Friday, April 28, 2017
Today's Gift
Before recovery, we saw only a blurry picture of ourselves, like we were looking through an out-of-focus camera lens. We couldn't see the good in ourselves because we wouldn't look close enough.
Step Four helps us look more closely. We see a picture of ourselves, with our good points and our faults. We don't like everything we see. But we can't change until we accept ourselves as we are.
Then we can start getting ready to change.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see the good in me and love myself.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll make a list of four of my good points and four of my faults. Am I getting to have my Higher Power remove these defects of character?
Reacts Differently
Opinions vary considerably as to why the alcoholic reacts differently from normal
people. We are not sure why, once a certain point is reached, little can be done
for him. We cannot answer the riddle. We know that while the alcoholic keeps away
from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. We are
equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something
happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for
him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 22 - 23
Thought to Ponder . . .
When all else fails, the directions are in the Big Book.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Absolute Abstinence
Excerpt of The Daily Motivator
Offer peace
by Ralph Marston
Take what the world gives you and in return, offer peace. Let go of the wish that this moment could be different, and live it as it is, in your own sense of peace.
Make the effort, but don’t make it a fight. Achieve all kinds of great, wonderful and ambitious things, and achieve them with a peaceful heart.
What good is success if you must go against your own best nature to reach it? Work to succeed not through conflict, but through a peaceful, useful, helpful, loving presence.
When you find yourself thinking angry, anxious, judgmental or fearful thoughts, make the choice to make a change. Challenge yourself to think from a more peaceful perspective.
Offer peace to those around you, and most certainly to yourself. Experience the positive, highly effective power that comes from rising above the conflicts.
In the big things, and in the small matters, offer peace to life. Experience the power that authentic peace can bring to every part of your world.
Indeed, this need of individuals to be right is so great that they are willing to sacrifice themselves, their relationships, and even love for it. —Reuel Howe
We may have an inner drive to be right - and even to prove we are right. We often have been expected to know about the world and how things work, as if our personhood were tied to knowing. So when we don't know the right answer, or when a person disagrees with us, we may get upset because we feel our masculine honor is in question.
We should always remember that our honor requires being honest, not being right. Our integrity is being true to ourselves as a person, not being invincible. Demanding that our opinions always be accepted as right is destructive to our relationships. It cuts us off from people we love, and becomes hostile and selfish. We are learning to allow room for differences; we can love and respect people we disagree with. And we all have a right to be wrong part of the time.
I don't have to have all the right answers. Today, my ideas are just one person's honest thoughts.
From Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men ©
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
Unless I accept my faults I will most certainly doubt my virtues. --- Hugh Prather
Unless I accept my faults I will most certainly doubt my virtues. --- Hugh Prather
Before recovery, we saw only a blurry picture of ourselves, like we were looking through an out-of-focus camera lens. We couldn't see the good in ourselves because we wouldn't look close enough.
Step Four helps us look more closely. We see a picture of ourselves, with our good points and our faults. We don't like everything we see. But we can't change until we accept ourselves as we are.
Then we can start getting ready to change.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see the good in me and love myself.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll make a list of four of my good points and four of my faults. Am I getting to have my Higher Power remove these defects of character?
From: Bluidkiti's Alcohol and Drug Addictions Recovery Help/Support Forums
Daily Recovery Readings - http://www.bluidkiti.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2
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One Day At A Time
Reacts Differently
Opinions vary considerably as to why the alcoholic reacts differently from normal
people. We are not sure why, once a certain point is reached, little can be done
for him. We cannot answer the riddle. We know that while the alcoholic keeps away
from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. We are
equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something
happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for
him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 22 - 23
Thought to Ponder . . .
When all else fails, the directions are in the Big Book.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Absolute Abstinence
From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net)
***************************
Daily Motivation
Excerpt of The Daily Motivator
by Ralph Marston
Take what the world gives you and in return, offer peace. Let go of the wish that this moment could be different, and live it as it is, in your own sense of peace.
Make the effort, but don’t make it a fight. Achieve all kinds of great, wonderful and ambitious things, and achieve them with a peaceful heart.
What good is success if you must go against your own best nature to reach it? Work to succeed not through conflict, but through a peaceful, useful, helpful, loving presence.
When you find yourself thinking angry, anxious, judgmental or fearful thoughts, make the choice to make a change. Challenge yourself to think from a more peaceful perspective.
Offer peace to those around you, and most certainly to yourself. Experience the positive, highly effective power that comes from rising above the conflicts.
In the big things, and in the small matters, offer peace to life. Experience the power that authentic peace can bring to every part of your world.
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