Monday, December 24, 2018
Today's Gift
Stress is not what happens to us. It's our response to what happens, and response is something we can choose. - Maureen Killoran
Getting Through the Holidays
For some, the sights, signs, and smells of the holidays bring joy and a warm feeling. But, while others are joyously diving into the season, some of us are dipping into conflict, guilt, and a sense of loss.
We read articles on how to enjoy the holidays, we read about the Christmas blues, but many of us still can't figure out how to get through the holiday season. We may not know what a joyous holiday would look and feel like.
Many of us are torn between what we want to do on the holiday, and what we feel we have to do. We may feel guilty because we don't want to be with our families. We may feel a sense of loss because we don't have the kind of family to be with that we want. Many of us, year after year, walk into the same dining room on the same holiday, expecting this year to be different. Then we leave, year after year, feeling let down, disappointed, and confused by it all.
Many of us have old, painful memories triggered by the holidays.
Many of us feel a great deal of relief when the holiday is ended.
One of the greatest gifts of life is learning that we are not alone. There are probably as many of us in conflict during the holidays than there are those who feel at peace. We're learning, through trial and error, how to take care of ourselves a little better each holiday season.
Our first task during the holidays is to accept ourselves, our situation, and our feelings about our situation. We accept our guilt, anger, and sense of loss. It's all okay.
There is no right or perfect way to handle the holidays. Our strength can be found in doing the best we can, one year at a time.
This holiday season, I will give myself permission to take care of myself.
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
When we can share our deepest convictions and failures, our ideals and disillusionments, our hopes and frustrations, our dreams and despairs, our answers and our questions – then we are loving our neighbors as ourselves as well as "loving our enemies."
A friend put it this way, "If I share the whole of me with you, I share the good as well as the bad. I don't hide anything of myself from you, not in a deep friendship, or a deep marriage for that matter. By sharing some things I hate about myself, I'm loving my inside enemy. I'm telling you I'm still human and have a lot of growing to do. I'd love to tell you about all my good points, it would make me feel a lot better, but it wouldn't be sharing all of me with you."
Action for the Day: TODAY I will concentrate on sharing my insides and outsides with another; I will listen to myself as I talk. I will not be satisfied if I sit on my laurels or wallow in my woes. I will improve myself by becoming aware of how I communicate to 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
Freedom
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development,
we will be amazed before we are half way through.
We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, "Into Action," pp. 83 - 84
Thought to Ponder
AA is not something we join; it's a way of life.
AA-related 'Alconym'
H J F = Happy, Joyous, Free
From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net)
Excerpt of The Daily Motivator
At peace with now
by Ralph Marston
With peace, with gratitude, with patience, let this moment be the way it is. Live the richness, the beauty, the possibilities of now.
You have always been, and you always are, more than enough. There is real goodness in your life, in your world, and more to come.
Treasure this place, this time, this feeling, this experience. Recognize the opportunity to give more of yourself to all you love.
Allow everything that happens to remind you of what’s truly important. Feel the strength of your purpose, thankful for the opportunity to act with that strength.
You don’t have to let the stressful influences make you stressful inside. You can choose your feelings, so choose joy, choose laughter, choose love.
Be at peace with now. And live according to the terms of your own highest hopes and values.
With peace, with gratitude, with patience, let this moment be the way it is. Live the richness, the beauty, the possibilities of now.
You have always been, and you always are, more than enough. There is real goodness in your life, in your world, and more to come.
Treasure this place, this time, this feeling, this experience. Recognize the opportunity to give more of yourself to all you love.
Allow everything that happens to remind you of what’s truly important. Feel the strength of your purpose, thankful for the opportunity to act with that strength.
You don’t have to let the stressful influences make you stressful inside. You can choose your feelings, so choose joy, choose laughter, choose love.
Be at peace with now. And live according to the terms of your own highest hopes and values.
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