Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Today's Gift
There is no greater weakness than stubbornness. If you cannot yield, if you cannot learn that there must be compromise in life - you lose. —Maxwell Maltz
Glass is very hard, but fragile. By contrast, leather is tough and resilient. A blow to a glass dish will break it, but a blow to a shoe will just be absorbed. Our program leads us to avoid the folly of being hard like glass, and we become tougher like leather. We must endure surprises, pressures, and blows from the world as a normal part of life. The more able we are to absorb the blows, the stronger and more whole we are as men.
A friend who has a different opinion from ours can be listened to and his ideas considered. There is no need to compete with him or prove that we are right. When our plan for a project at work gets set aside, we will feel the frustration but we need not come apart over it. Perhaps our Higher Power is leading us to a better plan. Frustrations with spouses or friends can be turned over to our Higher Power. We do not have a rigid recipe for life, and we must be open to more learning.
I will surrender my fragile stubbornness in exchange for the toughness I can learn in compromise.
Glass is very hard, but fragile. By contrast, leather is tough and resilient. A blow to a glass dish will break it, but a blow to a shoe will just be absorbed. Our program leads us to avoid the folly of being hard like glass, and we become tougher like leather. We must endure surprises, pressures, and blows from the world as a normal part of life. The more able we are to absorb the blows, the stronger and more whole we are as men.
A friend who has a different opinion from ours can be listened to and his ideas considered. There is no need to compete with him or prove that we are right. When our plan for a project at work gets set aside, we will feel the frustration but we need not come apart over it. Perhaps our Higher Power is leading us to a better plan. Frustrations with spouses or friends can be turned over to our Higher Power. We do not have a rigid recipe for life, and we must be open to more learning.
I will surrender my fragile stubbornness in exchange for the toughness I can learn in compromise.
From Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men ©1986
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Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Walk In Dry Places
Letting Go.
Planning for others.
There are times when we think we see perfectly what others ought to be doing. It pains and disturbs us when loved ones..... our children, perhaps... do not heed our advice. In planning for others, we can easily fall into the trap of enabling. An enabler is a person who supports others in an unhealthy addiction or dependency.
Letting Go.
Planning for others.
There are times when we think we see perfectly what others ought to be doing. It pains and disturbs us when loved ones..... our children, perhaps... do not heed our advice. In planning for others, we can easily fall into the trap of enabling. An enabler is a person who supports others in an unhealthy addiction or dependency.
We must not plan the lives of others, no matter how dear they are to us or how attached we become to them. They must have the freedom to live without obligation or the belief that they could not have succeeded without our help. Freedom of choice is a precious right that includes the freedom to make mistakes.
Action for the day: I'll release any tendency I have to plan for others. At all times, my responsibility is to keep on the right track and let others
be free.
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One Day At A Time
Keep Coming Back
Today I am doing things that I never dreamed possible.
More importantly, it is the peace and serenity I feel inside
that keeps me coming back.
I have been through hard times in and out of sobriety,
but before AA it didn't matter how good things got --
I always had a feeling that something was wrong.
Since AA, it doesn't matter how bad things get --
I always have a feeling that everything is going to be all right.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 381
Thought to Ponder . . .
Peace and serenity are only unimaginable to those without the wings of faith.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Altered Attitudes.
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Daily Motivation
Daily Motivation
What you can and cannot change
There are many things you can change, and there are many things you simply cannot change. Both kinds of things can add value to your life.
With the things you can change, you have the opportunity to improve the circumstances in your own life and in the world around you. In dealing with the things you cannot change, you can grow stronger and develop real wisdom, patience, acceptance, and flexibility.
There is much you can learn from the things you cannot change. You can use that knowledge and experience to positively affect those things you can change.
The things you cannot change give you a base from which to work. The things you can change give you an ever-increasing world of possibilities.
By gently accepting what you cannot change and finding positive ways to deal with it, you lay the groundwork for success. By understanding what you can change and finding positive ways to put that change to work, success and achievement begin to happen.
What a blessing it is to live in a world where there are both things you can change and things you cannot. Each turn of events, in its own way, gives you the opportunity for adding richness to life.
-- Ralph Marston
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