Daily Motivation 5-16-11

Monday, May 16, 2011

Today's Gift

 

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. --Doug Larson

 

Life is never just one thing. It is quite possible to feel optimistic and happy even when some things are not right with us. An optimistic outlook gives us energy to handle the harder things that we have to deal with. Research shows that people who have a positive attitude have a stronger immune system, are healthier, live longer, and are even more likely to recover from serious illness.

 

To believe in hopeful outcomes is largely a matter of choice. Many of us have experienced big disappointments and defeats in life. But having come this far, we can look back and see that somehow we had the capacity to deal with it. The Second Step guides us to believe in hopeful possibilities. We can't say that things will always turn out just the way we hope, but that we can cope with whatever happens.

 

Today I choose to believe that a power greater than myself can help me deal with life, and I have reason to be optimistic. 

You are reading from the book:

Wisdom to Know by Anonymous

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Walk in Dry Places

Progress

Trees Don't grow to the sky
Release from a compulsion can be a dramatic experience. It maqy also mean immediate relase from vexing problems caused by the compulsion. This time can bring such a sense of well-being that it's sometimes called the HONEYMOON or CLOUD NINE period.

In any growth process, however, we must remember that a law of diminishing returns sets in. This is expressed in the saying that trees don't grow to the sky. At some point, we will discover that our joyous feeling of pleasure has cooled down to an ordinary state of feeling well, that we are not becoming increasingly joyous by the day.

There's nothing wrong with such a mental plateau. If we're practicing the Twelve Step program, we're still moving forward, onward, and upward. Diminishing returns must still be counted as returns.

Action for the Day: I'll accept today's progress with gratitude and humility. I won't expect more than a reasonable feeling of well-being and contentment, but that is considerable.

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One Day At A Time

 

Patience
Too many times discouragement has been the bonus for unrealistic expectations,
not to mention self-pity or fatigue from my wanting to change the world
by the weekend. Discouragement is a warning signal
that I may have wandered across the God line.
The secret of fulfilling my potential is in acknowledging my limitations
and believing that time is a gift, not a threat.
- Daily Reflections, p. 70

Thought to Ponder . . .
Patience is passion tamed.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
P A U S E = Patience And Understanding Succeed Every time.

 

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Daily Motivation

Working for fun

What if hard work was actually fun? Just imagine how much more of it you would choose to do, and how much additional value you would create.

What if tedious work was actually fulfilling? Just think of how many more great things you could accomplish.

Imagine that some person or some group wanted to hold you back, to keep you from being your very best. What would be a good way of doing that?

One extremely effective way to hold millions of people back would be to spread the assumption that difficult, challenging work is to be avoided. That being the case, is it really an assumption you want to willingly hold on to?

What’s fun, and satisfying, and fulfilling for you, is whatever you decide is fun, satisfying and fulfilling. If you so choose, that can include intense, difficult, challenging and even tedious work that creates great value.

Are you being held back by your assumptions about what is enjoyable and fulfilling, and what is not? You’re free to change those assumptions any time you choose.

— Ralph Marston