Thursday, February 23, 2012
Today's Gift
We don't always have to be strong. Sometimes, our strength is expressed in being vulnerable. Sometimes, we need to fall apart to regroup and stay on track. --Melody Beattie
We all have days when we cannot push any harder, cannot hold back self-doubt, cannot stop focusing on fear, cannot be strong.
There are days when we cannot focus on being responsible. Occasionally we don't want to get out of our pajamas. Sometimes, we cry in front of people. We expose our tiredness, irritability, or anger.
Those days are okay. They are just okay.
Part of taking care of ourselves means we give ourselves permission to "fall apart" when we need to. We do not have to be perpetual towers of strength. We are strong. We have proven that. Our strength will continue if we allow ourselves the courage to feel scared, weak, and vulnerable when we need to experience those feelings.
Today, Higher Power, help me to know that it is okay to allow myself to be human. Help me not to feel guilty or punish myself when I need to "fall apart."
From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©
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Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Keep It Simple
Acceptance is the greatest gift of the mind.
Facing conditions we would like to change, letting go of people we wish were different, takes growth, patience, acceptance. We're so easily enticed into thinking we'd be happier, "If only he'd change," or "If I had a better job," or "If the kids would settle down." Yet we carry the seed of happiness within us every moment. Learning acceptance for all conditions will nurture that seed.
Intolerance, impatience, depression, in fact, any negative attitude is habit-forming. Many of us in this recovery program continue to struggle with the habits we've formed. Bad habits must be replaced with new, good habits. We can develop a new behavior, one that pleases us, like smiling at every stranger in a checkout line. We can repeat it in every line. It becomes a habit and a good one.
Acceptance of others opens many doors, for them and for us. It nurtures the soul, ours and theirs. It breeds happiness. Those of us sharing these Steps are truly blessed. We're learning about love, how to give it and how to receive it.
Action for the Day: There are so many eyes I'll look into today that don't know love. I will give some away with unconditional acceptance. It's a gift--to myself and others.
Although we realize that alcoholism and addiction is a permanent, irreversible condition,
our experience has taught us to make no long term promises
about staying clean and sober.
We have found it more realistic -- and more successful -- to say,
"I am not taking a drink just for today."
Even if we drank or used yesterday, we can plan not to drink or use today.
- Living Sober, p. 6
Thought to Ponder . . .
If I don't drink today, I have the hope of a tomorrow.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
J F T = Just For Today.
Daily Motivation
Choose to enjoy
Make life more enjoyable by choosing to see more of it as enjoyable. Instead of assuming that what you’re doing is unpleasant just because everyone else thinks so, see if you can find a way to enjoy it.
Much of what makes life unpleasant is your worry that you’re missing out on something more enjoyable. Let go of that worry, enjoy the moment you’re in, and feel the genuine beauty of life that lives within you.
The distinction between work and play is nothing more than a judgment call. Instead of making that judgment, make the choice to put meaning and fulfillment into whatever you’re doing.
It’s easy to feel confined by your commitments and obligations. Yet when you choose, it is just as easy, and just as realistic, to feel enthusiastic and empowered by whatever it is you must do.
Your situation is what it is. However, the way you feel about your situation is completely up to you.
It feels much better to feel better, and it makes you vastly more effective at bringing real value to life. So choose more often to enjoy, and happily experience life on your own enjoyable terms.
— Ralph Marston
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