Daily Motivation 7-13-10

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Today's Gift

When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice. —William James

There are times when it's hard to make a decision. When we go to the fair, for instance, we may want to do more things than we have time for, so we don't know what plans to make. Waiting to decide until we see what the fair has to offer is one choice. Not deciding because we're afraid of what may happen is also a choice. We may find ourselves thinking so much about what could happen that we miss all the exciting things going on around us.

It's necessary to keep in mind that any course of action is a decision, but no decision is irreversible. We are free to do what we decide, and are freed by the awareness that whatever we do is based on our own decision and no one else's.

What important decisions shall I make without fear today?

From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Keep It Simple

A brother may not be a friend, but a friend will always be a brother. ---Benjamin Franklin

Many of us come from families that aren't very healthy for us. Many families have lots of love but aren't able to show it. Maybe our parents argued or drank to much. When we share our recovery with them, they may not seem happy with us. They may be doing the best they can, but they don't understand our new way of life.

We can have the love we wanted, but it might not come from our family. We can choose healthy friends to be our new "family." Some friends may seem like the sister or brother we always wanted. A sponsor can give us advice we never got from our parents. We can have a full, healthy "family life" after all.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me choose good friend who will help me to be the best that I can be.

Action for the Day: The best way to have a friend is to be a friend. What will I do today to be a friend.

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One Day At A Time

Sharing

Sharing our stories, our feelings,
it is the areas where we are the same that impress me.
The differences are but delightful flourishes on the surface,
like different-colored costumes, and I enjoy them.
But the basic ways we are human, the basic ways we simply are,
stand out to me now.
I came to see that we are all really one, and I no longer feel alone.
~ Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 347

Thought to Ponder . . .
Sharing is sometimes more demanding than giving.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
E S H = Experience, Strength and Hope.

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Daily Motivation

Forget the excuses

Today can be a day full of excuses and regrets, or it can be a day full of progress and achievement. The choice is completely up to you.

Plenty of times during this day it will be easy for you to come up with a good excuse for not giving your best. Yet even though you may come up with the world's most well thought out excuse, of what value is that to you?

When you feel an excuse coming on, remind yourself of something. This is your life, not some intellectual exercise, and every action taken or avoided affects the quality of your world.

Sure, you can come up with lots of great excuses. Yet you can just as realistically come up with lots of great achievements.

Your life is a magnificent treasure that you have the opportunity to live right now, today. It's not something you must find ways to be excused from.

Embrace the richness in every twist and turn of life's adventure. Forget the excuses, and grab the magnificent opportunity that's right in front of you.

-- Ralph Marston