Thursday, April 28, 2016

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 4-28-2016

Thursday, April 28, 2016
Today's Gift

You can feel only your own feelings, not another person's. --Elisabeth L.

Having empathy for those we love, and being able to share their joys and sorrows, is part of our nature as warm, caring human beings. Taken to an extreme, however, too much empathy can mean that we lose our boundaries as emotionally separate individuals. When that happens, nobody wins.

We're responsible for our own feelings. If we're too deeply involved in another person's emotional state, we may not be truly aware of our own feelings. If we take on someone else's response to a situation, we lose our own in the process.

In any situation, particularly one that is highly charged with negative emotions, we need to maintain a sense of self. If we allow ourselves to be swept up in the anger, fear, grief, or despair of someone close to us, we become less capable of giving help and support. Emotional maturity is one of the goals of recovery. We progress toward it as we differentiate how we feel from how another person appears to feel.

I can respect the feelings of others without making them my own.

From the book Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L. ©


From: Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation - Thought for the Day http://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/recovery/thought-for-the-day

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Keep It Simple

. . . suffering . . . no matter how multiplied . . . is always individual. --Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Knowing that others have survived experiences equally devastating gives us hope, but it doesn't diminish our own personal suffering. Nor should it; out of suffering comes new understanding. Suffering also encourages our appreciation of the lighter, easier times. Pain experienced fully enhances the times of pleasure.

Our sufferings are singular, individual, and lonely. But our experiences with it can be shared, thereby lessening the power they have over us. Sharing our pain with another woman also helps her remember that her pain, too, is survivable.

Suffering softens us, helps us to feel more compassion and love toward another. Our sense of belonging to the human race, our recognition of the interdependence and kinship of us all, are the most cherished results of the gift of pain.

Action for the Day: Each of our sufferings, sharing them as we do, strengthens me and heals my wounds of alienation.

From: Bluidkiti's Alcohol and Drug Addictions Recovery Help/Support Forums

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One Day At A Time

Dedication
Early in my AA life, I asked myself how I could express my gratitude.
The answer was simple: by dedicating my life to AA and its people.
I found out that the more I know about AA, the more effectively I could carry the message.
The more I know about AA -- from the bottom up and the top down, across its scope world-wide -- the more I love it.
And the more I love it, the better equipped I am to carry the message.
- The AA Service Manual, p. S76

Thought to Ponder . . .
That light at the end of the tunnel may be you.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A's - R - U S = Alcoholics Anonymous - Recovery, Unity, Service.

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net)

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

The ordinary moments
by Ralph Marston

Life does not have to be glamorous or spectacular in order to be filled with richness. The very best moments are, more often than not, the ordinary moments.

It is not really what surrounds you or what happens to you that makes life good. It is what you do with it. Some people can be miserable even in the most exciting, opulent surroundings. And others can find true magic, wonder and richness in even the most common, ordinary circumstances.

Where you are right now is a great and wonderful place to be. Know that there are real miracles in this very moment and they will be yours to live.

If your happiness depends on some outside factor, then even if you attain it, you’ll be disappointed by the sense of emptiness it brings. And you’ll feel the need for something more.

That something more has been there all along and is, when you choose it, unconditionally yours. Find your joy in the ordinary moments and experience how beautifully rich and fulfilling life can be.

From The Daily Motivator website at http://greatday.com/




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