One of the conclusions I have come to in my older age is the importance of living in the ever-present now. In the past, too often I indulged in the belief that somehow or other tomorrow would be brighter or happier or richer. —Ruth Casey
How easily our minds jump from the present to the foibles of the past or our fears about the future. How seldom are our minds on this moment, and only this moment.
Before we came across these Daily Motivations, where were our thoughts? We need to practice, with diligence, returning our minds to whatever the experience at hand. A truly creative response to any situation can only be made when we are giving it our undivided attention. And each creative response initiates an even more exciting follow-up experience.
All we have of life, all that it can offer us is here, now. If we close our mind to the present, this present, we'll only continue to do so when the tomorrow we dream of now becomes the present. There are no tomorrows.
I will let go of the past and the future. My only reality is here, now. My Higher Power's gifts are here, today, right now.
From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey©
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Growth in Maturity.
Our drinking and using experience should have taught us that we'll continue to repeat old destructive behaviors until we change our attitudes.
In sobriety, we can take this idea a step further and apply it to other areas. If we have trouble with other people, for example, we should ask what we're doing to bring about unpleasant situations.
This is not to say that we're responsible for everything that goes wrong, but we are getting a message ourselves if we continuously meet the same problem in different forms. Some people, for example, repeatedly become involved in bad relationships or find themselves working for abusive bosses.
Just as a changed attitude helped us recover from our drinking/druging problem, so can a new attitude keep us from repeating other destructive situations.
Action for the Day: I'll be on the lookout today for any indications of a tendency to "attract" trouble. It's true that I can have bad luck, but I don't need to bring it on myself.
From the beginning, communication
has been no ordinary transmission of helpful ideas and attitudes. . .
Because of our kinship in suffering, and because our common means of deliverance
are effective for ourselves only when constantly carried to others,
our channels of contact have always been charged with
the language of the heart.
- The Language of the Heart, p. 243
Thought to Ponder . . .
Get it - Give it - Grow in it.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
E S H = Experience, Strength and Hope.
Think bigger
To get beyond the challenges, get your mind above those challenges. Focus on the bigger picture.
It’s all too easy to become obsessed with the problems at hand. Yet by choosing to rise above those problems, you can transform them into powerful opportunities.
You are bigger and better than the difficult circumstances that surround you. Feel the immense power of your positive purpose, and make the commitment to make a real difference.
Don’t be intimidated into dealing with life from a position of weakness. Choose to see the bigger, better possibilities, and passionately work to bring them to life.
Instead of getting mired in pettiness, get inspired by your own magnificent, positive vision of life at its highest level. Stop seeing your life as a struggle to escape the worst, and transform it into a quest to create and experience the best.
You are far more capable, creative, joyful and effective than you’ve ever allowed yourself to be. See the bigger, better picture, and let your life express it fully.
— Ralph Marston
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