DAILY PONDERABLES - Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny - Daily Reflections "NO ORDINARY SUCCESS STORY" Wednesday, 26 February 2014

DAILY PONDERABLES - Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny - Daily Reflections "NO ORDINARY SUCCESS STORY" Wednesday, 26 February 2014
A.A. is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress. --AS BILL SEES IT, page 35
Upon entering A.A. I listened to others talk about the reality of their drinking: loneliness, terror and pain. As I listened further, I soon heard a description of a very different kind— -- the reality of sobriety. It is a reality of freedom and happiness, of purpose and direction, and of serenity and peace with God, ourselves and others. By attending meetings I am reintroduced to that reality, over and over. I see it in the eyes and hear it in the voices of those around me. By working the program I find the direction and strength with which to make it mine. The joy of A.A. is that this new reality is available to me. --From the book Daily Reflections © Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
When we came into A.A., we came to believe in a Power greater than ourselves. We came to believe in that Divine Principle in the universe which we call God, and to whom we can turn for help. Each morning we have a quiet time. We ask God for the power to stay sober for the next twenty-four hours. And each night we thank Him for helping us to keep sober that day. Do I believe that each man or woman I see in A.A. is a demonstration of the power of God to change a human being from a drunkard to a sober person?
Meditation for the Day
I should pray for faith as a thirsty person prays for water in a desert. Do I know what it means to feel sure that God will never fail me? Am I sure of this as I am sure that I still breathe? I should pray daily and most diligently that my faith may increase. There is nothing lacking in my life because, really, all I need is mine, only I lack the faith to know it. I am like a rich person's child who sits in rags when all around me are stores of all I could desire.
Prayer for the Day
I pray for the realization that God has everything I need. I pray that I may know that His power is always available.--From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day © Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Remorse--Page 58
"The Eighth Step offers a big change from a life dominated by guilt and remorse."--Basic Text, page 39
Remorse was one of the feelings that kept us using. We had stumbled our way through active addiction, leaving a trail of heartbreak and devastation too painful to consider. Our remorse was often intensified by our perception that we couldn't do anything about the damage we had caused; there was no way to make it right. 
We remove some of the power of remorse when we face it squarely. We begin the Eighth Step by actually making a list of all the people we have harmed. We own our part in our painful past. 
But the Eighth Step does not ask us to make right all of our mistakes, merely to become willing to make amends to all those people. As we become willing to clean up the damage we've caused, we acknowledge our readiness to change. We affirm the healing process of recovery. 
Remorse is no longer an instrument we use to torture ourselves. Remorse has become a tool we can use to achieve self-forgiveness.
Just for Today: I will use any feelings of remorse I may have as a stepping-stone to healing through the Twelve Steps.--From the book Just for Today © Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
"AA is not my whole life, but AA makes my life whole" Preacher Bob (may he rest in peace, his presence is still alive at Serenity Improvement Group)
Ten Rules for Being Human
1. You will receive a body.
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.
2. You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "life." Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant or stupid.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of experimentation - trial and error. The so-called "failed experiments" are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work".
4. A Lesson is repeated until learned.
It will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. 
When you have learned it you can then go on to the next lesson. If you do not learn easy lessons, they become harder. You will know you have learned a lesson when your actions change.
5. Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. Every person, every incident is the universal teacher. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
6. "There" is no better than "here."
Nothing leads to happiness. When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that again will look better than "here."
7. Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate in yourself.
8. What you create of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources your need; what you do with them is up to you.
9. All your answers lie inside you.
All you need to do is look, listen and trust.
10. You will forget all of this.--Cherie Carter-Scott, PhDO.
If Life is a Game, These are the Rules
The Simple Approach to the 12 Steps!
1. There's a power that will kill me.
2. There's a power that wants me to live.
3. Which do I want? (If you want to die, stop here. If you want to live, go on.)
4. Using examples from your own life, understand that selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear control your actions.
5. Tell all your private, embarrassing secrets to another person.
6. Decide whether or not you want to live that way any more.
7. If you want your life to change, ask a power greater than yourself to change it for you. (If you could have changed it yourself, you would have long ago.)
8. Figure out how to make right all the things you did wrong.
9. Fix what you can without causing more trouble in the process.
10. Understand that making mistakes is part of being human (When you make a mistake, fix it, immediately if you can.)
11. Ask for help to treat yourself and others the way you want your higher power to treat you.
12. Don't stop doing 1 through 11, and Pass It On!!--Author Unknown
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.--Buddha
Native American
"The Great Spirit is the one that's looking after us."--Jimmy Jackson, OJIBWAY
The only place our minds can find peace is when our focus is on the Creator. Daily we need to ask the Creator to direct our thinking. When we look at our brothers and sisters, we need to see the Creator in them. When we look at the trees, plants and the animals, we need to realize the Creator is within us. Our attention needs to be on the Creator. When we work, we do it for the Creator. When we are troubled, we need to pray to the Creator. When we are happy and joyful, we need to realize we are feeling the presence of the Creator. Thinking God thoughts will produce peace.
Oh Great Mystery, let me focus on You today.
Keep It Simple
Forewarned. forearmed: being prepared is half the victory.--Miguel de Cervantes
There will be hard times in our program. There will be hard times in our lives. That's the way the life is. It helps if we accept this. Then we can prepare for tough times. We can prepare by getting a good set of habits and sticking to them. We can make it a habit to give time to our program each day. Sticking to good habits is like having a savings account: when hard times come, we can take the "investment" we've made and overcome our problems.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me accept that there will be hard times. Help me prepare for them. With Your help, I'll stay close to You, my friends, and the program.
Action for the Day: I'll put something into my program "savings account" today. I'll make that extra call. I'll read a little longer or go to an extra meeting.
Big Book
"Frothy emotional appeal seldom suffices. The message which can
interest and hold these alcoholic people must have depth and weight.
In nearly all cases, their ideals must be grounded in a power greater than themselves, if they are to re-create their lives."--Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Doctor's Opinion, page xxviii
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Tradition Five Grapevine --- September 1952
The fifth of a new series of articles explaining The Twelve Traditions. . . - Each group has but one primary purpose. . .to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. (by Bill W.)
"SHOEMAKER, stick to thy last". . .better do one thing supremely well than many badly. That is the central theme of this tradition. Around it our society gathers in unity. The very life of our fellowship requires the preservation of this principle.
Alcoholics Anonymous can be likened to a group of physicians who might find a cure for cancer, and upon whose concerted work would depend the answer for sufferers of this disease. True, each physician in such a group might have his own specialty. Every doctor concerned would at times wish he could devote himself to his chosen field rather than work only with the group. But once these men had hit upon a cure, once it became apparent that only by their united effort could this be accomplished, then all of them would feel bound to devote themselves solely to the relief of cancer. In the radiance of such a miraculous discovery, any doctor would set his other ambitions aside, at whatever personal cost.
Just as firmly bound by obligation are the members of Alcoholics Anonymous, who have demonstrated that they can help problem drinkers as others seldom can. The unique ability of each AA to identify himself with and bring recovery to the newcomer in no way depends upon his learning, eloquence, or on any special individual skills. The only thing that matters is that he is an alcoholic who has found a key to sobriety. These legacies of suffering and of recovery are easily passed among alcoholics, one to the other. This is our gift from God, and its bestowal upon others like us is the one aim that today animates AAs all around the globe.
There is another reason for this singleness of purpose. We know that we can seldom keep the precious gift of sobriety unless we give it away. If a group of doctors possessed a cancer cure they might be conscience-stricken if they failed their mission through self-seeking. Yet such a failure wouldn't jeopardize their personal survival. For us, if we neglect those who are still sick, there is unremitting danger to our own lives and sanity. Under these compulsions of self-preservation, duty, and love, it is not strange that our society has concluded that it has but one high mission. . .to carry the AA message to those who don't know there's a way out.
Highlighting the wisdom of AA's single purpose, a member tells this story:
"Restless one day, I felt I'd better do some Twelfth Step work. Maybe I should take out some insurance against a slip. But first I'd have to find a drunk to work on.
"So I hopped the subway to Town's Hospital where I asked Dr. Silkworth if he had a prospect. "Nothing too promising,' the little doc said, 'There's just one chap on the third floor who might be a possibility. But he's an awfully tough Irishman. I never saw a man so obstinate. He shouts that if his partner would treat him better, and his wife would leave him alone, he'd soon solve his alcohol problem. He's had a bad case of d.t.'s, he's pretty foggy, and he's very suspicious of everybody. Doesn't sound too good, does it? But working with him may do something for you, so why don't you have a go at it?'
"I was soon sitting beside a big hulk of a man. Decidedly unfriendly, he stared at me out of eyes which were slits in his red and swollen face. I had to agree with the doctor. . .he certainly didn't look good. But I told him my own story, I explained what a wonderful fellowship we had, how well we understood each other. I bore down hard on the hopelessness of the drunk's dilemma. I insisted that few drunks could ever get well on their own steam, but that in our groups we could do together what we could not do separately. He interrupted to scoff at this and asserted he'd fix his wife, his partner, and his alcoholism by himself. Sarcastically he asked, 'How much does your scheme cost?' I was thankful I could tell him 'Nothing at all.' His next question: 'What are you getting out of it?' Of course my answer was, 'My own sobriety and a mighty happy life. Still dubious, he demanded, 'Do you really mean the only reason you are here is to try and help me and to help yourself?' 'Yes,' I said, 'That's absolutely all there is to it. There's no angle.'
"Then, hesitantly, I ventured to talk about the spiritual side of our program. What a freeze that drunk gave me! I'd no sooner got the word 'spiritual' out of my mouth than he pounced. 'Oh!' he said. 'Now I get it! You're proselyting for some damn religious sect or other. Where do you get that 'no angle' stuff? I belong to a great church that means everything to me. You've got a nerve to come in here talking religion!'
"Thank heaven I came up with the right answer for that one. It was based foursquare on the single purpose of AA. 'You have faith,' I said 'Perhaps far deeper faith than mine, No doubt you're better taught in religious matters than I. So I can't tell you anything about religion. I don't even want to try. I'll bet, too, that you could give me a letter-perfect definition of humility. But from what you've told me about yourself and your problems and how you propose to lick them, I think I know what's wrong.' 'Okay,' he said. 'Give me the business.' 'Well," said I. 'I think you're just a conceited Irishman who thinks he can run the whole show.'
"This really rocked him. But as he calmed down he began to listen while I tried to show him that humility was the main key to sobriety. Finally he saw that I wasn't attempting to change his religious views, that I wanted him to find the grace in his own religion that would aid his recovery. From there on we got along fine.
"Now," concludes the old timer, "Suppose I'd been obliged to talk to this man on religious grounds. Suppose my answer had to be that AA needed a lot of money: that AA went in for education, hospitals, and rehabilitation? Suppose I'd suggested that I'd take a hand in his domestic and business affairs? Where would we have wound up? No place, of course."
Years later this tough Irish customer liked to say, "My sponsor sold me one idea, and that was sobriety. At the time, I couldn't have bought anything else."--Bill W.
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If you're not enjoying your sobriety it's your own damn fault!
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