Daily Motivations 3-4-11

Friday, March 4, 2011

Today's Gift

I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume, you shall assume. —Walt Whitman

Some of us may think Walt Whitman must have been terribly conceited to have written words like that. But he wasn't. He knew himself well, and accepted himself, even his darker side. He could laugh at himself and celebrate his humanness.

And because he loved and accepted himself just as he was, others could do the same. That's difficult to understand sometimes, but it's true: no one else is going to love and accept us until we come to love and accept ourselves.

We teach others how to treat us by the way we treat ourselves, so perhaps it makes sense to apply a variation of the Golden Rule: "Do unto ourselves as we would have others do unto us."

Can I allow my kindness to myself overflow to another person today?

From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©

 

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

w/bonus

 

Keep It Simple

I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.---William Allen White
Big changes are happening to us, but we can trust that changes will bring good things. After all, what have we got to lose? We have lived through the days and years of our addiction. Now, with the help of our Higher Power, the pain of those days has ended. We have no reason to worry.

Yet, recovery won't make our lives perfect. Hard things still happened. But we never have to lose hope again. We never have to feel alone with our problems. What will come next? We don't know the details, but we can be sure the future will be good if we stay on our path of recovery.

Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, I know life holds many new things for me. Help me and protect me as I live in Your care today.

Action for the Day:  Today, I'll trust that each day of my life will bring me good. I will share this idea with one friend.

Bonus

 

Walk in Dry Places
 
A vision for you___A Positive attitude
One of the methods that helps in recovery is to see yourself as a sober person living a clean life.  This is the "vision for you" that society's founders offered in AA's early days, and it's still powerful today.

While being careful to avoid self-will, we can use this method with great success in living each day. Along with seeing ourselves sober, we can see ourselves living and working according to the best principles we know.  We can see a business relationship improving. We can see some long-standing problems being solved.  We can see a brighter side to negative situations that have persisted in spite of our best efforts to change them.

 

One author also talked about "seeing God on both sides of the table in any business negotiation."  We desire success, of course, but it's also important to know that any negotiation ought to be successful for both parties. If we're really practicing spiritual principles in all our affairs, there should be no desire to outmaneuver another person in any negotiation. There is always a price that is fair and satisfactory for both parties, and there are always terms suitable for both sides.

Action for the Day: I will go through this day visualizing it as I think it should be according to the highest and best principles I know.  I will put aside self-will and see everybody benefiting from any negotiations in which I am involved.

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One Day At A Time

 

Pickles
We are also convinced, after the countless attempts we made to prove otherwise,
that alcoholism/addiction is incurable -- just like other illnesses.
It cannot be "cured" in this sense: We cannot change our body chemistry
and go back to being the normal, moderate social drinkers
lots of us seemed to be in our youth. As some of us put it,
we can no more make that change
than a pickle can change itself back into a cucumber.
- Living Sober, p. 8

Thought to Ponder . . .
If you think you are an alcoholic or addict, chances are you are.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S W A T = Surrender, Willingness, Acceptance, Trust

 

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Daily Motivation

 

The best you've ever been

With all its imperfections and challenges, today is still the best day yet. Though you may have known much love and joy and fulfillment in the past, you can experience even more today.

 

For you can bring with you to this day the best of all you've ever known, and then you can add to its beauty.

 

On top of that, you can leave behind the disappointments and limiting assumptions that have held you back, and free yourself to truly soar.

Sure, there are problems that you will face. Yet you can face them with a lifetime of wisdom and experience, more today than you've ever had before.

You're better prepared than ever to transform those problems into opportunities. And you're more determined than ever to transform the best of those opportunities into real, meaningful value.

All of what you've been through has made you stronger and more capable, in ways that you're not even fully aware of yet. Today you can choose to use that ever-growing strength and ability in the service of your most treasured visions.

Whatever else may be going on, in many important and powerful ways you're the best you've ever been. Grab the opportunity that is today, and make it into something great.

-- Ralph Marston