Daily Reflections
November 13
LOOKING OUTWARD
“We ask especially for freedom from self-will and are careful to make no requests for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends.”
—ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 87
As an active alcoholic, I allowed selfishness to run rampant in my life. I was so attached to my drinking and other selfish habits that people and moral principles came second. Now, when I pray for the good of others rather than my “own selfish ends,” I practice a discipline in letting go of selfish attachments, caring for my fellows and preparing for the day when I will be required to let go of all earthly attachments.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
November 13
A.A. Thought For The Day
Who am I to judge other people? Have I proved by my great success in life that I know all the answers? Exactly the opposite. Until I came into A.A., my life could be called a failure. I made all the mistakes a man could make. I took all the wrong roads there were to take. On the basis of my record, am I a fit person to be a judge of my fellow men? Hardly. In A.A. I have learned not to judge people. I am so often wrong. Let the results of what they do judge them. It’s not up to me. Am I less harsh in my judgment of people?
Meditation For The Day
In our time of meditation, we again seem to hear: “Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Again and again we seem to hear God saying this to us. “Come unto me” for the solution of every problem, for the overcoming of every temptation, for the calming of every fear, for all our need, physical, mental or spiritual, but mostly “come unto me” for the strength we need to live with peace of mind and the power to be useful and effective.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may go to God today for those things which I need to help me live. I pray that I may find real peace of mind.
Walk In Dry Places
November 13
The Boredom battle
Acceptance and Patience.
All of us have times when we don’t enjoy our sobriety as much as we feel we should. Though we’re still grateful, we sometimes feel bored and depressed.
What we have to remember at such times is our bleak history of using alcohol as a quick fix for boredom. However ruinous and false it proved to be, alcohol did temporarily bring the miraculous change we sought.
We thought of alcohol as a means of uplifting our mood. We were very surprised to learn that it’s really a depressant. Maybe it lifted us up by depressing our self-doubt and self-criticism.
Whatever the nature of our drinking, we need to stay sober while fighting our battles with boredom. We can do that by accepting a bit of boredom without succumbing to it. Meanwhile, we can look for ways of easing boredom that don’t get us into trouble or lead back to the bottle.
I’ll not feel guilty or unworthy if boredom strikes me now and then. Today I’ll help manage my long-term boredom tendencies by practicing acceptance and patience for twenty-four hours.
Keep It Simple
November 13
“Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present.”
—Anonymous
We addicts often learn things the hard way. In the past, we found it very hard to take advice from anyone. It’s still hard to take advice, but it’s getting easier every day. We know now that we can’t handle everything in life by ourselves. We’ve come to believe there is help for us. And we’re learning to ask for help and advice.
Sometimes we don’t like the advice we get. We don’t have to use it. But if it comes from people who love and understand us, we can try to listen. Write it down. Think about it. It may make sense another day.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, please work through people who love me. I need your advice. Help me listen to it.
Action for the Day: I will make notes to myself, writing down things that seem important. I will read them once in a while.
“Friendship is like a bank account. You can’t continue to draw on it without making deposits.”
—Cited in The Best of BITS & PIECES“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.”
—Etty Hillesum“You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go.”
—Jeanette Rankin“There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they’re necessary to reach the places we’ve chosen to go.”
—Richard Bach“Spirituality is an individual matter. I can tell you what it means to me, but it might be different for you.”
—Jake T.
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
November 13
MONEY
“Money doesn’t always bring happiness. People with ten million dollars are no happier than people with nine million dollars.”
—Hobart Brown
Today I understand that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with money. Wealth is not good or bad in itself it is what we do with it. As a famous comedian once said, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor and rich is better!”
But in what sense is rich better? I suppose in the freedom that it affords us, not only to travel and buy comfortable “things” but also in the way we can help and contribute to the lives and well-being of others. But to hoard money, be “stingy” with yourself and others, make a “god” of possessions or become compulsive about the “making of money” produces the same pain as any other addiction.
Money is to be used. It is usually one of the benefits of sobriety, part of what it means to say “it gets better.” Why? Because we are more responsible and creative as sober people and this brings its rewards.
Help me to be a responsible steward of the possessions You entrusted to me.
Daily Inspiration
November 13
Refuse to be one of the many who go through life never knowing the limits of their abilities. Lord, You have blessed me with all that I need, but also with the ability to achieve all that I want. Help me to continue to strive and become all that I can.
Forget the useless and unhealthy things of your past that clutter your mind so that you can live a life that is alive and vibrant. Lord, help me to discard all that clouds my day so that I am able to live the life that You intend me to live.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
November 13
“My Grandfather survived on this earth without using anything that did not go back into the earth. The whole world could learn from that.”
—Floyd Westerman, SIOUX
Our grandfathers knew how to live in harmony. They did not create poisons or technologies that destroyed things. They did not make their decisions based on greed or for selfish reasons. They did not take more then they used. Their thoughts and actions were about respect. The Elders conducted themselves in a respectful way. We need to consider our actions around respect for Mother Earth.
My Creator, have the grandfathers teach us today about the old ways.
Journey to the Heart
November 13
You’re Almost Home
I only had a few hundred miles to go, but the stretch ahead seemed endless. I was tired and near the end of this adventure. I remembered the meditative words of a friend, words that had helped me several years ago, words that helped me again now.
“The life force is a force within you. You have the power to fire it, stoke it, expand its energy throughout your body. Don’t clench up, tighten up. That limits the life force within you. Stop cramping your muscles and telling yourself you can’t. If you say it long and loud enough, you’ll begin to believe it. Relax. Relax your arms, your legs, your neck, your body. You’ve come so far. Look back at all the miles you’ve traveled. What lies ahead is a small portion, such a small portion of fear.
Breathe deeply. When you become afraid or tired, your breathing becomes shallow. That inhibits the fire. It keeps the life force from reaching your muscles, your vital organs, your brain. Breathe deeply. Stoke the fire within.
Take a moment now to picture the core of light within you. See it in your solar plexus just inches below your navel. Picture it as a glowing coal, a candle, a flame. With each breath you take, picture the flame getting stronger, glowing more brightly, until you feel the vital life force begin to surge through you.
Feel yourself being filled with healing, life-giving energy with each breath you take. Feel the flame burn more brightly within you. Inhale deeply. Exhale deeply. Feel your power spread through your body. Feel the power of the universe come in through your breath. Feel the power connect with and flame the burning coal of energy that is within you.”
You’ve come so far. You’ve almost mastered that lesson, accomplished that task, unveiled that insight, the one you’ve been struggling with. Of course you’re tired. You’ve been working hard. Take a moment now to light the fire within you. Let it give you the energy you need.
Today’s Gift
November 13
“The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he could never be found out.”
—Thomas Macaulay
Remember the tale about the poor, tired shoemaker who cut out his last bit of leather and awoke to find a beautiful pair of shoes sewn for him? Night after night two little elves secretly worked from midnight to dawn sewing shoes to help the old craftsman. Helping the shoemaker without his knowing who they were made the elves very happy, and they danced and sang as they worked away. These elves knew their reward was in the doing of the good deed, not in the discovery of them doing it.
What secret gift of kindness can I give today?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
November 13
“All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.”
—James Thurber
We are getting to know ourselves each day. We have learned some very important things about ourselves since the day we started our recovery. Most of us began learning by admitting our addiction or codependency. We saw how loyal we had become to a substance or a behavior. What seemed normal to us was actually distorted and unhealthy living. We didn’t understand why we felt so confused and upset. Perhaps we didn’t know what we were running to, or from.
Until we were faced with our powerlessness we couldn’t know ourselves. We could not feel our void or pain until we had relinquished our old ways. We now can see our motives more clearly. When we have come face to face with ourselves, surrendered and stopped running, nothing else ever need be so frightening again.
I will let myself know where I am going today.
Daily TAO
November 13
SWIMMER
Though life is a dream,
Act as if it isn’t.
Act with no weight.
You may understand that life is but a dream, but that doesn’t free you from the responsibility to act. This dream may not be of your own making, but you must still engage it and operate within the parameters of the fantasy. You must become the producer, director, and actor of a phantasmic stage play. Otherwise, you are aimlessly adrift.
Meditating is to wake up. Few of us have acquired the skill to be in constant meditation. Therefore, we awake and dream, awake and dream. The moments of enlightenment are like the times when swimmers come up for air. They gain a breath of life, but they must submerge once again. We are all swimmers on the sea of sorrow, bobbing up and down until our final liberation.