Friday, January 18, 2019
Today's Gift
To be alive is power,
Existing in itself,
Without a further function,
Omnipotence enough.
--Emily Dickinson
Being a person in this world is an amazing gift. But today, not all of us feel powerful and alive. We may feel weak, inadequate to our task, perplexed, or stymied. Is this a day in which we are filled with exuberance for the gift of life? Or is this a day when we're feeling subdued by life's burdens?
Perhaps we need to evaluate our perspective. Are we trying to control something or someone? Are we acting as if the world should be as we want rather than as it is? Have our individual wills exceeded their natural bounds and spoiled the simple joy of being "without a further function"?
May I find the pleasure and exuberance today that come with being alive. The simple power to be a person is "omnipotence enough."
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
It has been said that addiction and codependency are problems of power. Recovery certainly calls us to admit the limits of our power. Yet, to reach for power seems to come from the deepest part of our nature. If this is so, can it be all bad? People have used power in many ways for the good of all people. We have been defenders, protectors, and active community servants. At our best, we have taken strong stands for what was right.
We need not shun all power, but rather we learn to use it wisely. Our blindness to the limitations of power created great problems in our lives. Then we learned our first lessons about powerlessness. As humble people, we know we can be wrong, but we cannot be passive and still continue to grow.
Action for the day: I'll pray for guidance as I learn to assert my strength and power for the cause of well being.
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
Plain Insanity
They had much knowledge about their self as an alcoholic. Yet all reasons
for not drinking were easily pushed aside in favor of the foolish idea that
they could take whiskey if only they mixed it with milk!
Whatever the precise definition of the word may be, we call this plain insanity.
How can such a lack of proportion, of the ability to think straight, be called anything else?
- Alcoholics Anonymous, "More About Alcoholism,"pp. 36 - 37
Thought to Ponder
The alcoholic is in no greater peril than when he takes sobriety for granted.
AA-related 'Alconym'
I S M = Incredibly Short Memory
From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net)
Excerpt of The Daily Motivator
by Ralph Marston
Reach through the awkwardness. Reach through the rudeness, the anger, the fear, and find the person behind those things.
Behind the mask is a genuine, beautiful person. Behind the mask is a lifetime filled with feelings, with hope, with dreams.
When someone is unpleasant to you, remind yourself that the unpleasantness is mostly a mask. There’s a real person hiding in there, someone who would treasure the opportunity to treat you better.
See if you can draw that genuine person out. Instead of putting on your own mask of being insulted, seek to make a positive human connection.
Even if the other person’s attitude or behavior doesn’t improve, you’ll change the situation for the better. Because your own outlook will improve, you’ll be more patient, more understanding, less stressed.
Reach behind the mask, even if the person behind the mask doesn’t reach back. Offer authenticity, empathy, understanding, and no matter the response, the world will be a better place.
Reach through the awkwardness. Reach through the rudeness, the anger, the fear, and find the person behind those things.
Behind the mask is a genuine, beautiful person. Behind the mask is a lifetime filled with feelings, with hope, with dreams.
When someone is unpleasant to you, remind yourself that the unpleasantness is mostly a mask. There’s a real person hiding in there, someone who would treasure the opportunity to treat you better.
See if you can draw that genuine person out. Instead of putting on your own mask of being insulted, seek to make a positive human connection.
Even if the other person’s attitude or behavior doesn’t improve, you’ll change the situation for the better. Because your own outlook will improve, you’ll be more patient, more understanding, less stressed.
Reach behind the mask, even if the person behind the mask doesn’t reach back. Offer authenticity, empathy, understanding, and no matter the response, the world will be a better place.
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