Showing posts with label substance abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label substance abuse. Show all posts

Monday, March 22, 2021

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 3-22-2021

Monday, March 22, 2021
Today's Gift

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. ~Doug Larson

Life is never just one thing. It is quite possible to feel optimistic and happy even when some things are not right with us. An optimistic outlook gives us energy to handle the harder challenges we have to deal with. Research shows that people who have a positive attitude have a stronger immune system, are healthier, live longer, and are even more likely to recover from serious illness.

To believe in hopeful outcomes is largely a matter of choice. Many of us have experienced big disappointments and defeats in life. But having come this far, we can look back and see that somehow we had the capacity to deal with it. The Universe guides us to believe in hopeful possibilities. We can’t say that things will always turn out just the way we hope, but that we can cope with whatever happens.

Today, I choose to believe that a Power greater than myself can help me deal with life, and I have reason to be optimistic.

From the book Stepping Stones, More 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

There's a period of life where we swallow a knowledge of ourselves and it becomes either good or sour inside. —Pearl Bailey

For too many of us, feelings of shame, even self-hatred, are paramount. No one of us has a fully untarnished past. Every man, every woman, even every child experiences regret over some action. We are not perfect. Perfection is not expected in the Divine plan. But we are expected to take our experiences and grow from them, to move beyond the shame of them, to celebrate what they have taught us.

Each day offers us a fresh start at assimilating all that we have been. What has gone before enriches who we are now, and through the many experiences we've survived, we have been prepared to help others, to smooth the way for another woman, perhaps, who is searching for a new direction.

We can let go of our shame and know instead that it sweetens the nuggets of the wisdom we can offer to others. We are alike. We are not without faults. Our trials help another to smoother sailing.

Action for the Day: I will relish the joy at hand. I can share my wisdom. All painful pasts brighten someone's future, when openly shared.

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

True Tolerance
We begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent
emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong, and then we approach true
tolerance and see what real love for our fellows actually means. It will
become more and more evident as we go forward that it is pointless to
become angry, or to get hurt by people who, like us, are suffering from
the pains of growing up.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 92

Thought to Ponder
Let us always love the best in others, and never fear their worst.

AA-related 'Alconym'
P U T = P
atience, Understanding, Tolerance

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
All the work necessary
by Ralph Marston

Pay attention to today’s new possibilities. But don’t be so consumed with them that you abandon the work you’re doing to fulfill yesterday’s possibilities.

Start new things. And finish what you start.

Once you’ve embraced a possibility, see it all the way through. Do all the work necessary to transform it from possible value into existing value.

It feels great to get excited about new possibilities. Yet to fully justify that excitement, you must go beyond it.

You must do the difficult and not so glamorous work of bringing what’s possible into reality. Otherwise there’s no reason to get excited about the possibility in the first place.

Choose those possibilities to which you can give your full commitment. Then maintain that commitment until each exciting possibility has been forged into magnificent reality.

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

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 3-17-2021

 Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Today's Gift

A person who is loved always has success. —Vicki Baum

Being loved, and knowing that we are loved, assures us of our connection to the world outside of ourselves. It affirms us as participants in the bigger picture. And all of us need to know that we count - that what we say and do matters to others--that we are contributing in an important way.

Often we feel unloved, however. And we search for love. We may have begged for love and still didn't feel it. We have probably become very self-centered in our search. Fortunately, the Universe helps us to give love to others; the paradox is that love is returned, tenfold.

The wonders of love are many. Love is a healing balm for wounds. And it nurtures, both the one loving and the one loved. Love is an energizer. It spurs us on to successes in work and in play. Love multiplies. If we aren't feeling loved, we can love someone else - and love will visit us, too.

We can help the people in our lives find the successes they deserve. The confidence to tackle new situations is packaged in the gift of love. We need to help one another count.

My love of another is a contributing factor in their success. Their loving gratitude will enhance my own endeavors. I will take a moment, today, with a friend who needs my love.

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

True intimacy with another human being can only be experienced when you have found true peace within yourself. --Angela L. Wozniak

Intimacy means disclosure--full expression of ourselves to another person. Nothing held back. All bared. There are risks, of course: rejection, criticism, perhaps ridicule. But the comfort we feel within is directly proportional to the peace we've come to know.

Each day we commit ourselves to recovery, we find a little more peace. Each conversation we have with our higher power brings us a little more security. Each time we turn our full attention to another person's needs, we feel our own burdens lightened.

Peace comes in stages. As we continue to accept our powerlessness, the depth of our peace increases. Turning more often to a power greater than ourselves eases our resistance to whatever condition prevails. Forgiving ourselves and others, daily, heightens our appreciation of all life and enhances our humility. Therein lies peace.

We each are a necessary part of the creative spirit prevailing in this world. The details of our lives are well in hand. We can be at peace. Who we are is who we need to be.

Action for the Day: Intimacy lets me help someone else also live a full and peace-filled life. I will reach out to someone today.

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

Transformed
Until now, our lives have been largely devoted to running from pain and problems.
We fled from them as from a plague. We never wanted to deal with the fact of
suffering. Escape via the bottle was always our solution. Character-building
through suffering might be all right for saints, but it certainly didn't appeal to us.
Then, in A.A., we looked and listened. Everywhere we saw failure and misery
transformed by humility into priceless assets.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Seven) pp. 74 - 75

Thought to Ponder
New ideals and new attitudes bring a new life.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A R T = A
lways Remain Teachable

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
What you want
by Ralph Marston

Right now you’re on your way to somewhere. Are you clear about where and what it is?

A vague idea about your intended destination is a starting point, but not enough. Unless you are precise about where you wish to go, there’s no telling where you’ll end up.

It’s not easy to reject whole swaths of possibilities and to narrow your focus on just a few. Yet to achieve you must achieve specific things.

You can have, or experience, or be anything, but you can’t be everything or have everything. And you wouldn’t want it anyway.

That’s because much of the value and meaning of anything is in what you must forgo in order to have it. To have everything would be no different, or worse actually, than having nothing.

So choose, mindfully, authentically, where you wish to go, what you wish to do, what you want your life to become. You’ll enable yourself to find enormous fulfillment in making it happen.

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

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 2-24-2021

Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Today's Gift

The beauty of the world has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder. —Virginia Woolf

Anguish is undoubtedly more familiar to us than is the beauty of laughter. We feel anguish over our failings; we feel anguish over our losses; we feel anguish over the attempts to succeed that beckon to us.

Anguish comes of fear. And we so hope to avoid it. However, it seasons us; it enriches us even while it momentarily diminishes us. It is a major contributor to the sum and substance of our lives. The anguish we experience prepares us to help others experience their own particular anguish.

Our laughter, too, must be savored and shared. And laughter builds more laughter. Laughter lends a perspective on our anguish. Life is made richer, fuller, by the ebb and flow, the laughter and the anguish in concert.

If only we could remember, when the anguish is present, that it is making our Spirits whole. That it, along with laughter, is a healer of the soul. That it lifts our load at the same time that it burdens us. That it prepares us to better receive life's other gifts.

I can help someone else face anguish. It brings us together. It softens me. And it makes way for the laughter soon to come.

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

Enjoying the Good Days

Good feelings can become a habitual part of our life.

There is absolutely no virtue in the unnecessary suffering, which many of us have felt for much of our life. We don’t have to allow others to make us miserable, and we don’t have to make ourselves miserable.

A good day does not have to be the “calm before the storm.” That’s an old way of thinking we learned in dysfunctional systems.

In recovery, a good day or a good feeling doesn’t mean we’re in denial. We don’t have to wreck our good times by obsessively searching for or creating a problem.

Enjoying our good days doesn’t mean we’re being disloyal to loved ones who are having problems. We don’t have to make ourselves feel guilty because other people aren’t having a good day. We don’t have to make ourselves miserable to be like them. They can have their day and their feelings; we can have ours.

A good feeling is to be enjoyed. More than we can imagine, good days are ours for the asking.

Action for the Day: Today, I will let myself enjoy what is good. I don’t have to wreck my good day or good feeling; I don’t have to let others spoil it either.

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

First Objective
Our first objective will be the development of self-restraint.
This carries a top priority rating. When we speak or act hastily
or rashly, the ability to be fair-minded and tolerant evaporates
on the spot. One unkind tirade or one willful snap judgment can
ruin our relation with another person for a whole day, or maybe
a whole year. Nothing pays off like restraint of tongue and pen.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 91

Thought to Ponder
The surest way to unhappiness is to concentrate only on ourselves.

AA-related 'Alconym'
T U F F = T
olerance, Understanding, Fairness, Forgiveness

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
Ups and downs
by Ralph Marston

You won’t ever really feel good if feeling good is the only thing you seek. A life with only the ups and no downs is not only impossible, it is undesirable.

You won’t achieve anything of value unless you’re willing to work your way through some difficult and demanding challenges. Value is built through effort, and there is no way around that.

To become skilled, you must practice, and to learn, you must study. There are always new techniques that can make you more effective, yet there are no shortcuts when it comes to true achievement.

The pains, the disappointments, the frustrations and the trepidations hurt. Because they feel so bad, you have the opportunity to authentically feel good by working your way beyond them.

Life is necessarily difficult, and that’s what makes it possible for life to be so good. For it is in dealing with the difficulties that the power of life’s goodness is fully experienced.

Live life fully, enjoying the good times and growing stronger by working through the difficult times. Savor the richness that is to be found in it all.

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

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 2-10-2021

 Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Today's Gift

A bird does not sing because he has an answer. He sings because he has a song. —Joan Walsh Anglund

Each of us has a song to sing, just as birds do. Part of knowing who we are is appreciating our own songs. Are our songs gentle like the robins, or are we brilliant leaders like the bluejay? Are we easy to be around like the sparrow, or do we radiate joy and laughter like the loon?

Each of these birds has something special to offer. So do we, with our own unique personalities and talents. What a waste it would be if the loon never dashed across the lake because they wanted to be a robin instead. It is important to learn who we are and to believe we are special in our own way. We give joy to the world around us when we sing our own songs.

Have I listened to my own song lately?

From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©

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

Life didn't promise to be wonderful. ---Teddy Pendergrass

Life doesn't promise us anything, except a chance. We have a chance to live any way we like. No matter how we choose to live, we'll have pain and we'll have joy. And we can learn from both.

Because of our spiritual faith, we can have life's biggest wonder---love. We share it in a smile, a touch, a phone call, or a note. We share it with our friends, our partners, our family. Life didn't promise to be wonderful, but it sure is full of little wonders! And we only have to open up and see them, feel them, and let them happen.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see the wonders of life today, in nature, in people's faces, in my own heart.

Action for the Day: I can help make a wonderful things happen for others, with a smile, a greeting, a helping hand. What "little" things will I do for somebody today?

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

A Good Beginning
If you have already made a decision, and an inventory of your grosser
handicaps, you have made a good beginning. That being so you have
swallowed and digested some big chunks of truth about yourself.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 71

Thought to Ponder
If I have the courage to begin, I have the courage to succeed.

AA-related 'Alconym'
H O W = H
onest, Open-minded, Willing

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
Uniquely you
by Ralph Marston

Your most important job is to be you. There are contributions you can make, and gifts you have to give, that no one else can duplicate.

You have a perspective that is unique and valuable. Share the insights and energy that come from that perspective.

You have feelings and longings that flow from the core of who you are. Express those feelings and fulfill those longings in your own special way.

There is great treasure in your authenticity. There are beautiful possibilities that spring from the genuine person you are.

Through you, life experiences itself in a way that is unique and special. Live true to the best of who you are.

Let your own bright and distinct light shine. Use this opportunity to make a difference in a way that only you can do.

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

Monday, January 25, 2021

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 1-25-2021

  Monday, January 25, 2021
Today's Gift

Fun becomes fun, love becomes love, and life becomes worth living. And we become grateful. —Beyond Codependency

New Energy Coming

There is a new energy, a new feeling coming into our life. We cannot base our expectations about how we will feel tomorrow, or even a few hours from now, on how we feel at this moment.

There are no two moments in time alike. We are growing. We are changing. Our life is changing. At times, things haven't worked out the way we wanted. We had lessons to learn. The future shall not be like the past.

The truly difficult times are almost over. The confusion, the most challenging learning experiences, the difficult feelings are about to pass.

Do not limit the future by the past!

Reflect on the beginning of your journey. Haven't there been many changes that have brought you to where you are now? Reflect on one year ago. Haven't you and your circumstances changed since then?

Sometimes, problems and feelings linger for a while. These times are temporary. Times of confusion, uncertainty, times of living with a particular unsolved problem do not last forever.

We make these times doubly hard by comparing them to our past. Each situation and circumstance has had its particular influence in shaping who we are. We do not have to scare ourselves by comparing our present and future to a painful past, especially our past before we began recovering or before we learned through a particular experience.

Know that the discomfort will not be permanent. Do not try to figure out how you shall feel or when you shall feel differently. Instead, trust. Accept today, but do not be limited by it.

A new energy is coming. A new feeling is on the way. We cannot predict how it will be by looking at how it was or how it is, because it shall be entirely different. We have not worked and struggled in vain. It has been for and toward something.

Times are changing for the better. Continue on the path of trust and obedience. Be open to the new.

Today, Universe, help me not judge or limit my future by my past. Help me be open to all the exciting possibilities for change, both within and around me.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©

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

Attitude is everything!

Today will be what we make it. Regardless of the weather, the kinds of work to be done, the personalities crossing our paths, we’ll feel joy and peace if that is our choice.

Agonizing over circumstances that aren’t to our liking or dwelling on our failure to control other people, whether friends or foes, has robbed us of the happiness that is always ours to experience. Depression, anger, fear, and frustration shadowed our steps because we didn’t take control of the only thing that’s ever been in our control absolutely—attitude.

It’s so easy to blame others for every wrinkle in our lives. But as we grow accustomed to the idea of taking full responsibility for how we think and feel, we’ll be empowered. No longer will our sense of self feel diminished. And, as Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying, we will be just as happy as we make up our minds to be.

Action for the Day: I will remember the nobody can mess with my attitude but me.

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

Sanity
"Sanity" is defined as "soundness of mind." Yet no alcoholic,
soberly analyzing their destructive behavior, whether the destruction
fell on the dining-room furniture or their own moral fiber, can claim
"soundness of mind" for their self. Therefore, Step Two is the rallying
point for all of us. Whether agnostic, atheist, or former believer,
we can stand together on this Step.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Two) p. 33

Thought to Ponder
Pride in my intelligence blinded me to how much I did not know.

AA-related 'Alconym'
H O P E = H
old On, Pain Ends

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

The good that is now
by Ralph Marston

Do not be afraid of time. Be eager to put it to use.

Do not become frustrated by time. Allow yourself to be inspired by every day that’s been, motivated by every moment to come.

Time does not ever have to disappoint you. For you’re always able to give your best thoughts, efforts, gratitude and respect to the time you are in.

Relax into the time that is now. Embrace time as it arrives and eagerly put it to use.

There’s no need for you to linger behind or to rush ahead. Simply move forward just as steadily and relentlessly as time always does.

Put time on your side by celebrating and utilizing each new moment as it arrives. Honor and cherish all the good that is now, and time will be good to you.

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

Thursday, December 17, 2020

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 12-17-2020

 Thursday, December 17, 2020
Today's Gift

Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation's compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another. —Erma Bombeck

The most precious time we will ever have we give away by doing volunteer chores to help others get more out of life. There is no material wage for this kind of work, but a host of emotional rewards. The height of volunteer giving is doing an act of kindness or love so quietly that none but ourselves will ever know we had a part in it.

What great humility this can bring to us, who live in a world where selfish people often insist on credit for all their deeds - often things they had nothing to do with.

All we need do is think of all we have received without deserving it or asking for it. By taking part in the giving end of life, we find the true wealth of our own generosity.

What secret gift can I give today?

From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©

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
Give to the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you. —Madeline Bridge

We do reap, in some measure, at some time, what we sow. Our respect for others will result in kind. Our love expressed will return tenfold. The kindness we greet others with will ease their relations with us. We get from others what we give, if not at this time and place, at another. We can be certain that our best efforts toward others do not go unnoticed. And we can measure our due by what we give.

A major element of our recovery is the focus we place on our behavior, the seriousness with which we tackle our inventories. We can look at ourselves and how we reach out and act toward others; it is a far cry from where we were before entering this program. Most of us obsessed on "What he did to me," or "What she said." And then returned their actions in kind.

How thrilling is the knowledge that we can invite loving behavior by giving it! We have a great deal of control over the ebb and flow of our lives. In every instance we can control, our behavior. Thus never should we be surprised about the conditions of our lives.

Action for the Day: What goes around comes around. I will look for the opportunities to be kind and feel the results.

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

Chilling Vapor
As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of their mad
realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened,
ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping
to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we
did—then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the
hideous Four Horsemen—Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair.
Unhappy drinkers who read this page will understand!
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (A Vision For You) p. 151

Thought to Ponder
Good things happen to alcoholics who don't drink.

AA-related 'Alconym'
F E A R = F
ew 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

Excerpt of The Daily Motivator
Abundance of giving
by Ralph Marston

Think not of what you can get out of this moment. Focus instead on what you can give from this moment.

Look at all you can give to yourself. Look at all you can give to others.

There is far more value to be given than there is value to be taken. Focus on what you can give, and you truly focus on abundance.

Seek to give, and that abundance comes to life. Give to this moment, give from this moment, and value that never existed before, springs forth.

There is never more than a paltry, token amount available to be taken, yet there is literally no limit to what can be given. Give, and align yourself with value that has no end.

This moment is here, ready to be lived. Use it to give, and it will overflow with real abundance.

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

Thursday, December 10, 2020

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 12-10-2020

  Thursday, December 10, 2020
Today's Gift

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained – Marie Curie


You can think. You can make good decisions. You can make choices that are right for you.

Yes, we all make mistakes from time to time. But we are not mistakes.

We can make a new decision that takes new information into account.

We can change our mind from time to time. That's our right too.

We don't have to be intellectuals to make good choices. In life, we have a gift and a goal available to each of us. The gift is called wisdom.

Other people can think too. And that means we no longer have to feel responsible for other people's decisions.

That also means we are responsible for our choices.

We can reach out to others for feedback. We can ask for information. We can take opinions into account. But it is our task to make our own decisions. It is our pleasure and right to have our own opinions.

We are each free to embrace and enjoy the treasure of our own mind, intellect, and wisdom.

Today, I will treasure the gift of my mind. I will do my own thinking, make my own choices, and value my opinions. I will be open to what others think, but I will take responsibility for myself. I will ask for and trust that the Divine Wisdom is guiding me.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©

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
Reflection for the Day

Today I will take the time to list the positive aspects of my new life and the blessings that accompany the miracles of my recovery. I will be grateful for the seemingly simple ability to eat normally, to fall asleep with a feeling of contentment, to awaken with a gladness to be alive. I will be grateful for the ability to face life on life’s terms—with peace of mind, self-respect, and full possession of all my faculties. On a daily basis, do I count my blessings? Do I seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with my Higher Power—as I define and understand it?

Today I Pray: On this day of love giving, may I count all the good things in my life and give thanks for them. May I take no blessing for granted, including the beating of my own heart and the fresh feel of new air as I breathe.

Today I Will Remember: To count—and consider—my blessings.

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

Repair the Damage
Now we need more action, without which we find that "Faith without works
is dead." Let's look at Steps Eight and Nine. We have a list of all persons we
have harmed and to whom we are willing to make amends. We made it
when we took inventory. We subjected ourselves to a drastic self-appraisal.
Now we go out to our fellows and repair the damage done in the past.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 76

Thought to Ponder
It is the highest form of self-respect to
admit mistakes and to make amends for them.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A C T I O N = A
ny Change To Improve Our Nature

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
Positive empowerment
by Ralph Marston

Don’t waste your time, thoughts and energy in a state of need. Invest yourself and your life in action.

Free yourself from the burdens of anxiety and worry about what might or might not happen. Get busy living fully, making good and enriching things happen.

This moment is too valuable to contaminate it with negative, limiting thoughts. There are great things you can do right now to improve your life and your world, so go ahead and do them.

Choose to live in a state of positive empowerment by choosing to follow through on your best possibilities. You have the ability to make a difference, and the more you engage that ability, the more fulfilling life becomes.

If you’re waiting for the perfect opportunity, wait no longer. This day is the best opportunity you’ve ever had, because it is when you can take action and move forward.

Let go of the empty wishes, the complaints, the apprehensions, and let yourself do what you do best. Let yourself live richly by acting in every moment to make your world a better place.

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

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 11-17-2020

 Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Today's Gift

I think happiness is like the effect on an audience (when acting), if you think of it all the time you will not get it, you must get lost in the part, lost in your purposes and let the effect be the criterion of your success. --Joanna Field

Happiness is a gift that accompanies every instance of our lives if we approach each situation with gratitude, knowing that what's offered to us is special to our particular needs. The experiences we meet day to day are honing our Spirit, tempering our hard edges. For these we should offer gratitude.

Our well-being is the gift. Deciding what will make us happy, in fact, what we must have to be happy, prevents us from grasping the unexpected pleasure of the "chance" events of the moment. When we intently look for what we think we need, we may well be blind to more beneficial opportunities the Universe has chosen for us.

Our self-centeredness hinders every breath we take. It prejudices every encounter. It stifles our creative potential. And most of all, it blocks any chance for a spontaneous reaction to the moment. Spontaneity is the breeding ground for creative living. And happiness is the byproduct.

Happiness is my decision, every moment.

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

Healthy Thinking

Knowledge of “the answers” never made anyone relapse. It was failing to practice “the answers” known. ~Anonymous

The quality of our lives will always depend on the way we think. When anxiety, stress, and tension begin to threaten our hard-won peace of mind, we must not blame our retreat from serenity on outside forces. We can get back in line with comfortable living when we remind ourselves that we have been thinking wrong about something.

It may be complacency: “I’ve got all the right answers.” Perhaps we’ve been thinking selfishly or suffering twinges of jealousy and envy. Are we viewing others with anger or resentment, being fearful of falling short of goals? We learn in recovery to examine our thinking.

Action for the Day: Positive thinking is my guarantee that serenity will continue to make me willing to accept myself as the author of my own attitudes, not a victim of outside forces.

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

Deprived Ourselves
The notion that we would still live our own lives, our Higher Power helping a little now
and then, began to evaporate. Many of us who had thought ourselves
religious awoke to the limitations of this attitude. Refusing to place out Higher Power
first, we had deprived ourselves of Their help. But now the words
"Of myself I am nothing, the Father doeth the works" began to
carry bright promise and meaning.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Seven) p. 75

Thought to Ponder
I can't do my Higher Power's will my way.

AA-related 'Alconym'
F R O G = F
ully Rely On God

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

Do your dream
by Ralph Marston

Don’t let anyone take your dreams away from you. Your dreams are what move the world forward.

When you dare to dream, people will scold you for being selfish. But your dreams are not selfish.

Living the best life you can imagine is the most generous thing you can do for all of life. So dream big, dream well, dream in glorious detail, and do your dream.

There are many problems in the world. None of those problems will be solved by you being less than your best.

On the contrary, the process of working to make your own life better will enable other lives to get better. Insisting on the best from yourself is what makes you the most beneficial for others.

Do your dream, with confidence, compassion, love, and positive energy. Do your dream, and give all of life your greatest gifts.

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

Monday, November 16, 2020

The Work-In: Daily Motivation 11-16-2020

  Monday, November 16, 2020
Today's Gift

To wait for moments or places where no pain exists, no separation is felt and where all human restlessness has turned into inner peace is waiting for a dream world. —Henri J. M. Nouwen

Anytime we do a spot check on our anxiety or personal restlessness we will probably find some. As long as we are aware and alive we can expect to have some discomfort, some fear of loss, some doubt. Our growth does not totally rid us of these pains. Perhaps our old ways sought absolute peace or escape through abuse of chemicals or food or gambling or sex, but the serenity we seek in our life comes through honesty with ourselves and acceptance of the incompleteness of our lives.

When we make room for the pain in our lives, we allow the river of our emotions to flow. It will carry us along to other feelings like happiness and peace. Conflicting feelings can exist side by side in our lives, and when we try to control true feelings of restlessness or pain, we dam the flow of emotions and block the pleasant ones as well as the difficult ones.

I am moving to a real world where I know and accept my feelings.

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

Letting Our Anger Out

It's okay to be angry, but it isn't healthy to be resentful. Regardless of what we learned as children, no matter what we saw role modeled, we can learn to deal with our anger in ways that are healthy for us and for those around us. We can have our angry feelings. We can connect with them, own them, and feel them, express them, release them, and be done with them.

We can learn to listen to what anger is telling us about what we want and need in order to take care of ourselves.

Sometimes we can even indulge in angry feelings that aren't justified. Feelings are just feelings; there is no morality in the feeling, only in our behavior. We can feel angry without hurting or abusing others or ourselves. We can learn to deal with anger in ways that benefit our relationships instead of ways that harm them.

If we don't feel our angry feelings today, we will need to face them tomorrow.

Action for the Day: Today, I will let myself feel my anger. I will express my anger appropriately, without guilt. Then I will be done with it.

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

Pain
Someone who knew what they were talking about once remarked that
pain was the touchstone of all spiritual progress. How heartily we
A.A.'s can agree with them, for we know that the pains of drinking had
to come before sobriety, and emotional turmoil before serenity.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) pp. 93 - 94

Thought to Ponder
The gritty pain of alcoholism is the traction of recovery.

AA-related 'Alconym'
H O P E = H
old On, Pain Ends

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

Life’s highest beauty
by Ralph Marston

What makes life difficult is also what makes life good. Responsibility, commitment, obligation, discipline, challenge, and effort all can be tough to bear, and all are essential to a life of fulfillment.

Many of the difficulties you experience come from the other people in your life. But what a sad and empty thing your life would be if there were no other people with whom to share your world.

Other difficulties arise from the physical and biological constraints of your existence. Yet that existence itself, and the possibilities it enables, are nothing short of miraculous.

Though you cannot escape the burdens, you never have to let them wear down your spirit. You can greatly mitigate the difficulties by accepting their necessity and by making them well worth their trouble.

Accept each day and everything it brings. Embrace it all with open arms, with the commitment and determination to transform whatever you encounter into positive and purposeful living.

Life’s highest beauty is built upon life’s greatest difficulties. Add something of yourself to that beauty by the way you live today.

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