Daily Motivation 5-9-2012

Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Today's Gift

Sometimes we'll take a few steps backward. That's okay too. Sometimes it's necessary. Sometimes it's part of going forward. —Codependent No More

Life is a Gentle Teacher. She wants to help us learn.

The lessons she wants to teach us are the ones we need to learn. Some say they are the lessons we chose to learn before we were born. Others say they are the lessons that were chosen for us.

It's frustrating to be in the midst of learning. It is like sitting in algebra class, listening to a teacher explain a subject beyond our comprehension. We do not understand, but the teacher takes the understanding for granted.

It may feel like someone is torturing us with messages that we shall never understand. We strain and strain. We become angry. Frustrated. Confused. Finally, in despair, we turn away, deciding that that formula will never be available to our mind.

Later, while taking a quiet walk, we break through. Quietly, the gift of understanding has reached that deepest place in us. We understand. We have learned. The next day in class, it's hard for us to imagine not knowing. It is hard to remember the frustration and confusion of those who have not yet caught on. It seems so easy . . . now.

Life is a Gentle Teacher. She will keep repeating the lesson until we learn. It is okay to become frustrated. Confused. Angry. Sometimes it is okay to despair. Then, it is okay to walk away and allow the breakthrough to come.

It shall.

Help me remember that frustration and confusion usually precede growth. If my situation is challenging me, it is because I'm learning something new, rising to a higher level of understanding. Help me be grateful, even in my frustration, that life is an exciting progression of lessons.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Walk in Dry Places

Maintaining Optimism.

 

The Importance of Hope
As a great virtue, hope is ranked with faith and love. But those of us caught in the thicket of alcoholism and other addictions had much experience with hopes that turned out to be merely cruel illusions. In recovery, however, hope has a sound purpose. It is really a form of optimism, an underlying belief that things will work out in spite of the obstacles and problems we face. This helps provide the strength and energy we need to succeed in the face of opposition and setbacks.

 

We also own much of our recovery to the capacity for hope that was in our friends and family members. Henrietta D... wife of AA member Number three, told an interviewer that she had never lost hope that her husband would eventually recover. She saw it as the answer to her hope and prayers when Bill W. and Dr. Bob arrived at her husband's bedside in Akron's City Hospital... an when he left, he never drank again.

Hope is the optimism that keeps us moving toward our highest good. Let's keep it alive.

 

Action for the Day: I'll face my day with the underlying belief that things will work out in the long run. I'll refuse to be overwhelmed by temporary setbacks.

 

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One Day At A Time

 

Belief
So, out of need, I came to believe. To go along with this deep-seated belief in a Higher Power,
I have developed an enormous faith in my Higher Power. It is good.
My understanding is that everything they sends my way is for my benefit.
But the growth of this understanding has taken time, as well as
a relinquishing of my resistance to change. I needed the trials and tribulations
I have had, so that I could surrender and give up self.
Only in complete acceptance of the utter defeat of my pride and ego
could I begin to win.
- Came To Believe . . ., pp. 86-87

Thought to Ponder . . .
I came; I came to; I came to believe.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A B C = Acceptance, Belief, Change.

 

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Daily Motivation

Always your choice

When life hands you a negative experience, respond with a positive action. Instead of letting the difficult circumstances pull you down, choose to let them inspire you.

Sure, it’s easy to become dismayed. Yet the truly empowering fact is that it’s just as easy to become determined.

Your attitude is always your choice. So you might as well choose the attitude that will serve you the very best.

When you find yourself feeling angry, cynical, disillusioned, resentful, worried or apathetic, stop. Choose to use those negative feelings as a positive trigger.

Aim your focus in the direction of your best possibilities. Take quick, decisive action in support of those possibilities.

You are in control of your attitude, your thoughts and your actions. So choose to be positive, forward-looking, creative and effective no matter what may come your way.

— Ralph Marston