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10-14-2008, 03:42 PM
Daily Reflections
MY CHECKLIST, NOT YOURS
Gossip barbed with our anger, a polite form of murder by character assassination, has its
satisfactions for us, too. Here we are not trying to help those we criticize; we are trying to
proclaim our own righteousness.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 67
Sometimes I don't realize that I gossiped about someone until the end of the day, when I
take an inventory of the day's activities, and then, my gossiping appears like a blemish in
my beautiful day. How could I have said something like that? Gossip shows its ugly head
during a coffee break or lunch with business associates, or I may gossip during the
evening, when I'm tired from the day's activities, and feel justified in bolstering my ego at
the expense of someone else. Character defects like gossip sneak into my life when I am
not making a constant effort to work the Twelve Steps of recovery. I need to remind
myself that my uniqueness is the blessing of my being, and that applies equally to
everyone who crosses my path in life's journey. Today the only inventory I need to take
is my own. I'll leave judgment of others to the Final Judge--Divine Providence.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Am I deeply grateful to A.A. for what it has done for me in regaining my sobriety and
opening up an entirely new life for me? A.A. has made it possible for me to take on other
interests, in business and in various other associations with people. It has made a full life
possible for me. It would perhaps be wrong if all my activities were limited to A.A. work.
It has made a well rounded life possible for me in work, in play and in hobbies of various
kinds. But will I desert A.A. because of this? Will I accept a diploma and become a
graduate of A.A.? Do I realize I could have nothing worth while without A.A.?
Meditation For The Day
There is only one way to get full satisfaction from life and that is to live the way you
believe God wants you to live. Live with God in that secret place of the spirit and you will
have a feeling of being on the right road. You will have a deep sense of satisfaction. The
world will have meaning and you will have a place in the world, work to do that counts in
the eternal order of things. Many things will work for you and with you, as long as you
feel you are on God's side.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may have a sense of the eternal value of the work I do. I pray that I may not
only work for now, but also for eternity.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Groping Toward God, p. 323
"More than most people, I think, alcoholics want to know who they
are, what this life is about, whether they have a divine origin and an
appointed destiny, and whether there is a system of cosmic justice and
love.
"It is the experience of many of us in the early stages of drinking to
feel that we have had glimpses of the Absolute and a heightened
feeling of identification with the cosmos. While these glimpses and
feelings doubtless have a validity, they are deformed and finally swept
away in the chemical, spiritual, and emotional damage wrought by the
alcohol itself.
"In A.A., and in many religious approaches, alcoholics find a great deal
more of what they merely glimpse and felt while trying to grope their
way toward God in alcohol."
Letter, 1960
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Reading about ourselves.
Gratitude
It's not only the experiences of our fellow AA members that can help us in recovery. We should also be able to see ourselves in stories about troubled people in the grip of alcoholism and anger.
Quite often, if we're truly honest, we can even see ourselves in tragic accounts of alcoholics who harmed others during drunken rages or blackouts. We might have stopped short of such behavior, but could this have happened to us? We might read of a drunken driving accident, for example, and realize that we narrowly escaped one or might have caused one had we not found sobriety.
Reading such accounts gives us deep pity and sympathy for al the people involved. These stories make us realize that alcoholism has many victims in addition to those who are afflicted with the same disease. And we should be grateful that sobriety enabled some of us to stay out of such news stores and not add to the world's problems.
Whatever happens today, I'll at least be grateful that sobriety can keep me from causing the out-of-control situations I read about in the daily newspapers.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Not to decide is to decide. ---Harvey Cox
We are winners, because everyday we decide to stay sober. Every day we decide to listen to our Higher Power. We win by making active choices. We’ve stopped acting as if we have no choice. Our old way was to us by accident. Not true. We pretend we had no power. Also not true. We lost our power over alcohol and other drugs, but we still had the power to ask for help. Each time we used chemicals was a decision, just as to stay sober each day is a decision.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thanks for giving me choices. I will not run from them. Help me make good choices. Help me decide every day to listen to you.
Action for the Day: Not for one minute will I pretend I am a victim. I’ll face my choices squarely and decide.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
The Doctor's Opinion
What is the solution? Perhaps I can best answer this by relating one of my experiences.
About one year prior to this experience a man was brought in to be treated for chronic alcoholism. He had but partially recovered from a gastric hemorrhage and seemed to be a case of pathological mental deterioration. He had lost everything worthwhile in life and was only living, one might say, to drink. He frankly admitted and believed that for him there was no hope. Following the elimination of alcohol, there was found to be no permanent brain injury. He accepted the plan outlined in this book. One year later he called to see me, and I experienced a very strange sensation. I knew the man by name, and partly recognized his features, but there all resemblance ended. From a trembling, despairing, nervous wreck, had emerged a man brimming over with self-reliance and contentment. I talked with him for some time, but was not able to bring myself to feel that I had known him before. To me he was a stranger, and so he left me. A long time has passed with no return to alcohol.
p. xxxi
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Seven - "Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."
When these facts were printed, there was a profound reaction. To people familiar with endless drives for charitable funds, A.A. presented a strange and refreshing spectacle. Approving editorials here and abroad generated a wave of confidence in the integrity of Alcoholics Anonymous. They pointed out that the irresponsible had become responsible, and that by making financial independence part of its tradition, Alcoholics Anonymous had revived an ideal that its era had almost forgotten.
p. 165
************************************************** *********
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
--Carl Jung
"Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and
imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and
growing."
--Jim Rohn
I may not be where I want to be, but Thank God I am not where I used to be.
--unknown
I am at peace today knowing that God is doing for me what I cannot do for myself.
--Ruth Fishel
God, let my hard times be healing times.
--Melody Beattie
Hatred toward any human being cannot exist in the same heart as love to God.
--Dean William Inge
Prayer is the one thing that can make a change in your life. If you will go direct to God in
simple, affirmative prayer, you can heal your body, bring peace and harmony into your
life, and make well-being a reality.
--Emmet Fox
Don't quit before the miracle happens.
--unknown
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
MAJORITY
"One man with courage is a
majority."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Alcoholism made me afraid of my shadow. I became so petrified with fear that I could
not enjoy my life. And I felt that I could do nothing. My disease told me I was helpless. I
existed in an atmosphere of doom and gloom.
Then I experienced a "moment" of sanity when I saw that I was the problem in my
life. My pain was being caused by my actions and attitudes. I took courage,
confronted the disease in my life and decided to take small steps towards recovery. I
have built my confidence on that "moment" of courage I took years ago. I am not an
island unto myself. I am not alone. God is with me in my life.
Teach me to have the courage to be what You have created. May I accept my
miracle.
************************************************** *********
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1
Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that
He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
It is very humbling to realize that often what burdens us the most would be very missed if it were taken away. Lord, I will take the time to appreciate my life.
Mistakes give us experience. Without them going forward is almost impossible. Lord, may I always look for the good and use it to make tomorrow better.
MY CHECKLIST, NOT YOURS
Gossip barbed with our anger, a polite form of murder by character assassination, has its
satisfactions for us, too. Here we are not trying to help those we criticize; we are trying to
proclaim our own righteousness.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 67
Sometimes I don't realize that I gossiped about someone until the end of the day, when I
take an inventory of the day's activities, and then, my gossiping appears like a blemish in
my beautiful day. How could I have said something like that? Gossip shows its ugly head
during a coffee break or lunch with business associates, or I may gossip during the
evening, when I'm tired from the day's activities, and feel justified in bolstering my ego at
the expense of someone else. Character defects like gossip sneak into my life when I am
not making a constant effort to work the Twelve Steps of recovery. I need to remind
myself that my uniqueness is the blessing of my being, and that applies equally to
everyone who crosses my path in life's journey. Today the only inventory I need to take
is my own. I'll leave judgment of others to the Final Judge--Divine Providence.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Am I deeply grateful to A.A. for what it has done for me in regaining my sobriety and
opening up an entirely new life for me? A.A. has made it possible for me to take on other
interests, in business and in various other associations with people. It has made a full life
possible for me. It would perhaps be wrong if all my activities were limited to A.A. work.
It has made a well rounded life possible for me in work, in play and in hobbies of various
kinds. But will I desert A.A. because of this? Will I accept a diploma and become a
graduate of A.A.? Do I realize I could have nothing worth while without A.A.?
Meditation For The Day
There is only one way to get full satisfaction from life and that is to live the way you
believe God wants you to live. Live with God in that secret place of the spirit and you will
have a feeling of being on the right road. You will have a deep sense of satisfaction. The
world will have meaning and you will have a place in the world, work to do that counts in
the eternal order of things. Many things will work for you and with you, as long as you
feel you are on God's side.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may have a sense of the eternal value of the work I do. I pray that I may not
only work for now, but also for eternity.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Groping Toward God, p. 323
"More than most people, I think, alcoholics want to know who they
are, what this life is about, whether they have a divine origin and an
appointed destiny, and whether there is a system of cosmic justice and
love.
"It is the experience of many of us in the early stages of drinking to
feel that we have had glimpses of the Absolute and a heightened
feeling of identification with the cosmos. While these glimpses and
feelings doubtless have a validity, they are deformed and finally swept
away in the chemical, spiritual, and emotional damage wrought by the
alcohol itself.
"In A.A., and in many religious approaches, alcoholics find a great deal
more of what they merely glimpse and felt while trying to grope their
way toward God in alcohol."
Letter, 1960
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Reading about ourselves.
Gratitude
It's not only the experiences of our fellow AA members that can help us in recovery. We should also be able to see ourselves in stories about troubled people in the grip of alcoholism and anger.
Quite often, if we're truly honest, we can even see ourselves in tragic accounts of alcoholics who harmed others during drunken rages or blackouts. We might have stopped short of such behavior, but could this have happened to us? We might read of a drunken driving accident, for example, and realize that we narrowly escaped one or might have caused one had we not found sobriety.
Reading such accounts gives us deep pity and sympathy for al the people involved. These stories make us realize that alcoholism has many victims in addition to those who are afflicted with the same disease. And we should be grateful that sobriety enabled some of us to stay out of such news stores and not add to the world's problems.
Whatever happens today, I'll at least be grateful that sobriety can keep me from causing the out-of-control situations I read about in the daily newspapers.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Not to decide is to decide. ---Harvey Cox
We are winners, because everyday we decide to stay sober. Every day we decide to listen to our Higher Power. We win by making active choices. We’ve stopped acting as if we have no choice. Our old way was to us by accident. Not true. We pretend we had no power. Also not true. We lost our power over alcohol and other drugs, but we still had the power to ask for help. Each time we used chemicals was a decision, just as to stay sober each day is a decision.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thanks for giving me choices. I will not run from them. Help me make good choices. Help me decide every day to listen to you.
Action for the Day: Not for one minute will I pretend I am a victim. I’ll face my choices squarely and decide.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
The Doctor's Opinion
What is the solution? Perhaps I can best answer this by relating one of my experiences.
About one year prior to this experience a man was brought in to be treated for chronic alcoholism. He had but partially recovered from a gastric hemorrhage and seemed to be a case of pathological mental deterioration. He had lost everything worthwhile in life and was only living, one might say, to drink. He frankly admitted and believed that for him there was no hope. Following the elimination of alcohol, there was found to be no permanent brain injury. He accepted the plan outlined in this book. One year later he called to see me, and I experienced a very strange sensation. I knew the man by name, and partly recognized his features, but there all resemblance ended. From a trembling, despairing, nervous wreck, had emerged a man brimming over with self-reliance and contentment. I talked with him for some time, but was not able to bring myself to feel that I had known him before. To me he was a stranger, and so he left me. A long time has passed with no return to alcohol.
p. xxxi
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Seven - "Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."
When these facts were printed, there was a profound reaction. To people familiar with endless drives for charitable funds, A.A. presented a strange and refreshing spectacle. Approving editorials here and abroad generated a wave of confidence in the integrity of Alcoholics Anonymous. They pointed out that the irresponsible had become responsible, and that by making financial independence part of its tradition, Alcoholics Anonymous had revived an ideal that its era had almost forgotten.
p. 165
************************************************** *********
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
--Carl Jung
"Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and
imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and
growing."
--Jim Rohn
I may not be where I want to be, but Thank God I am not where I used to be.
--unknown
I am at peace today knowing that God is doing for me what I cannot do for myself.
--Ruth Fishel
God, let my hard times be healing times.
--Melody Beattie
Hatred toward any human being cannot exist in the same heart as love to God.
--Dean William Inge
Prayer is the one thing that can make a change in your life. If you will go direct to God in
simple, affirmative prayer, you can heal your body, bring peace and harmony into your
life, and make well-being a reality.
--Emmet Fox
Don't quit before the miracle happens.
--unknown
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
MAJORITY
"One man with courage is a
majority."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Alcoholism made me afraid of my shadow. I became so petrified with fear that I could
not enjoy my life. And I felt that I could do nothing. My disease told me I was helpless. I
existed in an atmosphere of doom and gloom.
Then I experienced a "moment" of sanity when I saw that I was the problem in my
life. My pain was being caused by my actions and attitudes. I took courage,
confronted the disease in my life and decided to take small steps towards recovery. I
have built my confidence on that "moment" of courage I took years ago. I am not an
island unto myself. I am not alone. God is with me in my life.
Teach me to have the courage to be what You have created. May I accept my
miracle.
************************************************** *********
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1
Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that
He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
It is very humbling to realize that often what burdens us the most would be very missed if it were taken away. Lord, I will take the time to appreciate my life.
Mistakes give us experience. Without them going forward is almost impossible. Lord, may I always look for the good and use it to make tomorrow better.