Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Today's Gift
Living itself, [is] a task of such immediacy, variety, beauty, and excitement that one is powerless to resist its wild embrace. —E. B. White
The First Step in 12-Step programs introduces us to a radical idea - that accepting our powerlessness is beneficial. Yielding to life's embrace takes us in wonderful directions. The experience of meeting this still unformed day, defining how we will live today, making contact with our Higher Power, accepting the variety and the beauty that is here for us - far exceeds our individual power. Yet in surrendering to life as it unfolds, we find ourselves on an adventure. This is like reading a good story or unraveling an exciting mystery.
Anyone, whether they have our affliction or not, who tries to take control of what cannot be controlled, brings trouble to themselves. Today let us engage with life.
I will accept both the embrace and the insecurity of not being in charge.
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
Many of us have been trying to keep the whole world in orbit with sheer and forceful application of mental energy.
What happens if we let go, if we stop trying to keep the world orbiting and just let it whirl? It'll keep right on whirling. It'll stay right on track with no help from us. And well be free and relaxed enough to enjoy our place on it.
Control is an illusion, especially the kind of control we've been trying to exert. In fact, controlling gives other people, events, and diseases, such as alcoholism, control over us. Whatever we try to control does have control over our life and us.
I have given this control to many things and people in my life. I have never gotten the results I wanted from controlling or trying to control people. What I received for my efforts is an unmanageable life, whether that unmanageability was inside me or in external events.
In recovery, we make a trade off. We trade a life that we have tried to control, and we receive in return something better - a life that is manageable.
Action for the Day: Today, I will exchange a controlled life for one that is manageable.
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
When ready, we say something like this: "My Creator, I am
now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad.
I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of
character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you
and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here,
to do your bidding. Amen."
We have then completed Step Seven.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 76
Thought to Ponder
If I want my Higher Power to remove my character defects,
I'll have to stop doing them.
AA-related 'Alconym'
A S A P = Always Say A Prayer
From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html
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Daily Motivation
Excerpt of The Daily Motivator
by Ralph Marston
There are plenty of negative influences in your life. You don’t have to be one of them.
You’re always making choices. Every one of those choices is an opportunity to send your life, your actions, your outcomes, your world, in a more positive direction.
Many factors are beyond your control. And yet, you have significant control over your thoughts, your attitude, your words, actions, and priorities.
Exercise that control in an intentional, beneficial way. Choose to serve as a counterbalance to the negativity you come across.
Be a positive influence in your own life, and in the lives of those around you. Yes, the pull of negativity can be strong and compelling, yet you can be stronger.
Decide to focus your strength in the direction of all you love and care about. Let your light shine through the darkness, and lift your world to a more positive place.
From The Daily Motivator website at http://greatday.com/
There are plenty of negative influences in your life. You don’t have to be one of them.
You’re always making choices. Every one of those choices is an opportunity to send your life, your actions, your outcomes, your world, in a more positive direction.
Many factors are beyond your control. And yet, you have significant control over your thoughts, your attitude, your words, actions, and priorities.
Exercise that control in an intentional, beneficial way. Choose to serve as a counterbalance to the negativity you come across.
Be a positive influence in your own life, and in the lives of those around you. Yes, the pull of negativity can be strong and compelling, yet you can be stronger.
Decide to focus your strength in the direction of all you love and care about. Let your light shine through the darkness, and lift your world to a more positive place.
From The Daily Motivator website at http://greatday.com/
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