When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice. —William James
There are times when it's hard to make a decision. When we go to the fair, for instance, we may want to do more things than we have time for, so we don't know what plans to make. Waiting to decide until we see what the fair has to offer is one choice. Not deciding because we're afraid of what may happen is also a choice. We may find ourselves thinking so much about what could happen that we miss all the exciting things going on around us.
It's necessary to keep in mind that any course of action is a decision, but no decision is irreversible. We are free to do what we decide, and are freed by the awareness that whatever we do is based on our own decision and no one else's.
What important decisions shall I make without fear today?
From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©
When others don't perform.
There will be times when other people will disappoint us... either intentionally or because of indifference or incompetence. If we have been counting on them, their nonperformance can cause us real anger and frustration.
Our growth, however, should teach us that such failures are part of life. While never losing trust in others, we must accept them as fallible people. Their mistakes and lapses come from the human shortcomings all of us have.
Our best course is to live without expecting too much from others. They are not here to please or satisfy us. It's possible, too, that we've been unrealistic in some of our expectations and have set ourselves up for disappointments.
Our personal responsibility is to do our best even when others fall short of our expectations. At the same time, we can grow by becoming more reliable and dependable ourselves.
We cannot use another's failure as an excuse for negligence on our part.
Action for the Day: Today I'll expect the best, but I will know that I also have the spiritual resources to deal with the worst that can happen.
They are simple in language, plain in meaning.
They are also workable by any person having a sincere desire
to obtain and keep sobriety. The results are the proof.
Their simplicity and workability are such that no special interpretations,
and certainly no reservations, have ever been necessary.
And it has become increasingly clear that the degree of harmonious living
which we achieve is in direct ratio to our earnest attempt to follow them literally
under divine guidance to the best of our ability.
- Dr. Bob S., AA Co-founder, The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 2], p. 248
Thought to Ponder . . .
Take a walk with your Higher Power. He/she will meet you at the Steps.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S T E P S = Solutions Through Each Positive Step.
Not to envy
Why waste your time and energy, and poison your attitude, by being envious? Instead of being envious, be inspired.
Not only is it impossible for you to live someone else’s life, even if you could do it you wouldn’t really like it. What you can do is joyfully live your own life, informed and instructed by the joy you see in others.
Your greatest fulfillment comes from being you. If someone else’s life looks appealing, the most realistic and effective response is to emulate, not to envy.
Envy is centered in an overwhelming sense of lack and limitation. So if you envy, you push away the very things you desire.
A much more powerful and positive response is to be sincerely thankful for the good fortune of others. When you do that, you’re able to benefit from that good fortune too.
Stop creating envy. And start allowing your very own version of life’s great abundance.
— Ralph Marston
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