Daily Motivation 11-23-10

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Today's Gift

 

When you send out real love, real love will return to you. —Florence Scovel Shinn

Real love is selfless love. It expects nothing in return. It is not conditional. It doesn't keep score. It is too seldom given. Many of us came into the program hurting, feeling unloved, looking desperately for love, unable to love selflessly. But we are learning.

We are climbing the same mountain, all of us. Our particular paths will cross the paths of many others before reaching the top where we will find full enlightenment. And any path we cross has a special contribution to make to our own progress. We can be grateful for all intersecting paths, no matter how adverse they seem at the time. We can offer all our fellow travelers real love, and our own trip will benefit many fold.

We need not be ashamed of our desire for love. Nor need we feel shame that we've bargained for it. But we do need to understand that the kind of love we seek can only be gained when we quit searching for it and simply offer it to all the people in our midst.

I will look into the hearts of all the people I encounter today and offer them love. I'll receive that which I give.

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
 
Freedom is not enough.---Lyndon B. Johnson

We are free of alcohol and other drugs. We’ve been given a second chance or third chance. For that, we thank our Higher Power. We’ve started a new life. But to keep this life, we need to change. We need new friends. We need to let a Higher Power guide our hearts, minds, and bodies. We need new friends. We need to let a Higher Power guide our hearts, and bodies. We need to learn new values and how to stand up for them. We need to learn how to give and receive.

Freedom from dependence is not enough. We also want to be happy, and to do something with our lives. So each day we keep learning, we keep growing. Each day without alcohol or other drugs is a gift, a gift from our Higher Power.

 

Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, You set me free. Now teach me to stay free. Guide me, for keeping my freedom is a big task.

 

Action for the Day:  I will meditate on my freedom. I will take time to list all the ways I am now free.

 

 

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One Day At A Time

 

Stopping
I remember telling a friend years ago that I didn't have a drinking problem,
I had a stopping problem. We laughed.
It was true, but there was something else going on,
something that never occurred to me until I came to AA.
I didn't just have a stopping problem. I had a starting problem too.
No matter how often I stopped, or for how long, I always started drinking again.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 372-373

Thought to Ponder . . .
I can't start doing what's right until I stop doing what's wrong.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S T O P = Start Thinking Of Positives.

 

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Daily Motivation

 

One thought away

 

You are one thought away from being supremely and authentically confident. You are one thought away from stepping powerfully, effectively and decisively in the direction of your dreams.

 

With just one positive, empowering thought, you can turn toward achievement, toward excellence, toward discipline and commitment. From nothing more than a thought that resonates with your true purpose, you can change your perception of the whole world.

 

Reach into the place within, where you nurture your vision of the very best life you can imagine. With all you have, with all you are, feel the beautiful reality of that vision.

 

And know that whatever you can imagine, whatever you can feel, you can create. In fact, it already exists within you.

 

Feel within yourself the reality of life as you know it can be. Then, with your words, your actions, your priorities and commitments, with your focus and discipline, express that beautiful, meaningful value.

 

In every moment, in every circumstance, through every challenge, let that immense value flow out from you. It is never more than just one thought away.

 

-- Ralph Marston