Daily Motivation 3-21-2012

Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Today's Gift

If I Had My Life to Live Over ... I'd relax.... I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.... I'd start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry go-rounds. I would pick more daisies. —Nadine Stair

"Letting go" is a theme with many variations. When we live with gusto and are released to experience the full excitement of life, we are letting go. When we turn our lives and wills over to the care of our Higher Power, we are freed of many cares. If we orient our lives with a compass that always points to fear and insecurity, or to power and success, we are giving ourselves over to those forces. But we can orient our lives to our Higher Power's care and support. That makes it possible to drop our guard, allow for some mistakes, and delight in the pleasures of creation.

Today let me forget my worries and enjoy the fullness of life.

From Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men©

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Keep It Simple

 

We must constantly build dams of courage to hold back the flood of fear. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

The definition of courage is the ability to conquer fear or despair. In the past we may have been called courageous because we stayed in circumstances that were difficult or nearly unbearable. We may have felt that walking away from family, children, or friends was cowardly or displayed weakness. We may have felt that by holding back our tears we were stronger people.

 

Yet all the things we may have viewed as weakness are really signs of courage. All the things we believed to be acts of courage were really not courageous at all. If we walked away from difficult or unbearable circumstances, we would be conquering despair. If we cried, we would have been courageous by letting go of our fear, pain, or sadness.

 

Courage doesn't mean putting ourselves in stressful or unpleasant situations. Courage doesn't mean controlling our emotions. Courage is the ability to strengthen ourselves against the fear and despair of life, rather than be drowned by it.

 

Action for the Day: Today I will be grateful for my courage and strengthen it.

 

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One Day At A Time

 

A Path Well-taken
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path.
Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely
give themselves to this simple program . . .
If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length
to get it -- then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked.
We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 58

Thought to Ponder . . .
Wisdom is knowing the right path to take. Integrity is taking it.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Always Awesome.

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Daily Motivation

Now that you know

Don’t curse the problem. Be thankful that you’ve become aware of it.

Now that you know it’s a problem, you can act to successfully deal with it. Now that you know it’s a problem, you have a well-defined way to make progress.

Now that you know, it is no longer a problem. It is a chance for you to make a difference, and to create meaningful value in doing so.

The sooner you know there’s a problem, the sooner you can do something about it. The sooner you start taking action, the more effective you’ll be.

When there’s a problem, there’s nothing to fear. Rather, there’s good and useful work to be done.

Is there a problem? Then step forward and take hold of the opportunity.

— Ralph Marston