loyal to ourselves as we are to our best friends. Each day with this new attitude will build strength of character and wisdom.
Today, may I treat myself with gentleness and learn the strength it has to teach me.
Daily TAO
March 28
INTEGRATION
Be still to know the absolute.
Be active to know the outer.
The two spring from the same source,
All of life is one whole.
In stillness, one seeks the absolute Tao. There is neither beauty nor ugliness in it. Because it has no opposites, it is called absolute. By contrast, nothing of this world is absolute, because all things that we experience are relative.
Seeking the absolute may be among the greatest goals, but you cannot remain on your meditation cushion forever. You must go out and explore life as well. This is the investigation of the outer Tao — that aspect of Tao that flows through all existence. You must not fail to explore anything that interests you. Any skill you want to master should be learned. Any subject that arouses curiosity should be examined. Every insecurity should be overcome. Every question should be answered. If you do not do this, then you cannot freely flow with the outer Tao: Every one of your uncertainties will be an obstacle.
Initially, it will seem as if there is no connection between your time meditating and the outer things in your life. After all, the masters themselves constantly stress the difference between the spiritual and the social. But eventually, you will reach a point where the quiescence of contemplation and the activeness of living are integrated. Then there is no anxiety about whether one is living a spiritual life or not. You realize that it is all part of the same seamless whole.
Daily Zen
March 28
To find a Buddha,
all you have to do is see your nature.
Your nature is the Buddha.
And the Buddha is the person who’s free,
free of plans, free of cares.
If you don’t see your nature
and run around all day looking
somewhere else, you’ll never find a Buddha.
– Bodhidharma (d. 533)