Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Today's Gift
Life is not without pain and travail. They are necessary to new awareness which prompts growth. And the gift of growth is joy. Pain and joy are thus intertwined. It is possible to feel only the burden of pain and not the exhilaration of joy, however.
Before seeking help to change our lives, many of us were heavily burdened by pain. But we were unable to open ourselves to the knowledge made possible by that pain. We were on a treadmill, accumulating painful experiences at every step, unable to capture the joy that was ever present.
We can have hope. Joy does await each of us today. We must open our eyes to it, just as we must open our hearts to one another. We must be willing to peel away the layers of pain to expose the core, the seedling of joy. And we need joy in our lives, just as surely as we need rest and a good diet. We need the light heart that joy fosters for a better perspective on the many experiences we'll face today, and every day.
Control
The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories.
Never could we recapture the great moments of the past.
There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did
and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control
would enable us to do it.
There was always one more attempt—and one more failure.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (A Vision For You) p. 151
Thought to Ponder
When we try to control our drinking, we have already lost control.
AA-related 'Alconym'
H O P E = Hold On, Possibilities Exist
Ability and effort
Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later win a little more. —Louis L'Amour
How much fuller each day feels when we can be patient and accept the inches we have progressed. Yet, we are aware of large problems which require miles of progress. We may want others in our lives to change quickly, we may be impatient with a work situation, or we may feel angry about a setback.
Perhaps the spiritual message to us is we need to surrender to time. We are on the road moving in the direction of success. The forces of progress are at work. Our growth now may come in learning patience and trusting this process. Looking back we might see a mile of progress. It was made an inch at a time.
Today, I will accept my progress. There are many rewards already.
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
People need joy. Quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it far more. --Margaret Collier Graham
People need joy. Quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it far more. --Margaret Collier Graham
Life is not without pain and travail. They are necessary to new awareness which prompts growth. And the gift of growth is joy. Pain and joy are thus intertwined. It is possible to feel only the burden of pain and not the exhilaration of joy, however.
Before seeking help to change our lives, many of us were heavily burdened by pain. But we were unable to open ourselves to the knowledge made possible by that pain. We were on a treadmill, accumulating painful experiences at every step, unable to capture the joy that was ever present.
We can have hope. Joy does await each of us today. We must open our eyes to it, just as we must open our hearts to one another. We must be willing to peel away the layers of pain to expose the core, the seedling of joy. And we need joy in our lives, just as surely as we need rest and a good diet. We need the light heart that joy fosters for a better perspective on the many experiences we'll face today, and every day.
Action for the Day: I will remember how recovery has given me this new option. It guarantees me that every hurdle will be lightened. The knowledge that joy is inherent, within every experience, is mine, now and forever.
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
Control
The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories.
Never could we recapture the great moments of the past.
There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did
and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control
would enable us to do it.
There was always one more attempt—and one more failure.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (A Vision For You) p. 151
Thought to Ponder
When we try to control our drinking, we have already lost control.
AA-related 'Alconym'
H O P E = Hold On, Possibilities Exist
From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net)
Excerpt of The Daily Motivator
Ability and effort
by Ralph Marston
Ability is powerful, yet it is of no value without effort. What matters even more than having the ability is putting it into action.
Don’t let the confidence in your ability to achieve, take the place of achievement itself. Put your skills to work, put your abilities into action, because that’s what they’re for.
It’s tempting to gather a collection of impressive abilities and to congratulate yourself for simply having them. But that’s also very empty, and ultimately unfulfilling.
It’s a good feeling to know that you can do something worthwhile. And you know from experience that it’s an even better feeling to actually do it.
Resist the urge to sit smugly on your abilities. Take those abilities out into the world where they can be challenged to grow stronger, where they can be put to good use.
There are a lot of good things you can do. Now, go do them.
From The Daily Motivator website at http://greatday.com/
Ability is powerful, yet it is of no value without effort. What matters even more than having the ability is putting it into action.
Don’t let the confidence in your ability to achieve, take the place of achievement itself. Put your skills to work, put your abilities into action, because that’s what they’re for.
It’s tempting to gather a collection of impressive abilities and to congratulate yourself for simply having them. But that’s also very empty, and ultimately unfulfilling.
It’s a good feeling to know that you can do something worthwhile. And you know from experience that it’s an even better feeling to actually do it.
Resist the urge to sit smugly on your abilities. Take those abilities out into the world where they can be challenged to grow stronger, where they can be put to good use.
There are a lot of good things you can do. Now, go do them.
From The Daily Motivator website at http://greatday.com/
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