Thursday, August 16, 2012
Today's Gift
The perfect man of old looked after himself first before looking to help others. --
Rescuing Ourselves. No one likes a martyr.
How do we feel around martyrs? Guilty, angry, trapped, negative, and anxious to get away.
Somehow, many of us have developed the belief that depriving ourselves, not taking care of ourselves, being a victim, and suffering needlessly will get us what we want.
It is our job to notice our abilities, our strengths, and take care of ourselves by developing and acting on them.
It is our job to notice our pain and weariness and appropriately take care of ourselves.
It is our job to notice our deprivation, too, and begin to take steps to give ourselves abundance. It begins inside of us, by changing what we believe we deserve, by giving up our deprivation and treating ourselves the way we deserve to be treated.
Life is hard, but we don't have to make it more difficult by neglecting ourselves. There is no glory in suffering, only suffering. Our pain will not stop when a rescuer comes, but when we take responsibility for ourselves and stop our own pain.
Today, I will be my own rescuer. I will stop waiting for someone else to work through my issues and solve my problems for me.
From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©
********************************
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Keep It Simple
The strongest rebellion may be expressed in quiet, undramatic behavior.---Benjamin Spock
In recovery, we each rebel against our disease. Each day we fight for the freedom to stay close to our Higher Power, friends and family.
It's mainly a quiet battle. It's fought daily. We fight and win by acting in a spiritual way. We fight and win every time we help a friend, go to meetings, or read about how to improve our lives
We move slowly but always forward. Rushing will only tire us out. Our battle will go on for life.
We are quiet fighters, but we're strong, for we do not fight alone. And we know what waits for us if we lose.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me stay free. When I want to give up, help me realize this is normal. Help me to keep fighting at these times.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll be a rebel. I'll find a way to help someone without the person knowing about who I am now.
Being Selfish
Too often we tried to fortify ourselves with alcohol or drugs
to overcome our feelings of inferiority or inadequacy,
but the result in time was just the reverse;
and we became in effect more inadequate and definitely inferior.
Being selfish in recovery means using our normal minds to think objectively
and constructively about the things around us;
something we could never do with our brains paralyzed by liquor or drugs.
- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 1], p. 154
Thought to Ponder . . .
It is simple, it is selfish, it is self care, and it works wonders.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
ACTION = Any Change Toward Improving One's Nature
***********************
Daily Motivation
Focus on the goodness
Remind yourself how good you have it. Then challenge yourself to do something meaningful and significant with what you have.
Sure, you have your problems and challenges. Yet they are far overshadowed by the positive possibilities and opportunities open to you.
In fact, some of those very problems might indeed point you toward your most valuable possibilities. Even when life is at its most difficult, it is overflowing with opportunities.
What a shame it would be to have so much and not make full use of it. What a shame it would be to not experience and express and spread life’s richness far and wide.
Don’t even think about complaining about what you don’t have, for it is a waste of your precious life. Focus instead on all the goodness you do have in your world.
Embrace that goodness, and make it even more vibrant as it flows out from you. Realize how good you truly have it, and make it better and better.
— Ralph Marston
No comments:
Post a Comment