Daily Reflections
November 14
INTUITION AND INSPIRATION
“… we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don’t struggle.”
–ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 86
I invest my time in what I truly love. Step Eleven is a discipline that allows me and my Higher Power to be together, reminding me that, with God’s help, intuition and inspiration are possible. Practice of the Step brings on self-love. In a consistent attempt to improve my conscious contact with a Higher Power, I am subtly reminded of my unhealthy past, with its patterns of grandiose thinking and false feeling of omnipotence. When I ask for the power to carry out God’s will for me, I am made aware of my powerlessness. Humility and a healthy self-love are compatible, a direct result of working Step Eleven.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
November 14
A.A. Thought For The Day
A better way than judging people is to look for all the good you can find in them. If you look hard enough and long enough, you ought to be able to find some good somewhere in every person. In A.A. I learned that my job was to try to bring out the good, not criticize the bad. Every alcoholic is used to being judged and criticized. That has never helped anyone get sober. In A.A. we tell people they can change. We try to bring out the best in them. We encourage their good points and ignore their bad points as much as possible. People are not converted by criticism. Do I look for the good in people?
Meditation For The Day
There must be a design for the world in the mind of God. We can believe that His design for the world is a universal brotherhood of men and women under the fatherhood of God. The plan for your life must also be in the mind of God. In times of quiet meditation you can seek for God’s guidance, for the revealing of God’s plan for your day. Then you can live this day according to that guidance. Many people are not making of their lives what God meant them to be, and so they are unhappy. They have missed the design for their lives.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may try to follow God’s design for today. I pray that I may have the sense of Divine Intent in what I do today.
Walk In Dry Places
November 14
No Respecter of People
Carrying the message
As human beings, we have to realize that some people are more attractive to us than others. Even in AA, we will likely be more interested in a person who has qualities we admire than one who annoys and repels us.
This is a snobbish attitude that we ridicule when we see it practiced by others, but we may be practicing it in our own way by seeking out only those members we find interesting and attractive. Without realizing it, we can be making AA a popularity contest, which it’s not supposed to be.
We can compensate for such tendencies by making a special effort to express friendship to everyone at the meeting. This can even become a spiritual exercise. It doesn’t hurt to admit that one has snobbish tendencies that can violate the spirit of AA.
Just as alcohol is no respecter of people, so it is that the program should be open to all. Today, I’ll try to make AA a welcoming haven for everyone.
Keep It Simple
November 14
Make it a point to do something every day that you don’t want to do
–Mark Twain
Self-discipline is a key part of living sober life. We need it t get to our meetings regularly. We need it to understand the Steps. We need it to work the Steps.
And we get much in return. With self-discipline, we learn to trust ourselves. We learn to do what is most loving and caring for ourselves. What a great relief! One of the worst parts of our illness was that we couldn’t count on ourselves. We didn’t know what we’d do next. Self-discipline heals this part of our illness.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You have given me much. It’s only right that I give You part of my day. I will pray and meditate on Your wonders.
Action for the Day: I will list areas of my program where I lack self-discipline. I will share the list with my group and sponsor, and I’ll let them know in a month how I’m doing.
“Just when I have learned the way to live, life changes.”
–Hugh Prather
“I AM MORE
I am more than happy, I am JOYFUL.
I am more than healthy, I am WHOLE.
I am more than alive, I am RADIANT.
I am more than successful, I am FREE.
I am more than caring, I am LOVING.
I am more than tranquil, I am PEACEFUL.
I am more than interested, I am INVOLVED.
I am more than adequate, I am TRIUMPHANT.
I am more than fortunate, I am PROSPEROUS.
I am more than human, I am a CHILD OF GOD.”
–William Arthur
“Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.”
–Art Linkletter
“Life is available to anyone no matter what age. All you have to do is grab it.”
–Art Carney
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
November 14
LEISURE
“It is seldom that an American retires from business to enjoy his fortune in comfort … He works because he has always worked, and knows no other way.”
–Thomas Nichols
For years I rushed around being busy and I missed me. I spent years trying to please people by doing things and I missed me. I was a workaholic, my value was seen only in what I could achieve and I missed me.
Today I can relax in my sobriety; indeed sobriety has enabled me to relax. I can sit and do nothing and it is okay. Life is about “being” and not “doing”. Spirituality is about taking time out for me because I am worth it. “Be still and know that I am God,”said the psalmist. In the silence of self I have discovered the meaning of life and I have found God.
Thank You, Lord, for creating the feelings of peace that come from leisure.
Daily Inspiration
November 14
When you choose to fight, be sure it is only for that which is right and fair. Lord, help me to see clearly when goodness is being violated and guide me in helping those who need my help.
Nothing is ever quite as bad as it seems. Call on God and then practice expectancy and optimism and things will turn out better than you expect. Lord, thank You for tomorrow.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
November 14
“The hearts of little children are pure, and therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.”
–Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa) OGLALA LAKOTA
Sometimes adults think they know more than the children. But the children are closer to the truth. Have you ever noticed how quickly they can let go of resentments?
Have you ever noticed how free they are of prejudice? Have you ever noticed how well the children listen to their bodies?
Maybe adults need to be more like children. They are so innocent. The children pray to the Creator and trust that He will take care of them.
Grandfather, today let the children be my teacher.
Journey to the Heart
November 14, 2011
Find Your Center
“My life has changed so much,” the man at Breitenbush told me. “I go with the flow now, try to be in the moment, be spontaneous. I’m a foreman, and even at work life goes much more smoothly. A year ago, I didn’t know what it meant to be centered. Now I do and I work at staying that way.” He looked around the camp, a nature retreat in the heart of the Willamette National Forest in Oregon. “And I know how to get there too.”
For many years, I didn’t understand what it meant to be centered either. If I was that way for a while, it was more accidental than deliberate. It takes time, practice, and mostly desire and commitment to make staying centered a way of life. But the time it takes is worth it.
Learn what it feels like to be centered, to be balanced. Learn what it feels like to be off center. Learn to tell the difference. Then, learn to come back to center as quickly as possible.
Quiet. Relaxed. Feeling right about what you’re doing. On track. In harmony. At peace. In balance. No turbulent emotions racing through you. No disorganized thoughts clamoring through your head. Your body feels aligned, and you feel connected to it. What you do and say comes from your center. It feels right and honest. It feels like you, and you feel connected to your self, your deepest self, your soul. Your heart is open. And so is your mind.
That’s the place from which we’re seeking to live our lives. Find a way to get to that place, then go there often. Some helps include nature, listening to music, going for a walk, repeating a prayer, or forms of deep breathing or meditation.
It’s hard to find a place we’ve never been to. Learn what it feels like to be centered. Know your center is in you. Then go there often.
Today’s Gift
November 14
“People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.”
–Joseph Fort Newton
Communication is much more than words. Words are merely fingers pointing the direction to understanding – they are not understanding itself. To really communicate with someone, we have to allow ourselves, just for a moment, to become that other person. When we do this, we begin to be able to see beyond the masks that hide what another person is really feeling.
When we take the time to really see others, we may discover they are frightened, timid people longing for understanding. When we get beyond reacting to their outward behavior and move toward viewing their inner selves, it is much easier to extend a hand of friendship, to say we care, and truly mean it.
Who can I see as they really are today?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
November 14
“No one can get rid of the spirit of judgment by an effort of the will.”
–Paul Tournier
In the past, we applied our wills and tried to bring about the changes we wanted. We may still unconsciously try to create self-improvement by an effort of will. But, as long as we do that, we continue the same circles of frustration and defeat we knew before recovery. The way to growth is in directions we cannot fully imagine for ourselves. We can become ready for change and then pray for help. The man who simply became ready to have God remove his judgmental attitudes was surprised to find God’s answer was to make him more trusting of others and less judgmental of himself.
The wonders of recovery are miracles because we tried before and couldn’t recover by ourselves. Miracles are surprises that come upon us because God’s will for us is more creative and far reaching in its renewal than anything we can think of.
Today, I pray that I may know the will of God and forgo my limited willfulness.
Daily TAO
November 14
SINGING
Rain comes, and birds —
Silhouettes against the pearlescent sky —
Respond excitedly in song.
They open their throats to heaven’s nectar,
And rhyme with the drops.
All of nature is song. Sometimes the song is in a minor key, with purple tones that stir the soul, bursting the heart with pent-up emotions. Sometimes it is joyous, full of rich melodies and grand chords that bring electric thrills. Sometimes it descends into strange modes, guttural chants, and obscure dissonances. It is up to each of us to sing as we feel moved by the overall song of life. Do we harmonize with it? Do we sing a counterpoint? Do we purposefully sound discordant tones?
Perhaps a student first encountering Tao endeavors to harmonize with it, but that isn’t all that there is to having a relationship with Tao. Tao gives us the background, the broad circumstances. It is up to us to fit into it, go against it, or even flutter off on oblique angles. Don’t look at Tao as one big inexorable stream in which we float like dead logs. What could that lead to except logjams?