Daily Motivation 12-28-11

Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Today's Gift

The human heart dares not stay away too long from that which hurt it most. There is a return journey to anguish that few of us are released from making. —Lillian Smith

As the sore tooth draws our tongue, so do rejections, affronts, painful criticisms, both past and present draw our minds. We court self-pity, both loving and hating it. But we can change this pattern. First we must decide we are ready to do so. The program tells us we must become "entirely ready." And then we must ask to have this shortcoming removed.

The desire to dwell on the injustices of our lives becomes habitual. It takes hours of our time. It influences our perceptions of all other experiences. We have to be willing to replace that time-consuming activity with one that's good and healthy.

We must be prepared for all of life to change. Our overriding self-pity has so tarnished our perceptions that we may never have sensed all the good that life daily offers. How often we see the glass as half-empty rather than half-full!

A new set of experiences awaits me today. And I can perceive them unfettered by the memories of the painful past. Self-pity need not cage me, today.

From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey©

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Keep It Simple

 

It is only framed in space that beauty blooms; only in space are events, and objects and people unique and significant and therefore beautiful. --Anne Morrow Lindbergh

 

We must look closely; focus intently on the subjects of our attention. Within these subjects is the explanation of life's mysteries. To observe anything closely means we must pull it aside with our minds and fondle it, perhaps. We must let the richness of the object, the person, the event, wash over us and savor its memory.

Many of us only now are able to look around ourselves slowly, with care, noting the detail, the brilliant color of life. Each day is an opportunity to observe and absorb the beauty while it blooms.

 

Action for the Day: I will look for beauty today, in myself, and in a friend, and I will find it.

 

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One Day At A Time

 

Staying Sober
Somewhat to our surprise, staying sober turns out not to be the grim,
wet-blanket experience we had expected!
While we were drinking and/or using, a life without alcohol or drugs seemed like no life at all.
But for most members of AA , living sober is really living -- a joyous experience.
We much prefer it to the troubles we had with drinking and/or drugging.
One more note: anyone can *get* sober. We have all done it lots of times.
The trick is to stay and to *live* sober.
- Living Sober, foreword

Thought to Ponder . . .
I am worth staying sober for.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Always Alive.

 

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Daily Motivation

Do something positive

Worrying about what you don’t want will not keep it from happening. In fact, by focusing your worry on what you don’t want you actually give more power and possibility to it.

Wishing for what you do want will not bring it about. Constant wishing can prevent you from getting what you want by taking away time, effort and focus that could be spent on effective action.

The reliable, proven strategy for avoiding what you don’t want and for getting what you do want is the same. Do something positive about it.

The way to get it done is to get busy working on it right now. The way to make a difference is to take focused, purposeful, persistent action.

You are fully capable, and uniquely inspired, to act in your own best interest and in support of the things you care about. So instead of wishing or worrying your time away, get busy doing something positive and effective.

Make constructive use of your valuable time. Use it to do something positive, and move your life and your world in the direction of your choice.

— Ralph Marston