admin
09-30-2008, 04:44 PM
Wisdom for Today
When I wake up to a bright new morning and jump out of bed, I can be grateful that I am happy and not sick or disgusted with myself. Sobriety has given me many gifts, but none is more precious than peace of mind. I can get up in the morning confident that I haven’t screwed up again. I can be sure that what I did last night won’t get me in trouble today. I no longer look in the rear view mirror to see if I am being followed. When I was drinking and using, I always was looking back and trying to cover my tracks. Today because of recovery I don’t have to do that anymore.
Yes, I still make mistakes and find that I am still wrong. But I no longer have to run from the past. I can own my mistakes and admit my wrongs. I make amends when needed and know that I now learn from my mistakes. I don’t have to keep repeating my mistakes and trying to hide. Life is about progress now, not living in the past. Am I willing to admit when I am wrong?
Meditations for the Heart
I must rely on the guidance of my Higher Power. I must wait patiently, trusting and hoping for God to show me the way. God reveals His will in many different ways. Sometimes it is in the words that I hear spoken around the table at Twelve Step meetings. Other times I read words in books that reveal God’s will. And still other times it is the words I hear “spoken” in my conscience. I just need to listen, and God will show me the way to a better life. Do I listen for the will of my Higher Power to be revealed?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
This is a new day; let me be glad in it. Let me give humble thanks for the way in which You constantly help me. Even when I feel lost, You let me know You are near. Increase in me the desire to listen for Your will for my life. Give me the courage to follow where You lead.
Amen.
-----
NA Just For Today
Not Just A Motivation For Growth
"We learn that pain can be a motivating factor in recovery."
Basic Text p.29
"Pain - who needs it!" we think whenever we're in it. We see no good purpose for pain. It seems to be a pointless exercise in suffering. If someone happens to mention spiritual growth to us while we're in pain, we most likely snort in disgust and walk away, thinking we've never encountered a more insensitive person.
But what if human beings didn't feel pain-either physical or emotional? Sound like an ideal world? Not really. If we weren't capable of feeling physical pain, we wouldn't know when to blink foreign particles out of our eyes; we wouldn't know when to stop exercising; we wouldn't even know when to roll over in our sleep. We would simply abuse ourselves for lack of a natural warning system.
The same holds true for emotional pain. How would we have known that our lives had become unmanageable if we hadn't been in pain? Just like physical pain, emotional pain lets us know when to stop doing something that hurts.
But pain is not only a motivating factor. Emotional pain provides a basis for comparison when we are joyful. We couldn't appreciate joy without knowing pain.
Just for today: I will accept pain as a necessary part of life. I know that to whatever level I can feel pain, I can also feel joy.
pg. 287
-----
TEN
Ska' hi
HARVEST MONTH
Duna Na Dee'
When the future historian writes the history of the red man of the forest and the prairie, the name of our great departed Sioux Chief, Sitting Bull, will appear among the noble characters.
October 1 - Daily Feast
What person does not hope for a spiritual experience that will connect him with the inevitable source of all good? What person does not hope for a touch to open his stoney heart to understand his own potential? Who has not fallen prey to a mountain of misinformation and to the belief that there is no justice in the world? While the world of events whirls and spins and shocks the rural soul, the sophisticated person of broader experience says that is the way it is, and they is why we act the way we do. But that very opinion propels a person headlong into the whirring teeth of absolute destruction. Who will hit the button? Who will stop this swift descent? It is a personal responsibility, a very personal responsibility, and who can do it?
~ You can dictate your terms. I am your prisoner, and must submit, but I am still a man, the same as you. ~
BLACK HAWK - SAC
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
Elder's Meditation of the Day - October 1
"So don't be afraid. What we left behind, leave it back there. Try to do some good. Let's try to take a step, try to think something good."
--Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
Every day is a new day. Sometimes we make mistakes. We do not need to carry these mistakes along with us. Take the lessons and leave the mistakes behind. Look forward to today. Today we can do something good. Today we can have good thoughts. Today we can think kind, uplifting thoughts about ourselves. Today I will think good about ...
My Creator, today I ask You to direct my thoughts.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
If you could remake your personal world, how would you want it? Very few can answer that question immediately. Many cannot answer after a great deal of consideration. Maybe we are drifters to a degree. There seems to be a certain amount of apprehension and fear about saying, or even thinking of what we want out of life. It may be that we feel some of it isn't right to want, or that maybe we are asking more than should be our share.
Money is probably the first thing that most people think about, because of what they could do for themselves and for others. But what of health and peace and love? Without these all the fame and money in the world would be entirely meaningless. Without a spiritual foundation to one's life, all our desires are built on sand. Without knowing where we're going, we are drifters.
To know what we want with good is the first and most important step. As Carlyle wrote, "The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - a waif, a nothing. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you."
Tennyson wrote these beautiful words: "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. What are men better than sheep or goats, that nourish a blind life within the brain, if, knowing God, they lift no hands of prayer both for themselves and those who call them friends!"
What on this earth could we possibly have of good that has not come from the Almighty? What inroads are made into disease and sickness, what light has focused more understandingly on mental illness and weaknesses, without having been revealed through something greater than we are?
And indeed, to what can we contribute the smallest or the greatest amounts of success, the love we share, the true joys, the peace, and our very breath. How presumptuous of us to believe we own one thing of lasting value that does not come from God.
-----
Daily Relationship Reading
If I've done something I feel bad about, or mistakenly blamed my SO for something and later discovered my error, my conscience usually makes it hard to get any real inner peace until I've owned up to what I've done. I might fear admitting my error openly, and being judged harshly, or giving my partner an excuse to continue troublesome behavior. Or it might bring back childhood memories of being called naughty or stupid.
Whatever mistakes I make though, I'll remember I'm only human, and am allowed to make mistakes. I don't need to fear what my conscience is trying to tell me. Admitting my errors doesn't mean I have to accept anyone else's judgement. I can make amends as best I can, forgive myself, and learn from my experience.
I can accept my conscience as a friend that tries to keep me from repeating the same mistakes over again. In doing so, I discover a companion that helps me in wonderful ways in my search for happiness.
Just for Today
Is my conscience is bothering me about something?
Today I'll take some quiet time of reflection, and see why I'm so afraid admitting something I've done. If it feels too scary to talk to my partner about, I'll find someone to open up to, and see what new strength I get by getting it off my chest and out in the open.
A conscience is like a baby. It has to go to sleep before you can. - Anonymous
-----
You are reading from the book Food for Thought.
Being True
Without rigorous honesty, we do not recover from compulsive overeating. We need to be honest about what we eat and honest about how we feel. In the past, we covered up pain with sugar frosting and tried to drown our inadequacies in carbohydrates. The time has come to deal with truth.
Alone, we are not perceptive enough to see the truth, nor strong enough to bear it. It is through our Higher Power and the OA fellowship that we are able to become true to the best that is in us. We admit that we have been living falsely, and we turn over our muddled lives so that God may straighten them out. His spirit is truth, and the light of that truth is what we need for our recovery.
Our Higher Power shows us how to be true step by step, as we are ready to progress. Each day we become more in touch with our real selves and each day our strength increases. Being true sets us free from compulsive overeating and free from the false values, hopes, and expectations, which have inhibited us.
Lead me into truth.
-----
You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Perhaps nature is our best assurance of immortality. --Eleanor Roosevelt
Everything in nature contributes to something else--like the hundred-year-old tree that stood tall until a wind storm. The protection it gave to thousands of birds and squirrels it now gives to insects and fungi. As it slowly decays, it nourishes the ground, and from the enriched soil grow several other trees. We human beings are part of this eternal cycle, our ideas and actions enriching those around us and influencing generations yet to come. Being part of this vast plan gives us comfort, and faith that everything that happens is meant to be. Our hearts fill with joy with the knowledge that we are needed; just as every tree is needed.
How do I fit into nature's plan today?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
It was football time, apple time, harvest time, hunting time, and school time. Footsteps quickened. It was exciting to be in transition. It seemed more like the beginning of something than like the end of it. --Paul Gruchow
Some days seem filled with the exciting energy of change. They are like walking on a bridge from one time period to the next. In the fall, our senses are filled with messages of change. Trees tell us it is happening. So do football games, and the cool chill in the morning air.
As summer wanes and winter approaches, we may need to grieve for what we leave behind before greeting what comes next. The changes we experience in recovery bring similar responses. We grieve the loss of our old friends, the bottle, the food binge, the romantic thrill, or the excitement of gambling or spending. We are able to grieve our losses because we accept them. We have chosen them. Now we move to the next season of our lives.
As I experience the circle of seasons outside me, I am grateful for the ongoing flow of change within.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Women are often caught between conforming to existing standards or role definitions and exploring the promise of new alternatives. --Stanlee Phelps and Nancy Austin
This is a time of exploring for many of us. Recovery means change in habits, change in behavior, change in attitudes. And change is seldom easy. But change we must, if we want to recover successfully.
We do have support for trying our new alternatives. We have support from our groups and our higher power. Perhaps we want a career or more education. Perhaps we want to develop a hobby or try a sport. Sharing that desire and then looking for support guarantees some guidance. This program has given us a chance to start fresh--to become our inner desire.
We are only caught in an old pattern if we assent to it. The going won't always be easy, but support and guidance are available and free if we but look for them.
Today I will consider my alternatives. Do I want to make a change?
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Be Who You Are
In recovery, we're learning a new behavior. It's called Be Who You Are.
For some of us, this can be frightening. What would happen if we felt what we felt, said what we wanted, became firm about our beliefs, and valued what we needed? What would happen if we let go of our camouflage of adaptation? What would happen if we owned our power to be ourselves?
Would people still like us? Would they go away? Would they become angry?
There comes a time when we become willing and ready to take that risk. To continue growing, and living with ourselves, we realize we must liberate ourselves. It becomes time to stop allowing ourselves to be so controlled by others and their expectations and be true to ourselves - regardless of the reaction of others.
Before long, we begin to understand. Some people may go away, but the relationship would have ended anyway. Some people stay and love and respect us more for taking the risk of being whom we are. We begin to achieve intimacy, and relationships that work.
We discover that who we are has always been good enough. It is who we were intended to be.
Today, I will own my power to be myself.
I am grateful for the power I have over the future of my life. I am being guided at all times to use my power with wisdom and with love. --Ruth Fishel
God help me to stay sober and clean today!
When I wake up to a bright new morning and jump out of bed, I can be grateful that I am happy and not sick or disgusted with myself. Sobriety has given me many gifts, but none is more precious than peace of mind. I can get up in the morning confident that I haven’t screwed up again. I can be sure that what I did last night won’t get me in trouble today. I no longer look in the rear view mirror to see if I am being followed. When I was drinking and using, I always was looking back and trying to cover my tracks. Today because of recovery I don’t have to do that anymore.
Yes, I still make mistakes and find that I am still wrong. But I no longer have to run from the past. I can own my mistakes and admit my wrongs. I make amends when needed and know that I now learn from my mistakes. I don’t have to keep repeating my mistakes and trying to hide. Life is about progress now, not living in the past. Am I willing to admit when I am wrong?
Meditations for the Heart
I must rely on the guidance of my Higher Power. I must wait patiently, trusting and hoping for God to show me the way. God reveals His will in many different ways. Sometimes it is in the words that I hear spoken around the table at Twelve Step meetings. Other times I read words in books that reveal God’s will. And still other times it is the words I hear “spoken” in my conscience. I just need to listen, and God will show me the way to a better life. Do I listen for the will of my Higher Power to be revealed?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
This is a new day; let me be glad in it. Let me give humble thanks for the way in which You constantly help me. Even when I feel lost, You let me know You are near. Increase in me the desire to listen for Your will for my life. Give me the courage to follow where You lead.
Amen.
-----
NA Just For Today
Not Just A Motivation For Growth
"We learn that pain can be a motivating factor in recovery."
Basic Text p.29
"Pain - who needs it!" we think whenever we're in it. We see no good purpose for pain. It seems to be a pointless exercise in suffering. If someone happens to mention spiritual growth to us while we're in pain, we most likely snort in disgust and walk away, thinking we've never encountered a more insensitive person.
But what if human beings didn't feel pain-either physical or emotional? Sound like an ideal world? Not really. If we weren't capable of feeling physical pain, we wouldn't know when to blink foreign particles out of our eyes; we wouldn't know when to stop exercising; we wouldn't even know when to roll over in our sleep. We would simply abuse ourselves for lack of a natural warning system.
The same holds true for emotional pain. How would we have known that our lives had become unmanageable if we hadn't been in pain? Just like physical pain, emotional pain lets us know when to stop doing something that hurts.
But pain is not only a motivating factor. Emotional pain provides a basis for comparison when we are joyful. We couldn't appreciate joy without knowing pain.
Just for today: I will accept pain as a necessary part of life. I know that to whatever level I can feel pain, I can also feel joy.
pg. 287
-----
TEN
Ska' hi
HARVEST MONTH
Duna Na Dee'
When the future historian writes the history of the red man of the forest and the prairie, the name of our great departed Sioux Chief, Sitting Bull, will appear among the noble characters.
October 1 - Daily Feast
What person does not hope for a spiritual experience that will connect him with the inevitable source of all good? What person does not hope for a touch to open his stoney heart to understand his own potential? Who has not fallen prey to a mountain of misinformation and to the belief that there is no justice in the world? While the world of events whirls and spins and shocks the rural soul, the sophisticated person of broader experience says that is the way it is, and they is why we act the way we do. But that very opinion propels a person headlong into the whirring teeth of absolute destruction. Who will hit the button? Who will stop this swift descent? It is a personal responsibility, a very personal responsibility, and who can do it?
~ You can dictate your terms. I am your prisoner, and must submit, but I am still a man, the same as you. ~
BLACK HAWK - SAC
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
Elder's Meditation of the Day - October 1
"So don't be afraid. What we left behind, leave it back there. Try to do some good. Let's try to take a step, try to think something good."
--Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
Every day is a new day. Sometimes we make mistakes. We do not need to carry these mistakes along with us. Take the lessons and leave the mistakes behind. Look forward to today. Today we can do something good. Today we can have good thoughts. Today we can think kind, uplifting thoughts about ourselves. Today I will think good about ...
My Creator, today I ask You to direct my thoughts.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
If you could remake your personal world, how would you want it? Very few can answer that question immediately. Many cannot answer after a great deal of consideration. Maybe we are drifters to a degree. There seems to be a certain amount of apprehension and fear about saying, or even thinking of what we want out of life. It may be that we feel some of it isn't right to want, or that maybe we are asking more than should be our share.
Money is probably the first thing that most people think about, because of what they could do for themselves and for others. But what of health and peace and love? Without these all the fame and money in the world would be entirely meaningless. Without a spiritual foundation to one's life, all our desires are built on sand. Without knowing where we're going, we are drifters.
To know what we want with good is the first and most important step. As Carlyle wrote, "The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - a waif, a nothing. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you."
Tennyson wrote these beautiful words: "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. What are men better than sheep or goats, that nourish a blind life within the brain, if, knowing God, they lift no hands of prayer both for themselves and those who call them friends!"
What on this earth could we possibly have of good that has not come from the Almighty? What inroads are made into disease and sickness, what light has focused more understandingly on mental illness and weaknesses, without having been revealed through something greater than we are?
And indeed, to what can we contribute the smallest or the greatest amounts of success, the love we share, the true joys, the peace, and our very breath. How presumptuous of us to believe we own one thing of lasting value that does not come from God.
-----
Daily Relationship Reading
If I've done something I feel bad about, or mistakenly blamed my SO for something and later discovered my error, my conscience usually makes it hard to get any real inner peace until I've owned up to what I've done. I might fear admitting my error openly, and being judged harshly, or giving my partner an excuse to continue troublesome behavior. Or it might bring back childhood memories of being called naughty or stupid.
Whatever mistakes I make though, I'll remember I'm only human, and am allowed to make mistakes. I don't need to fear what my conscience is trying to tell me. Admitting my errors doesn't mean I have to accept anyone else's judgement. I can make amends as best I can, forgive myself, and learn from my experience.
I can accept my conscience as a friend that tries to keep me from repeating the same mistakes over again. In doing so, I discover a companion that helps me in wonderful ways in my search for happiness.
Just for Today
Is my conscience is bothering me about something?
Today I'll take some quiet time of reflection, and see why I'm so afraid admitting something I've done. If it feels too scary to talk to my partner about, I'll find someone to open up to, and see what new strength I get by getting it off my chest and out in the open.
A conscience is like a baby. It has to go to sleep before you can. - Anonymous
-----
You are reading from the book Food for Thought.
Being True
Without rigorous honesty, we do not recover from compulsive overeating. We need to be honest about what we eat and honest about how we feel. In the past, we covered up pain with sugar frosting and tried to drown our inadequacies in carbohydrates. The time has come to deal with truth.
Alone, we are not perceptive enough to see the truth, nor strong enough to bear it. It is through our Higher Power and the OA fellowship that we are able to become true to the best that is in us. We admit that we have been living falsely, and we turn over our muddled lives so that God may straighten them out. His spirit is truth, and the light of that truth is what we need for our recovery.
Our Higher Power shows us how to be true step by step, as we are ready to progress. Each day we become more in touch with our real selves and each day our strength increases. Being true sets us free from compulsive overeating and free from the false values, hopes, and expectations, which have inhibited us.
Lead me into truth.
-----
You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Perhaps nature is our best assurance of immortality. --Eleanor Roosevelt
Everything in nature contributes to something else--like the hundred-year-old tree that stood tall until a wind storm. The protection it gave to thousands of birds and squirrels it now gives to insects and fungi. As it slowly decays, it nourishes the ground, and from the enriched soil grow several other trees. We human beings are part of this eternal cycle, our ideas and actions enriching those around us and influencing generations yet to come. Being part of this vast plan gives us comfort, and faith that everything that happens is meant to be. Our hearts fill with joy with the knowledge that we are needed; just as every tree is needed.
How do I fit into nature's plan today?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
It was football time, apple time, harvest time, hunting time, and school time. Footsteps quickened. It was exciting to be in transition. It seemed more like the beginning of something than like the end of it. --Paul Gruchow
Some days seem filled with the exciting energy of change. They are like walking on a bridge from one time period to the next. In the fall, our senses are filled with messages of change. Trees tell us it is happening. So do football games, and the cool chill in the morning air.
As summer wanes and winter approaches, we may need to grieve for what we leave behind before greeting what comes next. The changes we experience in recovery bring similar responses. We grieve the loss of our old friends, the bottle, the food binge, the romantic thrill, or the excitement of gambling or spending. We are able to grieve our losses because we accept them. We have chosen them. Now we move to the next season of our lives.
As I experience the circle of seasons outside me, I am grateful for the ongoing flow of change within.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Women are often caught between conforming to existing standards or role definitions and exploring the promise of new alternatives. --Stanlee Phelps and Nancy Austin
This is a time of exploring for many of us. Recovery means change in habits, change in behavior, change in attitudes. And change is seldom easy. But change we must, if we want to recover successfully.
We do have support for trying our new alternatives. We have support from our groups and our higher power. Perhaps we want a career or more education. Perhaps we want to develop a hobby or try a sport. Sharing that desire and then looking for support guarantees some guidance. This program has given us a chance to start fresh--to become our inner desire.
We are only caught in an old pattern if we assent to it. The going won't always be easy, but support and guidance are available and free if we but look for them.
Today I will consider my alternatives. Do I want to make a change?
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Be Who You Are
In recovery, we're learning a new behavior. It's called Be Who You Are.
For some of us, this can be frightening. What would happen if we felt what we felt, said what we wanted, became firm about our beliefs, and valued what we needed? What would happen if we let go of our camouflage of adaptation? What would happen if we owned our power to be ourselves?
Would people still like us? Would they go away? Would they become angry?
There comes a time when we become willing and ready to take that risk. To continue growing, and living with ourselves, we realize we must liberate ourselves. It becomes time to stop allowing ourselves to be so controlled by others and their expectations and be true to ourselves - regardless of the reaction of others.
Before long, we begin to understand. Some people may go away, but the relationship would have ended anyway. Some people stay and love and respect us more for taking the risk of being whom we are. We begin to achieve intimacy, and relationships that work.
We discover that who we are has always been good enough. It is who we were intended to be.
Today, I will own my power to be myself.
I am grateful for the power I have over the future of my life. I am being guided at all times to use my power with wisdom and with love. --Ruth Fishel
God help me to stay sober and clean today!