Friday, August 24, 2018
Today's Gift
Anger helps straighten out a problem like a fan helps straighten out a pile of papers. --Susan Marcotte
Some of us have temper tantrums. Like black clouds, we threaten an outburst at any moment. Other people learn to check us out for storm warnings. They want time to clear out or at least to put on a protective covering. We've caught them by surprise before, and they didn't like it. Now they've learned to watch out - to stay on their toes when we're around. Intimidating people, making them glad when we're not around so they can relax, is a poor way to relate to others.
And what do the outbursts do for us? Is there a cheap sense of power or control for a few minutes? Are we advertising to the world that we're short on coping skills? Or do we tell ourselves that letting off steam is necessary once in a while, conveniently forgetting the steam blasting in other people's faces?
No tirade ever solved a problem. Anger is not a strategy. We don't have the right to rain on other people's parades. Life can teach us better ways to deal with our anger - with honesty and fairness to ourselves and others.
Today, I ask my Higher Power for a peaceful and honest heart.
From the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty. ©
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
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 a person.
A friend who has a different opinion from ours can be listened to and their ideas considered. There is no need to compete with them 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.
Action for the Day: I will surrender my fragile stubbornness in exchange for the toughness I can learn in compromise.
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 Instincts
Even then the best of us will discover to our dismay that there is always
a sticking point, a point at which we say, "No, I can't give this up yet."
And we shall often tread on even more dangerous ground when we cry,
"This I will never give up!" Such is the power of our instincts to overreach
themselves. No matter how far we have progressed, desires will always be
found which oppose the grace of our Higher Power.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 66
Thought to Ponder
The Three "P's" -- Pause, Pray, Proceed.
AA-related 'Alconym'
P U S H = Pray Until Something Happens
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Daily Motivation
Excerpt of The Daily Motivator
The benefit of kindness
by Ralph Marston
Kindness may not be the easiest thing to do. Yet it is the right thing to do.
When you’re not sure what choice to make, choose kindness. It is always a choice you can live with.
Kindness requires no lengthy explanations or excuses. The value, the power, the authenticity of kindness are immediately self-evident.
Yet true kindness is not ever done for show or for glory. Kindness is done to lift up and enhance the experience of life for everyone involved.
Your kindness will not always be repaid. But that doesn’t matter because its value to you begins the moment you act.
Genuine kindness connects you to others in a way nothing else can. At every opportunity, give yourself the benefit of that connection.
Kindness may not be the easiest thing to do. Yet it is the right thing to do.
When you’re not sure what choice to make, choose kindness. It is always a choice you can live with.
Kindness requires no lengthy explanations or excuses. The value, the power, the authenticity of kindness are immediately self-evident.
Yet true kindness is not ever done for show or for glory. Kindness is done to lift up and enhance the experience of life for everyone involved.
Your kindness will not always be repaid. But that doesn’t matter because its value to you begins the moment you act.
Genuine kindness connects you to others in a way nothing else can. At every opportunity, give yourself the benefit of that connection.
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