The Work-In: Daily Motivation 7-14-2021

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Today's Gift

Through spontaneity we are reformed into ourselves. Freed from handed-down frames of reference, spontaneity becomes the moment of personal freedom when we are faced with a reality, explore it, and act accordingly. —Viola Spolin

Living in the here and the now opens up untold possibilities for new growth. Our inner self is enticed in new directions when our attention is fully in the present. When our minds are still on last night's argument or tomorrow's board meeting, we wear blinders to the activity at hand. And our Higher Power, as our teacher and protector, resides in this experience, in the hearts of these people present.

Every single moment has something for us. Maybe a new piece of information. A piece that solves a problem that's been puzzling us. Perhaps a chance to make a new friend, one who will be there in a time of need.

Letting go of yesterday frees us. We need not be burdened. It is gone. Our lives could be eased, so much, if we kept our focus on the experience at hand, where the problems we ponder have their solutions. Always.

I will greet today, skipping, smiling, ready for the answers, the truths, the directions meant only for me. The wonders of today will bless me.

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

Happiness is not a matter of events; it depends upon the tides of the mind.
—Alice Meyvell

It's thought that Abe Lincoln once said, "We're as happy as we make up our minds to be." In other words, we decide to be happy. Bad weather, lost toys, broken plans, even angry friends don't have to ruin our own happiness unless we let them. We're always in control of our own thoughts and feelings, and happiness is a feeling we can choose even when others around us have chosen to be angry or sad. Even when the day is gloomy and none of our plans are working out, we can still be cheerful if we decide to be. How lucky we are that someone else can't decide for us how to feel. We'd be nothing more than robots if that were true.

Today's Action: I am ready to make this day a happy one.

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

Powerless to Purposeful Lives
But upon entering AA we soon take quite another view of this
absolute humiliation. We perceive that only through utter defeat
are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength.
Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be
firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Step One) p. 21

Thought to Ponder
The Twelve Steps -- a manuscript for rational living.

AA-related 'Alconym'
S T E P S = Solutions Through Each Powerful Step

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

Live life now

by Ralph Marston

The joy and fulfillment you seek, are here now for you to experience. If you are not fully present in this moment, when will you ever be?

Don’t waste another minute by waiting for conditions to improve. The opportunity to live the best day of your life is here and now.

Embrace this moment just as it is, and taste its richness. Step confidently forward just as you are, and fully live life now.

Obsessing over what could have been or what should have been won’t bring you any value. Following your positive purpose in this moment is what will create value.

You are now free from all the limitations you had imposed on yourself in the past. You can now see your best possibilities and act to fulfill them.

There is so much richness right here and now. Open yourself to the beautiful experience that is yours to fulfill.

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

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 7-13-2021

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Today's Gift 

The trouble is not that we are never happy--it is that happiness is so episodical. —Ruth Benedict

Happiness is our birthright. The decision to be happy is ours to make, every day, when confronted with any experience. Too many of us grew up believing that life needed to be a certain way for us to be happy. We looked for the right lover, the right job, and the right dress. We looked outside of ourselves for the key to happiness.

Happiness lies within. We must encourage it to spring forth. But first we need to believe that happiness is fully within our power. We must trust that the most difficult circumstances won't keep it from us when we have learned to tap the source within.

Life is a gift we are granted moment-by-moment. Let us be in awe of the wonder of it, and then revel in it. We can marvel at creation for a moment and realize how special we are to be participants. Happiness will overcome us if we let it. We can best show our gratitude for the wonder of this gift by smiling within and without.

That I am here is a wonderful mystery to which joy is the natural response. It is no accident that I am here.

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

If I were to begin life again, I should want it as it was. I would only open my eyes a little more. —Jules Renard

Spiritual and emotional growth is a process of raising our awareness. Reflecting on our growth as an individual, before this program and after, we see different levels of consciousness. Some of us might say we weren't at all conscious of what it meant to be a man by the time we entered the adult world.

Now we are forming an awareness of personhood. We see ourselves more as recovering, caring, strong, vulnerable individual  in relationships with others. We have an increased sense that our actions make a difference as children, as parents, as spouses, lovers, and friends. Our increased understanding of ourselves makes it possible to fulfill our potentials for growth. It is not idle fantasy to imagine beginning life again because, in a sense, we have. In recovery, it seems we have begun life again, only with our eyes a little more open.

Action for the Day: I will live this day, and all my following days, with all of my awareness.

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

To Grow
This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to
take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes
as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we
cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our
next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is
not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 84

Thought to Ponder
Get it - Give it - Grow in it.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A A = Always Aware

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

Feel life

by Ralph Marston

In order to feel your immense power, you must feel. Just go ahead and allow your authentic, living feelings to be, and move your life powerfully forward.

The way you feel connects you to the truth of who you are. Accept and acknowledge those feelings, and that truth becomes increasingly clear.

Listen to what you are telling yourself with the way you feel. Acquaint yourself with the full extent of the power you have by fully feeling the beautiful reality of who you are.

Be willing to accept the feelings as they come, and nurture your life with their energy. Then, be just as willing to let them go, so they never have to burden you, and so there will be space for new feelings to arise.

Instead of pushing your feelings down with judgment and fear, welcome the authentic power and truth they bring. You are here now to feel every rich and vibrant aspect of your existence.

Feel the life that is yours in each moment you live. Feel the truth, feel the positive power, and make a uniquely beautiful life with it all.

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

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 7-12-2021

Monday, July 5, 2021

Today's Gift

If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet. —Isaac Bashevis Singer

Many of us have the habit of taking a negative outlook on whatever comes along. We don't believe things will work out for us; we don't think we will have a good day; we can't accept our friends' warm feelings. To follow this gloomy path is a strange distortion of faith - it is faith in the negative. Any forecast, whether hopeful or pessimistic, is a step into the unknown. So why do we choose the dark one?

We get a payoff for our pessimism, which keeps us hooked. It creates misery, but serves our demand for control. There is more risk in being open to something positive because we cannot force positive things to occur. We can only be open to them and believe in the possibility. But when we predict the negative and expect only bad things, we squelch many good things or overlook them. Then we say, "I knew it would be this way," and in our misery we satisfy our self-centered craving to be in charge. When we surrender our need to be in control, we are more open and welcoming of the good things that come our way.

Today. I will be open to the good that is around me.

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

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them ~Albert Einstein

Many of us stubbornly hold on to our long-established, preferred ways of looking at things. We don’t think we are stubborn, only that we rely on what worked for us in the past. Perhaps as young guys, we coped with stress by keeping our thoughts to ourselves, or we figured out that we wouldn’t get hurt if we didn’t trust anyone. All the patterns that we developed as youngsters were our best attempts at the time to deal with our lives. The greater the stress we felt, the harder won were our coping responses, and the stronger our attachment to them.

Our best answers from boyhood may not fit our lifetimes as men. Holding too dearly to childhood solutions freezes us in immature and weaker levels of growth. What was charming and harmless behavior in a child can be manipulating and dishonest in a man. Thus, we create new problems. We need to let ourselves become more vulnerable—to give up the security of our old ways and open ourselves to the messages coming from our friends, our program, and our experiences.

Action for the Day: Today, I will be open to insecurity and create the possibility of growing stronger.

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

Anger
In dealing with resentments, we set them on paper. We listed people,
institutions or principles with whom we were angry. We asked ourselves
why we were angry. In most cases it was found that our self-esteem,
our pocketbooks, our ambitions, our personal relationships (including
sex) were hurt or threatened. So we were sore. We were "burned up."
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) pp. 64 - 65

Thought to Ponder
Pain is the measure of our resistance to change.

AA-related 'Alconym'
C A L M = Cause Anger Left Me

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

Why to persist

by Ralph Marston

Don’t get bogged down looking for a way to persist. Just make sure you’re absolutely clear on why you have chosen to persist.

When there is an authentic why, there is true motivation. When there is a real, solid meaningful why, there is action.

Many times that action won’t initially bring the desired results. When that happens, the most effective response is more action that’s been informed and adjusted as a result of the previous attempt.

Even if you have no clue what to do, the way to learn is to do something and discover what happens. And the thing that will get you to do something, and then to do more, is knowing why.

There is no secret technique to discipline. There is no closely guarded insider information on how to persist.

You already know how to start, and how to keep going, and how to persist until you achieve the objective. To utilize that knowledge and that discipline, all you have to do is to truly know why.

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

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 7-9-2021

Friday, July 9, 2021

Today's Gift

Always think of what you have to do as easy and it will become so. —Emile Corie

How we think about the activities before us is very important. If we think cleaning the garage is hard, dirty, and no chance for fun, that's just how it will feel. We'll be tired before we even begin. However, if we approach it like a treasure hunt, expecting to rediscover some long-forgotten treasures, we'll enjoy the task. In fact, it will feel like a game.

The thoughts we carry in our minds determine whether our tasks are fun or not. What good fortune it is that we can control those thoughts. If we approach an assignment for school or a job believing that we're able to do it, that it's not too hard for us, we'll finish with ease. Our thoughts determine our successes. In this way, our lives are in our own hands.

How much better can I make my life today?

From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©

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

Everybody knows that when they're happy, than usually the people around them are happy.---George Harrison

Do we think we can't be happy until others are happy? Then nobody is happy. Our unhappy friends won't take our advice. They say,” Why should I do what you say? You are not happy either." And we answer, "I'll be okay when you're happy." We make them responsible for our happiness. What a mess!

We can only make one person happy---ourselves. How? By living as our Higher Power leads us. By working the Steps. By being grateful for the good things in our lives. By loving ourselves and others, just as we are.

And maybe when we're happy, our friends will learn from us. They can be happy too. But only our friends can make themselves happy.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, as I do my part in Your plan today, help me feel connected to You and to life.

Today's Action: Today I'll enjoy my happiness. I'll look for three ways to share it with others.

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

Ageless Truth
And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise
deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed
support. As the body can fail its purpose for lack of nourishment, so
can the soul. We all need the light of our Higher Power's reality, the nourishment of
Their strength, and the atmosphere of Their grace. To an amazing extent
the facts of A.A. Life confirm this ageless truth.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) pp. 97 - 98

Thought to Ponder
Prayer asks the question. Meditation listens for the answer.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A S A P = Always Say A Prayer

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

Receiving abundance

by Ralph Marston

The way to receive life’s abundance is to express it. The way to receive life’s abundance is to do something creative and useful with it.

There is always something valuable that you can create with your time, your thoughts and actions. In every moment, in every situation, there is something you can do to express life’s abundance.

Whatever you’re able to create may not be something you particularly desire or require, but that’s ok. Because there are other people who wish to have it, and who will happily pay you for it with something else of value to you.

In ways that are familiar and in ways that haven’t yet been imagined, you can create value. With gratitude in your heart, and a desire to give meaning to life, you can create value.

You are surrounded by a sea of abundance. You are alive and aware and highly effective, in a universe that’s overflowing with possibilities.

Through your own unique perspective, you can transform that raw, formless abundance into specific, tangible value. That is how wealth is created, and there is no limit to how much of it you can create.

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

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 7-8-2021

Thursday, July 8, 2021

Today's Gift

Move with the flow. Don't fight the current. Resist nothing. Let life carry you. Don't try to carry it. --Oprah Winfrey

Go with the flow.

Let go of fear and your need to control. Relinquish anxiety. Let it slip away, as you dive into the river of the present moment, the river of your life, your place in the universe.

Stop trying to force the direction. Try not to swim against the current, unless it is necessary for your survival. If you've been clinging to a branch at the riverside, let go.

Let yourself move forward. Let yourself be moved forward.

Avoid the rapids when possible. If you can't, stay relaxed. Staying relaxed can take your safely through fierce currents. If you go under for a moment, allow yourself to surface naturally. You will.

Appreciate the beauty of the scenery, as it is. See things with freshness, with newness. You shall never pass by today's scenery again!

Don't think too hard about things. The flow is meant to be experienced. Within it, care for yourself. You are part of the flow, an important part. Work with the flow. Work within the flow. Thrashing about isn't necessary. Let the flow help you care for yourself. Let it help you set boundaries, make decisions, and get you where you need to be when it is time. You can trust the flow, and your part in it.

Today, I will go with the flow.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©

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

Hurry, hurry has no blessing. --Swahili Proverb

In a busy family there is a lot of activity. We sometimes feel imprisoned by all the work, school, extracurricular activities, housework, meetings, and special events. In the press to do it all, we may lose our peace because of the hurry. We rush to eat; we rush to work; we rush to get there on time. Much of this cannot be helped. But hurry has no blessing, as the proverb goes. We can create quick tempers and a lot of frustration if we try to hurry too much.

When we allow enough time to slow things down, we give ourselves a chance to enjoy what we're doing, and to develop along spiritual lines. Inner peace depends on our keeping a balance in all the things we do. Only then can we feel the joy that comes from having enough time to do things quietly and smoothly, and value the inner peace that comes when we do not hurry.

Action for the Day: I will take my time today and enjoy myself.

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

Priceless Gift
We enjoy moments in which there is something like real peace of mind.
To those of us who have hitherto known only excitement, depression, or
anxiety—in other words, to all of us—this newfound peace is a priceless gift.
Something new indeed has been added. Where humility had formerly stood
for a forced feeding on humble pie, it now begins to mean the nourishing
ingredient which can give us serenity.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Seven) p. 74

Thought to Ponder
Humility is the soil in which all other virtues grow.

AA-related 'Alconym'
S T E P = Something That Enhances Peace

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

Let it flow

by Ralph Marston

Don’t try too hard, in fact don’t try at all. Allow yourself to do.

When you see yourself as trying, you’ve already assumed you will fail. Trying too hard doubles down on that negative perspective.

Life never has to be a trying experience. See yourself as doing, as achieving, as making a difference, then follow through on what you see.

Effective effort is a joy, and is never something to be avoided. Remind yourself of that, then claim some of the joy for yourself.

After all, you have a chance to change the world for the better. And you will, when you enjoy the opportunity rather than getting all uptight about it.

You have unique greatness to give. Stop trying so hard and let it flow.

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

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 7-7-2021

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Today's Gift

Those who are mentally and emotionally healthy are those who have learned when to say yes, when to say no, and when to say whoopee! —Willard S. Krabill

We have fallen into many difficulties because of poorly defined personal boundaries. Some of us never learned to say no to our mothers and felt invaded or ruled by them. Or we never truly said no to our fathers - never went through a teenage rebellion to establish ourselves as adults. Others have gotten stuck saying no and have never learned to yield and say yes.

Boundary problems have been part of the difficulty in many areas of our lives. We've told ourselves we have no right to our yes or no, or we've said we're strong enough to sacrifice for someone else, or we've welcomed the escape from ourselves in discarding our choice. Not saying no when we needed to or not saying yes when we wanted to has led many of us into doctors' offices, lost jobs, ruined friendships, divorces, and bad marriages. Now the inner voice of our Higher Power is showing us our limits and encouraging us to stand up for them.

I am learning to know myself by defining my boundaries and choosing when and when not to cross them.

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

Walk In Dry Places

What should I have said or done?

Second thoughts
After an intense discussion, we might rehash what we said and wish we'd said something else. Perhaps some brilliant remark occurs to us long after the conversation has ended.

We can say only what comes to us at the time of the discussion. Our best preparation for any such discussion.... however important.... is to place the matter in our Higher Power's hands, seeking the highest good for everyone involved.

It may be that the brilliant thoughts coming to us later would have actually been inappropriate. After all, important discussions also involve exchanges of strong feelings that influence the meeting. If our feelings are in line with the high principles of the program, the discussion should go well. In such cases, we will probably say what we're supposed to say.

Today's Action: I'll do my best today without trying to second-guess every word or action.

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

Our Outlook
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how
our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and
self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain
interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude
and outlook upon life will change.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 84

Thought to Ponder
Life will take on new meaning.

AA-related 'Alconym'
B E S T = Been Enjoying Sobriety Today

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

Calm strength

by Ralph Marston

Speak your mind. Pursue your cause. Stand your ground. Make things happen -- with calm strength. When you get tense, excited and angry, when you scream, shout and flail around you tend to make a lot of mistakes. You tend to look foolish. You live to regret your actions.

Instead, be truly strong. Nervous excitability burns out quickly and can do much damage in the process. Calm and determined strength keeps on making a positive, persistent difference until the victory is won.

It’s easy to get agitated. It’s easy to get angry and excited. It is more effective, though, to take a studied, thoughtful and persistent approach. Take a deep breath. Take another. You can make things happen. Rather than putting on a show, put your energy into making a difference. Calm down, be strong, and become a real and undeniable winner.

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

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 7-6-2021

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Today's Gift

Peace, she supposed, was contingent upon a certain disposition of the soul, a disposition to receive the gift that only detachment from self made possible. —Elizabeth Goudge

Self-centeredness, egocentrism, and selfishness are familiar to most of us. We have judged our world and all the situations and people in it in terms of how their existence affects our own. We have become tied to him or to her or to a situation just as surely as an anchor to a boat. Most of us learned in very early childhood to read others' behaviors. And we determined our own worth accordingly.

As adults we still struggle, trying to read another's actions, hoping to find acceptance. Which means we are always vulnerable, exposing our "self" to the whims of other, equally vulnerable "selves." What we search for is peace and security. We think if others love and accept us, we'll be at peace. We'll know serenity. A most important lesson for us to learn in this life is that peace is assured when we anchor ourselves to our Higher Power. Peace, well-being, serene joy will accompany our every step when we expose our vulnerable selves to Higher Power's care and the Universe's care. We'll no longer need to worry about the self we try to protect. It will be handled with care.

Peace awaits me today. I will look to my Higher Power, and the Universe, to know that all is well, that I am all that I need to be.

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

If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself. ~Rollo May

Those of us who go around trying to be right and do everything right are likely to betray ourselves. We stifle our impulses and control our intuition because we can’t be certain that we are correct. As a spiritual exercise, we could stop now and listen to our inner selves and state our own ideas. What comes out may break the illusion of perfection and free us to proceed with life.

We all have original ideas if we just notice them. What images come to mind while we listen to music? What do our dreams tell us? New insights sometimes come during physical activity. A conversation with a friend can help lead us to our wisdom. Our growing strength as recovering people requires that we listen to our own messages and then take some risks to express them.

Action for the Day: Today, I will take risks by stating my ideas. I will stand up for myself by listening to my intuition.

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

Causes and Conditions
Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which
is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted. Though
our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect
unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the
things in ourselves which had been blocking us. Our liquor was but a symptom.
So we had to get down to causes and conditions.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) pp. 63 - 64

Thought to Ponder
Delay is dangerous, and rebellion may be fatal.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A B C = Accept, Begin, Continue

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

Living well

by Ralph Marston

You are highly skilled at noticing what has value and then resonating with that value. You’re able to see what could be blocking good, meaningful experiences and devise ways to get beyond that barrier.

You can live well no matter what the outer situation may be. You can live well because you can choose your perspective and your actions.

Sometimes it might feel that living well is not possible or appropriate. Yet you’re able to honor those feelings, and you know that as soon as you do you begin to transcend them.

You’ve discovered again and again that living well is not a matter of what you have or what you do. Living well has everything to do with why you take the actions you take and value the things you value.

Today is another unique opportunity for living well. Amid all the challenges, complexities, frustrations and obligations, you’re able to find ample space for doing so.

Step forward now and fulfill that promise. Connect to the goodness that’s always a part of you and let it find full expression in living well.

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

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 7-5-2021

Monday, July 5, 2021

Today's Gift

I think everybody’s weird. We should all celebrate our individuality and not be embarrassed or ashamed of it. —Johnny Depp

Take time to celebrate.

Celebrate your successes, your growth, and your accomplishments. Celebrate you and who you are.

For too long you have been too hard on yourself. Others have spilled their negative energy - their attitudes, beliefs, and pain - on you. It had nothing to do with you! All along, you have been a gift to yourself and to the Universe.

You are a child of the Universe. Beautiful, a delight, a joy. You do not have to try harder, be better, be perfect, or be anything you are not. Your beauty is in you, just as you are each moment.

Celebrate that.

When you have a success, when you accomplish something, enjoy it. Pause, reflect, and rejoice. Too long you have listened to admonitions not to feel good about what you have done, lest you travel the downward road to arrogance.

Celebration is a high form of praise, of gratitude to the Creator for the beauty of Their creation. To enjoy and celebrate the good does not mean that it will be taken from you. To celebrate is to delight in the gift, to show gratitude.

Celebrate your relationships! Celebrate the lessons from the past and the love and warmth that are there today. Enjoy the beauty of others and their connection to you.

Celebrate all that is in your life. Celebrate all that is good. Celebrate you!

Today, I will indulge in the joy of celebrating.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©

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

There are really only two ways to approach life--as victim or as gallant fighter--and you must decide if you want to act or react, deal your own cards or play with a stacked deck. And if you don't decide which way to play with life, it always plays with you. --Merle Shain

Being the victim is, or was, uncomfortably familiar to many of us. Perhaps some of us are only now realizing we have choices, that we need not let life happen to us. Becoming responsible to ourselves, choosing behavior, beliefs, friends, activities, that please us, though unfamiliar at first, soon exhilarates us. The more choices we make, the more alive we feel. The more alive we feel, the healthier our choices.

Our aim is recovery. Recovering means participating fully in our lives. It means self-assessment and self-direction. It means trusting to move forward, step-by-step, choice-by-choice, knowing all the while that no thoughtful action can trouble us.

Action for the Day: Many opportunities to make choices will present themselves today. The choices I make will satisfy me; they will move me toward my goal of recovery.

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

A Solution
There is a solution. Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the
leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process
requires for its successful consummation. But we saw that it really worked
in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility
of life as we had been living it. When, therefore, we were approached
by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left
for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 25

Thought to Ponder
The solution is simple. The solution is spiritual.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A A = Alcoholic's Answer

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

Celebrate

by Ralph Marston

Make today a celebration of the good fortune you have to be alive and aware and able to make a difference in your world. You will pass through this day only once, so fill it with joy while you’re here.

Imagine traveling for hundreds of years through darkness and silence, and then suddenly arriving at where you are right now. Get out and explore the magnificent landscape that’s filled to the brim with possibilities.

See the colors, taste the flavors, feel the warmth and texture of it all. And delight in the truly awesome ability that you possess to make it even better.

Every important occasion calls for a joyous celebration. And what could be a more important occasion than life itself on this very day?

Make every moment, every thought, every action into a celebration. Whatever you find yourself doing, do it with a joyful heart.

And see how many others you can infect with your joy. For the more you think about it, the more you know that this is truly a day to celebrate.

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

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 7-2-2021

Friday, July 2, 2021

Today's Gift

Humor is such a strong weapon, such a strong answer. People have to make jokes about themselves, laugh about themselves, because they have nothing to lose. —Agnes Varda

Laughter can cure a physical condition; it can and will positively affect an emotional illness as well. Laughter ushers in a new perspective which gives vent to a changed attitude. And our attitude toward any situation, any individual, is all-powerful.

A negative, critical attitude toward our financial situation, toward our illnesses, toward our boss, or spouse, or friends, determines how we feel moment by moment. In like manner, when we raise our sights, look at the world with lightness in our hearts, expecting to enjoy the day, the people, the activity, we'll succeed.

Finding humor in a situation, any situation prevents us from succumbing to feelings of powerlessness. Feeling powerless, behaving as victims, comes easily for many of us. Choosing a humorous response, opting to laugh at our situation, at any point in time, keeps our personal power where it belongs-with ourselves.

My emotional health depends on my active involvement in deciding who I am, right now. Deciding to chuckle rather than snarl will give me an unexpected emotional boost.

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

We're not here to lose our sense of humor. --Richie Berlin

Being too serious is habit forming. However, many aspects of our lives are serious and need to be addressed. Our disease, for one, is very serious. Working the Twelve Step program to the best of our ability is serious too. So are being honest and loving with friends, taking responsibility for all of our behavior, and being willing to change. But we can get in the habit of being too serious in many areas of our lives where a lighter touch is called for.

Cultivating laughter, so it too can become habit forming, benefits us immeasurably; however, this may not be easy. Our family of origin taught us that some things were funny and other things weren't. If we were laughed at rather than encouraged to see the humor in situations affecting us, we may find it hard to be comfortable with anyone's laughter. But we can work on this. We can begin by spending time with people who laugh and see the humor in situations that affect them. Our families were our earliest teachers; we can pick some new teachers now.

Action for the Day: The more often I laugh today, the lighter my spirit will feel and the healthier my emotional life will become.

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

Prayer
In A.A. we have found that the actual good results of prayer are
beyond question. They are matters of knowledge and experience.
All those who have persisted have found strength not ordinarily
their own. They have found wisdom beyond their usual capability.
And they have increasingly found a peace of mind which can stand
firm in the face of difficult circumstances.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) p. 104

Thought to Ponder
Today I pray over the things that I used to drink over.

AA-related 'Alconym'
P U S H = Pray Until Something Happens

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html

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Daily Motivation

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator

All the answers
by Ralph Marston

You don’t have all the answers. No one does.

You don’t want to ever have all the answers, because then no more questions would be possible. There would be no more joy of discovery.

What you know has value. What you don’t know has great value too.

In what you know, there is much possibility. In what you don’t know, there is infinite possibility.

Each mystery you solve opens the door to more mysteries. You can find great satisfaction by discovering the answers and also by encountering even more questions.

Have the humility to remind yourself you don’t have all the answers. That will keep you always open to endless and continuing discovery.

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