Daily Reflections
November 10
A SENSE OF BELONGING
“Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us.”
-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 105
That’s what it is—belonging! After a session of meditation I knew that the feeling I was experiencing was a sense of belonging because I was so relaxed. I felt quieter inside, more willing to discard little irritations. I appreciated my sense of humor. What I also experience in my daily practice is the sheer pleasure of belonging to the creative flow of God’s world. How propitious for us that prayer and meditation are written right into our A.A. way of life.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
November 10
A.A. Thought For The Day
I am less self centered. The world used to revolve around me at the center. I cared more about myself, my own needs and desires, my own pleasure, my own way, than I did about the whole rest of the world. What happened to me was more important than anything else I could think of. I was selfishly trying to be happy and therefore I was unhappy most of the time. I have found that selfishly seeking pleasure does not bring true happiness. Thinking of myself all the time cut me off from the best in life. A.A. taught me to care less about myself and more about the other fellow. Am I less self-centered?
Meditation For The Day
When something happens to upset you and you are discouraged, try to feel that life’s difficulties and troubles are not intended to arrest your progress in the spiritual life, but to test your strength and increase your determination to keep going. Whatever it is that must be met, you are to either overcome it or use it. Nothing should daunt you for long, nor should any difficulty overcome or conquer you. God’s strength will always be there, waiting for you to use it. Nothing can be too great to be overcome, or if not overcome, then used.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may know that there can be no failure with God. I pray that with His help I may live a more victorious life.
Walk In Dry Places
November 10
Honesty with another person
Admitting wrongs.
A good fifth Step in the program means being entirely hones with at least one person about the nature of our shortcomings. “A burden shared is a burden cut in half” is the principle behind this action.
We can feel relieved that the 12 Step program specifically limits this sharing to “another person”___ though we can obviously add to that if we choose. However, we must be sure to share honestly with that one person, being careful not to gloss over this important Step.
What is the result of this honest sharing? At the very least, it helps us lose the fear that people might know us as we really are. It helps us face the world with confidence and perhaps new humility. Morever, it can strengthen our ability to stay sober. All these gains are certainly reward enough.
If I haven’t been honest with at least one other person, I’ll reread the Fifth Step today. This is something that should be done for my own future safety and well-being.
Keep It Simple
November 10
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
-Will Rogers
The greatest adventure ever is recovery, and action is what’s important in recovery. That’s because the Twelve Steps are full of action. The whole world has now opened up to us. At times, this will scare us. But we aren’t alone. Our Higher Power is there to help us. All we have to ask ourselves is, “Would this action keep me in touch with my Higher Power?” If the answer is yes, then we take action. If the answer is no, then we don’t.
In recovery, we’ll be busy. We admit our wrongs. We take inventories. We seek answers. We ask for help. We are to get as much as we can out of life. We can’t sit and watch; we have to get out and live life.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You gave me a second chance at life. Help me use it and not let my fear stop.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll five things I want to do but I’m afraid to try. I’ll talk to someone I trust about how I can do these things.
God is the source of all I need, and all others need.
-Shelley“Call on God, but row away from the rocks.”
-Indian proverb“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”
-Mary Engelbreit“Responsible persons are mature people who have taken charge of themselves and their conduct, who own their actions and own up to them–who answer for them.”
-William J. Bennett“Silence fertilizes the deep place where personality grows. A life with a peaceful center can weather all storms.”
-Norman Vincent Peale
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
November 10
FAITH
“Faith is never identical with piety.”
-Karl Barth
Drugs make us artificial and unreal. They create a world of fantasy, rather than reality and teach us how to escape rather than live. Everything is exaggerated and dehumanized especially the practice of our religion. Often for the addict, religion becomes part of the escape, a ritual that becomes exaggerated and theatrical, expecting magic rather than miracle.
Madonnas are kissed, promises are made, confessions become routine, prayers are mouthed and God is manipulated with the disease. Piety, the religious art of showmanship, keeps us a prisoner of the small “god”.
Faith takes seriously our pain and isolation and promises recovery only with change and accepted responsibility. We must walk our prayers and live our rosary!
O God, build Your temple in my heart and Your altar in my daily sacrifice of love to self and others.
Daily Inspiration
November 10
Study who you are and follow your heart because it will often lead you to miracles. Lord, in knowing who I am, I will become better able to know and serve You.
There is light behind every shadow. Lord, You are the light of the world. May I never forget to turn to You when my life fills with shadows.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
November 10
“The battle for Indian children will be won in the classroom, not on the streets or on horses. The students of today are our warriors of tomorrow.”
-Wilma P. Mankiller, CHEROKEE
The world is constantly changing. One of the strengths of Indian people has been our adaptability. In today’s world, education is what we need to survive. We need doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists. We can become these things and still live in a cultural way. We need to live in two worlds; the educated world and the Indian cultural world. Education will help protect our land, our people’s health, and provide knowledge for our people. We must teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. Also, we must teach the language, the culture, the ceremony, and the tradition of our people.
Creator, let me remember You are my teacher.
Journey to the Heart
November 10
Release Guilt
Do whatever you need to do to release guilt. Do it often. Make that technique a regular part of your life.
Guilt has gotten a bad name. Many of us insist that we won’t feel guilt ever again, because we felt so much before, because it serves no purpose. Maybe we need to rethink guilt.
Guilt is a feeling. If it’s there and you don’t feel it, honor it, release it, it will block and stop you. It will control your energy and possibly control your life like anything else that’s denied and repressed. Acknowledging guilt won’t make it more real. Acknowledging guilt won’t lead to condemnation. Acknowledging guilt will help you release it. Write it out. Talk it out. Use a ritual from your church. Let yourself know your secrets, even the ones you’ve kept hidden from yourself until now.
Choose a way to express your guilt. Then watch it loosen and leave. That’s how we cleanse our souls.
Today’s Gift
November 10
He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!
—Anne Frank
Someone once said happiness is like a butterfly: if we chase it, we’ll never find it. But if we sit quietly, it will come and land on us. Faith and courage are the same. All we have to do is sit quietly and ask for these gifts from God. In time, and with patience, they will be ours, and so will the happiness we can then pass on to others.
Anne Frank wrote the above words facing a concentration camp and certain death. If she could find happiness and faith and courage within herself under those circumstances, then certainly we can too. These gifts are ours, already within us, if we but look for them.
What can I ask for today?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
November 10
Humility is just as much the opposite of self-abasement as it is of self-exaltation.
—Dag Hammarskjold
In our struggles with self-hate and guilt, we may have thought we were humble – or perhaps even too humble. But self-abasement, which often alternates with feelings of superiority, is not the spiritual quality of humility that we strive for in our program.
With humility, we respect ourselves and our place in the universe. Humility is having ourselves in perspective, knowing we are connected to the whole world, accepting how small and powerless we are, and accepting the power and responsibility we have. With this spiritual feeling comes a sense of awe for the world we live in and a feeling of gratitude for the life we’ve been given.
The humility I feel today goes hand in hand with my self-respect and gratefulness for being part of life.
Daily TAO
November 10
SOARING
For years, I’ve practiced ritual.
It’s dead now.
For years, I’ve practiced meditation.
It’s dull now.
Finally, there is only soaring
Like an ectoplasmic ribbon
Floating over the sea.
When one is mature spiritually, one no longer needs the structure of ritual or formal meditations. This is not to say that structure was unnecessary, for without it one could not stand at this vantage point. But once one attains a level where one has completely internalized the lessons of structure, one can freely improvise in fresh and valid forms.
In spirituality, one can soar, free of ordinary restrictions. Imagine yourself on a high cliff overlooking the ocean. Slowly your body elongates like a ribbon. Longer and longer, undulating up into the sky. Before you is the limitless vastness of the ocean and sky. You feel drawn forward, and you can glide and soar over that expanse like a ribbon. That is spiritual freedom.