Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Today's Gift
Fantasies are more than substitutes for unpleasant reality; they are also dress rehearsals, plans. All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination. --Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
Our minds mold who we become. Our thoughts not only contribute to our achievements, they determine the posture of our lives. How very powerful they are. Fortunately, we have the power to think the thoughts we choose, which means our lives will unfold much as we expect.
The seeds we plant in our minds indicate the directions we'll explore in our development. And we won't explore areas we've never given attention to in our reflective moments. We must dare to dream extravagant, improbable dreams if we intend to find a new direction, and the steps necessary to it.
We will not achieve, we will not master that which goes unplanned in our dream world. We imagine first, and then we conceive the execution of a plan. Our minds prepare us for success. They can also prepare us for failure if we let our thoughts become negative.
I can succeed with my fondest hopes. But I must believe in my potential for success. I will ponder the positive today.
From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey©
Many of us didn't understand the changing variables in being human. Our coping skills were at a minimum until we discovered what alcohol or pills, even food, could do for us. And then, a drink or two--or six, maybe--got us through many a lonely evening.
The desire for an easy solution might still haunt us, but time, new experiences, and program friends have taught us that our past habits weren't really easy solutions. In reality, they increased our problems and led us nowhere.
The Steps and the principles of the program, if applied, guarantee success, living success. We come to believe that strength enough to handle any situation is ours for the asking. And experience with these principles shows us that when we live the way our conscience dictates, the rewards are many.
Every day, especially this one facing us, our choices and decisions will be many. But there is only one solution to any problem, and that's the one our higher power guides us to. The answer, the choice, always lies within, and the good life will accompany our thoughtful, reverent choices.
Action for the Day: The power of the program is mine for the taking. All of today's problems can be eased, if I choose so.
In the late stages of our drinking and druging, the will to resist has fled.
Yet when we admit complete defeat
and when we become entirely ready to try AA principles,
our obsession leaves us and we enter a new dimension --
freedom under God as we understand Him.
- As Bill Sees It, p. 283
Thought to Ponder . . .
We surrender to win; we give away to keep;
we suffer to get well; we die to live.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
K I S S = Keep It Simple; Surrender.
Daily Motivation
Be inspiring
Common sense would tell you that it’s difficult to be positive and inspired when the circumstances of your life are negative or painful or disheartening. Yet it is at precisely those times that inspiration can be the most beneficial.
Certainly there are many things in life that can lead you and prompt you to be inspired. However, even without any positive factors in the outside world, you can be positively inspired.
Inspiration is a powerful fire that burns on the inside. Sometimes there’s nothing else to ignite that fire, so you must do it yourself.
Sometimes life’s experience doesn’t validate or encourage your most deeply held values. But that’s not any reason to abandon those values.
Instead of always depending on the world to inspire you, choose to be a brilliant, positive source of inspiration yourself. The spark of inspiration must begin somewhere, so if life seems to lack inspiration, let that spark begin with you.
The most reliable way to be inspired is to be inspiring. Feel the simple, yet profound joy of being, and let your positive spirit shine a light that lifts up all those around you.
— Ralph Marston
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