Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Daily Motivation 2-8-11

Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Today's Gift

When I look back on all these worries I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened. —Winston Churchill

A rolled-up ball of yarn does not take up much space - it sits, ready to be used when needed. It gets unrolled a little bit at a time - just as much as is needed and no more. But a ball of yarn that gets unraveled can be strewn across an entire room. It becomes a jumbled mass, entangled and confusing.

When we live our lives a day at a time, we are like that rolled-up ball of yarn. Our thoughts, feelings, and skills are ready to be used as they are needed. But when we worry, our spirit becomes a jumbled mass of yarn. We get ahead of and behind ourselves - our thoughts are scattered and often our feelings are confused. Worry adds clutter and confusion to life.

What is most helpful is to put the worry away--to roll up the ball of yarn and bring ourselves into the present moment. In this way, we stand ready for each new stitch--and we will never be given more than we are able to handle.

Do I have worries that are cluttering my life today?

From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day
 
Keep It Simple

You must find the ideas that have some promise in them...it's not enough to just have ideas.  --George E. Woodberry


Each day we're flooded with ideas. Everyone seems to have found the truth, and now they want to share it. We may feel loaded down with all these ideas. Who and what do we believe? We've fallen on a set of ideas that hold great promise: The Twelve Steps. The ideas of the program have much promise because they're simple. They ask nothing that isn't good for us. They have been proven to work. Now we're people with more than ideas that work. We're people with good ideas that work. When we find ourselves wondering how to live, all we need to do is look to the Steps.
 
Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, help me to put my energy into working the Steps.

Action for the Day:  Today, I'll list what is right about the Steps for me. What promises do the Steps hold for me?
 

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One Day At A Time
 
Simplicity
When I showed up at your doors, you kept it very simple for me. You said,
"Don't drink, go to meetings, get a sponsor, and keep coming back."
You said that if I did this, things would get better.
You didn't tell me when but I believed you just the same.
There was no evaluation process, no fees to pay, no people I needed to see,
or appointments I needed to make.
I just showed up at the meetings and you loved me.
I was an alcoholic and that was all you cared about.
- Thank You For Sharing, p. 88

Thought to Ponder . . .
The Three M's: Meeting makers make it.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
K I S S =
Keep It Serenely Simple.
 




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Daily Motivation
 
Focus on the best
 
You always get more of what you focus upon. So, what are you focused upon right now?
 
Are you focused on the problems, the distractions, the frustrations, the excuses, the shortcomings and the annoyances in your world? Or, are you focused on your dreams, your greatest possibilities, your positive passions, and on the things that you value most?
 
You can choose your focus in every moment, and by doing so you can choose the reality of your life. Though it may seem that circumstances conspire to steal your focus, they can only do so with your cooperation.
 
Yes, there are plenty of things that will pull your focus in a negative, destructive direction. And yet, you have the strength and the ability to persistently pull your focus back in line with your most positive and empowering intentions.
 
It's not that difficult to maintain your focus. It's just a matter of overriding some negative habits you may have developed.
 
Focusing on what's positive and productive and empowering is actually a lot of fun, and the more you do it, the more you'll like it. Focus on the best you can imagine, and watch all those good things grow more abundant in your life.
 
-- Ralph Marston

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