Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Today's Gift
Great symphonies begin with just one note. —Priscilla Young Pratt
Sometimes it's really hard to get going. We put off things we don't want to do, or are afraid to try. We occasionally feel overwhelmed by the size of a job to be done like cleaning out the cellar or reading a long book for a class.
But think a minute. If Beethoven had thought about how complicated it was to write his Ninth Symphony, with all those instruments and voices and notes to blend together, do we really think he would ever have started? But he didn't get overwhelmed. He sat down and wrote just one small note, and then another, and a third. It took him months, but writing one note led to a second, and, one note at a time, he completed it.
We begin the same way with whatever tasks we have ahead of us. Each tiny bit of progress helps us go on to the next part. We begin by reading one page of that book, or taking one box of junk from the cellar. That's all we have to do. The rest will follow almost on its own. The trick is to begin.
What needs to be done today, and how do I start?
From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day
Walk In Dry Places
Self-image
Others must not define us.
The thoughtless practice of lumping people into categories can be destructive. Some of us still seethe with resentment over the roles we were given in our families while growing up. We realize that this way of being defined was a put-down.
As adults living sober, we must now make sure that we define ourselves in ways that contribute to our success and happiness. If others attempt to attach labels to us, we must not accept this... at least not in our own minds. If others are attempting to define us in this way, we must always ask whether we've invited such labeling. Did your behavior somehow give them this impression? Did we mask our true feelings to present an image with which we don't really want to live? Whatever the answer, we must take charge of defining who we are and what we want to be.
Action for the Day: If I don't like the way people have been viewing me, I'll change the signals I've been sending out. Any signals I send should fit the way I really want to be known.
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One Day At A Time
Selfishness
Selfishness -- self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.
Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity,
we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. . .
So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 62
Thought to Ponder . . .
If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light;
take off all your envy, jealousy, un-forgiveness, selfishness, and fear.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O W = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.
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Daily Motivation
Reason is not everything
Make good and effective use of reason, but don't let it be the only thing that informs you. Some of the most beautiful and valuable aspects of life have little basis in reason.
Love does not adhere to reason, and yet it is real. People regularly act on faith, wholly apart from reason, and create great value in doing so.
You know much more than you can prove. Let your amazing ability to reason move you forward, but don't let it put limits on how far you can go.
Pay attention to the reasons, and pay attention also to how you feel. You are more than merely a set of logically determined options.
Even when every reason argues against it, hope is never lost. For the power of hope, the power of authentic desire and the power of dreams cannot be calculated or limited by reason.
There is a reason for everything and yet reason itself is not everything. Go joyfully forward, now and always, whether there is reason to or not.
-- Ralph Marston
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