Daily Reflections
March 29
TRUSTED SERVANTS
They are servants. Theirs is the sometimes thankless privilege of doing the group’s chores.
–TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 134
In Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis describes an encounter between his principle character and an old man busily at work planting a tree. “What is it that you are doing?” Zorba asks. The old man replies: “You can see very well what I am doing, my son, I’m planting a tree.” “But why plant a tree,” Zorba asks, “if you won’t be able to see it bear fruit?” And the old man answers: “I, my son, live as though I were never going to die.” The response brings a faint smile to Zorba’s lips and, as he walks away, he exclaims with a note of irony: “How strange — I live as though I were going to die tomorrow!”
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
March 29
A.A. Thought For The Day
Before I met A.A. I was very dishonest. I lied to my wife constantly about where I had been and what I’d been doing. I took time off from the office and pretended I’d been sick or gave some other dishonest excuse. I was dishonest with myself, as well as with other people. I would never face myself as I really was or admit when I was wrong. I pretended to myself that I was as good as the next fellow, although I suspected I wasn’t. Am I now really honest?
Meditation For The Day
I must live in the world and yet live apart with God. I can go forth from my secret times of communion with God to the work of the world. To get the spiritual strength I need, my inner life must be lived apart from the world. I must wear the world as a loose garment. Nothing in the world should seriously upset me, as long as my inner life is lived with God. All successful living arises from this inner life.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may live my inner life with God. I pray that nothing shall invade or destroy that secret place of peace.
Walk in Dry Places
March 29
Stick with the winners
Making the Right Choices
In the world of drinking, people lead each other down paths of further destruction. In the world of AA, that same destructive process can still go on through wrong thinking. It’s possible for AA members to encourage resentments, criticism, gossip, and other dead-end practices.
That’s why people are urged to “stick with the winners” in order to find and maintain sobriety. Seek out people who are doing well in the program, people whose progress is noticeable and admirable. The can be of real help as sponsors, as friends, or simply as role models.
It’s important to remember that the winners can be from all walks of life. The first AA member in Detroit earned only a modest living, while the second Detroit member became a wealthy manufacturer after finding sobriety. In AA terms, both men were winners. They stayed sober, they stayed active in the fellowship, and they helped others.
“Sticking with the winners” does not mean we should shun people who are having difficulty with the program. It does mean we should avoid accepting ideas and ways of living that do not lead to sobriety.
I’ll spend time in the company of people who have a good record of following the program.
Keep It Simple
March 29
Whatever is in the heart will come up to the tongue.
–Persian proverb
During our illness, we wouldn’t let people get close to us. We spoke of what was in our heart. And much of what filled our heart was sadness, anger, and hopelessness. Those who want to be close to us heard what was in our heart. In short, we had become our illness. Recovery is about changing what’s in our heart. We open our hearts up to our Higher Power. The first three Steps are about honesty and needing others. They’re about turning our will and our lives over to a Higher Power.
If you’re wondering where you are with these Steps, listen to the words you speak.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, keep my heart open to the first three Steps.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll work at really listening to what I have to say.
People always ask, “How did you succeed?” Simply put, I chose not to fail.
–Xernona Clayton“Real friendship is shown in times of trouble; prosperity is full of friends.”
–EuripidesHonesty gets us sober, tolerance keeps us sober.
–Bill W.“To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.”
–George MacDonald“The principles you live by create the world you live in; if you change the principles you live by, you will change your world.”
–Blaine Lee“Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away hunger.”
–St. Basil“If the only prayer you say in your life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”
–Meister Eckhart
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
March 29
OPINIONS
“Opinions cannot survive if one has no chance to fight for them.”
— Thomas Mann
An opinion is worth fighting for, and I have opinions on a great number of subjects — as a result of sobriety.
Drugs have a tendency to make insane remarks appear brilliant; the drunk is always the unsung poet or victimized genius when he is “in alcohol”. I did not have opinions when I was drinking but rather a series of chaotic and incoherent reactions.
But today I have considered opinions. I am able to think and make decisions. I am able to make a contribution to life and the world in which I live. I am involved.
More than this, today I have the spiritual confidence to fight for what I believe and “speak out” my concerns in love. Today I am alive and I love it — also I love me.
Let me always hear the opinions of others but not fail to express my own.
Daily Inspiration
March 29
Few things are worthy of worry and fewer are worthy of anger. Lord, bless me with patience for my circumstances and wisdom to overcome the obstacles.
We only have so much time and so much energy in a day. To use it grumbling leaves less time for enjoyment and accomplishment. Lord, may I focus on looking for Your blessings in every part of my life.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day March 29
“Tell the people not to cry. Tell them to be happy.”
–John Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA (told to his son, Archie, as he died)
Our Elders know about the two Worlds, the Physical World and the Spiritual World. Many times, before we pass to the Spirit World, our relatives, who have gone there before us, will come for us and they will help us. The Spirit World, the Elders say, is a good, happy, and harmonious place. When we die, it means we have only entered another world. We will all see one another again.
Great Spirit, allow me to understand both the Spirit World and the Physical World. Today, let me be happy.
Journey to the Heart
March 29
Move Gently into Forgiveness
“I never knew how much I blamed and hated myself. I never knew how much shame and self-contempt I picked up from situations I’d been through until I really forgave myself and felt how that feels,” one woman said to me.
Loving yourself, forgiving yourself, accepting yourself– all of these feel different from judging yourself. Many of us have lived with so much judgement of ourselves that we take these feelings for granted. We just think that’s how we’re doomed to feel. Until we do forgive ourselves, we don’t realize how much we need to, and how good, how great, how absolutely terrific that feels.
I was leery of forgiveness for many years. I thought forgiving implied judging. And because judging was wrong and I shouldn’t do it, I didn’t need to forgive. The problem was, whether right or wrong, I had judged myself. And now I needed forgiveness.
Self-judgements set us apart, separate us from the rest of the world in an undesirable way. Forgiving ourselves reconnects us to the world, to God, to ourselves.
We can forgive ourselves for what we’ve done wrong, what we’ve done badly, and what we think we could have done better. We can transcend our judgements of ourselves.
Move gently into forgiveness. Love, forgive, and accept yourself. See how connected you feel. See how free you really are and always have been. See how much better you feel!
Today’s Gift
March 29
Drag your thoughts away from your troubles … by the ears, by the heels or any other way you can manage it. It’s the healthiest thing a body can do.
—Mark Twain
It requires very little effort – and no imagination – to start feeling sorry for ourselves. Often, it is easy to feel sorry for ourselves in our families. Instead of being inspired by the sports talents of an older brother, the popularity of a lovely sister, or the fame of a parent or relative, we often take the easier attitude: “I’m denied all that he or she has.”
If we work hard at developing our own abilities so that we can excel, we will find ourselves proud of, and applauding, what others do. If a personal problem brings us self-pity, we must remind ourselves that all people have problems. We can cope as well as the best of people if we learn from them and think positively.
Who among those close to me can I be proud of today?
Touchstones Meditation For Men
March 29
Restless man’s mind is,So strongly shaken
In the grip of the senses …
Truly I think
The wind is no wilder.
—Bhagavad Gita
What passions have swept away our reasoning powers? What lust have we pursued at the cost of our values and better judgment? As men in this program, we know the ferocious winds of addiction and codependency. Now we are in a program of recovery, learning to combine our sensual side with our mind and our morals.
Every day we feel the winds of our senses, and they are part of what gives us life. We can let them blow and not be carried away by them. In this way we take pleasure in being human beings and men. We have our minds, our thoughts, and our knowledge to turn to for guidance. And we have our inner voice – our Higher Power – on which we can rely through even the wildest hurricane.
I am learning to make room in life for my senses, my mind, and my Higher Power.
Daily TAO
March 29
INTERPRETATION
The sage whose words are ambiguous you call great.
Those who advocate discipline you shun.
With one, you treat words the way you want.
With the other, you resent having no quarter.
It is unfortunate that we need the words of the wise. Though they are essential to our beginnings on a spiritual path, they can cause problems because they must be interpreted to be understood. Because words are imperfect, every generation rewrites itself.
People love ambiguity, especially when it comes to religion. They can interpret things any way they want. If they are unhappy with the cast given to a particular teaching, they invent ways to circumvent it, which is why we have so many authorities, schools, and sects.
It is no accident that the most revered sages are dead. They aren’t around to correct our misguided notions, to change their teachings, or even to make mistakes that might mitigate our reverence. Christ, Mohammed, Buddha, Lao Tzu — how many of us are actually devoted to the wisdom that they embodied? Or have we made them mere screens upon which we project our own ideas?
It is important to spend time with a living teacher, one who can correct mistakes and discipline you. But the object of such study should not be the creation of a new orthodoxy. Rather, your goal should be to bring yourself to a state of independence. All teachings are mere references. The true experience is living your own life. Then, even the holiest of words are only words.
Daily Zen
March 29
Swell after swell of pinewind
Comb like waves at sea:
Beat after beat of heavenly music
Strummed on cloudy strings.
Midnight, Tao folk
Purify their hearing
And rise alone to burn incense:
Moon full
Just overhead.
– Hsu Yun