The Work-In: Daily Motivation 5-20-2021

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Today's Gift 

It only takes one person to change your life - you. —Ruth Casey

Change is not easy, but it's absolutely unavoidable. Doors will close. Barriers will surface. Frustrations will mount. Nothing stays the same forever, and it's such folly to wish otherwise. Growth accompanies positive change; determining to risk the outcome resulting from a changed behavior or attitude will enhance our self-perceptions. We will have moved forward; in every instance our lives will be influenced by making a change that only each of us can make.

We have all dreaded the changes we knew we had to make. Perhaps even now we fear some impending changes. Where might they take us? It's difficult accepting that the outcome is not ours to control. Only the effort is ours. The solace is that positive changes, which we know are right for us and other people in our lives, are never going to take us astray. In fact, they are necessary for the smooth path just beyond this stumbling block.

When we are troubled by circumstances in our lives, a change is called for, a change that we must initiate. When we reflect on our recent as well as distant past, we will remember that the changes we most dreaded again and again have positively influenced our lives in untold ways.

Change ushers in glad, not bad, tidings.

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

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Keep It Simple

Truth is a demure lady, much too ladylike to knock you on the head and drag you to her cave. She is there, but the people must want her and seek her out. --William F.Buckley, Jr.

As we develop a deeper and more reliable friendship with ourselves, we have little hunches or inner blips of feeling that tell us private truths. Ancient scriptures called it "a still, small voice." We usually sense this inner message somewhere in our body. Some men say it's in the heart, others say in the gut, or ear, or on their shoulders. When we are too focused on what others think and feel and what the world says is truth, we don't notice our inner voice; it doesn't get much chance to develop. It never hits us over the head; it requires silence and respect to be heard.

As we follow the Steps, we learn to regularly visit the cave of this demure lady, Truth, and seek out her wisdom. The more we listen and the more we respect the truths we receive in our quietness, the more wisdom we are given.

Action for the Day: I will listen to the personal wisdom whispered by that still, small voice within.

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

Baffling Feature
Many of us felt that we had plenty of character. There was a tremendous
urge to cease forever. Yet we found it impossible. This is the baffling
feature of alcoholism as we know it—this utter inability to leave it alone,
no matter how great the necessity or the wish.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 34

Thought to Ponder
Alcohol — cunning, baffling, powerful!

AA-related 'Alconym'
F E A R = Few Ever Arrive Rejoicing

From: AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) http://www.aa-alive.net/index.html

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Daily Motivation

The first step

by Ralph Marston

The first step is difficult and it is also powerful. Take that first step, get yourself going, then keep going.

Once you take the first step, you’re invested. Once you take the first step, you have momentum working in your favor.

Make the transition from intention to action. Go from the concept of achievement to the reality of achievement.

No matter how much or how little prior experience you have, the first step will give you more. It will focus your experience, your skills, your thoughts and actions on a specific objective.

Going ahead with the first step sends a message to yourself and the world that you are serious. You’ve gone beyond merely wishing, or wondering, or planning, and are taking solid action.

Take the first step and feel the powerful difference it makes. Then carry on with ever-increasing momentum until the job is done.

From The Daily Motivator website at http://greatday.com/