Daily Motivations 8-2-2010

Monday, August 2, 2009

Today's Gift

At 70, my dad is just like he was at 35 - only more so. It's frightening that the same thing could happen to me. --Jerry Z.

More of the same gets more of the same. What we were given to practice, we practiced. What we practiced, we became. What we became, we are continuing to become - only more so - every day of our lives. We can do ourselves a favor by being aware of what we practice. Has the past taught us to withdraw? Think of how isolated we'll be twenty years from now! Have we practiced generalized distrust? Imagine how deep the roots of fear are growing.

But there's another side to that truth. If we practice finding beauty today, we'll find twice as much beauty tomorrow. If we work on forgiveness today, tomorrow we may be free of resentments. If we choose to relate rather than isolate, we can walk with friends through all the years that stretch before us. What will the future bring us? Whatever we have invested in it.

I pray for the wisdom to see my future as largely the work of my own hands and heart. I pray for the courage to take responsibility for choosing my own direction.

You are reading from the book:

Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Walk In Dry Places

"That's the way I am"

Getter Better

Bad behavior is sometimes justified as a form of self-expression: "That's the way I am." Others are supposed to tolerate this or risk losing a friendship. In our program, we should modify any behavior that offends or hurts others. If we have been too brutally frank in our comments, for example, maybe we're at fault. What we call honesty is really a form of cruelty.

If we persist in "being the way we are" even when it doesn't work, we have nobody to blame but ourselves when things go wrong. Other people are entitled to be treated fairly and decently. Just as we want to be. Perhaps "the way I am" is something that can be changed for the good of all, ourselves included.

Action for the Day: If I have habits and traits that cause friction with others, I'll take a new look at them. It's possible that this is something I can and should change.

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One Day At A Time

Gratitude

I can now understand how some things,
which once seemed like major disasters, turned out to be blessings.
Certainly my alcoholism fits that category I am a truly grateful alcoholic today.
I do not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
Those events that once made me feel ashamed and disgraced now allow me
to share with others how to become a useful member of the human race.
~ Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 492

Thought to ponder . . .
There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Always Awesome.

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Daily Motivation

Spread the joy

There's no reason to feel the least bit guilty about enjoying life. If life were not to be enjoyed, then how would it be possible to enjoy anything?

You are here to see the beauty, and to enjoy it. You are here to feel the love, and to delight in it all.

You are here to be aware of how magnificent it is to be aware. You are here to experience what it means to exist.

There is great enjoyment to be found it life's pleasures. There is also unique enjoyment to be found in the challenges and the difficulties, and in working your way through them.

Fully experience and enjoy the ups and downs that come from passionately following your purpose. Find real joy in an endless variety of situations, and truly know what it means to live.

The more you enjoy your own life, the more joy you have to give to all of life. Live, enjoy, and spread your magnificent joy far and wide.

-- Ralph Marston