Without heroes, we are all plain people and don't know how far we can go. —Bernard Malamud
It is useful for us to reflect on our heroes for a time. Who do we greatly admire? Are they men or women? Are they closely involved in our lives, or are they distant and beyond our ability to reach on a personal level? Can we feel hopeful and open enough about life to have heroes?
Our heroes inspire us to find the new edges of our growth. We see in another man or woman the qualities and values we admire. We find our own best parts, perhaps partly hidden or undeveloped, in the people we hold as heroes. For example, if we admire a television personality, we can learn about our own values by asking what we admire in him or her. If we admire a friend, we may see a trait we hold dear in ourselves. As we grow and change, our heroes are replaced by others who fit our maturing values.
As I think about people I admire, I learn about myself from them.
From Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men©
We are healed of a suffering only be experiencing it in full. ---Marcel Proust
We must never forget our past. We need to remember the power that our illness has over us. Why? So we can remember how our recovery began. So we can remember we’re not cured. So we can tell our stories.
We must remember how we acted. Why? So we don’t act and think like addicts. Most of us had a poor relationships with friends, family, and ourselves. We need to remember how lonely we felt. That way, we’ll make recovery grow stronger One Day at a Time.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me always remember how my illness almost destroyed me. Help me face the pain of these memories.
Action for the Day: I will talk about my past life with those who support my recovery. I will tell them what it is that I must remember about my past.
If you have a resentment you want to be free of,
if you pray for that person or thing that you resent, you will be free.
If you ask in prayer for everything you want for yourself to be given to them,
you will be free.
Ask for their health, their prosperity, their happiness, and you will be free.
Even when you don't really want it for them and your prayers are only words
and you don't mean it, go ahead and do it anyway.
Do it every day for two weeks, and you will find you have come to mean it.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 552
Thought to Ponder . . .
We are prisoners of our own resentments.
Forgiveness unlocks the door and sets us free.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
F E A R = Frustration, Ego, Anger, Resentment.
Daily Motivation
Richness in your life
The richness in your life is determined not by how much you have. It comes from how much you treasure and appreciate what you have.
Living richly is not necessarily a matter of living extravagantly. Living richly is living with purpose, with meaning, and with authentic joy in every moment.
You don’t need a certain set of circumstances to enjoy a life of richness. What it takes is a profound sense of gratitude for the life you have.
On this very day, in this very moment, you can live as richly as anyone. You can give great meaning and fulfillment to this moment by simply appreciating the fact that you’re in it.
Life’s endless goodness and richness surround you even now. Open your awareness to the positive possibilities and choose to live them.
Be truly rich, not by virtue of what you have, but by how much genuine meaning you give to each moment. Be truly rich, and let life’s goodness freely and unceasingly flow through all you do.
— Ralph Marston
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