Daily Motivation 1-4-2013

Friday, January 4, 2011

Today's Gift

 

It is not fair to ask of others what you, are not willing to do yourself. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Equality is a state of mind. When we value our own self-worth, we are comfortable with the achievements and the well-being of our friends and associates. The symptoms of a punctured ego occur when we criticize others and make demands we don't want to fulfill ourselves.

 

Most of us experience wavering self-confidence on occasion. It may haunt us when a big task faces us. Or it may visit us when we least expect it. It's a facet of the human condition to sometimes lack self-assurance. At times we need to remember that life is purposeful, and the events involving us are by design.

 

Almost daily we'll face situations we fear are more than we can handle, and we'll hope to pass the task off to another. It's well for us to remember that we're never given a task for which we're not prepared. Nor should we pass on to others those activities we need to experience personally if our growth is to be complete.

 

I must do my own growing today. If I ask others to do what I should do, I'll not fulfill my part of life's bargain.

 

From the book The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey and Martha Vanceburg

 

 

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Keep It Simple

Once I knew that I wanted to be an artist, I had made myself into one. I did not understand that wanting doesn't always lead to action. Many of the people had been raised without the sense that they could mold and shape their own lives, and so, wanting to be an artist (but without the ability to realize their wants) was, for some of them, only an idle fantasy, like wanting to go to the moon. --Judy Chicago

There are probably not many of us, in this recovery program, who grappled with life as straight on as Judy Chicago did. It is likely we didn't understand that we could mold and shape our lives. How lucky we are to be learning that now with the help of the Twelve Steps and one another. Each day we are confronted with many opportunities to make responsible choices, reasonable decisions. These choices and decisions are the molders, the shapers, of who we are becoming. Our identity as person is strengthened each time we thoughtfully make a choice. The action we take through making each choice gives our identity more substance--our wholeness as a person is guaranteed through these choices.

Action for the Day: Many opportunities to make choices will arise today. I can be thoughtful and make choices that will lead to my greater wholeness.

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One Day At A Time

Tolerance
We can try to stop making unreasonable demands upon those we love.
We can show kindness where we had shown none.
With those we dislike we can begin to practice justice and courtesy,
perhaps going out of our way to understand and help them.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 93

Thought to Ponder . . .
Love and tolerance of others is our code.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
P U T = Patience, Understanding, Tolerance

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Daily Motivation

Live your life forward

Don’t be sad or regretful about the opportunities you’ve missed. Get excited and enthusiastic about the opportunities now available to you.

Take joy and wisdom and inspiration from the past. And leave the rest of the past in the past.

Look forward from where you now are. Live your life forward with the highest of expectations.

Whatever you may have, you have it good. Now is the time to relentlessly build on that goodness in your life.

Think of all the things you can do today that will make tomorrow better. Think that way, and act on your thoughts, day after day after day.

Every moment is an opportunity to make a difference. Use each of those opportunities for positive purpose, and delight in the results as you live your life forward.

— Ralph Marston