Daily Reflections
March 6
THE IDEA OF FAITH
Do not let any prejudice you might have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 47
The idea of faith is a very large chunk to swallow when fear, doubt and anger abound in and around me. Sometimes just the idea of doing something different, something I am not accustomed to doing, can eventually become an act of faith if I do it regularly, and do it without debating whether it’s the right thing to do. When a bad day comes along and everything is going wrong, a meeting or a talk with another drunk often distracts me just enough to persuade me that everything is not quite as impossible, as overwhelming as I had thought. In the same way, going to a meeting or talking to a fellow alcoholic are acts of faith; I believe I’m arresting my disease. These are ways I slowly move toward faith in a Higher Power.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
March 6
A.A. Thought For The Day
In A.A., we must surrender, give up, admit that we’re helpless. We surrender our lives to God and ask Him for help. When He knows that we’re ready, He gives us by His grace the free gift of sobriety. And we can’t take any credit for having stopped drinking, because we didn’t do it by our own willpower. There’s no place for pride or boasting. We can only be grateful to God for doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. Do I believe that God has made me a free gift of the strength to stay sober?
Meditation For The Day
I must work for God, with God and through God’s help. By doing all I can to bring about a true fellowship of human beings, I am working for God. I am also working with God, because this is the way God works, and He is with me when I am doing such work. I cannot do good work, however, without God’s help. In the final analysis, it is through the grace of God that any real change in human personality takes place. I have to rely on God’s power and anything I accomplish is through His help.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may work for God and with God. I pray that I may be used to change human personalities through God’s help.
Walk in Dry Places
March 6
Example, not exception
Helping Others.
It’s always heady stuff when others congratulate us on our victory over alcohol. Fair-minded people will have considerable admiration for what appears to be a bootstrap effort to make a comeback from despair and defeat.
We can accept this praise with grace and modesty. At some point, however, we should emphasize that our recovery was an example of spiritual principles at work and that thousands have been able to follow in the same path. Sober AA members are not exceptions; they are examples of what the program can do in people’s lives.
It is important to emphasize that we are ordinary people. The marvelous thing about the program is that it works for ordinary people like ourselves. Many people in the fellowship have great talent and ability, but those gifts have nothing to do with staying sober. The gifted person gets sober the same way anybody does … by admitting powerlessness over alcohol and by accepting the program.
We are also helped most by people who can serve as examples in our lives. It is always inspiring to know that we can follow in their paths and find what has been given to them.
I want to provide a good example for others today. I will go through the day remembering that my sobriety is a gift that can be bestowed on anybody, it was not an exception just for me.
Keep It Simple
March 6
When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.
Remember how we tried to make others think we were not in trouble? We walked and talked like addicts. We acted like addicts. Most everyone knew the truth but us. We were like ducks pretending to be eagles.
We see ourselves as we really are. But sometimes we can’t see ourselves that way. This is normal.
That’s why we need others to help us see what we can’t. We were addicts. We are now recovering addicts. We need friends, sponsors, and family members to tell us when we may be acting like addicts again. It may save our lives.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, give my friends and family members the strength to tell me when I’m acting like an addict.
Action for the Day: I’ll go to people whom I trust and ask them to tell me when I’m acting like an addict.
A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
–Basil (329-379 A.D.)“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.”
–John Lubbock“Age is a matter of feeling…not of years.”
–George William Curtis“The future comes one day at a time.”
–Dean Acheson“Joy is the feeling of grinning on the inside.”
–Dr. Melba Colgrove
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
March 6
HYPOCRISY
“Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo.”
— Ambrose Bierce
As a religious person I could be such a hypocrite. I thought that my “goodness” was dependent upon my judging others to be inferior. I was always putting other people down so that I could appear terrific.
But a part of me always knew this was wrong. I ignored the religious teaching that emphasized forgiveness and acceptance and instead focused on judgment and condemnation. It was all part of my sickness. Inside I was hurting and feeling guilty but I hid these feelings with a mask of hypocrisy and respectability.
Today I do not need to do this. I have a religion that can accept the non-religious and rejoice in the different cultures and creeds. I do not fear those who are different, and I am slowly beginning to accept my many imperfections.
You, who have loved me through forgiveness, help me to forgive.
Daily Inspiration
March 6
Repeatedly remind yourself what a wonderful person you are. Lord, help me to believe in myself as You believe in me and focus on my goodness.
God’s plans for you are beyond your imagination. Lord, may I not limit myself to my past experiences, but be willing to accept new opportunities and challenges into my life.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
March 6
“And there are Four Corners of the Earth that we talk about, the Four Colors of people, and the Four Winds. You see the winds – they are spirits.”
–Grandfather William Commanda, ALGONQUIN
The Elders teach us about the four directions. If we learn about direction, we also learn about attention, about focus, and about power. Each direction has spiritual power. In the morning, go outside, face the east and get still; then, listen to your thoughts. After you have done this for a while, turn and face the west. Get quiet once again and listen to your thoughts. Did your thinking change when you changed direction?
Great Spirit, teach me the power of the four directions.
Journey to the Heart
March 6
Let Your Sexuality Be Connected to Your Heart
He was a handsome man. An actor. “Something happened to me lately,” he shared. “It’s about my sexuality. I used to be sexual when and where I felt like it. No more. And it’s not connected to fear of disease, although that’s certainly a concern. What happened to me is that my sexuality has become connected to my heart.”
Let go of sexual shame. Embrace your sexuality. Value your senses, all of them– touch, smell, taste, seeing, and hearing. Value your other senses, too– your intuition, your spirituality, your spirit’s reaction to the world that dances around you. Open up to colors, textures, scents, and sounds.
Open up to your energy, all of it, including your sexuality. Let yourself see that all expressions of your love and your being are beautiful. Let yourself learn to express and receive love in sensual ways, ways that work for you.
Be done with sexual shame. Trust your body and what it likes. We aren’t disconnected parts. Open up. Discover your sexuality. Let it be connected to your heart.
Today’s Gift
March 6
This Mouse must give up one of the Mouse ways of seeing things in order that he may grow.
—Hyemeyohsts Storm
There is an American Indian tale of a mouse who heard a roaring in his ears and set out to discover what it was. He encountered many animals who helped him on his way. Finally, the mouse had a chance to offer help to another. He gave away his eyes to help two other animals.
Without his sight, defenseless, he waited for the end. Soon he heard the sound eagles make when they dive for their prey. The next thing the mouse knew, he was flying. He could see all the splendor around him. Then he heard a voice say, “You have a new name. You are Eagle.”
Like the mouse, we also feel something inside us we’d like to explore. That secret, like all others, has its answer hidden deep within us, yet right under our very nose. Often, we merely have to give up our eyes and see in a different way. When we do this, we are rewarded with a new kind of vision, one that lets us discover our true potential.
How can I look at things differently today?
Touchstones Meditation For Men
March 6
A boy must be initiated into the world of men. It doesn’t happen by itself; it doesn’t happen just because he eats Wheaties. And only men can do this work.
—Robert Bly
Many of us grew into manhood with a surface picture of what it means to be masculine. We had images of tough guys playing rough, but we weren’t emotionally close enough to another man to really know him. Many of us never knew our fathers’ strengths, passions, and weak points. It left us with a distorted picture of masculinity and not with an inner knowing. Getting close to other men is a new experience, and it may feel frightening or threatening.
We can develop close friendships with other males and let them know us as we are, rather than as this picture we try to imitate. This kind of relationship in play and work and troubled times is a central part of our spiritual recovery. Close relationships with other men teach us confidence in ourselves and give us inner security.
I will be aware today of men with whom I can develop a friendship and will take one small step toward them.
Daily TAO
March 6
ASCENT
Chill morning, stone steps.
The path to the temple is steep.
We may stumble at times,
But we must always get up again.
Spiritual cultivation is a daily activity. No matter how much we achieve one day, we must continue the next. Progress is often so subtle that we may feel the effort futile, and it is hard to get up each morning and try again with the same enthusiasm. Yet this is precisely what we must do.
If we have the benefit of guidance, talent, and the proper circumstances, then the bulk of our attention has to be paid to such a simple day-to-day effort. No person ever leapt to heaven in one bound. Spirituality is achieved by steady climbing, like a difficult journey to a mountain temple. The number of steps is in the thousands; the way is steep. It takes a long time to get there, and we must content ourselves with the panoramas along the way and think that the view at the summit will be best of all. If we fall, we must pick ourselves up and get back on the trail again.
Success in spiritual life is measured not by spectacular events but by daily devotion. This iron will, this deep sincerity maintains our ascend.
Daily Zen
March 6
Waking me up
To the spring that’s come
Water trickles down
The valley, and long crag-bound ice
Now cracks open, slides free.
– Saigyo (1118-1190)