admin
10-12-2008, 09:35 PM
Wisdom for Today
When I look back at my life when I was actively drinking and using drugs, I really have to wonder what I really wanted. What was it about my slavery to addiction that kept me coming back? It certainly wasn't the hospitals, or jail or the pain. I wonder sometimes why I even wanted that life at all. But when you are a slave, you do what your master commands. I turned my will and my life over to the care of alcohol and drugs. It was pure insanity. As a slave to addiction I had no power; I simply did what I had to do - get wasted. There was no other choice; at least I didn't think so.
Then one day I walked into a meeting. I expected to find more slaves who had been beaten by the disease. But to my surprise what I found were people just like me who had come to know freedom. They were free of the chains of addiction. It no longer had a hold on them. I couldn't understand how this could be. I kept going to meetings and seeing these people. Their freedom continued. I wanted to be free of the bondage as well. Finally in a moment of courageous fear, I asked, "How did you get free?" The answer was a real surprise: "I am only free for one day - one day at a time." Today I understand this answer, and each and every day I have to remember if I want to keep my freedom, I must be responsible for my recovery. Am I willing to be responsible for my freedom one day at a time?
Meditations for the Heart
My spiritual life must be centered on God. I must remain conscious of my desire to gain a closer relationship with my Higher Power and seek His will. I need to realize that this is my responsibility. Today I believe that God has always been there for me. He is always by my side. Yet even when He is so close, I can shut my eyes and not know He is there. I have to work at improving my conscious contact with God. It is a part of what recovery is about. Recovery does not simply happen; it must be worked for. In the program you hear the slogan, "It works if you work it." Am I being responsible and working my program?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
Today I must be responsible for my recovery. I am glad that I only need to do this one day at a time. What I am most grateful for is knowing that I do not have to do this alone. I have You by my side, and I have many people in the program who will help me. Let me remember that it was You who loosed the bonds of addiction from me. Help me each day that I walk this path.
Amen.
-----
NA Just For Today
October 13
Making A Difference
"Words cannot describe the sense of spiritual awareness that we receive when we have given something, no matter how small, to another person."
Basic Text p. 100
Sometimes it seems as though there is so much wrong with the world that we might as well forget trying to make a difference. "After all," we think, "what in the world can I do? I'm just one person." Whether our concerns are so broad that we desire global peace or so personal that we simply want recovery made available to every addict who wants it, the task seems overwhelming. "So much work to do, so little time," we sigh, sometimes wondering how we'll ever do any good.
Amazingly enough, the smallest contributions can make the biggest difference. To gain more from life than an ordinary, plodding existence requires very little effort on our parts. We ourselves are transformed by the deep satisfaction we experience when we lift the spirits of just one person. When we smile at someone who is frowning, when we let someone in front of us on the freeway, when we call a newcomer just to say we care, we enter the realm of the extraordinary.
Want to change the world? Start with the addict sitting next to you tonight, and then imagine your act of kindness multiplied. One person at a time, each one of us makes a difference.
Just for today: An act of kindness costs me nothing, but is priceless to the recipient. I will be kind to someone today.
-----
October 13 - Daily Feast
Luther, a Tsa la gi, explained his creative God by saying, "God take Himself and make the fish, God take Himself and make the tsi s du [rabbit]; He take Himself and make the wa ya [wolf]; He take Himself and make the squirrel, and He take Himself and make me. These things my brothers." But, Luther, what do you do when you want to go squirrel hunting? Merriment danced in his black eyes and he added, "I just say, Squirrel-Brother, God made you for me!"
~ I traveled thousands of miles along our winding trails, through unbroken solitude's of the wild forest, listening to the songs of the woodland birds. ~
POKOGON - POTAWTOMI CHIEF, 1833
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
Elder's Meditation of the Day - October 13
"So unbelievable things like that happen. But you have to believe it first. Not wait until you see it first, then touch it, then believe it... You have to say it from the heart."
--Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
The power of our belief system is incredible. The power of faith is a very natural power. How do we have faith? Inside of our minds we form a mental picture with our self talk. Self talk is recorded in our minds in three dimensions - words that trigger a picture, which has a feeling or an emotion attached to it. Once we get the words and the picture, it is the emotion that makes the idea turn into a belief. You get the right emotion by saying things from the heart. The heart is the source of emotions which can cause unbelievable things to happen.
Great Spirit, with You everything is possible.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
'THINK on THESE THINGS'
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Everyone must have a way of life. The home, the position, the social level, the health of the body and of the emotions are all a part of daily living. But beyond that there must be a reason, a way of life. We must believe in something, live by something, and have a shelter within ourselves where there are no pretenses.
Life cannot be one carefree round of living on the surface. It is a thing of depth and width and height, and full of avenues never investigated. Like the body, it is made up of many parts. Beneath the skin there must beat a heart, a network of nerves, the strength of muscles, and much we cannot begin to explain.
As the body depends upon the heart we must have in our lives something to depend upon, something with which to identify ourselves. There must be a central point, a hitching post to keep all of life running smoothly.
We need something to help us retreat as well as to go forward. We must have something to live by, as well as something for which we would willing die. We need divine wisdom to see, and the strength to break away, those almost invisible fingers of possessiveness that grip our lives.
We do not simply live, we live because. We live because of others, because of beautiful things and times and places. We live because God gave us life, to be happy in, and to find a special way.
-----
Daily Relationship Reading
If my SO and I have had a breakup, we both may be finding it hard at times to rebuild our relationship. Not only are we still trying to deal with struggles that led to the separation, but chances are the breakup itself added extra pain and fear to both of our shoulders. How do we give ourselves the best chance to make things work again?
Instead of looking at our past "mistakes" as weights that pull us down, it might be helpful to look at them as valuable experience that we won’t have to repeat - if we give ourselves the time we need to fully absorb the lessons we’ve learned from them.
For example, maybe we thought breaking up would ease our unhappiness and confusion, but instead found we felt no better apart than we did together. Could it be that experience has shown us that leaving simply exchanges one set of problems for another?
Thomas Edison used to say that he needed to discover the many ways lightbulbs wouldn’t work, in order to discover one of the ways it could. Maybe that approach could work for us too!
Just for Today
Today, I’ll take some time with my SO, and write down some of the things we’ve learned about relationships so far. Maybe we’re a lot further ahead than we realized in our understanding. If we’ve swum halfway across a lake already, does it really make much sense to turn back - even if the rest of the swim seems almost impossible?
Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. - Aldous Huxley
-----
You are reading from the book Food for Thought.
Rigorous Honesty
As we work the OA program, we find that we cannot be rigorously honest about what we are eating unless we are rigorously honest about our other actions as well. Once our Higher Power takes charge of our lives, a general housecleaning occurs. Gradually, we see that the attitudes and activities, which undermine our integrity, have to go.
The housecleaning process can be painful. It involves facing aspects of ourselves, which we would prefer to remain hidden - our dependency, pride, selfishness, avarice. Sex and money are often areas where our attitudes and practices need revision. What we are doing is shifting from an ego-centered to a God-centered orientation, and the shift is not always smooth.
Rigorous honesty shows up harmful relationships for what they are. It illumines our motives, which are not always the best. The love and care of our Higher Power support us as our weaknesses are exposed. Through His healing power, we are strengthened and made whole.
Grant me the ability to practice rigorous honesty in all areas of my life.
-----
You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
...(the king) can deprive them of the benefit of sun and rain, . . . and they are at the same time pelted from above with great stones, . . . while the roofs of their houses are beaten to pieces. --Jonathan Swift
How do we punish those momentarily gone wrong? Do we try hurting with words--jab them in the heart with some spear-shaped phrases, slap them in the face with an insult or two? Maybe we like to poison them with a strong dose of silence. Have we tried to make them feel bad by making them feel sorry for us? Do we remind them daily that what went wrong with our lives is really all their fault?
We must remember that we are the rulers of our own lives only, and this knowledge gives us the power to punish only ourselves. It also gives us control over our lives, so that others' actions need not wrong us, and we need not punish.
Have I been punishing someone?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
I can sing a prayer as well as say it. --Baal Shem Tov
Lightness of spirit, song, and liberation are the products of a hearty spirituality. There is never a moment we don't have reason to fret or mourn. If we need to grieve, our recovery helps and supports us. But more than that, we are freed in this new life to be men of song and humor. We can sing although life is painful, because we are part of a group of recovering people. We're part of an unfolding mystery. We have love and it is beautiful.
Each time we let go of a secret or an old guilt or a worry about the future, our spirit is lightened. Maybe we experience this at its fullest while spending time with friends who take us just as we are. Perhaps we find it by seeing a funny movie or singing with a group. In the wisdom of the Steps, we are asked to do difficult and painful tasks, which lead to our spiritual awakening. A light spirit celebrates the outcome of our hard work.
I will remember that my laughter and song are also ways of praying.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Never turn down a job because you think it's too small; you don't know where it can lead. --Julia Morgan
How short is our vision of where an invitation might take us! Any invitation. Of one thing we can be certain, it offers an opportunity for making a choice, which means taking responsibility for who we're becoming. Choice making is growth enhancing because it strengthens our awareness of personal power.
Our lives unfold in small measures, just as small as they need to be for our personal comfort. It's doubtful that we could handle everything the future has in store, today; however, we will be prepared for it, measure by measure, choice by choice, day by day. We need not fear; what is meted out to us in the invitations offered is for our benefit. We are on a pathway to goodness.
The thrill of making choices is new to many of us when we enter this program. We'd opted for the passive life, all too often, and we became increasingly aware of, and often depressed by, our self-imposed powerlessness. Free at last! We are free at last to fully participate in our lives.
I will be grateful for the many options to act tugging at me today. Every choice I make strengthens my womanhood.
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Substance over Form
I'm learning that for a variety of reasons, I've spent much of my life focusing on form rather than substance. My focus has been on having my hair done perfectly, wearing the right clothes, having my makeup applied perfectly, living in the right place, furnishing it with the right furniture, working at the right job, and having the right man. Form, rather than substance, has controlled my behavior in many areas of my life. Now, I'm finally getting to the truth. It's substance that counts. --Anonymous
There is nothing wrong in wanting to look our best. Whether we are striving to create a self, a relationship, or a life, we need to have some solid ideas about what we want that to look like.
Form gives us a place to begin. But for many of us, form has been a substitute for substance. We may have focused on form to compensate for feeling afraid or feeling inferior. We may have focused on form because we didn't know how to focus on substance.
Form is the outline; substance is what fills it in. We fill in the outline of ourselves by being authentic; we fill in the outline of our life by showing up for life and participating to the best of our ability.
Now, in recovery, we're learning to pay attention to how things work and feel, not just to what they look like.
Today, I will focus on substance in my life. I will fill in the lines of myself with a real person - me. I will concentrate on the substance of my relationships, rather than what they look like. I will focus on the real working of my life, instead of the trappings.
I am at peace today knowing that God is doing for me what I cannot do for myself. --Ruth Fishel
God help me to stay sober and clean today!
When I look back at my life when I was actively drinking and using drugs, I really have to wonder what I really wanted. What was it about my slavery to addiction that kept me coming back? It certainly wasn't the hospitals, or jail or the pain. I wonder sometimes why I even wanted that life at all. But when you are a slave, you do what your master commands. I turned my will and my life over to the care of alcohol and drugs. It was pure insanity. As a slave to addiction I had no power; I simply did what I had to do - get wasted. There was no other choice; at least I didn't think so.
Then one day I walked into a meeting. I expected to find more slaves who had been beaten by the disease. But to my surprise what I found were people just like me who had come to know freedom. They were free of the chains of addiction. It no longer had a hold on them. I couldn't understand how this could be. I kept going to meetings and seeing these people. Their freedom continued. I wanted to be free of the bondage as well. Finally in a moment of courageous fear, I asked, "How did you get free?" The answer was a real surprise: "I am only free for one day - one day at a time." Today I understand this answer, and each and every day I have to remember if I want to keep my freedom, I must be responsible for my recovery. Am I willing to be responsible for my freedom one day at a time?
Meditations for the Heart
My spiritual life must be centered on God. I must remain conscious of my desire to gain a closer relationship with my Higher Power and seek His will. I need to realize that this is my responsibility. Today I believe that God has always been there for me. He is always by my side. Yet even when He is so close, I can shut my eyes and not know He is there. I have to work at improving my conscious contact with God. It is a part of what recovery is about. Recovery does not simply happen; it must be worked for. In the program you hear the slogan, "It works if you work it." Am I being responsible and working my program?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
Today I must be responsible for my recovery. I am glad that I only need to do this one day at a time. What I am most grateful for is knowing that I do not have to do this alone. I have You by my side, and I have many people in the program who will help me. Let me remember that it was You who loosed the bonds of addiction from me. Help me each day that I walk this path.
Amen.
-----
NA Just For Today
October 13
Making A Difference
"Words cannot describe the sense of spiritual awareness that we receive when we have given something, no matter how small, to another person."
Basic Text p. 100
Sometimes it seems as though there is so much wrong with the world that we might as well forget trying to make a difference. "After all," we think, "what in the world can I do? I'm just one person." Whether our concerns are so broad that we desire global peace or so personal that we simply want recovery made available to every addict who wants it, the task seems overwhelming. "So much work to do, so little time," we sigh, sometimes wondering how we'll ever do any good.
Amazingly enough, the smallest contributions can make the biggest difference. To gain more from life than an ordinary, plodding existence requires very little effort on our parts. We ourselves are transformed by the deep satisfaction we experience when we lift the spirits of just one person. When we smile at someone who is frowning, when we let someone in front of us on the freeway, when we call a newcomer just to say we care, we enter the realm of the extraordinary.
Want to change the world? Start with the addict sitting next to you tonight, and then imagine your act of kindness multiplied. One person at a time, each one of us makes a difference.
Just for today: An act of kindness costs me nothing, but is priceless to the recipient. I will be kind to someone today.
-----
October 13 - Daily Feast
Luther, a Tsa la gi, explained his creative God by saying, "God take Himself and make the fish, God take Himself and make the tsi s du [rabbit]; He take Himself and make the wa ya [wolf]; He take Himself and make the squirrel, and He take Himself and make me. These things my brothers." But, Luther, what do you do when you want to go squirrel hunting? Merriment danced in his black eyes and he added, "I just say, Squirrel-Brother, God made you for me!"
~ I traveled thousands of miles along our winding trails, through unbroken solitude's of the wild forest, listening to the songs of the woodland birds. ~
POKOGON - POTAWTOMI CHIEF, 1833
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
Elder's Meditation of the Day - October 13
"So unbelievable things like that happen. But you have to believe it first. Not wait until you see it first, then touch it, then believe it... You have to say it from the heart."
--Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
The power of our belief system is incredible. The power of faith is a very natural power. How do we have faith? Inside of our minds we form a mental picture with our self talk. Self talk is recorded in our minds in three dimensions - words that trigger a picture, which has a feeling or an emotion attached to it. Once we get the words and the picture, it is the emotion that makes the idea turn into a belief. You get the right emotion by saying things from the heart. The heart is the source of emotions which can cause unbelievable things to happen.
Great Spirit, with You everything is possible.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
'THINK on THESE THINGS'
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Everyone must have a way of life. The home, the position, the social level, the health of the body and of the emotions are all a part of daily living. But beyond that there must be a reason, a way of life. We must believe in something, live by something, and have a shelter within ourselves where there are no pretenses.
Life cannot be one carefree round of living on the surface. It is a thing of depth and width and height, and full of avenues never investigated. Like the body, it is made up of many parts. Beneath the skin there must beat a heart, a network of nerves, the strength of muscles, and much we cannot begin to explain.
As the body depends upon the heart we must have in our lives something to depend upon, something with which to identify ourselves. There must be a central point, a hitching post to keep all of life running smoothly.
We need something to help us retreat as well as to go forward. We must have something to live by, as well as something for which we would willing die. We need divine wisdom to see, and the strength to break away, those almost invisible fingers of possessiveness that grip our lives.
We do not simply live, we live because. We live because of others, because of beautiful things and times and places. We live because God gave us life, to be happy in, and to find a special way.
-----
Daily Relationship Reading
If my SO and I have had a breakup, we both may be finding it hard at times to rebuild our relationship. Not only are we still trying to deal with struggles that led to the separation, but chances are the breakup itself added extra pain and fear to both of our shoulders. How do we give ourselves the best chance to make things work again?
Instead of looking at our past "mistakes" as weights that pull us down, it might be helpful to look at them as valuable experience that we won’t have to repeat - if we give ourselves the time we need to fully absorb the lessons we’ve learned from them.
For example, maybe we thought breaking up would ease our unhappiness and confusion, but instead found we felt no better apart than we did together. Could it be that experience has shown us that leaving simply exchanges one set of problems for another?
Thomas Edison used to say that he needed to discover the many ways lightbulbs wouldn’t work, in order to discover one of the ways it could. Maybe that approach could work for us too!
Just for Today
Today, I’ll take some time with my SO, and write down some of the things we’ve learned about relationships so far. Maybe we’re a lot further ahead than we realized in our understanding. If we’ve swum halfway across a lake already, does it really make much sense to turn back - even if the rest of the swim seems almost impossible?
Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. - Aldous Huxley
-----
You are reading from the book Food for Thought.
Rigorous Honesty
As we work the OA program, we find that we cannot be rigorously honest about what we are eating unless we are rigorously honest about our other actions as well. Once our Higher Power takes charge of our lives, a general housecleaning occurs. Gradually, we see that the attitudes and activities, which undermine our integrity, have to go.
The housecleaning process can be painful. It involves facing aspects of ourselves, which we would prefer to remain hidden - our dependency, pride, selfishness, avarice. Sex and money are often areas where our attitudes and practices need revision. What we are doing is shifting from an ego-centered to a God-centered orientation, and the shift is not always smooth.
Rigorous honesty shows up harmful relationships for what they are. It illumines our motives, which are not always the best. The love and care of our Higher Power support us as our weaknesses are exposed. Through His healing power, we are strengthened and made whole.
Grant me the ability to practice rigorous honesty in all areas of my life.
-----
You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
...(the king) can deprive them of the benefit of sun and rain, . . . and they are at the same time pelted from above with great stones, . . . while the roofs of their houses are beaten to pieces. --Jonathan Swift
How do we punish those momentarily gone wrong? Do we try hurting with words--jab them in the heart with some spear-shaped phrases, slap them in the face with an insult or two? Maybe we like to poison them with a strong dose of silence. Have we tried to make them feel bad by making them feel sorry for us? Do we remind them daily that what went wrong with our lives is really all their fault?
We must remember that we are the rulers of our own lives only, and this knowledge gives us the power to punish only ourselves. It also gives us control over our lives, so that others' actions need not wrong us, and we need not punish.
Have I been punishing someone?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
I can sing a prayer as well as say it. --Baal Shem Tov
Lightness of spirit, song, and liberation are the products of a hearty spirituality. There is never a moment we don't have reason to fret or mourn. If we need to grieve, our recovery helps and supports us. But more than that, we are freed in this new life to be men of song and humor. We can sing although life is painful, because we are part of a group of recovering people. We're part of an unfolding mystery. We have love and it is beautiful.
Each time we let go of a secret or an old guilt or a worry about the future, our spirit is lightened. Maybe we experience this at its fullest while spending time with friends who take us just as we are. Perhaps we find it by seeing a funny movie or singing with a group. In the wisdom of the Steps, we are asked to do difficult and painful tasks, which lead to our spiritual awakening. A light spirit celebrates the outcome of our hard work.
I will remember that my laughter and song are also ways of praying.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Never turn down a job because you think it's too small; you don't know where it can lead. --Julia Morgan
How short is our vision of where an invitation might take us! Any invitation. Of one thing we can be certain, it offers an opportunity for making a choice, which means taking responsibility for who we're becoming. Choice making is growth enhancing because it strengthens our awareness of personal power.
Our lives unfold in small measures, just as small as they need to be for our personal comfort. It's doubtful that we could handle everything the future has in store, today; however, we will be prepared for it, measure by measure, choice by choice, day by day. We need not fear; what is meted out to us in the invitations offered is for our benefit. We are on a pathway to goodness.
The thrill of making choices is new to many of us when we enter this program. We'd opted for the passive life, all too often, and we became increasingly aware of, and often depressed by, our self-imposed powerlessness. Free at last! We are free at last to fully participate in our lives.
I will be grateful for the many options to act tugging at me today. Every choice I make strengthens my womanhood.
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Substance over Form
I'm learning that for a variety of reasons, I've spent much of my life focusing on form rather than substance. My focus has been on having my hair done perfectly, wearing the right clothes, having my makeup applied perfectly, living in the right place, furnishing it with the right furniture, working at the right job, and having the right man. Form, rather than substance, has controlled my behavior in many areas of my life. Now, I'm finally getting to the truth. It's substance that counts. --Anonymous
There is nothing wrong in wanting to look our best. Whether we are striving to create a self, a relationship, or a life, we need to have some solid ideas about what we want that to look like.
Form gives us a place to begin. But for many of us, form has been a substitute for substance. We may have focused on form to compensate for feeling afraid or feeling inferior. We may have focused on form because we didn't know how to focus on substance.
Form is the outline; substance is what fills it in. We fill in the outline of ourselves by being authentic; we fill in the outline of our life by showing up for life and participating to the best of our ability.
Now, in recovery, we're learning to pay attention to how things work and feel, not just to what they look like.
Today, I will focus on substance in my life. I will fill in the lines of myself with a real person - me. I will concentrate on the substance of my relationships, rather than what they look like. I will focus on the real working of my life, instead of the trappings.
I am at peace today knowing that God is doing for me what I cannot do for myself. --Ruth Fishel
God help me to stay sober and clean today!