Daily Reflections
October 25
A.A.’s HEARTBEAT
Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat;
-AS BILL SEES IT, p. 125
Without unity I would be unable to recover in A.A. on a daily basis. By practicing unity within my group, with other A.A. members and at all levels of this great Fellowship, I receive a pronounced feeling of knowing that I am a part of a miracle that was divinely inspired. The ability of Bill W. and Dr. Bob, working together and passing it on to other members, tells me that to give it away is to keep it. Unity is oneness and yet the whole Fellowship is for all of us.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
October 25
A.A. Thought For The Day
Fifth, I have learned to live one day at a time. I have finally realized the great fact that all I have is now. This sweeps away all vain regret and it makes my thoughts of the future free of fear. Now is mine. I can do what I want with it. I own it, for better or worse. What I do now, in this present moment, is what makes up my life. My whole life is only a succession of nows. I will take this moment, which has been given to me by the grace of God, and I will do something with it. What I do with each now, will make me or break me. Am I living in the now?
Meditation For The Day
We should work at overcoming ourselves, our selfish desires and our self-centeredness. This can never be fully accomplished. We can never become entirely unselfish. But we can come to realize that we are not at the center of the universe and that everything does not revolve around us at the center. I am only one cell in a vast network of human cells. I can at least make the effort to conquer the self-life and seek daily to obtain more and more of this self-conquest. “He that overcomes himself is greater than he who conquers a city.”
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may strive to overcome my selfishness. I pray that I may achieve the right perspective of my position in the world.
Walk In Dry Places
October 25
Different routes to alcoholism
Understanding powerlessness
While alcoholics have much in common, the personal stories heard at AA open meetings show that we took different routes to alcoholism. Some became out-of-control drinkers almost from the beginning. Others lost control slowly after years of seemingly moderate drinking.
These differences are underscored by the fact that we also differ in physical and emotional traits. Some alcoholics, for example, were so emotionally disturbed that they became problem drinkers from the very start. Some appeared to “have it all together,” yet became alcoholics after retirement or some other change in life patterns.
Whatever the route taken, we share in common our individual powerlessness at the time we knocked on AA’s door. And the solution for each of us was the same: sobriety in AA.
The risk in listening to such different personal accounts is that some of us twist these differences into “proof” that we are not alcoholics. The reward of such sharing , however, is learning that we do have a common problem and that there is a solution that fits everyone, in spite of our differences.
I’ll remember today that I came to AA because I was powerless over alcohol. That has not changed.
Keep It Simple
October 25
Love thy neighbor as thyself, but choose your neighbor.
-Louise Beal
In our program, we learn a lot about loving ourselves. Then we start to see how this helps us love our neighbors. We learn to love ourselves honestly, seeing our strengths and our weaknesses. We learn to see others honestly . We learn how much to trust ourselves and when to get extra help. We learn how much to trust others too. We learn to love ourselves with a love that’s honest and challenging. We learn to love others this way too. We learn to care about others without losing our common sense. We learn to protect our spirits from harm.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see others clearly. Help me love them. But help me choose carefully who I trust.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list three people I trust the most, and I’ll write down why.
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
-Mohandas GhandiWho has never tasted what is bitter does not know what is sweet.
-German ProverbMost folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
-Abraham Lincoln
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
October 25
FLEXIBILITY
“Better bend than break.”
-Scottish Proverb
Dis-ease: to be controlling, stiff, uncomfortable and unbending.
Sobriety: being relaxed, comfortable and flexible in my personal life and my interaction with others.
Life: not a race but an experience; it is not an exercise but an adventure.
Before I accepted my alcoholism, I went through periods of “dryness” — when I was rigid, stiff and unbending. It was awful! Everything became a test, a job, a premeditated act behind a mask of cheerfulness. I was angry, resentful and in pain. My problem was that I stopped drinking to please other people, rather than accept the true nature of my disease. Dryness is controlled denial.
Today the sobriety I have gained from an acceptance of self has overflowed into an acceptance of life on life’s terms — and I am happy.
Let the wind of experience continue to bend me in the knowledge of Your love.
Daily Inspiration
October 25
Treat your family as you would treat a best friend. Lord, help me to treasure my family with all of their imperfections as well as my own and cherish the time we have together.
There is no real happiness without God and no peace when we separate ourselves from Him. Lord, You said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you”. I give you my troubled heart.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
October 25
“What does it matter how long I pray, so long as my prayers are answered?”
-Sitting Bull, HUNKPAPA LAKOTA
Too often we worry about the words we use in prayer.
We focus on the words.
What really counts is the spirit and intent behind our words.
It is the spirit and intent that the Creator responds to.
He reads and listens to our heart.
Prayer isn’t only when we fold our hands and pray.
Prayer is when we talk to the Creator even when we are walking down a path or sitting on a hill or walking in the mountains.
The Elders say, walk in prayer. We should be willing to talk with the Great One.
Great Spirit, today I will pray to You all day. Listen to my heart.
Today’s Gift
October 25
I love him and I cannot seem to find him.
—Ovid
Where can we find the ones we love? Do they always live in our world, or do we have to go out of our way? They often are not at home; we can find them at their work. Their play is different from ours; we could try having their kind of fun.
Too often, we look only for friends who are much like ourselves, and we tend to avoid those who are not. This kind of narrow-mindedness isn’t fair to others or ourselves. We are each unique, like the pieces of a puzzle. We are each necessary to the whole picture.
When we go out of our way to know someone else better, we stretch our own boundaries; we give ourselves new space in which to grow.
What part of my life can I discover in someone new today?
The Language Of Letting Go
October 25
Letting Go of the Past
… in thy book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them.
-Ps. 139:16
Some people believe that each of our days were planned, Divinely Ordered, before we were born. God knew, they say, and planned exactly what was to transpire.
Others suggest we chose, we participated in planning our life – the events, the people, the circumstances that were to take place, in order to work through our issues and learn the lessons we needed to master.
Whatever our philosophy, our interpretation can be similar: Our past is neither an accident nor a mistake. We have been where we needed to be, with the necessary people. We can embrace our history, with its pain, its imperfections, and its mistakes, even its tragedies. It is uniquely ours; it was intended just for us.
Today, we are right where we need to be. Our present circumstances are exactly as they need to be – for now.
Today, I will let go of my guilt and fear about my past and present circumstances. I will trust that where I have been and where I am now are right for me.
Touchstones Meditation For Men
October 25
The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection; the water has no mind to receive their image.
—Zenrin poem
There are moments which simply happen through no conscious intention or will on anyone’s part. The image of an old woman with a peaceful face, the smell of smoke rising from a chimney on a chilly night, the knowing look of recognition from a friend as we make a comment, the special feeling of a touch. These are spiritual moments because they reach a deeper part of our being. They are like a sliver in time set aside which nourishes our souls and adds serenity to our lives.
We grow when we learn to notice these kinds of moments. In our willfulness, we have often missed them before because we simply were not open to anything we weren’t already looking for. This world is so much larger than the human mind. In recovery, we can take time to admire the beauty reflected around us.
Today, I will let the rest of life intrude upon my mind. I will let myself be nourished by what comes along.
Daily TAO
October 25
STAGES
Unless you are pious,
You cannot gain a foothold in Tao.
Unless you go beyond rules,
You haven’t gained the middle.
Unless you can be creative,
You aren’t traversing Tao.
Unless the road always stretches out before you,
You are not walking the true Tao.
When people start on a spiritual path, they are anxious to learn all the rules. This is understandable, even necessary. Often we need stern measures to set ourselves right.
But dogmatism is not spirituality. Sometimes, it is necessary to break rules. The task is to know how to go against doctrine in a way that actually fulfills the spirit of that doctrine. It is only at this point that one matures as a follower of Tao.
The next stage is complete creativity. You have so internalized doctrine that you need not think of it, yet everything you do will be spontaneously correct. There are many stages after that, stages not documented but there for you to explore on your own.