Monday, December 24, 2012

Daily Motivation 12-24-2012

Monday, December 24, 2012
Today's Gift

Remember …don’t let anyone take away your joy during the holidays. Try to love yourself and allow yourself to be embraced by caring, compassionate people. - Author Unknown

Getting Through the Holidays

For some, the sights, signs, and smells of the holidays bring joy and a warm feeling. But, while others are joyously diving into the season, some of us are dipping into conflict, guilt, and a sense of loss.

We read articles on how to enjoy the holidays, we read about the Christmas blues, but many of us still can't figure out how to get through the holiday season. We may not know what a joyous holiday would look and feel like.

Many of us are torn between what we want to do on the holiday, and what we feel we have to do. We may feel guilty because we don't want to be with our families. We may feel a sense of loss because we don't have the kind of family to be with that we want. Many of us, year after year, walk into the same dining room on the same holiday, expecting this year to be different. Then we leave, year after year, feeling let down, disappointed, and confused by it all.

Many of us have old, painful memories triggered by the holidays.

Many of us feel a great deal of relief when the holiday is ended.

One of the greatest gifts of life is learning that we are not alone. There are probably as many of us in conflict during the holidays than there are those who feel at peace. We're learning, through trial and error, how to take care of ourselves a little better each holiday season.

Our first task during the holidays is to accept ourselves, our situation, and our feelings about our situation. We accept our guilt, anger, and sense of loss. It's all okay.

There is no right or perfect way to handle the holidays. Our strength can be found in doing the best we can, one year at a time.

This holiday season, I will give myself permission to take care of myself.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day
 
Keep It Simple
 
Celebration is a forgetting in order to remember. A forgetting of ego, of problems, of difficulties. A letting go. —Matthew Fox

A holiday presents us with an opportunity to practice the letting go of this program. This is a special day to set aside our work and our routines, to put our problems and burdens on the shelf. Let us join with others who are also letting go on this day and celebrate. Maybe we can learn from them how they do it.

We may have been too compulsive on past holidays to celebrate. Or perhaps our holidays are clouded with painful memories. We might miss loved ones or we may recall disappointments or the chaos of earlier holidays. There is no need for perfection in our celebration. We can have some tension, or pain, and yet set it aside as we join with others for a special day.

Action for the Day: Today, I will set my ego aside and let go of the usual things in my life in order to reach out to others and participate in celebration.
 
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One Day At A Time
 
This Precious Gift
None of us can ever fathom the glories and the uncharted regions of the universe.
But we can live on earth and love one another.
We can let in the beginnings of concern, compassion, consideration,
and watch ourselves grow.
With the tools and guideposts of AA, we can learn a little of this precious gift --
our gateway to human spirituality.
- Came To Believe . . ., p. 120

Thought to Ponder . . .
Sobriety is a gift.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
G I F T =
Goodness Is Forever There.
 
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Daily Motivation

Enjoy this moment

Let yourself enjoy this beautiful moment. Let yourself enjoy this rich and abundant life.

Let go of any thoughts or feelings of worry, inadequacy, fear or anger. Let yourself be your own most compelling advocate for truly enjoying the place where you are.

Feel the depth of the miracle that is your existence. Experience the profound peace that lives at your center.

Give life more joy by allowing more joy to flow out from you. Choose to simply and powerfully enjoy.

Enjoy what is, as it comes. Then gently let it go and enjoy what comes next.

Enjoy this beautiful moment, and make it much more beautiful with your authentic joy. Enjoy, be at peace, and bring all of life more fully to life.

— Ralph Marston

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