Hump day. Asked Johnny to come to Tansboro last Sunday of this month to give me my coin. Got to the Cherry Hill meeting at noon, at the Unitarian church. Felt I needed it, and I’m looking for another guy to help. Thought I might have one last night, a guy Vinnie who has 30 days. I only got to put my number on his meeting list as I was chair and opener, had other service to do. Tried to call my sponsor last night. It’s been too long, since trip to Texas. Need to be responsible with work now, get this project done for Cathy & Connie. Intergroup meeting tonight. Cowboy boots with Karen will be fun to bring some Texas into the meeting.
Daily Reflections
September 19
ACCEPTANCE
We admitted we couldn’t lick alcohol with our own remaining resources, and so we accepted the further fact that dependence upon a Higher Power (if only our A.A. group) could do this hitherto impossible job. The moment we were able to accept these facts fully, our release from the alcohol compulsion had begun.
-AS BILL SEES IT, p. 109
Freedom came to me only with my acceptance that I could turn my will and my life over to the care of my Higher Power, whom I call God. Serenity seeped into the chaos of my life when I accepted that what I was going through was life, and that God would help me through my difficulties–and much more, as well. Since then He has helped me through all of my difficulties! When I accept situations as they are, not as I wish them to be, then I can begin to grow and have serenity and peace of mind.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
September 19
A.A. Thought For The Day
Let us continue with Steps Two, Three, and Eleven. We must turn to a Higher Power for help, because we are helpless ourselves. When we put our drink problem in God’s hands and leave it there, we have made the most important decision of our lives. From then on, we trust God for the strength to keep sober. This takes us off the center of the universe and allows us to transfer our problems to a Power outside ourselves. By prayer and meditation, we seek to improve our conscious contract with God. We try to live each day the way we believe God wants us to live. Am I trusting God for the strength to stay sober?
Meditation For The Day
“These things have I spoken unto you, that your joy may be full.” Even a partial realization of the spiritual life brings much joy. You feel at home in the world when you are in touch with the Divine Spirit of the universe. Spiritual experience brings a definite satisfaction. Search for the real meaning of life by following spiritual laws. God wants you to have spiritual success and He intends that you have it. If you live your life as much as possible according to spiritual laws, you can expect your share of joy and peace, satisfaction and success.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I will find happiness in doing the right thing. I pray that I will find satisfaction in obeying spiritual laws.
Walk In Dry Places
September 19
Keep the common problem in view
Maintaining
It there’s been one major change in AA, one old-timer observed, it’s probably in group discussions. The focus today is far more on overcoming personal problems than in staying away form the first drink. “The early AA members were continuously concerned about the dangers of drinking,” he said. “Members today are more concerned about their feelings and personal issues, such as relationships.”
This change has probably been an improvement, but it carries the risk that members will forget why they needed the program in the first place. For alcoholics, it is dangerous to let the problem with alcohol slide out of view. It is important to keep in mind at all times the life-or-death nature of our drinking problem. Even if we are not totally successful in dealing with our feelings or establishing harmonious relationships, it’s always necessary to stay sober. Disaster is in that first drink, and let’s keep that constantly in view.
No matter how long I’ve been sober, I’ll remind myself several times this day that I’m an alcoholic. I’ll also remember that it’s only sobriety that enables me to deal with my other problems.
If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow, you have no today for which you can be thankful.
–AnonymousLife consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.
–Josh Billings“I have a simple philosophy. Fill what’s empty. Empty what’s full. And scratch where it itches.”
–Alice Roosevelt LongworthIn each of our lives, for whatever reason, there are times that we are faced with things that just don’t make sense to us. And the more we struggle to understand our hardships, the less any of it makes sense. I have found that in every challenge and obstacle that we are faced with there can be good that can come from it! While it’s almost never easy to identify, I assure you that it is there lying dormant just waiting for us to release it! I urge everyone to spend your days looking for positives in your life.
–Josh Hinds from The Inspiration a Day! April 8, 1998Whate’er we leave to God, God does and blesses us.
–Henry David Thoreau
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
September 19
SUICIDE
“Often the test of courage is not to die but to live.”
– Conte Vittorio Alfieri
There are many ways of committing suicide. The obvious way is to take your life — the ultimate escape. One can reach that point in life when there seems no hope, no purpose in living and death is attractive. Many alcoholics and addicts reach this point of despair.
However, there is a more subtle way of “suicide”, which is to kill yourself slowly — by a sick behavior and a negative attitude. I was “dying” in a lifestyle that revolved around alcohol. All I wanted to do was drink — I didn’t want to go anywhere, be with anyone or enjoy the thousand and one pleasures that life offers. I was dying in my life. I was becoming a “walking zombie”. I was committing suicide by degrees!
Today I can see this and I am glad I had the courage to live. My act of courage began with my “no” to alcohol.
Let me continue to live in my life.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
September 19
“I am building myself. There are many roots. I plant, I pick, I prune. I consume.”
–Wendy Rose, HOPI/MIWOK
The most sacred thing on this Mother Earth is life. My life on this earth is governed by God’s laws, principles and spiritual values. These things are my roots. Let me see Your gifts of growing and becoming a spiritual warrior. Make my strength based on values – spiritual values; on principles and laws, the laws of God that really run the universe. We need to realize the seeds we plant in the spring will be what shows up in our summer season of growth and will be the fruits that we will harvest in our fall season. We really have a lot to do with what shows up in our lives.
Great Spirit, let my seed that I plant today be based on values that will make You pleased with my selection.
Touchstones Meditations For Men
September 19
Who’s not sat tense before his own heart’s curtain?
—Rainer Maria Rilke
Meeting our Higher Power and ourselves is the universal spiritual process. Sitting before the curtain of our hearts may feel as awesome to us or as frightening as anything we will ever do. When we first admit to ourselves a deeper truth, we feel these overpowering tensions. For some of us, this is a necessary step, which leads to self-knowledge and inner peace. We feel unique, different, alone, and maybe even crazy. For the first time, we are listening to our inner truth rather than outside messages.
Let’s think for a moment about today’s tensions and strains. Are we really aware of their source? Perhaps they are created by the disturbing honesty of our hearts? We may find our spiritual growth in yielding to the truth. When we are cynical about spiritual experience or when we minimize the importance of our soft-spoken inner wisdom, we are avoiding the truth from our hearts. And we miss the possibility of becoming strong from within.
Today, I will live through the tension and fear of my honesty to reach the point of peace with myself.
Daily TAO
September 19
LONELINESS
Loneliness need not be despair.
It could be an opportunity.
Why are people lonely? It is because they feel no contact with anyone or anything else. They need to feel that they are valued, that they are a part of something, and that their environment will respond to them. When that does not happen, they feel isolated.
One of the major strategies for combating loneliness is to have a mate and family. That is not always perfect, and the problems of a relationship and family sometimes outweigh the terror of loneliness. It is far better to be self-sufficient. Then whether one has loved ones or not, one will not suffer from loneliness.
Some people claim that self-sufficiency is a myth. A person is a social animal, they declare; people cannot successfully live outside of some community. But that is not the correct way to understand true self-sufficiency. What we are referring to is a supreme sense of connection with oneself and the cosmos around oneself. This doesn’t preclude community with others, but it does prevent the excesses and shortcomings that occur when society is one’s only source of union.
Tao surrounds us. One who is with Tao is never lonely, but is an integral part of the natural cycle. In the same way that water surrounds a fish, Tao surrounds us. If we feel lonely, then it is only because we are forgetting how we are totally immersed in Tao. That is why loneliness can be an opportunity : It reminds us that we are dwelling on our own egoistic identity rather than on the support of Tao.
Daily Zen
September 19
The mind of the sage is
Empty and calm,
Profoundly calm,
Dealing with the world
Harmoniously
Like bellows taking in air,
Like pipes containing music.
– Chen Ting-Van