Monday, August 22, 2016

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 8-22-2016

Monday, August 22, 2016
Today's Gift

We're only as sick as the secrets we keep. —Sue Atchley Ebaugh

Harboring parts of our inner selves, fearing what others would think if they knew, creates the barriers that keep us separate, feeling different, certain of our inadequacies.

Secrets are burdens, and they weigh heavily on us, so heavily. Carrying secrets makes impossible the attainment of serenity - that which we strive for daily. Abstinence alone is not enough. It must come first, but it's not enough by itself. It can't guarantee that we'll find the serenity we seek.

Many steps can be taken to acquire self-assurance, happiness, spiritual well-being, but there's work to be done. And one of these is total self-disclosure. It's risky, it's humbling, and it's necessary.

When we tell others who we really are, it opens the door for them to share likewise. And when they do, we become bonded. We accept their imperfections and love them for them. And they love us for ours. Our struggles to be perfect, our self-denigration because we aren't, only exaggerates even more the secrets that keep us sick.

Our tarnished selves are lovable; secrets are great equalizers when shared. We need to feel our oneness, our sameness with other women.

Opportunities to share my secrets will present themselves today. I will be courageous.

From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey ©


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

Every human being is a problem in search of a solution. --Ashley Montagu

Each of us is a strong and fragile creature. We're always subject to forces outside our control, and we're learning steps for living that helps us cope and rise above these problems. Our particular situation might seem special to us but in another sense, everyone's situation is a unique problem. Spiritual growth is the result of coming face to face with our own situation, feeling the brunt of our own puzzlement, recognizing no recipe will apply completely, and then trusting our Higher Power as we make unsure responses.

No school or parent can ever teach us enough to smooth our search for solutions. We become complete human beings by living through the muddle, by truly trusting our connections with our Higher Power and other people to carry us along until we find clarity again. We progress into adulthood when we meet our own particular life crises. We learn to see we have this process in common with every human being. Rather than resist our problems, we band together with others and pool our strength to find solutions.

Action for the Day: I will see my problems today as opportunities for spiritual growth.

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

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One Day At A Time

Guilt
Don’t, please, thrash around too long in guilt.
Learn what you can from past negative experiences, and move on.
Guilt is insidious and counterproductive.
You are a perfect child of God. It shines through in your sobriety.
I see it, and so do others. Make yourself see it.
- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 1], p. 86

Thought to Ponder . . .
Guilt is in the past; worry is the future. Both are manifestations of ego.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
G U I L T =
God Understands I Lack Trust

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

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

Resent, or resolve?
by Ralph Marston

Resentment will only make a bad situation worse. Resentment mainly serves to prolong and empower whatever it is you resent, and that’s certainly not what you want.

So rather than being held down by resentment, use the same energy in a much more positive way. Simply decide to turn your resentment into resolve.

Instead of staying focused on what’s wrong and who’s to blame, put that same energy into changing it for the better. The more difficult and painful the situation, the more reason you have to move beyond it, and the more resolve you can develop for doing so.

The same factors which lead to resentment can just as easily and just as powerfully lead to resolve. Any time and every time you have the urge to tie yourself down with resentment, you also have the choice to move your world forward with resolve. When given such a choice, choose resolve. It will take you to much better places than you ever could hope to reach with resentment.

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




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