Daily Motivations 12-1-10

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Today's Gift

There is an end to grief if we have the courage to accept our personal goodness and our ongoing right to happiness. --Justin Langley

Making peace with our losses takes time and trust. In the past, we may have acted in ways that were heartbreaking to ourselves and others. But now we have a new choice; we can walk the road of self-forgiveness and stop punishing ourselves for past deeds, or we can decide that we don't deserve to feel good, that clinging to our pain, guilt, and self-loathing will somehow make up for some of the damage.

Believing our wrongs are too great to be righted leaves us in a perpetual state of mourning. It's a risk, but we can choose to believe that change is possible, not all at once but slowly, one day at a time.

Believing that God loves us and wants us to be happy gives us the courage to make amends and face our past head on. When we take the leap of faith necessary to grieve and let go of the past, we take back our best selves, and the lives we were meant to live.

Today give me the strength and the courage to grieve my losses. 

You are reading from the book:

Body, Mind, and Spirit by Anonymous

 

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

Walk In Dry Places
 
Understanding life

Why do bad things happen?
No one has been able to explain why pain and misfortune must be part of the human condition.  Bad things can and do happen to everybody, and sometimes there's no way to explain it. Even in sobriety, AA members have misfortunes---times when it appears that God is hiding. We even hear members share such experiences at meetings.

Many of us have found ways to use misfortunes constructively, however, by seeing how the program helps us deal with it. In some cases---but not all---we even learn that a misfortune was a disguised blessing.

 

Most important, by using the program, we are eliminating the drinking that has been the cause of many misfortunes in our lives. That alone makes our immediate world a much better place for everyone.

Action for the day: My life today can be both easy and hard. It gives me great comfort to know that I am not making conditions worse for myself and others.

 

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One Day At A Time

 

Living Sober

Somewhat to our surprise, staying sober turns out not to be the grim,
wet-blanket experience we had expected!
While we were drinking, a life without alcohol seemed like no life at all.
But for most members of AA, living sober is really living -- a joyous experience.
We much prefer it to the troubles we had with drinking.
One more note: anyone can get sober. We have done it lots of times.
The trick is to stay and live sober.
- Living Sober, Preface

Thought to Ponder . . .
The joy is in the journey, so enjoy the ride.

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

 

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Daily Motivation

 

You deserve

You deserve the best in life. And you deserve the experience of creating it.

 

You are worthy of a life that's rich and filled with meaning. And you are worthy of working through the difficult challenges to make that life a reality.

 

At any given moment, including this moment right now, you are fully deserving of life's greatest experiences. It is never too early and it is never too late to fully feel how it feels to be uniquely alive.

 

You deserve to be extraordinarily happy in your own special way. And you deserve to realize and to understand that you are the only person who can choose to let that happiness flow.

 

You deserve to find the strength within yourself to triumph over difficult challenges. You deserve to feel the sense of accomplishment that comes from a job well done.

 

You deserve whatever you truly desire and whatever you most authentically imagine. Get busy now, with a love of the possibilities, and give yourself what you deserve.

 

-- Ralph Marston