Daily Motivations 10-1-2010

Friday, October 1, 2010

Today's Gift

It was football time, apple time, harvest time, hunting time, and school time. Footsteps quickened. It was exciting to be in transition. It seemed more like the beginning of something than like the end of it. —Paul Gruchow

Some days seem filled with the exciting energy of change. They are like walking on a bridge from one time period to the next. In the fall, our senses are filled with messages of change. Trees tell us it is happening. So do football games, and the cool chill in the morning air.

As summer wanes and winter approaches, we may need to grieve for what we leave behind before greeting what comes next. The changes we experience in recovery bring similar responses. We grieve the loss of our old friends, the bottle, the food binge, the romantic thrill, or the excitement of gambling or spending. We are able to grieve our losses because we accept them. We have chosen them. Now we move to the next season of our lives.

As I experience the circle of seasons outside me, I am grateful for the ongoing flow of change within.

From Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men ©

 

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

 

Walk In Dry Places
 
Using time wisely

 

Living or Waiting?
What is the real secret of living 24 hours at a time?  Isn't it really a matter of feeling completely comfortable in the present rather than believing that happiness depends on something in the future?

Whatever our situation today, it's something we must life through and deal with effectively. We may be overlooking many wonderful things in our present life simply because we believe we need some exciting experience that can only come later on. We also might be overlooking present opportunities because we're spending too much time in the past. The past, whether it was god or bad, is beyond our control.

 

Our mission is to live effectively and happily today.  We can do this best when we realize that yesterday and tomorrow don't really exist... today is all we can be sure of.

 

Action for the Day: I'll live today in the present, handling every problem as well as I can and enjoying every experience that comes to me.

 

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One Day At A Time

 

Complacency
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels.
We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe.
We are not cured of alcoholism. What we have is a daily reprieve
contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.
Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will
into all of our activities.
- Daily Thought, p. 85

Thought to Ponder . . .
The alcoholic is in no greater peril than when he takes sobriety for granted.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
B I G B O O K = Believing In Goodness Beats Our Old Knowledge.

 

 

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Daily Motivation

 

Matter of choice

 

Life is always a matter of choice. Whatever the circumstances may be, you can choose the level at which you live.

 

You can choose what to think about the various events that play out in front of your eyes. You can choose how to respond to the challenges and opportunities that come into your life.

 

When you choose to consistently and persistently follow a particular purpose, you will manifest that purpose in the world around you. When you choose to focus your thoughts and efforts on things of meaningful value, you will create more value.

 

In the next few hours, or in the next few moments, anything can happen. It may be what you planned or it may be a total surprise.

 

Yet whatever may happen, you can choose what to do about it. Though you are subject to many powerful forces and influences, you can choose the way you deal with them.

 

The life you live is a matter of choice. Choose wisely, and live richly.

 

-- Ralph Marston