Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Today's Gift
I worked at a good job, making a decent salary. I had been recovering for years. Each morning, I got into my car and I thanked God for the car. The heater didn't work. And the chance of the car not starting was almost as great as the chance that it would. I just kept suffering through, and thanking God. One day, it occurred to me that there was absolutely no good reason I couldn't buy myself a new car - that moment - if I wanted one. I had been gratitude-ing myself into unnecessary deprivation and martyrdom. I bought the new car - that day. --Anonymous
Often, our instinctive reaction to something we want or need, No! I can't afford it!
The question we can learn to ask ourselves is, But, can I?
Many of us have learned to habitually deprive ourselves of anything we might want, and often things we need.
Sometimes, we can misuse the concept of gratitude to keep ourselves unnecessarily deprived.
Gratitude for what we have is an important recovery concept. So is believing we deserve the best and making an effort to stop depriving ourselves and start treating ourselves well.
There is nothing wrong with buying ourselves what we want when we can afford to do that. Learn to trust and listen to yourself about what you want. There's nothing wrong with buying yourself a treat, buying yourself something new.
There are times when it is good to wait. There are times when we legitimately cannot afford a luxury. But there are many times when we can.
Action for the Day: Today, I will combine the principles of gratitude for what I have with the belief that I deserve the best. If there is no good reason to deprive myself, I wont.
Guidance For Our Lives
We discover that we do receive guidance for our lives to just about
the extent that we stop making demands upon our Higher Power to give it to us
on order and on our terms. Almost any experienced A.A. will tell how
their affairs have taken remarkable and unexpected turns for the better
as they tried to improve their conscious contact with their Higher Power.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) pp. 104 - 105
Thought to Ponder
The Three "P's" -- Pause, Pray, Proceed.
AA-related 'Alconym'
P R A Y E R = Praying Regularly Allows Your Everyday Recovery
Find value
The battle to keep up appearances unnecessarily, the mask--whatever name you give creeping perfectionism--robs us of our energies. —Robin Worthington
How familiar we are with trying to be someone other than ourselves; one more exciting, we think, or sexier, or smarter. We have probably devoted a great deal of energy to this over the years. It's likely that we are growing more content with ourselves now. However, aren't there still situations in which we squirm, both because we want to project a different image, and because we resent our desire to do so?
We each have been blessed with unique qualities. There is no other person just like ourselves. We each have special features that are projected in only one way, the way we alone project them.
Knowing that we are perfect as we are is knowledge that accompanies our growth. How much easier life is, how much more can be gained from each moment, when we meet each experience in the comfort of our real selves. The added gift of simply being ourselves is that we'll really hear, see, and understand others for the first time in our lives.
I can only fully focus on one thing, one person at a time. I will free my focus from myself today and be filled up by my experiences with others.
From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey ©
From: Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation - Thought for the Day http://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/recovery/thought-for-the-day
********************************
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Keep It Simple
Giving Ourselves What We Deserve
Giving Ourselves What We Deserve
I worked at a good job, making a decent salary. I had been recovering for years. Each morning, I got into my car and I thanked God for the car. The heater didn't work. And the chance of the car not starting was almost as great as the chance that it would. I just kept suffering through, and thanking God. One day, it occurred to me that there was absolutely no good reason I couldn't buy myself a new car - that moment - if I wanted one. I had been gratitude-ing myself into unnecessary deprivation and martyrdom. I bought the new car - that day. --Anonymous
Often, our instinctive reaction to something we want or need, No! I can't afford it!
The question we can learn to ask ourselves is, But, can I?
Many of us have learned to habitually deprive ourselves of anything we might want, and often things we need.
Sometimes, we can misuse the concept of gratitude to keep ourselves unnecessarily deprived.
Gratitude for what we have is an important recovery concept. So is believing we deserve the best and making an effort to stop depriving ourselves and start treating ourselves well.
There is nothing wrong with buying ourselves what we want when we can afford to do that. Learn to trust and listen to yourself about what you want. There's nothing wrong with buying yourself a treat, buying yourself something new.
There are times when it is good to wait. There are times when we legitimately cannot afford a luxury. But there are many times when we can.
Action for the Day: Today, I will combine the principles of gratitude for what I have with the belief that I deserve the best. If there is no good reason to deprive myself, I wont.
From: Bluidkiti's Alcohol and Drug Addictions Recovery Help/Support Forums Daily Recovery Readings - http://www.bluidkiti.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2
****************************
One Day At A Time
Guidance For Our Lives
We discover that we do receive guidance for our lives to just about
the extent that we stop making demands upon our Higher Power to give it to us
on order and on our terms. Almost any experienced A.A. will tell how
their affairs have taken remarkable and unexpected turns for the better
as they tried to improve their conscious contact with their Higher Power.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) pp. 104 - 105
Thought to Ponder
The Three "P's" -- Pause, Pray, Proceed.
AA-related 'Alconym'
P R A Y E R = Praying Regularly Allows Your Everyday Recovery
From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net)
Excerpt of The Daily Motivator
Find value
by Ralph Marston
Find something to value in another person, and you bring out the best in that person. Find something to value in any situation, and you will make the best of that situation.
We tend to categorize things as either “good” or “bad.” Yet few things are inherently good or bad. Usually we find what we look for. Do you look for ways to complain or for people to blame? You will find plenty. Or do you look for opportunities, and for things to be learned? If so, you will find them.
Life is what you make of it. A person who has just lost her job can look at it as a terrible tragedy, and it will be. Or she can consider the loss of her job as a magnificent opportunity, and it will be. A child who is treated as irresponsible, will be irresponsible; and a child who is expected to be responsible, will act responsibly.
Look for value and you will find it.
From The Daily Motivator website at http://greatday.com/
Find something to value in another person, and you bring out the best in that person. Find something to value in any situation, and you will make the best of that situation.
We tend to categorize things as either “good” or “bad.” Yet few things are inherently good or bad. Usually we find what we look for. Do you look for ways to complain or for people to blame? You will find plenty. Or do you look for opportunities, and for things to be learned? If so, you will find them.
Life is what you make of it. A person who has just lost her job can look at it as a terrible tragedy, and it will be. Or she can consider the loss of her job as a magnificent opportunity, and it will be. A child who is treated as irresponsible, will be irresponsible; and a child who is expected to be responsible, will act responsibly.
Look for value and you will find it.
From The Daily Motivator website at http://greatday.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment