Daily Motivations 6-24-2010

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Today's Gift

The only intrinsic evil is lack of love. —John Robinson

When we have feelings of guilt or self-hate, we have spiritual problems. It is a time to turn to our program for help. In the early stages of recovery we may, at times, feel more shameful than we ever did before, simply because we are becoming honest about how we feel. We may even become ashamed of our guilty feelings, and then the problem escalates.

Lack of love for ourselves is at the heart of our problem. We cannot become self-loving by force of will, but we can stop being so willful by simply yielding to the care of a loving God. At those moments we do not feel deserving of love, but we can stop fending it off. Perhaps God's love is coming to us in the concern of a friend or partner. Maybe it comes in the warm sunshine or in the smile of a child. As we yield to it, we take a spiritual leap into a world we don't control and we didn't create, but we can be healed by it.

Today, I will surrender to the love, which comes from the world around me and let it teach me how to love myself.

From Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men ©

*****************************

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

Walk In Dry Places

Self Improvement

Expressing gratitude
How can we express gratitude when we feel it? We can begin by simply using the proper forms of courtesy at all times; this reminds us that we can't live without other people. The best way to express gratitude, however, is to "ass on" the good that has come to us. This is more effective when we share ideas and experiences that have helped us on the way to self-improvement. It's also a good idea to dismiss thoughts and statements that are forms of prideful boasting. Even telling people how hard we've worked for the 12 Step program can detract from our gratitude. And never, under any circumstances, should we put others under obligation to us.

Action for the Day:I'll discover ways to express my gratitude today. I'll know that my best way of doing it is to pass on good ideas to others.

************************

One Day At A Time

Humility

How painful it is to keep demanding the impossible,
and how very painful to discover, finally, that all along
we have had the cart before the horse!
Then comes the final agony of seeing how awfully wrong we have been.
- The Language of the Heart, p. 236

Thought to Ponder . . .
My sponsor gave me a "Humility" badge,
then took it away when I started wearing it.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
P R I D E = Pretty Ridiculous Individual Directing Everything

*********************
Daily Motivation

Peaceful, genuine thankfulness

A difficult situation is challenging enough on its own. Don't make it worse by adding your own anxiety to it.

Instead, be peacefully and genuinely thankful. Whatever the circumstances are, choose to be thankful for the moment and for your opportunity to experience it.

Sincere, heartfelt thankfulness will calm your spirit and open your eyes to the positive possibilities. Instead of being intimidated by the challenges, you'll become inspired by the opportunities.

Be thankful for what has happened to bring you to where you are. After all, what has happened, has happened, and your best response is to find the value in it.

That value is most definitely there. By choosing to recognize it, you can make any moment, and any situation, into a powerful opportunity for making real progress.

When you feel anxiety creeping into your awareness, overwhelm it with peaceful, genuine thankfulness. And fill the moment with the power of your best possibilities.

-- Ralph Marston