Friday, December 21, 2012

Daily Motivation 12-21-2012

Friday, December 21, 2011
Today's Gift
 
Every Christmas I hope for the best but expect the worst. --Adult child group member
 
As bells ring out and carols echo everywhere, we should not be surprised if our spirits take a nosedive. It isn't that we don't understand the meaning of Christmas, or that we reject it, but rather that the idealized version of what Christmas should be has often times been denied us. We may come to resent the fact that all this good cheer seems to be for other people, not us.
 
Our experiences may have had little to do with family togetherness around a glowing fireplace, loving conversation, and delighted laughter. Such scenes feel like an affront if there has been no family closeness, perhaps no gifts, and little or no overt love. Of course it's wrenching when our own experience clashes so painfully with advertised reality!
 
But every day is a chance for new experience. We can choose today to create the good cheer that wasn't created for us. It's too late to change yesterday's disappointment, but, if we choose, we can make this holiday season the one we'll remember.
 
I have made a conscious decision to leave past Christmases in the past. Today, I will begin to plan a celebration.
 
From the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty
 

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Keep It Simple

Every person is responsible for all the good within the scope of  their abilities, and no more . . . --Gail Hamilton

We have been given the gift of life. Our recovery validates that fact. Our pleasure with that gift is best expressed by the fullness with which we greet and live life. We need not back off from the invitations our experiences offer. Each one of them gives us a chance, a bit different from all other chances, to fulfill part of our purpose in the lives of others.

It has been said that the most prayerful life is the one most actively lived. Full encounter with each moment is evidence of our trust in the now and thus our trust in our higher power. When we fear what may come or worry over what has gone before, we're not trusting in our Higher Power. Growth in the program will help us remember that fact, thus releasing us to participate more actively in the special circumstances of our lives.

When we look around us today, we know that the persons in our midst need our best, and they're not there by accident but by Divine appointment. We can offer them the best we have--acceptance, love, support, our prayers, and we can know that is our Higher Power's plan for our lives and theirs.

Action for the Day: I will celebrate my opportunities for goodness today. They'll bless me in turn.

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One Day At A Time

Instincts
We have learned that the satisfaction of instincts
cannot be the sole end and aim of our lives.
If we place instincts first, we have got the cart before the horse;
we shall be pulled backward into disillusionment.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 114

Thought to Ponder . . .
When I choose the behavior, I choose the consequences.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A =
Altered Attitudes

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Daily Motivation

Use your power

If you think there’s nothing you can do, you’re mistaken. Just because you’re burdened with challenges and limitations, doesn’t mean you are powerless.

Stop telling yourself and others that you can’t. Start telling yourself, and knowing, that you will.

Quit obsessing over what you need. Direct your focus and attention and energy toward what you can do.

It’s easy to assume that you’re constrained by limitations and challenges, and that you’re powerless to make a difference. It’s much better to do what you can, making use of what you have, right now.

The way to get beyond doubt is not by focusing on that doubt. The way to get beyond doubt is with action.

Use your power to choose, your power to act, and your power to make a difference. There is plenty you can do, right now, so fill your awareness with the best possibilities and steadily bring them to life.

— Ralph Marston

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