Daily Motivation 1-10-2012

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Today's Gift

You feel the way you do right now because of the thoughts you are thinking at this moment. —David D. Burns

Good thoughts are like bright colors in a painting. Negative thoughts are dark and dreary and drab. Each day we paint pictures of our own lives with our thoughts. If we step back and look at the canvas, we will see whether the picture is alive with bright colors or dreary and lifeless like a dark cloud. Our thoughts have the power to bring joy or sadness our way, depending on what we expect or look for in our surroundings. The choice of how we want our lives to be is ours. Since we paint a new picture each day, we are always free to change things when they don't please us. What better time than the present?

Is there something in my life I'd like to change today?

From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©

********************************

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Keep It Simple

 

A complete revaluation takes place in your physical and mental being when you've laughed and had some fun. --Catherine Ponder

Norman Cousins, in his book Anatomy of an Illness, describes how he cured his fatal illness with laughter. Laughter recharges our entire being; every cell is activated. We come alive, and full vitality restores us physically and emotionally. Many of us need both emotional and physical healing, but perhaps we've overlooked the times to laugh because we've been caught in a negative posture.

 

Unfortunately, negativity becomes habitual for many of us. However, it's never too late to turn our lives around, to laugh instead of complain. Choosing to see the bright side of life, to laugh at our mistakes, lessens our pain, emotional and physical. Laughter encourages wellness. It is habit-forming and, better yet, contagious. Bringing laughter to others can heal them as well.

We all want health and happiness in ourselves and others, and we can find it by creating it. The best prescription for whatever ails us may well be a good laugh.

 

Action for the Day: Today Ill seek out those chances to dispense a little medicine.

 

***********************

One Day At A Time

 

'Someone'
In those days I had no one to whom I might take my troubles.
Today I have. Today I have Someone who will always hear me;
I have a warm fellowship among men who understand my problems;
I have tasks to do and am glad to do them, to see others who are alcoholics
and to help them in any way I can to become sober men.
I took my last drink in 1937.
~ Jim S., Akron, Ohio, early member ~
- Experience, Strength and Hope, pp. 276-77

Thought to Ponder . . .
Trust God. Clean house. Help others.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Answer Available.

 

********************
Daily Motivation

The positive possibilities

Frustration comes from focusing on what you cannot control. Achievement, on the other hand, comes from focusing on all the useful and valuable things you can do.

Resentment comes from seeing yourself as a victim. Effectiveness comes from stepping up and taking responsibility.

If you constantly complain that life is unfair, you’ll blind yourself to the best opportunities. Yet by simply accepting that what’s done is done, you’ll find a way to make the most of it.

Don’t waste your time arguing and fighting with life. Instead, invest your time and resources in inspiring and encouraging the best in yourself and in those around you.

There is good, positive, fulfilling value to be lived every day, in any situation. Choose to be the person who shines a light on that potential value and who brings that value fully to life.

Let go of the frustration, resentment and despair by letting the positive possibilities fill your awareness. Embrace and enjoy the immense power that comes from taking full, unconditional responsibility for all you are and all you experience.

— Ralph Marston