Took the day off. We got our ac back by noon so checked out fine but I needed a true day to myself to catch up and catch my breath. Plus Jimmy went to the Eagles game with Ellen last night so could not stay up with Josh and get up at 4:30 for work. Preparing for sweat lodge tomorrow and Imelda’s daughters bridal shower. Going to bring a kale salad. Jimmy wants to do a fire tonight. I thought I would try a meeting but will find time to meditate and get right sized at some point today. I have not been able to find myself time to rest yet today, and still have some work I want to get done. Maybe I will hit an earlier meeting so that I can still do the fire.
Daily Reflections
September 7
“OUR SIDE OF THE STREET”
We are there to sweep off our side of the street, realizing that nothing worth while can be accomplished until we do so, never trying to tell him what he should do. His faults are not discussed. We stick to our own.
-ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 77-78
I made amends to my dad after I quit drinking. My words fell on deaf ears since I had blamed him for my troubles. Several months later I made amends to my dad again. This time I wrote a letter in which I did not blame him nor mention his faults. It worked, and at last I understood! My side of the street is all that I’m responsible for and–thanks to God and A.A.– it’s clean for today.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
September 7
A.A. Thought For The Day
Another of the mottoes of A.A. is “Easy Does It.” This means that we just go along in A.A. doing the best we can and not getting steamed up over problems that are in A.A. or outside of it. We alcoholics are emotional people and we have gone to excess in almost everything we have done. We have not been moderate in many things. We have not known how to relax. Faith in a Higher Power can help us to learn to take it easy. We are not running the world. I am only one among many. We are resolved to live normal, regular lives. From our A.A. experience we learn that “easy does it.” Have I learned to take it easy?
Meditation For The Day
“The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Sheltering arms express the loving protection of God’s spirit. Human beings, in their troubles and difficulties need nothing so much as a refuge, a place to relax where they can lay down their burdens and get relief from cares. Say to yourself: “God is my refuge.” Say it until its truth sinks into your very soul. Say it until you know it and are sure of it. Nothing can seriously upset you or make you afraid, if God is truly your refuge.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may go each day to God as a refuge until fear goes and peace and security come. I pray that I may feel deeply secure in the Haven of His spirit.
Walk In Dry Places
September 7
A New approach to Freedom
Staying Sober
Most of us discover that we’ve had mixed-up ideas about the nature of freedom. Real freedom is not simply doing exactly as one pleases; privileges would be the correct term for that. And desirable as political freedom is, it cannot give us what we’re really seeking.
We should approach freedom by recognizing that we’re really seeking release from the bondage of self. This self-concern can be one of the worst tyrannies humans face. As we are released from the bondage of self, we learn that our choices begin to multiply. We make wise decisions instead of being driven to certain actions. We are truly free.
Today I’ll enjoy a freedom that is available to anybody who seeks it wholeheartedly. I’ll know it as the freedom only God can offer.
Keep It Simple
September 7
A lair needs a good memory.
—Quintilian
Many of us wasted a lot of energy trying to keep track of whom we had told what. For example, we’d tell our boss one story and our family another. Then we’d work hard to make sure they never met.
How wonderful to be done with that way of life! We now have a life based on honestly. We can now be ourselves where we go.
Our program tell us that to get sober, we must live a life of strict honesty. Honesty is our rule to get and stay sober. Life is much more simple this way. We can relax and think of the happy details of life.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to live honestly. Being honest brings me closer to You. Help me become closer to You.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll read the first three pages of Chapter Five in Alcoholics Anonymous (Third Edition). Here, I’ll learn why honesty is so important to my recovery.
Each Day a New Beginning
September 7
Remember your good memories, but live for today and keep the memories behind you.
—Jodi K. Elliott
The stuff of our memories comprises who we have become. Each recollection is akin to an ingredient in a simmering pot of stew. The full flavor of our lives is enhanced by each additional experience, whether it is painful or joyful.
Our experiences have a way of dovetailing, of grouping themselves, perhaps even tailoring themselves, to provide us the best advantage. So human is our tendency to linger in thought on past times that we fail to take advantage, to be fully present in the moment, which is assuredly making a necessary contribution to the total panorama of our lives.
Who are we to judge the value of any single experience? It’s how all experiences have mingled, that we must trust. We can be certain in retrospect, that those situations that created the most inner turmoil also offered us the most as growing, developing women.
The experiences offered today, in the 24 hours ahead, are significant because they are unique. I will cherish them for the addition they are making to my total person.
Xtra Thoughts
September 7
Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish one’s growth without destroying one’s roots.
–Cited in The Best of BITS & PIECESWhen upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what God has done.
–unknown“Whatever you are trying to avoid won’t go away until you confront it.”
–AnonymousSerenity isn’t freedom from the storm, it is peace within the storm.
–unknown“We learn the magical lesson that making the most of what we have turns it into more.”
–Codependent No MoreInner peace should not be determined by outward experiences.
–unknown
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
September 7
WORK
“Without work all life goes rotten.”
– Albert Camus
A spiritual discovery that I have made is that I work in order to be, not simply to exist. To work is human. Work opens the door to the meaning of life, and it stops life from being boring and dull. Work is creative. When I was drinking, I did not have this understanding of work and so it became a burden, something I had to get through, something I had to do for money or security. I missed the creative dynamic of work and how it could enable me to feel good about myself.
In recovery I work, create and grow not only in my job, but also in my leisure hours. Indeed the distinction between the two often overlaps because the program I take into the office is the same program I take into the party or disco.
Today God is to be found in everything.
A Day At A Time
September 7
Reflection For The Day
“If you’re not alright the way you are,” it’s been said, “it takes a lot of effort to get better. Realize you’re alright the way you are, and you’ll get better naturally.” Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation so difficult that it seems insoluble. The more we think about it, the more we get on our own backs for our imagined inadequacy to overcome the situation — and we sink into depression. That’s the moment to recall a single phrase, slogan, or bit of philosophy, saying it over and over until it replaces thoughts of the tormenting problem — which , in the final analysis will take care of itself. Do I sometimes forget that the thorns have roses?
Today I Pray
May I see that God gives us patterns so that we can take comfort in opposites — day follows night; silence follows din; s love follows loneliness; release follows suffering. If I am ineffectual, may I realize it and try to do something constructive. If I am insensitive, may my friends confront me into greater sensitivity.
Today I Will Remember
Clouds have linings. Problems have endings.
One Day At A Time
September 7
HONESTY
“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.”
-Marcus Aurelius
Honesty of all sorts is important, but honesty with ourselves is foundational. With everything that was in me, I resisted the notion that I had an eating disorder. Everybody else had a problem with my eating, not me. But when I finally faced the painful truth, I began the journey to freedom, from not merely overeating, but from all the underlying bondage that had caused me to stuff my feelings.
The same thing happened when I acknowledged that my relationship with God was in need of correction. Sure, my whole life was a mess, but that had to be God’s fault, right? I had to own up to the fact that God did not fail me; I had failed myself. I had to be open and receptive to His way. What power comes from honesty! I used to be afraid of truth, but truth is becoming my friend.
One day at a time …
Today I will not let myself hide from truth simply to be comfortable; I will use truth as a tool for freedom.
~ Deborah H.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
September 7
“Education is the new weapon of Indian people.”
–Eddie Box, SOUTHERN UTE
People have the ability to adapt. In these modern times we must get educated so the people don’t lose. We need lawyers, doctors, nurses, foresters, scientists, educators, carpenters, welders.
These skills are needed to help the people. While we are learning, we need to remember to keep the culture, learn the dances, sing the songs, learn the language and maintain the Red Road for future generations.
Great Spirit, let my education never lack the meaning and value of spirituality.
Touchstones Meditations For Men
September 7
Friendship and community are, first of all, inner qualities.
—Henri J. M. Nouwen
Many of us mistakenly search outside ourselves for answers. We feel small inside and not very powerful. Many of us men have tried to change our lives by affecting the people around us. Naturally, when we think of making friends, we assume we would start by getting a friend. But such beginnings often don’t lead very far.
Friendship begins as an inward attitude or feeling before it is expressed outwardly. Perhaps we could first notice whom we feel friendly toward. Whom do we admire? Whom do we feel an affinity with? Let that friendliness exist within, and it will begin to express itself. Are we grasping for acceptance or response? Let us remain with our own goodwill and not return to old attempts to get someone else to change. Friendship exists as a feeling of admiration, of love, of fellowship, without demand. And when we are another man’s friends, let us accept his friendship and enjoy it without trying to change it or him.
Today, I will simply notice my friendly feelings toward others.
Daily TAO
September 7
REVERENCE
An ocean of ink in a single drop,
Trembling at the tip of my brush,
Poised above stark white paper,
A universe waits for existence.
Everything we do should be imbued with reverence, and so one would think that we should begin with this concept. But no. Reverence only comes with experience and care. Only when we tire of our excesses can there be esteem.
Those of us who contemplate our world soon come to have a great sense of wonder. The perfection of the stars, the beauty of mountains and streams, the invigorating quality of clean ocean air fill us with feelings of celebration. In our own small way, we must create and bring order to our lives each day. We must be responsible, and at the same time express the wonder of all that we know as human.
A painter poises above blank paper. It is not the painting to come that is as important as that single moment when all things still lie in a state of potential. Will something ugly or beautiful be created? The stately determination to make something worthy of the materials and the moment is reverence.
Daily Zen
September 7
If you want to
Spread the Buddha’s teachings
First let them
Illumine
Your own heart.
– Rengetsu (1791-1875)