Daily Reflections
November 2
KEEPING OPTIMISM AFLOAT
“The other Steps can keep most of us sober and somehow functioning. But Step Eleven can keep us growing … ”
-THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 240
A sober alcoholic finds it much easier to be optimistic about life. Optimism is the natural result of my finding myself gradually able to make the best, rather than the worst, of each situation. As my physical sobriety continues, I come out of the fog, gain a clearer perspective and am better able to determine what courses of action to take. As vital as physical sobriety is, I can achieve a greater potential for myself by developing an ever-increasing willingness to avail myself of the guidance and direction of a Higher Power. My ability to do so comes from my learning—and practicing—the principles of the A.A. program. The melding of my physical and spiritual sobriety produces the substance of a more positive life.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
November 2
A.A. Thought For The Day
I have faith. That thing that makes the world seem right. That thing that makes sense at last. That awareness of the Divine Principle in the universe which holds it all together and gives it unity and purpose and goodness and meaning. Life is no longer ashes in my mouth or bitter to the taste. It is all one glorious whole, because God is holding it together. Faith—that leap into the unknown, the venture into what lies beyond our ken, that which brings untold rewards of peace and serenity. Have I faith?
Meditation For The Day
Keep yourself like an empty vessel for God to fill. Keep pouring out yourself to help others so that God can keep filling you up with His spirit. The more you give, the more you will have for yourself. God will see that you are kept filled as long as you are giving to others. But if you selfishly try to keep all for yourself, you are soon blocked off from God, your source of supply, and you will become stagnant. To be clear, a lake must have an inflow and an outflow.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may keep pouring out what I receive. I pray that I may keep the stream clear and flowing.
Walk In Dry Places
November 2
God’s will and My will.
False Gods
It is always risky to announce with certainty what we believe God’s will to be, even for ourselves. It is rarely helpful to use one’s material success as an example of God’s grace. “Isn’t God a millionaire?” a spiritual leader who quoted as saying in defense of his luxurious lifestyle.
It is reasonable to believe that God will guide us to the right career and business opportunities that fit our needs. We can even believe that universal prosperity is part of God’s plan, though we’re far short of it now. We need not envy wealthy people, nor should we want to take what they have.
The real danger of equating prosperity with God’s will is that the material quickly becomes dominant. We might also fall into the trap of gauging spiritual progress by our bank balance. This can lead to selfishness and arrogance, which immediately drive out spiritual power. We already had the bitter experience of making a false god out of alcohol. We must not make new false gods out of material success.
I’ll accept any material success with gratitude, knowing that my real trust must be in God.
“Life has a practice of living you if you don’t live it.”
—Philip Larkin“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
—Marcel ProustGOOD DEEDS
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
—John Wesley“Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for thee.”
—George Herbert
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
November 2
SOLITUDE
“In solitude, be a multiple of thyself.”
—Tibullus
When I am alone and still, I get in touch with that side of me that is “the many.” There are so many sides to me; the crazy and the sane; the extrovert and the introvert; the demanding and the submissive; the bigot and the compassionate; the religious and the skeptic; the happy and the sad; the comic and the tragedian; the child and the adult; the sick and the recovering.
Today in the silence of solitude I experience the many sides of me that I must live with. This is my spiritual reality.
May I always use my multiple experiences to relate and understand others.
Daily Inspiration
November 2
Being overly critical of ourselves sabotages our ability to complete our tasks. Lord, bless me with the ability to see how capable I am.
God’s blessings enable us to go far beyond our natural abilities. Lord, You have created me and then unceasingly bless me with the strength to soar high.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
November 2
“Praying is what has brought us old people through life. We’ve all gone through hard times. We’ve all done our share of bad things. But through our prayers and faith in the Creator we get together again and we try hard to live right.”
—Paula Weasel Head, BLOOD
As we go through life we find ourselves on track one day and off track the next day. We gain consistency through prayer. Prayer is our connection to the Great Spirit. Prayer is our channel for knowledge and wisdom. Prayer is how we keep our sanity. The Elders say we should walk in prayer.
Great Spirit, teach me to walk in prayer. Help keep my faith strong.
Journey to the Heart
November 2
See How Much Easier Life can Be
The old way said do do, do. Push, push, push. Only when the work was done could we allow ourselves time to rest. But when the work was finished, we often forgot to reward ourselves. The old way won’t work anymore. We have learned too much, come too far. Our body won’t let us. Our heart will object.
Let the work be more fun. Don’t push yourself so hard. Let your actions be effortless – an easy result of learning to focus and learning to trust your inner timing. Learn to let your actions spring naturally and easily from there.
Let your inner voice and life guide you into breaks while you’re working, while you’re focusing on the task. Stop fearing it won’t get done. Stop worrying if you’re doing it well enough. Take breaks when you need to and really let go.
Take time at the end of the task,too. Take time to reward yourself, to feel pleasure in your accomplishment, to play at the end of the day.
See how balance occurs naturally when we trust our heart. See how much easier life can be when we live it from the heart.
Today’s Gift
November 2
“For no actual process happens twice; only we meet the same sort of occasion again.”
—Suzanne K. Langer
Today is not going to be like yesterday. Nor will it resemble tomorrow. Each day is special and promises us many new ideas—perhaps the chance to make a friend or to learn something interesting from a teacher or a book. Some activities today will be familiar, just like playing a game for the second, third, or tenth time is familiar. And yet, the way each player moves the pieces around the board will be different. The excitement about today is that it is full of surprises. Every thing we do, every conversation we have, will not be repeated in just the same way again, and this reminds us how special each of us is.
What new discovery will I make today?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
November 2
Honesty is stronger medicine than sympathy, which may console but often conceals.
—Gretel Ehrlich
We owe our brothers and sisters in this program our honest feedback. And we need the same honesty from them. There are times in meetings when it would be easiest to give someone sympathy and privately mutter to ourselves, “He isn’t facing the bitter truth.” That sympathy avoids a confrontation, but it doesn’t give the healing medicine of honesty. In the same way, we may long, at times, for someone to give us warm strokes, and what they give instead is a bitter pill.
The most important thing we have to give one another is the truth of what we see and hear. We don’t have to tell them what to do. We don’t have to have all the right answers. But we do have the obligation to speak up about how things look to us. And we need to listen without defensiveness when others are honest with us.
Today, I will say what I see and hear. I will listen to other people’s honesty with me.
Daily TAO
November 2
TRIUMPH
Crawl to begin.
Triumph to complete.
Renounce to leave.
What is the anatomy of any phase of life? First comes a learning stage full of awkward struggle for mastery. Then comes a phase of testing yourself in competition. Finally, there is gracious retirement from the field, for constant competition is not a lasting way of life.
Competition is always a thorny problem. True, it challenges you to be your very best. Cultivating skill without using it is like learning a foreign language and never leaving your house. If we think of winning in the narrow sense of vanquishing others, we fall into a dangerous egotism. Winning can be thought of as attainment. For example, if you learn to swim, that is winning over your own ignorance and sloth. If you enter into a meet and win, then that is winning not over others, but achieving your personal best. The other competitors are secondary; it is more important that you know where you stand, that you consolidate your position, and that you look for further achievement. That is true triumph.