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10-02-2008, 03:52 PM
Daily Reflections
SERENITY AFTER THE STORM
Someone who knew what he was talking about once remarked that
pain was the touchstone of all spiritual progress. How heartily
we A.A.'s can agree with him. . . .
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p p. 93-94
When on the roller coaster of emotional turmoil, I remember that
growth is often painful. My evolution in the A.A. program has
taught me that I must experience the inner change, however painful,
that eventually guides me from selfishness to selflessness. If I
am to have serenity, I must STEP my way past emotional turmoil and
its subsequent hangover, and be grateful for continuing spiritual
progress.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
How do I talk with new prospects? Am I always trying to dominate
the conversation? Do I lay down the law and tell prospects what
they will have to do? Do I judge them privately and feel that they
have small chance of making the program? Do I belittle them to
myself? Or am I willing to bare my soul so as to get them talking
about themselves? And, then, am I willing to be a good listener,
not interrupting, but hearing them out to the end? Do I feel deeply
that they are my brothers or my sisters? Will I do all I can to help
them along the path to sobriety?
Meditation For The Day
"The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of
righteousness shall be quietness and assurance forever." Only
when the soul attains this calm, can there be true spiritual work
done, and mind and soul and body be strong to conquer and bear all
things. Peace is the result of righteousness. There is no peace in
wrong doing, but if we live the way God wants us to live, quietness
and assurance follow. Assurance is that calmness born of a deep
certainty of God's strength available to us and in His power to love
and guard us from all harm and wrong doing.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may attain a state of true calmness.
I pray that I may live in quietness and peace.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Pain And Progress, p. 3
"Years ago I used to commiserate with all people who suffered. Now I
commiserate only with those who suffer in ignorance, who do not
understand the purpose and ultimate utility of pain."
<< << << >> >> >>
Someone once remarked that pain is the touchstone of spiritual
progress. How heartily we A.A.'s can agree with him, for we know
that the pains of alcoholism had to come before sobriety, and
emotional turmoil before serenity.
<< << << >> >> >>
"Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the Light, even though
for the moment you do not see."
1. Letter, 1950
2. 12 & 12, pp. 93-94
3. Letter, 1950
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Proving Ourselves
Self-esteem
Long after a bitter failure, some of us still cling to the hope that we can erase the defeat in some spectacular way. One dream is to “prove ourselves” to those who scorned us or put us down.
This never really works, even when we do become winners at some later time. For one thing, we may be proving ourselves to people who never will like us. If we are striving to show others that we can succeed, we are still dancing to their tune. We are accepting their idea of what success should be.
Many of us failed simply because we were alcoholics and could do no better. We might have destroyed opportunities that will never rise again. But by finding sobriety, we may already have proved ourselves to those who really count in our lives...... Including ourselves.
I can prove today that the Twelve Step program works and that a loving Higher Power is present in my life.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
That which is called firmness I a king is called stubbornness in a donkey.
---Lord Erskine
“Rigid” is a fancy word for “stubborn.” We act this way because of our fear. When
we’re afraid, we hang on to what we’re used to doing. Our illness had us so scared, we were afraid of the new ideas and new people. The only thing that didn’t scare us was using alcohol or other drugs.
We also were stubborn when anyone tried to help us. We thought we knew what was best. How silly our stubborn actions made us look! How lonely they kept us.
But our stubborn behavior can teach us about our fears. We need to be aware our stubbornness. Then we’ll be able to find out what we’re afraid of---and do something about it.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me know when I’m stubborn.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll work at accepting my stubbornness. I will use it to learn what I am afraid of today.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
The Doctor's Opinion
The doctor writes:
We doctors have realized for a long time that some form of moral psychology was of urgent importance to alcoholics, but its application presented difficulties beyond our conception. What with our ultra-modern standards, our scientific approach to everything, we are perhaps not well equipped to apply the powers of good that lie outside our synthetic knowledge.
p. xxvii
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Seven - "Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."
Probably no A.A. Tradition had the labor pains this one did. In early times, we were all broke. When you add to this the habitual supposition that people ought to give money to alcoholics trying to stay sober, it can be understood why we thought we deserved a pile of folding money. What great things A.A. would be able to do with it! But oddly enough, people who had money thought otherwise. They figured that it was high time we now--sober--paid our own way. So our Fellowship stayed poor because it had to.
p. 160
************************************************** *********
One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.
--E. B. White
Love your enemies. It will drive them nuts.
--Eleanor Doan
"A keen sense of humor helps us to overlook the unbecoming,
understand the unconventional, tolerate the unpleasant,
overcome the unexpected, and outlast the unbearable."
--Billy Graham
"We're still not where we're going, but we're not where we were."
--Natasha Jasefowitz
"Behavioral researcher Shad Helmstetter, in his book "Choice," says, 'When we meet someone who seems to have a good attitude about everything, that really isn't the case. The person simply has made a lot of independent choices to have a
good attitude about many individual things." Remember, a positive outlook is a choice - and the decision is yours."
--Neil Eskelin
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
FREEDOM
"Freedom is not enough. "
-- Lyndon B. Johnson
The gift of freedom requires the acknowledgment of the benefactor, God. To experience
freedom without realizing its source is to miss the point; freedom requires responsibility.
When I was drinking, I demanded freedom without responsibility and I suffered. I created
in freedom my own horror stories. I hurt others because I did not respect in them what I
demanded for myself and slowly, ever so slowly, freedom slipped away.
Today I believe that my spiritual program reinforces my responsibility for my life. God
has created me with free will and I need to respect this gift in others. If I do not respect
others, I will never receive it. Dignity is a two way street.
Thank You for the freedom to experience myself in my treatment of my neighbor.
************************************************** *********
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek His face always.
Psalm 105:4
Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of
joy, carrying sheaves with him.
Psalm 126:5-6
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Be like a star and make your best even better. Lord, source of my joy, if I am shining I will brighten the day for both myself and those around me.
There is a time for everything. Take time to pray, to sing, to laugh, to work and to touch the hearts of others. Lord, help me be aware that today will never return so that I will not misuse my time or waste it unwisely.
SERENITY AFTER THE STORM
Someone who knew what he was talking about once remarked that
pain was the touchstone of all spiritual progress. How heartily
we A.A.'s can agree with him. . . .
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p p. 93-94
When on the roller coaster of emotional turmoil, I remember that
growth is often painful. My evolution in the A.A. program has
taught me that I must experience the inner change, however painful,
that eventually guides me from selfishness to selflessness. If I
am to have serenity, I must STEP my way past emotional turmoil and
its subsequent hangover, and be grateful for continuing spiritual
progress.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
How do I talk with new prospects? Am I always trying to dominate
the conversation? Do I lay down the law and tell prospects what
they will have to do? Do I judge them privately and feel that they
have small chance of making the program? Do I belittle them to
myself? Or am I willing to bare my soul so as to get them talking
about themselves? And, then, am I willing to be a good listener,
not interrupting, but hearing them out to the end? Do I feel deeply
that they are my brothers or my sisters? Will I do all I can to help
them along the path to sobriety?
Meditation For The Day
"The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of
righteousness shall be quietness and assurance forever." Only
when the soul attains this calm, can there be true spiritual work
done, and mind and soul and body be strong to conquer and bear all
things. Peace is the result of righteousness. There is no peace in
wrong doing, but if we live the way God wants us to live, quietness
and assurance follow. Assurance is that calmness born of a deep
certainty of God's strength available to us and in His power to love
and guard us from all harm and wrong doing.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may attain a state of true calmness.
I pray that I may live in quietness and peace.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Pain And Progress, p. 3
"Years ago I used to commiserate with all people who suffered. Now I
commiserate only with those who suffer in ignorance, who do not
understand the purpose and ultimate utility of pain."
<< << << >> >> >>
Someone once remarked that pain is the touchstone of spiritual
progress. How heartily we A.A.'s can agree with him, for we know
that the pains of alcoholism had to come before sobriety, and
emotional turmoil before serenity.
<< << << >> >> >>
"Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the Light, even though
for the moment you do not see."
1. Letter, 1950
2. 12 & 12, pp. 93-94
3. Letter, 1950
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Proving Ourselves
Self-esteem
Long after a bitter failure, some of us still cling to the hope that we can erase the defeat in some spectacular way. One dream is to “prove ourselves” to those who scorned us or put us down.
This never really works, even when we do become winners at some later time. For one thing, we may be proving ourselves to people who never will like us. If we are striving to show others that we can succeed, we are still dancing to their tune. We are accepting their idea of what success should be.
Many of us failed simply because we were alcoholics and could do no better. We might have destroyed opportunities that will never rise again. But by finding sobriety, we may already have proved ourselves to those who really count in our lives...... Including ourselves.
I can prove today that the Twelve Step program works and that a loving Higher Power is present in my life.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
That which is called firmness I a king is called stubbornness in a donkey.
---Lord Erskine
“Rigid” is a fancy word for “stubborn.” We act this way because of our fear. When
we’re afraid, we hang on to what we’re used to doing. Our illness had us so scared, we were afraid of the new ideas and new people. The only thing that didn’t scare us was using alcohol or other drugs.
We also were stubborn when anyone tried to help us. We thought we knew what was best. How silly our stubborn actions made us look! How lonely they kept us.
But our stubborn behavior can teach us about our fears. We need to be aware our stubbornness. Then we’ll be able to find out what we’re afraid of---and do something about it.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me know when I’m stubborn.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll work at accepting my stubbornness. I will use it to learn what I am afraid of today.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
The Doctor's Opinion
The doctor writes:
We doctors have realized for a long time that some form of moral psychology was of urgent importance to alcoholics, but its application presented difficulties beyond our conception. What with our ultra-modern standards, our scientific approach to everything, we are perhaps not well equipped to apply the powers of good that lie outside our synthetic knowledge.
p. xxvii
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Seven - "Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."
Probably no A.A. Tradition had the labor pains this one did. In early times, we were all broke. When you add to this the habitual supposition that people ought to give money to alcoholics trying to stay sober, it can be understood why we thought we deserved a pile of folding money. What great things A.A. would be able to do with it! But oddly enough, people who had money thought otherwise. They figured that it was high time we now--sober--paid our own way. So our Fellowship stayed poor because it had to.
p. 160
************************************************** *********
One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.
--E. B. White
Love your enemies. It will drive them nuts.
--Eleanor Doan
"A keen sense of humor helps us to overlook the unbecoming,
understand the unconventional, tolerate the unpleasant,
overcome the unexpected, and outlast the unbearable."
--Billy Graham
"We're still not where we're going, but we're not where we were."
--Natasha Jasefowitz
"Behavioral researcher Shad Helmstetter, in his book "Choice," says, 'When we meet someone who seems to have a good attitude about everything, that really isn't the case. The person simply has made a lot of independent choices to have a
good attitude about many individual things." Remember, a positive outlook is a choice - and the decision is yours."
--Neil Eskelin
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
FREEDOM
"Freedom is not enough. "
-- Lyndon B. Johnson
The gift of freedom requires the acknowledgment of the benefactor, God. To experience
freedom without realizing its source is to miss the point; freedom requires responsibility.
When I was drinking, I demanded freedom without responsibility and I suffered. I created
in freedom my own horror stories. I hurt others because I did not respect in them what I
demanded for myself and slowly, ever so slowly, freedom slipped away.
Today I believe that my spiritual program reinforces my responsibility for my life. God
has created me with free will and I need to respect this gift in others. If I do not respect
others, I will never receive it. Dignity is a two way street.
Thank You for the freedom to experience myself in my treatment of my neighbor.
************************************************** *********
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek His face always.
Psalm 105:4
Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of
joy, carrying sheaves with him.
Psalm 126:5-6
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Be like a star and make your best even better. Lord, source of my joy, if I am shining I will brighten the day for both myself and those around me.
There is a time for everything. Take time to pray, to sing, to laugh, to work and to touch the hearts of others. Lord, help me be aware that today will never return so that I will not misuse my time or waste it unwisely.