Daily Motivation 2-29-2012

Wednesday, January 29, 2012
Today's Gift

Power is strength and the ability to see yourself through your own eyes and not through the eyes of another. It is being able to place a circle of power at your own feet and not take power from someone else's circle. —Agnes Whistling Elk

Emancipation as adults, seeing ourselves through our own eyes, is difficult. As children, we could have our separateness only in small measure. As men and women, we first bring some childhood ideas to what we experience. We may be arrogant, thinking we already know the answers to life's dilemmas; or defiant, thinking we don't want anyone to tell us what to do; or self-indulgent, grabbing for the greatest pleasure. Those ideas delay seeing ourselves through our own eyes.

Personal power comes when we listen to ourselves and to others. To be independent of everyone may have been our youthful idea of power. In adulthood, power comes in being open and honest about our dependency, yet knowing we have no claim on anyone else to make us happy.

I will place a circle of power at my own feet and stand with dignity inside the circle.

From Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men©

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Keep It Simple

 

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. ~ Helen Keller

 

The next 24 hours are guaranteed to excite us, to lift us to new levels of understanding, to move us into situations with others where we can offer our unique contributions. All that is asked of us is a willingness to trust that we will be given just what we need at each moment.

 

We can dare to live, fully, just for today. We can appreciate the extraordinariness of every breath we take, every challenge we encounter. Within each experience is the invitation for us to grow, to reach out to others in caring ways, to discover more fully the person we are capable of being. We must not let a single moment go by unnoticed.

When we withdraw from life, we stunt our growth. We need involvement with others, involvement that perturbs us, humors us, even stresses us. We tape our internal resources only when we have been pushed to our limits, and our participation in life gifts us, daily, with that push. How necessary the push!

None of us will pass this way again. What we see and feel and say today are gone forever. We have so much to regret when we let things slip away unnoticed or unappreciated.

Action for the Day: A special series of events has been planned for me today. I shall not miss it.

 

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One Day At A Time

 

Surrender
When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us
when we put ourselves in Higher Power's hands
were better than anything we could have planned.
- As Bill Sees It, p. 2

Thought to Ponder . . .
Avoidance is not the key; surrender opens the door.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
K I S S = Keep It Simple; Surrender.

 

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Daily Motivation

Be better

When you are treated rudely, it is tempting to offer rudeness in return. But all that does is add more discord to your life.

It is difficult to show genuine consideration toward someone who has been inconsiderate or disrespectful toward you. And yet, that is precisely the response that most powerfully advances your life.

When you get yourself mired in fighting back against every perceived slight, you become a slave to the rude, destructive behavior of others. Choose instead to let it go, and then to rise above it.

You don’t have to be snide, or vengeful or resentful. You can be better.

Instead of being negatively controlled by your anger, be positively propelled by your highest dreams and visions. Let go of the silly, petty issues, and focus your energy on what’s truly meaningful and fulfilling to you.

Be better, not out of arrogance or spite or pride, but out of the desire to bring your most positive possibilities to fruition. Transcend the frivolous drama, and take the high road to the fulfillment of your dreams.

— Ralph Marston