Friday, May 8, 2020
Today's Gift
When I hear somebody sigh, “Life is hard,” I am always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?” ~Sydney J. Harris
There is no question—life is hard at times. None of us escapes trials and challenges. And some of us truly seem to have more of them than others. So what are we to do with that realization? We cannot control most of what happens to us. We can only control how we respond to it. No two paths are the same. Self-pity is the response of someone who hasn’t yet learned to deal with adult life. Feeling sorry for ourselves is like having a hole in a bucket that allows our spirit and our strength to drain away.
Instead of reacting with self-pity, we remind ourselves that all things change and the difficulty we face today will also change. What is harder for us today will be easier tomorrow. We will have times of peace and satisfaction. Best of all, when we play a bad hand well, we have peace of mind, our inner strength grows, and we have something more in our bank of knowledge.
Today, I am grateful for life itself.
From the book Stepping Stones, More Daily Meditations for Men ©2019
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
Walk in Dry Places
Regrets over roads not taken
Releasing the past.
Looking back, every one of us can point to moment when we made choices that helped set the course of our lives. It’s easy to waste time and energy wondering what our lives would have been like if other choices had been made at these critical points.
Such thinking is mostly a waste of time and may reflect dissatisfaction with our lives today. Whatever our past mistakes, the decisions we made that brought us sobriety were the correct ones. Realizing this, many of us even come to feel gratitude for the problem that brought us into the program.
We are never able to say with certainty that different choices made earlier in life would have been better in the long run. Bill W., an AA co-founder, said that a business setback moved him to make the calls that led him to Dr. Bob, the other co-founder. Had his business venture succeeded, it’s doubtful that Bill would have been thinking about helping another alcoholic.
The best choice any of us can make is to turn such maters and questions over to our Higher Power. We have a duty to do the best we can with today’s opportunities and conditions.
Today's Action: I'll live today in the present. The good experiences from the past are always with me, and I can benefit from any lessons learned by my mistakes.
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
Fearless and Thorough
If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go
to any length to get it—then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier,
softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command,
we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 58
Thought to Ponder
Sobriety without action is fantasy.
AA-related 'Alconym'
S T E P S = Solutions Through Each Powerful Step
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
Adapt and thrive
by Ralph Marston
You can change, you can adapt, you can learn, you can adjust. And because of all that, you can thrive in a wide range of situations.
You don’t have to cower in despair and helplessness when the world around you changes. You have the amazing ability to rise up and meet those changes with ingenious changes of your own.
You are never stuck where you are, never confined to doing what you’ve always done. You can choose to improve numerous aspects of your life, and then you can follow through on that choice.
Your prospects for next year are not limited by the circumstances of this year. You can change, and by so doing can transcend your circumstances or, better yet, transform them.
Many things are instinctive to you, but a whole lot of things go far beyond mere instinct. You can look out at the world, recognize possibilities, and configure your knowledge, skills, and actions to exploit those possibilities.
The future arrives quickly, yet you’re able, even more quickly, to improve your relationship to the future. Learn, adjust, adapt, and make the future brighter by the way you choose to meet it.
From The Daily Motivator website at http://greatday.com/
You can change, you can adapt, you can learn, you can adjust. And because of all that, you can thrive in a wide range of situations.
You don’t have to cower in despair and helplessness when the world around you changes. You have the amazing ability to rise up and meet those changes with ingenious changes of your own.
You are never stuck where you are, never confined to doing what you’ve always done. You can choose to improve numerous aspects of your life, and then you can follow through on that choice.
Your prospects for next year are not limited by the circumstances of this year. You can change, and by so doing can transcend your circumstances or, better yet, transform them.
Many things are instinctive to you, but a whole lot of things go far beyond mere instinct. You can look out at the world, recognize possibilities, and configure your knowledge, skills, and actions to exploit those possibilities.
The future arrives quickly, yet you’re able, even more quickly, to improve your relationship to the future. Learn, adjust, adapt, and make the future brighter by the way you choose to meet it.
From The Daily Motivator website at http://greatday.com/
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