Alcoholic Anonymous - Daily Ponderables - Together we trudge the
Road of Happy Destiny – Monday, 27 January 2014 - Daily Reflections “FREEDOM
FROM GUILT”
Where other people were concerned, we had to drop the word
"blame" from our speech and thought.--TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE
TRADITIONS, page 47
When I become willing to accept my own powerlessness, I begin to
realize that blaming myself for all the trouble in my life can be an ego trip
back into hopelessness. Asking for help and listening deeply to the messages
inherent in the Steps and Traditions of the program make it possible to change
those attitudes which delay my recovery. Before joining A.A., I had such a
desire for approval from people in powerful positions that I was willing to
sacrifice myself, and others, to gain a foothold in the world. I invariably
came to grief. In the program I find true friends who love, understand, and
care to help me learn the truth about myself. With the help of the Twelve
Steps, I am also able to build a better life, free of guilt and the need for
self-justification.--From the book Daily Reflections © Copyright 1990 by
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
Alcoholics carry an awful load around with them. What a load
lying puts on your shoulders! Drinking makes liars out of all of us alcoholics.
In order to get the liquor we want, we have to lie all the time. We have to lie
about where we've been and what we've been doing. When you are lying you are
only half alive, because of the fear of being found out. When you come into
A.A., and get honest with yourself and with other people, that terrible load of
lying falls off your shoulders. Have I gotten rid of that load of lying?
Meditation for the Day
I believe that in the spiritual world, as in the material world,
there is no empty space. As fears and worries and resentments depart out of my
life, the things of the spirit come in to take their places. Calm comes after a
storm. As soon as I am rid of fears and hates and selfishness, God's love and
peace and calm can come in.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may rid myself of all fears and resentments, so
that peace and serenity may take their place. I pray that I may sweep my life
clean of evil, so that good may come in. --From the book Twenty-Four Hours a
Day © Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Learning how to live again
“We learn new ways to live. We are no longer limited to our old
ideas.”--Basic Text, page 56
We may or may not have been taught right from wrong and other
basics of life as children. No matter, by the time we found recovery, most of
us had only the vaguest idea of how to live. Our isolation from the rest of
society had caused us to ignore basic human responsibilities and develop
bizarre survival skills to cope with the world we lived in.
Some of us didn’t know how to tell the truth; others were so
frank we wounded everyone we talked to. Some of us couldn’t cope with the
simplest of personal problems, while others attempted solving the problems of
the whole world. Some of us never got angry, even when receiving unfair
treatment; others busily lodged complaints against everyone and everything.
Whatever our problems, no matter how extreme, we all have a
chance in Narcotics Anonymous to learn how to live anew. Perhaps we need to
learn kindness and how to care about others. Perhaps we need to accept personal
responsibilities. Or maybe we need to overcome fear and take some risks. We can
be certain of one thing: Each day, simply by living life, we’ll learn something
new.
Just for today: I know more about how to live than I did
yesterday, but not as much as I’ll know tomorrow. Today, I’ll learn something
new.--From the book Just for Today © Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous
World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that
one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome."--Booker
T. Washington
Some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life
is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best
of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.--Gilda
Radner
AA is the only place you come in a "Star" and work
your way up to Usher. (Thanks Blair A.)
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore
ourselves. Consider, for example: a magician who cuts his body into many parts
and places each part in a different region--hands in the south, arms in the
east, legs in the north, and then by some miraculous power lets forth a cry
which reassembles whole every part of his body. Mindfulness is like that--it is
the miracle which can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to
wholeness so that we can live each minute of life.--Thich Nhat Hanh,
"Miracle of Mindfulness"
Native American
"There is no death, only a change of worlds."--Chief
Seattle, SUQWAMISH AND DUWAMISH
The Elders tell us of the other dimension, the Spirit World. Our
spirit in our bodies does not die it only looks that way to our eyes and our
brains. Some of our ceremonies allow us to see into the Spirit World. Death is
only part of a process of life. It shows the transition into the Spirit World.
The Elders tell us this is a joyful life journey.
My Creator, help me to understand both the seeing world and the
unseen world. Let me not be afraid of the world YOU live in.
Walk In Dry Places
Finding a Higher Good!--Handling Trouble.
There are times when things just don't work out, despite our
best efforts. Even in sobriety, we can have business or marriage failures,
accidents, sicknesses, or trouble in holding a job. Sobriety is no guarantee
that things will always work out according to our expectancies.
But no disappointment or failure has to throw us or cause
permanent distress. It is some comfort to remember that the meeting of the
first two AA members came out of a business failure, not a success. On many
occasions, a disappointment or a setback can actually give a person the insight
and understanding needed for a new, more successful effort.
We do not, of course, want to rationalize failure. We should
also accept responsibility when failure has been the result of negligence or
wrong action on our part. Nevertheless, as we continue to seek and to follow
God's guidance, we will find the course of our lives that fits our needs and
capabilities. There is a higher good in everything. Even our drinking was
indirectly beneficial in pushing us toward AA and the programs healing
principles.
I will not waste time today brooding over mistakes or losses.
I'll know that God is in charge of my life and can turn liabilities into assets
and defeats into victories.
Big Book
"Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant
destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light
who presides over us all."--Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's
Story, page 14
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SPONSORSHIP
A man in a hot air balloon realized that he was lost. He reduced
altitude and spotted another man below. He descended a bit more and shouted,
"Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour
ago, but I don’t know where I am."
The man below replied, "You’re in a hot air ball hovering
approximately 30 feet above the ground. You’re between 40 and 41 degrees north
latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."
"You must be a sponsor," said the balloonist. "I
am," replied the man, "how did you know?" "Well," answered
the balloonists, "everything you told me is, technically correct, but I’ve
no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I’m still lost.
Frankly, you’ve not been much help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my
trip."
The man below responded, "You must be a Sponsee"
"I am: replied the balloonist, "but how did you
know?"
"Well," said the man, "you don’t know where you
are or where you’re going. You have risen to where you are due to a large
quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you’ve no idea how to keep, and
you expect other people to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly
the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my
fault."
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If you're not enjoying your sobriety it's your own damn fault
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