Daily Motivations 7-5--2010

Monday, July 5, 2009

Today's Gift

There are really only two ways to approach life--as victim or as gallant fighter-and you must decide if you want to act or react, deal your own cards or play with a stacked deck. And if you don't decide which way to play with life, it always plays with you. —Merle Shain

Being the victim is, or was, uncomfortably familiar to many of us. Perhaps some of us are only now realizing we have choices, that we need not let life happen to us. Becoming responsible to ourselves, choosing behavior, beliefs, friends, activities, that please us, though unfamiliar at first, soon exhilarates us. The more choices we make, the more alive we feel. The more alive we feel, the healthier our choices.

Our aim is recovery. Recovering means participating fully in our lives. It means self-assessment and self-direction. It means trusting to move forward, step-by-step, choice-by-choice, knowing all the while that no thoughtful action can trouble us.

Many opportunities to make choices will present themselves today. The choices I make will satisfy me; they will move me toward my goal of recovery.

From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey ©

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Keep It Simple

If at first you don't succeed, you're running about average.---Ovid
Our program speaks of spiritual progress, not perfection. We can take all the time we need. Our bottom line is steady progress. We can ask ourselves, "Am I a little more spiritual than I was a year ago? A month ago?" If the answer is yes, we're doing great. If the answer is no, we should look at why. Our addiction pushes us to be prefect. In recovery, we learn that we are free to be what we are---human. Even the world's fastest runners are average in most other areas of their lives.. This is okay. Remember, "spiritual progress, not perfection."

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I'll not be ashamed of how average I am. I'll remember I'm average---and that's good.

Action for the Day: I'll list what is average about me. I'll share this with a friend. Than I'll ask my friend what is special about me.

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One Day At A Time

Easy Does It

We must learn to walk before we can run. That's why we have these slogans.
I use that "Easy Does It" every day, to slow me down a little.
I have to watch myself all the time.
So I don't just take the inventory at night -- I take it continually throughout the day.
Before I step out and do anything, I stop and check it over first,
and then let my conscience be my guide.
~ Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 410

Thought to Ponder . . .
Rashness and haste make all things insecure: Take it easy!

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
P A U S E = Patience And Understanding Succeed Every time.

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Daily Motivation

Choose your feelings

The way you feel can tell you much about the world around you and your relationship to it. Yet the way you feel is not who you are.

Your emotions may seem to be so much a part of you that at times you cannot find anything else. Yet you are able at any time to change those emotions if you wish.

Always, at the heart of your being, you are in control. The emotions you experience are the emotions you create or allow.

Just as you can allow your emotions to fill your awareness, you can also allow them to drop cleanly and completely away. When you've heard what your feelings have to say, you can choose to let go of them.

Or, if you're enjoying the way you feel, you can choose to continue feeling that way. The point is, you can choose.

Always remember that like your thoughts and actions, your feelings are your choice. Choose the ones that will move your life in the direction you most want to go.

-- Ralph Marston