Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Today's Gift
Valuing this Moment
Detachment involves present moment living - living in the here and now. We allow life to happen instead of forcing and trying to control it. We relinquish regrets over the past and fears about the future. We make the most of each day. —Codependent No More
This moment, we are right where we need to be, right where we are meant to be.
How often we waste our time and energy wishing we were someone else, were doing something else, or were someplace else. We may wish our present circumstances were different.
We needlessly confuse ourselves and divert our energy by thinking that our present moment is a mistake. But we are right where we need to be for now. Our feelings, thoughts, circumstances, challenges, and tasks - all of it is on schedule.
We spoil the beauty of the present moment by wishing for something else.
Come back home to yourself. Come back home to the present moment. We will not change things by escaping or leaving the moment. We will change things by surrendering to and accepting the moment.
Some moments are easier to accept than others.
To trust the process, to trust all of it, without hanging on to the past or peering too far into the future, requires a great deal of faith. Surrender to the moment. If you're feeling angry, get mad. If you're setting a boundary, dive into that. If you're grieving, grieve. Get into it. Step where instinct leads. If you're waiting, wait. If you have a task, throw yourself into the work. Get into the moment; the moment is right.
We are where we are, and it is okay. It is right where we're meant to be to get where we're going tomorrow. And that place will be good.
It has been planned in love for us.
Higher Power, help me let go of my need to be someone other than who I am today. Help me dive fully into the present moment. I will accept and surrender to my present moments - the difficult ones and the easy ones, trusting the whole process. I will stop trying to control the process; instead, I will relax and let myself experience it.
From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day
w/ bonus
Walk In Dry Places
Living Today
Handle Today's Problem
Many of us face seemingly insurmountable
difficulties, perhaps because of our compulsion or simply through
misfortune. Whatever the scale of our problems,One Day at a
Time and First things First, are keys to handling them.
Today, we can deal only with today's problems. One of today's problems, of course,
may be worrying about the future. A good method of handling that problem
is to turn our concern about it over to our Higher Power. But when
we do have work that clearly should be done today, we must carry through
with it. It's neither reasonable nor sensible to put off things that we
can and should do today.
Action for the Day: There are certain tasks and responsibilities that must be dealt with
today. I will not put them off.
Bonus
Keep It Simple
The Master doesn't talk, she acts. When her work is done, the people say, "Amazing: we did it, all by ourselves!"
Our Higher Power works like the Master. Quietly. In fact, we usually take the credit ourselves!
We're like the child who bakes cookies for the first time. Mother found the recipe, bought the ingredients, and got out the bowl and pans and spoons. She told us what to do, and finished when we got tired. Then she cleaned up after us. We proudly served our cookies, saying, "I made them all by my self!"
In recovery, our Higher Power helps and teaches us every step of the way, just like a loving parent.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thank-you ---for my life, for my recovery, for love, for hope, and for faith. Thank-you for teaching me how to live in a better way.
Action for the Day: I'll list five ways my Higher Power has acted in my life.
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One Day At A Time
Step Four
~ Scroll down for share ~
"Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."
Without a searching and fearless moral inventory,
most of us have found that the faith which really works in daily living
is still out of reach.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 42-43
Thought to Ponder . . .
There is only one corner of the universe I can be certain of improving,
and that's my own self.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Altered Attitudes.
A MEMBER SHARES:
I'm Dan, an alcoholic. I am new to the program, and just completed my Fourth Step. Two nights ago, I experienced a spiritual revelation giving me my Higher Power. When I worked the Second and Third Steps, I was very uncertain about them. I had decided that the program was fundamentally sound, and people who painstakingly work the Steps stay sober, so I accepted these Steps as best I knew how. My sponsor and I decided that I should go on to Step Four, rather than standing idle. I wrote about my life in stream-of-conscience style, and I found I had so many feelings that I did not know were there, carrying with me every single day, like an anvil on my back. Not only did I have these feelings, but looking at them deeply, I realized that virtually every single one of them was warped, narrow-minded, and self-centered. Then things began to come together for me, "my life is unmanageable!" Why? Because my warped feelings are managing it. They are intense, and I cannot come up with good answers to life's situation with them. After of talking with other people and attending meetings, I finally realized the true function of a Higher Power and why it is that we've got to have it. A friend told me, "It doesn't matter so much whether or not we believe God really exists, the point is how we can use a Higher Power in our daily living, dealing with life's situations," and I can understand that. When there is a situation in life, I can take a moment between when it occurs and when I respond to it. My feelings had been driving those responses -- warped feelings! If I can say, "Thy will be done," then I can get an intuitive answer. This was my revelation on the Higher Power. Meditation definitely helped it along, because it showed me that there is definitely a spiritual energy running through us. My Higher Power is this: The collective soul and spirit of every AA member who has ever existed, right down to Bill W. The Spirit encompasses everything, and it reveals the insight of all these people. It is wise and perfect in following the Steps, and I can say, "Thy will be done!" and trust it.
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Daily Motivation
Feel the truth In every moment, in every circumstance there is a new truth to be discovered. Life is rich with possibilities for deeper, more profound understanding.
You are, at the same time, all-encompassing essence and also a particular momentary expression of that essence. You live in this moment and you live beyond it.
Discovering truth is a matter of confirming in experience what you already know in your essence. The way you know it is truth is because it resonates so perfectly within the depth of who you are.
Truth is not something you must be told. Truth is truth because you recognize it so completely.
Living successfully in this moment and in this world is a matter of connecting your outer life to your inner truth. The most effective, fulfilling choice in any situation is to live the truth of who you are.
In pure truth there is no fear, no worry, no anxiety or anger. Feel the truth that is within you, and let it guide your every choice.
-- Ralph Marston
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