admin
10-08-2008, 06:00 PM
Wisdom for Today
Somewhere along the way, I started to develop commonsense. This was not something I had when I was actively using alcohol and drugs. But in recovery I began to learn that if I drank or used drugs, it ended in trouble. More importantly, commonsense told me that if I could no longer drink or use drugs, then the only alternative was sobriety. I found out that I could not simply switch from one drug to another. It was not a matter of stopping the liquor and only drinking beer. I simply had to stop everything. I wasn’t addicted to just one and not the other. I was addicted to changing my reality in ways that destroyed me. Commonsense said I had to stop it all.
I learned other commonsense things as well in recovery. In order to stop my insanity, I had to do more than just stay clean and sober; I had to change my lifestyle. I had to be open to doing things differently. I had to be willing to change. I had to rely on a Power greater than I. My way didn’t work. I had to find a new way of living. This is where the Twelve Steps came into play. These steps taught me how to live. Am I willing to learn commonsense?
Meditations for the Heart
Today as I look out my window, I see that the leaves are starting to change color. The air is crisp, and I am reminded of an important lesson. Soon the leaves will be gone, and the chill of winter will arrive. But now I have much to do if the trees are to bear fruit next year. Branches must be cut, and limbs pruned. The dead wood must be cut away, so that next spring new buds will bear fruit. Recovery is like this. If we are to have strong growth in the new spring of our life, we must prune away the dead wood. I had no idea how to do this effectively. I had to ask for help; I needed someone to show me how to do it properly, or I risked killing the tree completely. If I did nothing at all to the tree, there was a good chance that it would not bear any fruit in the coming year. Am I willing to cut away the dead wood in my life to bear fruit in the spring of my recovery? Am I willing to ask for help and to be shown how to do the job right? Do I realize I have to do this, not just once, but each year in order to keep growing?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
You walk with me in each season of my life. Help me to be willing to let You prune away the parts of my behavior that get in the way of new growth. Lead me to the people that can teach me commonsense. Help me to bear good fruit in the renewal of my life.
Amen.
-----
NA Just For Today
Order
"We emphasize setting our house in order because it brings us relief."
Basic Text p. 93
Focusing on what others are doing can provide momentary relief from having to take a look at ourselves. But one of the secrets of success in Narcotics Anonymous is making sure our own house is in order. So what does "setting our house in order" mean, anyway?
It means we work the steps, allowing us to look at our role in our relationships with others. When we have a problem with someone, we can take our own inventory to find out what our part in the problem has been. With the help of our sponsor, we strive to set it right. Then, each day, we continue taking our inventory to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.
It's pretty simple. We treat others as we would like others to treat us. We promptly make amends when we owe them. And when we turn our lives over to the care of our Higher Power on a daily basis, we can start to avoid running on the self-will so characteristic of our active addiction. Guided by a Power that seeks the best for everyone, our relationships with others will surely improve.
Just for today: I will set my own house in order. Today, I will examine my part in the problems in my life. If I owe amends, I will make them.
pg. 295
-----
October 9 - Daily Feast
Never take on more than is yours to handle. When you are a caretaker by nature, it can appear that the whole world rests on your shoulders. Some of it does, of course, because no one is without responsibility. But when you begin to think you have to do it all, it is time to back off and reassess your position. Life is a matter of give and take - and if you try to do all the giving, someone is going to get the idea they don't have to do anything. The only way they can receive is to give first. And if someone else does all the giving, there's something amiss - and it may be you.
~ Our patience....is exhausted, and we are discouraged from persevering any longer. ~
JOSEPH BRYANT - MOHAWK, 1800s
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
Elder's Meditation of the Day - October 9
"That spiritual power I wear is much more beautiful and much greater. We call it wisdom, knowledge, power and gift or love. There are these four parts to that spiritual power. So I wear those. When you wear that power it will beautify your mind and spirit. You become beautiful. Everything that Tunkashila creates is beautiful."
--Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
When I was young, I asked my grandfather, "What should I pray for?" He thought for a long time and then he said, "Pray only for wisdom and for the knowledge of love." This makes a lot of sense. No matter what happens I ask the Creator to show me the lessons I should be learning. I pray for Him to help me learn the lessons. By doing this everyday we become beautiful human beings.
Great Spirit, grant me Your wisdom.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
'THINK on THESE THINGS'
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
It has become increasingly noticeable how the power grab has reached even the lower levels of living. It is a right thing for us to try to raise ourselves. To fail to try would earmark us for failure....and yet up the shaky ladder of success climb so many bodies without spirits, so little understanding of what is ahead....and often less of what is past.
If we could only realize our power comes not from grasping the coattails of others, but from a higher source that knows the way....that places before us the right steps, the correct manner, the much needed wisdom and inspiration.
Why is it that when all this guidance is available to us, we let the littleness of our souls hold us back, believing all the time that any forward motion is because we have learned how to twist situations to our own avail.
How sad the lot of those who discover all the rungs on their ladder are on the same level. "Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads," wrote Caleb Colton. "No man is wise enough, nor good enough, to be trusted with unlimited power."
-----
Daily Relationship Reading
Most of the time, I don't give myself quiet time except when there seems to be time to do so. Sometimes, there seems to be 25 hours of work, turmoil, and struggle in a day. Usually, I put my nose to the grindstone, and put off any relaxing solitude until pressures ease.
Yet, such solitude may be what I need most during periods of upheaval in my life. My thinking often becomes clouded when pressures surround me like a whirlwind. I might work hard to solve a problem, only to find out halfway through that I was using the wrong approach.
Although I can't make a day longer than 24 hours, what I can do is improve the quality of my choices. To do this usually requires stepping back from my struggles, and trying to get a new perspective on them, by giving a chance for the dust to settle in my mind.
Once I do, I can often see my problems and solutions with new clarity. When I get back to tackling my challenges, I'm surprised at how my new frame of mind has turned mountains into molehills.
Just for Today
When I don't seem to have any time in the day for myself, I know that's the most important time to take some quiet moments.
Today I'll treat quiet time as an investment in my day, not something that takes away from it. It's helping me to handle my challenges, and is an important stepping stone to finding good solutions.
Your most important time may be a "timeout".
-----
You are reading from the book Food for Thought.
Abstinence, Not Punishment
By abstaining from compulsive overeating, we are doing ourselves the biggest favor imaginable. We are literally saving our lives, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We should never think of abstinence as punishment. Eating too much food and the wrong kind of food was the real punishment.
Each day we plan three attractive meals consisting of foods, which we enjoy. We do not exaggerate our efforts to make the meals enjoyable, since we do not want to reactivate our former obsession with food. At the same time, we choose foods, which appeal to us and do not punish ourselves with boring, unappetizing menus.
The refined sugars and carbohydrates with which we rewarded ourselves in the past are no longer a reward but poison to our systems. Overeating any food punishes us through loss of both control and peace of mind. We maintain abstinence from compulsive overeating in order to take care of ourselves and feel good.
By Your grace, may I maintain abstinence.
-----
You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
...but time and chance happeneth to them all. --Ecclesiastes
Life, director of the comedy, always lets things get a little out of hand. We all know what would be normal and right, but the right horse sometimes finishes last in the race, and the jerk has all the money. The wise people, like us, are ignored by all, and the good woman gets in trouble with the law. The saint cheats on his income tax, but he never gets caught the way the needy ones like us do, and the worst sinners get saved in the nick of time, while the fittest sometimes just drop dead.
If all the best-laid plans go wrong, maybe we are meant to learn that such important things aren't so important, after all.
If the skies are custard pies waiting to plop down on our hopeful faces, maybe it is best to accept the gift, count it a blessing, and lick our chops.
How have my failures been successes in disguise?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Nothing worse could happen to one than to be completely understood. --Carl Jung
We so often long to be understood. We imagine it would cure our loneliness and empty feelings. We think of it as a kind of intimacy. Yet, we may be longing for a false goal. We are each a unique man on an incomplete journey. We don't yet fully understand ourselves. There is still much mystery beneath the surface of our being. If our partners or friends completely understood us, where would we go from there? We would no longer belong to ourselves.
Perhaps we are completely understood by our Higher Power but not by another person. It is a fact of life that we continue to grow and to reveal deeper layers of ourselves. We have relationships in which we can share the mysteries as they unfold. We can talk and be understood. In communication we find our closeness and intimacy.
Today, I will remember that at the deepest level no one can fully understand me. I will communicate with others to deal with my loneliness.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
When all of the remedies and all of the rhetorical armor have been dropped, the absence of love in our lives is what makes them seem raw and unfinished. --Ingrid Bengis
Love soothes, encourages, inspires. It enhances our wholeness, both when we give it and when we receive it. Without the expression of love we are severed from our family and friends. It's the bond that strengthens each of us, giving us the courage to tackle what's lying ahead.
We need not wait for someone else's expression of love before giving it. Loving must be unconditional. And when it is, it will be returned tenfold. Loving attracts itself, and it will heal us, soften the hard edges of our lives, and open us up to receive the blessings that others' gratitude will foster.
It's such a simple thing asked of us--to love one another. Unconditional love of our sisters, our lovers, and our children breaks down the barriers to our achievements and theirs. Loving frees us to enjoy life. It energizes us and makes all goals attainable. We carry God's message through our love of one another.
I am charged with only one responsibility today: to love someone, dearly and wholly.
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Self-Disclosure
Learning to gently reveal who we are is how we open ourselves up to love and intimacy in our relationships.
Many of us have hidden under a protective shell, a casing that prevents others from seeing or hurting us. We do not want to be that vulnerable. We do not want to expose our thoughts, feelings, fears, weaknesses, and sometimes our strengths, to others.
We do not want others to see who we really are.
We may be afraid they might judge us, go away, or not like us. We may be uncertain that who we are is okay or exactly how we should reveal ourselves to others.
Being vulnerable can be frightening, especially if we have lived with people who abused, mistreated, manipulated, or did not appreciate us.
Little by little, we learn to take the risk of revealing ourselves. We disclose the real person within to others. We pick safe people, and we begin to disclose bits and pieces about ourselves.
Sometimes, out of fear, we may withhold, thinking that will help the relationship or will help others like us more. That is an illusion. Withholding who we are does not help the other person, the relationship, or us. Withholding is behavior that backfires. For true intimacy and closeness to exist, for us to love ourselves and be content in a relationship, we need to disclose who we are.
That does not mean we tell all to everyone at once. That can be a self-defeating behavior too. We can learn to trust ourselves, about who to tell, when to tell, where to tell, and how much to tell.
To trust that people will love and like us if we are exactly who we are is frightening. But it is the only way we can achieve what we want in relationships. To let go of our need to control others - their opinions, their feelings about us, or the course of the relationship - is the key.
Gently, like a flower, we can learn to open up. Like a flower, we will do that when the sun shines and there is warmth.
Today, I will begin to take the risk of disclosing who I am to someone with whom I feel safe. I will let go of some of my protective devices and risk being vulnerable - even though I may have been taught differently, even though I may have taught myself differently. I will disclose who I am in a way that reflects self-responsibility, self-love, directness, and honesty. God, help me let go of my fears about disclosing who I am to people. Help me accept who I am, and help me let go of my need to be who people want me to be.
Today I'm willing to trust that no matter what is going on in my life, I am in the process of growth. --Ruth Fishel
God help me to stay sober and clean today!
Somewhere along the way, I started to develop commonsense. This was not something I had when I was actively using alcohol and drugs. But in recovery I began to learn that if I drank or used drugs, it ended in trouble. More importantly, commonsense told me that if I could no longer drink or use drugs, then the only alternative was sobriety. I found out that I could not simply switch from one drug to another. It was not a matter of stopping the liquor and only drinking beer. I simply had to stop everything. I wasn’t addicted to just one and not the other. I was addicted to changing my reality in ways that destroyed me. Commonsense said I had to stop it all.
I learned other commonsense things as well in recovery. In order to stop my insanity, I had to do more than just stay clean and sober; I had to change my lifestyle. I had to be open to doing things differently. I had to be willing to change. I had to rely on a Power greater than I. My way didn’t work. I had to find a new way of living. This is where the Twelve Steps came into play. These steps taught me how to live. Am I willing to learn commonsense?
Meditations for the Heart
Today as I look out my window, I see that the leaves are starting to change color. The air is crisp, and I am reminded of an important lesson. Soon the leaves will be gone, and the chill of winter will arrive. But now I have much to do if the trees are to bear fruit next year. Branches must be cut, and limbs pruned. The dead wood must be cut away, so that next spring new buds will bear fruit. Recovery is like this. If we are to have strong growth in the new spring of our life, we must prune away the dead wood. I had no idea how to do this effectively. I had to ask for help; I needed someone to show me how to do it properly, or I risked killing the tree completely. If I did nothing at all to the tree, there was a good chance that it would not bear any fruit in the coming year. Am I willing to cut away the dead wood in my life to bear fruit in the spring of my recovery? Am I willing to ask for help and to be shown how to do the job right? Do I realize I have to do this, not just once, but each year in order to keep growing?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
You walk with me in each season of my life. Help me to be willing to let You prune away the parts of my behavior that get in the way of new growth. Lead me to the people that can teach me commonsense. Help me to bear good fruit in the renewal of my life.
Amen.
-----
NA Just For Today
Order
"We emphasize setting our house in order because it brings us relief."
Basic Text p. 93
Focusing on what others are doing can provide momentary relief from having to take a look at ourselves. But one of the secrets of success in Narcotics Anonymous is making sure our own house is in order. So what does "setting our house in order" mean, anyway?
It means we work the steps, allowing us to look at our role in our relationships with others. When we have a problem with someone, we can take our own inventory to find out what our part in the problem has been. With the help of our sponsor, we strive to set it right. Then, each day, we continue taking our inventory to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.
It's pretty simple. We treat others as we would like others to treat us. We promptly make amends when we owe them. And when we turn our lives over to the care of our Higher Power on a daily basis, we can start to avoid running on the self-will so characteristic of our active addiction. Guided by a Power that seeks the best for everyone, our relationships with others will surely improve.
Just for today: I will set my own house in order. Today, I will examine my part in the problems in my life. If I owe amends, I will make them.
pg. 295
-----
October 9 - Daily Feast
Never take on more than is yours to handle. When you are a caretaker by nature, it can appear that the whole world rests on your shoulders. Some of it does, of course, because no one is without responsibility. But when you begin to think you have to do it all, it is time to back off and reassess your position. Life is a matter of give and take - and if you try to do all the giving, someone is going to get the idea they don't have to do anything. The only way they can receive is to give first. And if someone else does all the giving, there's something amiss - and it may be you.
~ Our patience....is exhausted, and we are discouraged from persevering any longer. ~
JOSEPH BRYANT - MOHAWK, 1800s
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
Elder's Meditation of the Day - October 9
"That spiritual power I wear is much more beautiful and much greater. We call it wisdom, knowledge, power and gift or love. There are these four parts to that spiritual power. So I wear those. When you wear that power it will beautify your mind and spirit. You become beautiful. Everything that Tunkashila creates is beautiful."
--Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
When I was young, I asked my grandfather, "What should I pray for?" He thought for a long time and then he said, "Pray only for wisdom and for the knowledge of love." This makes a lot of sense. No matter what happens I ask the Creator to show me the lessons I should be learning. I pray for Him to help me learn the lessons. By doing this everyday we become beautiful human beings.
Great Spirit, grant me Your wisdom.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
'THINK on THESE THINGS'
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
It has become increasingly noticeable how the power grab has reached even the lower levels of living. It is a right thing for us to try to raise ourselves. To fail to try would earmark us for failure....and yet up the shaky ladder of success climb so many bodies without spirits, so little understanding of what is ahead....and often less of what is past.
If we could only realize our power comes not from grasping the coattails of others, but from a higher source that knows the way....that places before us the right steps, the correct manner, the much needed wisdom and inspiration.
Why is it that when all this guidance is available to us, we let the littleness of our souls hold us back, believing all the time that any forward motion is because we have learned how to twist situations to our own avail.
How sad the lot of those who discover all the rungs on their ladder are on the same level. "Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads," wrote Caleb Colton. "No man is wise enough, nor good enough, to be trusted with unlimited power."
-----
Daily Relationship Reading
Most of the time, I don't give myself quiet time except when there seems to be time to do so. Sometimes, there seems to be 25 hours of work, turmoil, and struggle in a day. Usually, I put my nose to the grindstone, and put off any relaxing solitude until pressures ease.
Yet, such solitude may be what I need most during periods of upheaval in my life. My thinking often becomes clouded when pressures surround me like a whirlwind. I might work hard to solve a problem, only to find out halfway through that I was using the wrong approach.
Although I can't make a day longer than 24 hours, what I can do is improve the quality of my choices. To do this usually requires stepping back from my struggles, and trying to get a new perspective on them, by giving a chance for the dust to settle in my mind.
Once I do, I can often see my problems and solutions with new clarity. When I get back to tackling my challenges, I'm surprised at how my new frame of mind has turned mountains into molehills.
Just for Today
When I don't seem to have any time in the day for myself, I know that's the most important time to take some quiet moments.
Today I'll treat quiet time as an investment in my day, not something that takes away from it. It's helping me to handle my challenges, and is an important stepping stone to finding good solutions.
Your most important time may be a "timeout".
-----
You are reading from the book Food for Thought.
Abstinence, Not Punishment
By abstaining from compulsive overeating, we are doing ourselves the biggest favor imaginable. We are literally saving our lives, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We should never think of abstinence as punishment. Eating too much food and the wrong kind of food was the real punishment.
Each day we plan three attractive meals consisting of foods, which we enjoy. We do not exaggerate our efforts to make the meals enjoyable, since we do not want to reactivate our former obsession with food. At the same time, we choose foods, which appeal to us and do not punish ourselves with boring, unappetizing menus.
The refined sugars and carbohydrates with which we rewarded ourselves in the past are no longer a reward but poison to our systems. Overeating any food punishes us through loss of both control and peace of mind. We maintain abstinence from compulsive overeating in order to take care of ourselves and feel good.
By Your grace, may I maintain abstinence.
-----
You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
...but time and chance happeneth to them all. --Ecclesiastes
Life, director of the comedy, always lets things get a little out of hand. We all know what would be normal and right, but the right horse sometimes finishes last in the race, and the jerk has all the money. The wise people, like us, are ignored by all, and the good woman gets in trouble with the law. The saint cheats on his income tax, but he never gets caught the way the needy ones like us do, and the worst sinners get saved in the nick of time, while the fittest sometimes just drop dead.
If all the best-laid plans go wrong, maybe we are meant to learn that such important things aren't so important, after all.
If the skies are custard pies waiting to plop down on our hopeful faces, maybe it is best to accept the gift, count it a blessing, and lick our chops.
How have my failures been successes in disguise?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Nothing worse could happen to one than to be completely understood. --Carl Jung
We so often long to be understood. We imagine it would cure our loneliness and empty feelings. We think of it as a kind of intimacy. Yet, we may be longing for a false goal. We are each a unique man on an incomplete journey. We don't yet fully understand ourselves. There is still much mystery beneath the surface of our being. If our partners or friends completely understood us, where would we go from there? We would no longer belong to ourselves.
Perhaps we are completely understood by our Higher Power but not by another person. It is a fact of life that we continue to grow and to reveal deeper layers of ourselves. We have relationships in which we can share the mysteries as they unfold. We can talk and be understood. In communication we find our closeness and intimacy.
Today, I will remember that at the deepest level no one can fully understand me. I will communicate with others to deal with my loneliness.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
When all of the remedies and all of the rhetorical armor have been dropped, the absence of love in our lives is what makes them seem raw and unfinished. --Ingrid Bengis
Love soothes, encourages, inspires. It enhances our wholeness, both when we give it and when we receive it. Without the expression of love we are severed from our family and friends. It's the bond that strengthens each of us, giving us the courage to tackle what's lying ahead.
We need not wait for someone else's expression of love before giving it. Loving must be unconditional. And when it is, it will be returned tenfold. Loving attracts itself, and it will heal us, soften the hard edges of our lives, and open us up to receive the blessings that others' gratitude will foster.
It's such a simple thing asked of us--to love one another. Unconditional love of our sisters, our lovers, and our children breaks down the barriers to our achievements and theirs. Loving frees us to enjoy life. It energizes us and makes all goals attainable. We carry God's message through our love of one another.
I am charged with only one responsibility today: to love someone, dearly and wholly.
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Self-Disclosure
Learning to gently reveal who we are is how we open ourselves up to love and intimacy in our relationships.
Many of us have hidden under a protective shell, a casing that prevents others from seeing or hurting us. We do not want to be that vulnerable. We do not want to expose our thoughts, feelings, fears, weaknesses, and sometimes our strengths, to others.
We do not want others to see who we really are.
We may be afraid they might judge us, go away, or not like us. We may be uncertain that who we are is okay or exactly how we should reveal ourselves to others.
Being vulnerable can be frightening, especially if we have lived with people who abused, mistreated, manipulated, or did not appreciate us.
Little by little, we learn to take the risk of revealing ourselves. We disclose the real person within to others. We pick safe people, and we begin to disclose bits and pieces about ourselves.
Sometimes, out of fear, we may withhold, thinking that will help the relationship or will help others like us more. That is an illusion. Withholding who we are does not help the other person, the relationship, or us. Withholding is behavior that backfires. For true intimacy and closeness to exist, for us to love ourselves and be content in a relationship, we need to disclose who we are.
That does not mean we tell all to everyone at once. That can be a self-defeating behavior too. We can learn to trust ourselves, about who to tell, when to tell, where to tell, and how much to tell.
To trust that people will love and like us if we are exactly who we are is frightening. But it is the only way we can achieve what we want in relationships. To let go of our need to control others - their opinions, their feelings about us, or the course of the relationship - is the key.
Gently, like a flower, we can learn to open up. Like a flower, we will do that when the sun shines and there is warmth.
Today, I will begin to take the risk of disclosing who I am to someone with whom I feel safe. I will let go of some of my protective devices and risk being vulnerable - even though I may have been taught differently, even though I may have taught myself differently. I will disclose who I am in a way that reflects self-responsibility, self-love, directness, and honesty. God, help me let go of my fears about disclosing who I am to people. Help me accept who I am, and help me let go of my need to be who people want me to be.
Today I'm willing to trust that no matter what is going on in my life, I am in the process of growth. --Ruth Fishel
God help me to stay sober and clean today!