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09-28-2008, 03:30 PM
Daily Reflections
EXACTLY ALIKE
Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is
the bright spot of our lives.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89
A man came to the meeting drunk, interrupted the speakers,
stood up and took his shirt off, staggered loudly back and
forth for coffee, demanded to talk, and eventually called
the group's secretary an unquotable name and walked out. I
was glad he was there--once again I saw what I still could
be. I don't have to be drunk to want to be the exception
and the center of attention. I have often felt abused and
responded abusively when I was simply being treated as a
garden variety human being. The more the man tried to insist
he was different, the more I realized that he and I were
exactly alike.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Having got this far, shall we pause and ask ourselves
some searching questions? We need to check up on ourselves
periodically. Just how good an A.A. am I? Am I attending
meetings regularly? Am I doing my share to carry the load?
When there is something to be done, do I volunteer? Do I
speak at meetings when asked, no matter how nervous I am?
Do I accept each opportunity to do twelfth-step work as a
challenge? Do I give freely of my time and money? Am I
trying to spread A.A. wherever I go? Is my daily life a
demonstration of A.A. principles? Am I a good A.A.?
Meditation For The Day
How do I get strength to be effective and to accept
responsibility? By asking the Higher Power for the strength
I need each day. It has been proved in countless lives that
for every day I live the necessary power shall be given me.
I must face each challenge that comes to me during the day,
sure that God will give me the strength to face it. For every
task that is given me, there is also given me all the power
necessary for the performance of that task. I do not need to
hold back.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may accept every task as a challenge.
I know I cannot wholly fail if God is with me.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
The Realm Of The Spirit, p. 7
In ancient times material progress was painfully slow. The spirit of
modern science inquiry, research, and invention was almost unknown.
In the realm of the material, men's minds were fettered by
superstition, tradition, and all sorts of fixed ideas. Some of the
contemporaries of Columbus thought a round earth preposterous.
Others came near putting Galileo to death for his astronomical
heresies.
Are not some of us just as biased and unreasonable about the realm of
the spirit as were the ancients about the realm of the material?
<< << << >> >> >>
We have found that God does not make too hard terms with those who
seek Him. To us, the realm of spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive,
never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open,
we believe, to all men.
Alcoholics Anonymous
1. p. 51
2. p. 46
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
When should I be Grateful?
Gratitude
One spiritual writer believed that our only reason for gratitude should be that we are part of God's universe. Others point out that gratitude helps us, not God or the other people to whom we are grateful.
Their point is that it's not very uplifting simply to tie our gratitude to certain gifts or benefits. Such gratitude is fairly shallow and is almost no more than good manners. As recovering alcoholics, we need more than that.
The best reason for gratitude is the outlook it creates as we cultivate it within ourselves. We will actually feel mentally and physically uplifted if we know true gratitude. This is the true spiritual outlook alcoholics seek in the bottle but can find only in the new way of life.
I'll find ways to practice gratitude today without letting others know what I'm doing.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Al didn’t smile for forty years. You’ve got to admire a man like that.
From the TV show, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”
Remember how we used to live? We were always trying to cover up some lie or mistake.
We were all like Al. Our energy was going into our illness, not into living.
Gratitude is the key word in the program. Gratitude is being thankful for the getting to know our Higher Power. Remember what it was like to not smile for all those years?
Recovery has given us back our smiles. What a relief! We can relax and enjoy our new life.
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I’ll always remember what is was like when I was using. I pray that I’ll not take my recovery for granted. I prayer for gratitude.
Action For the Day: I will list all the things the program and recovery have given me. I will smile about them today.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
The Doctor's Opinion
A well-known doctor, chief physician at a nationally prominent hospital specializing in alcoholic and drug addiction, gave Alcoholics Anonymous this letter:
To Whom It May Concern:
I have specialized in the treatment of alcoholism for many years.
In late 1934 I attended a patient who, though he had been a competent businessman of good earning capacity, was an alcoholic of a type I had come to regard as hopeless.
In the course of his third treatment he acquired certain ideas concerning a possible means of recovery. As part of his rehabilitation he commenced to present his conceptions to other alcoholics, impressing upon them that they must do likewise with still others. This has become the basis of a rapidly growing fellowship of these men and their families. This man and over one hundred others appear to have recovered.
I personally know scores of cases who were of the type with whom other methods had failed completely.
These facts appear to be of extreme medical importance; because of the extraordinary possibilities of rapid growth inherent in this group they may mark a new epoch in the annals of alcoholism. These men may well have a remedy for thousands of such situations.
You may rely absolutely on anything they say about themselves.
Very truly yours,
William D. Silkworth, M.D.
pp. xxv-xxvi
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Six - "An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."
Soon they'd spotted their man, an A.A. with the necessary experience. Straightway he appeared at New York's A.A. headquarters, asking, "Is there anything in our tradition that suggests I shouldn't take a job like this one? The kind of education seems good to me, and is not too controversial. Do you headquarters folks see any bugs in it?"
pp. 157-158
************************************************** *********
Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.
--Hyman Judah Schactel
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
--Mother Theresa
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in
your years."
--Abraham Lincoln
"Being rich isn't about money. Being rich is a state of mind. Some of
us, no matter how much money we have, will never be free enough to
take time to stop and eat the heart of the watermelon. And some of us
will be rich without ever being more than a paycheck ahead of the
game."
--Harvey B. Mackay
"If your eyes are blinded with your worries, you cannot see the beauty of the sunset."
--Krishnamurti
"Sometimes you have to get to rock bottom in order to see the right way back up."
--Kate Bell
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
BLACKOUTS
"It is human nature to think
wisely and act foolishly."
-- Anatole France
I experienced blackouts in my drinking. Often I would wake up and not
know where I had been, what I had said or what I had done. I would
awake to peer through windows searching for my car. I would
telephone to find out what time I had left the party and if anything had
happened. Often as I bathed I would discover bruises or bleeding from
an unremembered incident.
There were other times I knew what I had done, knew what I had said,
remembered how I behaved -- and yet still I went back for more. I
drank alcoholically for years because my pride would not allow me to
be alcoholic. I created the wisest excuses for staying sick!
Today my sobriety requires a wisdom that is based on reality.
Lord of action, teach me to place my feet alongside my best thinking.
************************************************** *********
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross daily, and follow me."
Luke 9:23
A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.
Proverbs 16:1
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Start something you've been putting off or finish something you've started so that you can remove the frustration that comes with procrastination. Lord, help me in my little way to do my little part to make this day a little better.
With our blessings come responsibilities. Much is required of those to whom much has been given. Lord, may I use my blessings to be a blessing to others.
EXACTLY ALIKE
Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is
the bright spot of our lives.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89
A man came to the meeting drunk, interrupted the speakers,
stood up and took his shirt off, staggered loudly back and
forth for coffee, demanded to talk, and eventually called
the group's secretary an unquotable name and walked out. I
was glad he was there--once again I saw what I still could
be. I don't have to be drunk to want to be the exception
and the center of attention. I have often felt abused and
responded abusively when I was simply being treated as a
garden variety human being. The more the man tried to insist
he was different, the more I realized that he and I were
exactly alike.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Having got this far, shall we pause and ask ourselves
some searching questions? We need to check up on ourselves
periodically. Just how good an A.A. am I? Am I attending
meetings regularly? Am I doing my share to carry the load?
When there is something to be done, do I volunteer? Do I
speak at meetings when asked, no matter how nervous I am?
Do I accept each opportunity to do twelfth-step work as a
challenge? Do I give freely of my time and money? Am I
trying to spread A.A. wherever I go? Is my daily life a
demonstration of A.A. principles? Am I a good A.A.?
Meditation For The Day
How do I get strength to be effective and to accept
responsibility? By asking the Higher Power for the strength
I need each day. It has been proved in countless lives that
for every day I live the necessary power shall be given me.
I must face each challenge that comes to me during the day,
sure that God will give me the strength to face it. For every
task that is given me, there is also given me all the power
necessary for the performance of that task. I do not need to
hold back.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may accept every task as a challenge.
I know I cannot wholly fail if God is with me.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
The Realm Of The Spirit, p. 7
In ancient times material progress was painfully slow. The spirit of
modern science inquiry, research, and invention was almost unknown.
In the realm of the material, men's minds were fettered by
superstition, tradition, and all sorts of fixed ideas. Some of the
contemporaries of Columbus thought a round earth preposterous.
Others came near putting Galileo to death for his astronomical
heresies.
Are not some of us just as biased and unreasonable about the realm of
the spirit as were the ancients about the realm of the material?
<< << << >> >> >>
We have found that God does not make too hard terms with those who
seek Him. To us, the realm of spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive,
never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open,
we believe, to all men.
Alcoholics Anonymous
1. p. 51
2. p. 46
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
When should I be Grateful?
Gratitude
One spiritual writer believed that our only reason for gratitude should be that we are part of God's universe. Others point out that gratitude helps us, not God or the other people to whom we are grateful.
Their point is that it's not very uplifting simply to tie our gratitude to certain gifts or benefits. Such gratitude is fairly shallow and is almost no more than good manners. As recovering alcoholics, we need more than that.
The best reason for gratitude is the outlook it creates as we cultivate it within ourselves. We will actually feel mentally and physically uplifted if we know true gratitude. This is the true spiritual outlook alcoholics seek in the bottle but can find only in the new way of life.
I'll find ways to practice gratitude today without letting others know what I'm doing.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Al didn’t smile for forty years. You’ve got to admire a man like that.
From the TV show, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”
Remember how we used to live? We were always trying to cover up some lie or mistake.
We were all like Al. Our energy was going into our illness, not into living.
Gratitude is the key word in the program. Gratitude is being thankful for the getting to know our Higher Power. Remember what it was like to not smile for all those years?
Recovery has given us back our smiles. What a relief! We can relax and enjoy our new life.
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I’ll always remember what is was like when I was using. I pray that I’ll not take my recovery for granted. I prayer for gratitude.
Action For the Day: I will list all the things the program and recovery have given me. I will smile about them today.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
The Doctor's Opinion
A well-known doctor, chief physician at a nationally prominent hospital specializing in alcoholic and drug addiction, gave Alcoholics Anonymous this letter:
To Whom It May Concern:
I have specialized in the treatment of alcoholism for many years.
In late 1934 I attended a patient who, though he had been a competent businessman of good earning capacity, was an alcoholic of a type I had come to regard as hopeless.
In the course of his third treatment he acquired certain ideas concerning a possible means of recovery. As part of his rehabilitation he commenced to present his conceptions to other alcoholics, impressing upon them that they must do likewise with still others. This has become the basis of a rapidly growing fellowship of these men and their families. This man and over one hundred others appear to have recovered.
I personally know scores of cases who were of the type with whom other methods had failed completely.
These facts appear to be of extreme medical importance; because of the extraordinary possibilities of rapid growth inherent in this group they may mark a new epoch in the annals of alcoholism. These men may well have a remedy for thousands of such situations.
You may rely absolutely on anything they say about themselves.
Very truly yours,
William D. Silkworth, M.D.
pp. xxv-xxvi
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Six - "An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."
Soon they'd spotted their man, an A.A. with the necessary experience. Straightway he appeared at New York's A.A. headquarters, asking, "Is there anything in our tradition that suggests I shouldn't take a job like this one? The kind of education seems good to me, and is not too controversial. Do you headquarters folks see any bugs in it?"
pp. 157-158
************************************************** *********
Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.
--Hyman Judah Schactel
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
--Mother Theresa
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in
your years."
--Abraham Lincoln
"Being rich isn't about money. Being rich is a state of mind. Some of
us, no matter how much money we have, will never be free enough to
take time to stop and eat the heart of the watermelon. And some of us
will be rich without ever being more than a paycheck ahead of the
game."
--Harvey B. Mackay
"If your eyes are blinded with your worries, you cannot see the beauty of the sunset."
--Krishnamurti
"Sometimes you have to get to rock bottom in order to see the right way back up."
--Kate Bell
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
BLACKOUTS
"It is human nature to think
wisely and act foolishly."
-- Anatole France
I experienced blackouts in my drinking. Often I would wake up and not
know where I had been, what I had said or what I had done. I would
awake to peer through windows searching for my car. I would
telephone to find out what time I had left the party and if anything had
happened. Often as I bathed I would discover bruises or bleeding from
an unremembered incident.
There were other times I knew what I had done, knew what I had said,
remembered how I behaved -- and yet still I went back for more. I
drank alcoholically for years because my pride would not allow me to
be alcoholic. I created the wisest excuses for staying sick!
Today my sobriety requires a wisdom that is based on reality.
Lord of action, teach me to place my feet alongside my best thinking.
************************************************** *********
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross daily, and follow me."
Luke 9:23
A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.
Proverbs 16:1
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Start something you've been putting off or finish something you've started so that you can remove the frustration that comes with procrastination. Lord, help me in my little way to do my little part to make this day a little better.
With our blessings come responsibilities. Much is required of those to whom much has been given. Lord, may I use my blessings to be a blessing to others.