Topic: GRATITUDE

Good Morning!!! God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; and Wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done. *~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~* July 2, 2026 THE HEART OF TRUE SOBRIETY We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open-mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 570 Am I honest enough to accept myself as I am and let this be the “me” that I let others see? Do I have the willingness to go to any length, to do whatever is necessary to stay sober? Do I have the open-mindedness to hear what I have to hear, to think what I have to think, and to feel what I have to feel? If my answer to these questions is “Yes,” I know enough about the spirituality of the program to stay sober. As I continue to work the Twelve Steps, I move on to the heart of true sobriety: serenity with myself, with others, and with God as I understand Him. ***************************************************** Basis of All Humility For just so long as we were convinced that we could live exclusively by our own individual strength and intelligence, for just that long was a working faith in a Higher Power impossible. This was true even when we believed that God existed. We could actually have earnest religious beliefs which remained barren because we were still trying to play God ourselves. As long as we placed self-reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a Higher Power was out of the question. That basic ingredient of all humility, a desire to seek and do God's will, was missing. 12 & 12, p. 72 As Bill Sees It, p. 139 © 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc ***************************************************** Receiving Here is an exercise. Today let someone give to you. Let someone do something nice for you. Let someone give you a compliment or tell you something good about yourself. Let someone help you. Then, stand there and take it. Take it in. Feel it. Know that you are worthy and deserving. Do not apologize. Do not say, "You shouldn't have." Do you feel guilty, afraid, ashamed, and panicky? Do not immediately try to give something back. Just say, "Thank you." Today, I will let myself receive one thing from someone else, and I will let myself be comfortable with that. ******* Grapevine quote of the day "Alcoholics Anonymous has an answer to problems in sobriety, making sobriety, eventually, something wonderful instead of something that can drive people to drink." Tasmania, December 2006 "Solutions," AA Grapevine © AA Grapevine, Inc. 1944-2014 **************************************************** If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk. —Raymond Inmon We all seek creative ideas from time to time – perhaps when we have a problem resting heavily on our minds, or when we are simply in a bad mood. We need to refresh ourselves at those times. Refreshment doesn't solve a problem, but it can revitalize our thinking. Sometimes when we are feeling hopeless, we neglect to care for ourselves, forgetting a better environment will give us a stronger attitude, even toward the most difficult problems. We must learn our own best methods for being refreshed – ways that allow angels to whisper to us. They should be simple, inexpensive, and accessible daily. Going for a walk is a very good example. Daily reading and study is another possibility. Observing nature, doing handicrafts or hobbies are refreshing for some men. These activities allow us to temporarily set aside our tasks and concerns and open us to creative ideas. Today, I will give myself a creative break from the concerns I am facing. ******* Just considering............... Topic: GRATITUDE "Another exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts that are mine - both temporal and spiritual. Here I try to achieve a state of joyful gratitude. When such a brand of gratitude i s repeatedly affirmed and pondered, it can finally displace the natural tendency to congratulate myself on whatever progress I may have been enabled to make in some areas of living. I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know." Bill W., March 1962 1988AAGrapevine, The Language of the Heart, p. 271 Thought to consider............ I have learned what a heart full of gratitude feels like. Topic Question: What do you do to achieve a state of gratitude? © Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

FIND MATURITY

Good Morning!!! FIND MATURITY Around the Year with Emmet Fox July 2 Why do you not remember your previous lives? Consider how prone people are to worry and grieve foolishly the past events of this one life, and Imagine their state if they had the material of many lives to handle in this way. And so, the past is mercifully withheld from us until we reach the stage when we can regard our own histories impersonally and objectively, and when we do reach that stage it is possible to remember our previous lives Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting, The soul that rises with us, our life's Star Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar; Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter darkness, But trailing clouds of glory, do we come From God, who is our home. —Wordsworth Is it absolutely necessary to come back? The answer is that you need not come back if you will concentrate your whole heart upon God and seek His Presence until you realize it completely. If you can do this, of all tasks the most difficult, then you will leave this earth planet to enter into full communion with God, and you need never come back. Hardly anyone, however, is able to do this at present, and so, we have to go on by stages, learning from experience, study, prayer, and meditation; living life after life until at last we "grow up" spiritually. “I trust in the mercy of the Lord forever and ever” Psalm 52:8

Why doesn't Shiva make Sati alive if he is a god?

Why doesn't Shiva make Sati alive if he is a god? Prajapati Daksha plans a Nireeshwar Yagna ( where everyone except Shiva and Sati are invited ). When Sati devi comes to know about this Yagna, she asks Shiva “Hey Lord ! My father is performing this Yagna, which is neither good for him or for the entire world, so , let us go and explain my father Daksha to stop the Yagna”. Shiva denies Sati’s proposal, and when Sati insists, He agrees and sends Sati to Daksha abode. Sati faces insult at her father's abode, but she tries her level best to plead her father Daksha and all the people present in the Yagna, to stop it. Daksha insults Sati and abuses Shiva, Sati not able to bear Shiv_ninda( abusing Her husband God Shiva) by her father, immolates herself. God Shiva could not save Sati or bring her back to life because :: Sati before immolation says “ I feel ashamed to be born to a father like you. You have given me this physical body , as you are my biological father Daksha. I got Shiva in this life , without putting much effort, so I'm losing Shiva. After facing this humiliation, I can't go to my Shiva. I want to give up the title of Dakshayini ( Daksha’s daughter), so I'm immolating this body into ash. At least in my next birth, I want to be born to a father who would respect me and my husband. I would do rigorous penance and achieve my Shiva “. Sati could not realise Her true Shakthi form and immolated herself. So, Shiva could not breathe life back into Sati, as she wanted to give up the title of Dakshayini, Prajapati Daksha’s daughter ! In her next birth , Sati is born as Parvathi and after doing rigorous penance achieves Shiva forever

THE BEST FOR TODAY

Good Morning!!! God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; and Wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done. *~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~* July 1, 2026 THE BEST FOR TODAY The principles we have set down are guides to progress. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 60 Just as a sculptor will use different tools to achieve desired effects in creating a work of art, in Alcoholics Anonymous the Twelve Steps are used to bring about results in my own life. I do not overwhelm myself with life’s problems, and how much more work needs to be done. I let myself be comforted in knowing that my life is now in the hands of my Higher Power, a master craftsman who is shaping each part of my life into a unique work of art. By working my program, I can be satisfied, knowing that “in doing the best that we can for today, we are doing all that God asks of us.” **************************************************** Can We Choose? We must never be blinded by the futile philosophy that we are just the hapless victims of our inheritance, of our life experience, and of our surroundings – that these are the sole forces that make our decisions for us. This is not the road to freedom. We have to believe that we can really choose. << << << >> >> >> "As active alcoholics, we lost our ability to choose whether we would drink. We were the victims of a compulsion which seemed to decree that we must go on with our own destruction. "Yet we finally did make choices that brought about recovery. We came to believe that alone we were powerless over alcohol. This was surely a choice, and a most difficult one. We came to believe that a Higher Power could restore us to sanity when we became willing to practice A.A.'s Twelve Steps. "In short, we chose to ‘become willing', and no better choice did we ever make." 1. GRAPEVINE, NOVEMBER 1960 2. LETTER, 1966 As Bill Sees It, P. 4 ***************************************************** Accepting Change One day, my mother and I were working together in the garden. We were transplanting some plant for the third time. Grown from seed in a small container, the plants had been transferred to a larger container; then transplanted into the garden. Now, because I was moving, we were transplanting them again. Inexperienced as a gardener, I turned to my green-thumbed mother. "Isn't this bad for them?" I asked, as we dug them up and shook the dirt from their roots. "Won't it hurt these plants, being uprooted and transplanted so many times?" "Oh, no," my mother replied. "Transplanting doesn't hurt them. In fact, it's good for the ones that survive. That's how their roots grow strong. Their roots will grow deep, and they'll make strong plants." Often, I've felt like those small plants – uprooted and turned upside down. Sometimes, I've endured the change willingly, sometimes reluctantly, but usually my reaction has been a combination. Won't this be hard on me? I ask. Wouldn't it be better if things remained the same? That's when I remember my mother's words: That's how the roots grow deep and strong. Today, God, help me remember that during times of transition, my faith and myself are being strengthened. ******* Grapevine quote of the day "One day it will be left to the young people now in our Fellowship to carry on the original spirit and traditions of AA, even though the buzz words and trends will come and go. It will be up to us to teach newcomers how to maintain the type of sobriety that achieves the promises of the Big Book and dispels some of the fables of recovery popular today. It will be up to us to help the newcomer from the street dry out, shakes and pukes and all. We will be left to teach the little things: how to sit at the front, not the back of the room, say hello to the new guy, wash coffee cups and ashtrays. One day it will be up to us to uphold the Traditions. It will be up to us to keep it simple." Bury St. Edmunds, England, September 1994 "We Who Are Next in Line," I Am Responsible: The Hand of AA © AA Grapevine, Inc. 1944-2014 **************************************************** COPING WITH ANGER Few people have been more victimized by resentments than have we alcoholics. A burst of temper could spoil a day, and a well-nursed grudge could make us miserably ineffective. Nor were we ever skillful in separating justified from unjustified anger. As we saw it, our wrath was always justified. Anger, that occasional luxury of more balanced people, could keep us on an emotional jag indefinitely. These "dry benders' often led straight to the bottle. Nothing pays off like restraint of tongue and pen. We must avoid quick-tempered criticism, furious power-driven argument, sulking, and silent scorn. These are emotional booby traps baited with pride and vengefulness. When we are tempted by the bait, we should train ourselves to step back and think. We can neither think nor act to good purpose until the habit of self-restraint has become automatic. 12 & 12 1. p. 90 2. p. 91 ******* Heard at AA Meeting You see, of course, I am extrovert! I am always thinking through my mouth! © AA Grapevine, Inc. 1944-2014 ******* ‘ALKIESPEAK’ I didn’t become an alcoholic because I drank too much. I drank too much because I’m an alcoholic. – Unknown origin. Quotes from the book ‘ALKIESPEAK’ by Andy A. of Australia Castlecrag, N.S.W. © 2003 ***************************************************** Forward to the First Edition, pages xiii-xiv: "We are not an organization in the conventional sense of the word. There are no fees or dues whatsoever; the only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking. We are not allied with any particular faith, sect or denomination, nor do we oppose anyone. We simply wish to be helpful to those who are afflicted.' The above writing is a partial prologue to the Twelve Traditions as we know them today. The long form was written by Bill Wilson, and first published in the April, 1946 Grapevine. However, Bill's keen awareness of the alcoholic personality led him to introduce them as "Twelve Points to Assure Our Future," avoiding the implication of rules or laws. He wrote an editorial for each point explaining its origin and why it was necessary. As plans were being laid for our first International Convention (July 28, 1950); Earl Treat, who helped establish AA in Chicago, suggested that these 'assurances' would benefit from being revised and shortened. Bill presented his 'Traditions idea' without actually reading either the long or the short form! However, the 3,000 attendees unanimously accepted the Twelve Traditions by a standing vote. At the next International Convention at St. Louis, July 1-3, 1955, Bill presented a resolution to the 3, 800 attendees which resolved that the General Service Conference become the Guardian of the Twelve Traditions. The Twelve Traditions were then officially ratified. They were finally published, both the long and short form, in the 1955 second edition of the Big Book. Bill then began a speaking tour of the country in attempt to develop a greater interest in the Twelve Traditions with little success. Here is an excerpt from a letter dated May 20, 1952 from Bill W to Fr Ed Dowling: "A few people think that the Traditions aren't covered with enough dignity – that posterity may not like them for that reason. However, we feel that we are writing for the information of alcoholics who ordinarily have no time to read anything much except as it concerns their own survival. Our idea is to publish the Twelve Steps and these Twelve Traditions in a small book to appear, I hope, by next fall. If we are able to do a fair job on the Steps that will be helpful and, published along with the Traditions, they may act as a bait for reading the latter. However, we'll see." So now you know the reason Bill wrote the 1953 book titled, "Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions" Bob S. PS – It is interesting, I think, to note that the phrase "honest desire to stop drinking" (found on page xiv above) was never included in either the long or short form of Twelve Traditions. This phrase, however, was included in the early Grapevine Preamble, but the word "honest" was removed in 1958. The Grapevine is a Conference Approved AA publication

KARMA

Good Morning!!! KARMA Around the Year with Emmet Fox July 1 Just as like attracts like, so like produces like. This is a cosmic law, which means that it is universally true throughout the whole of existence right up through the higher planes. As Jesus put it, you do not gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles; and he also said, “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit” Matthew 7:17 So, it is with our thoughts and words and deeds. As we sow so shall we reap, sometimes almost immediately, sometimes after a long interval. But always, sooner or later like produces like. Reincarnation also explains the differences in talents that we find between one man and another. The born musician is a man who has studied music in a previous life, perhaps in several lives, and has therefore built that faculty into his soul. He is a talented musician today because he is reaping what he sowed yesterday. In the East this law of sowing and reaping is known as karma and the term is a convenient one. Note carefully, however, that karma is not punishment. If you touch a red-hot stove, you will burn your finger. This will hurt you, but it is not punishment, only a benign and reformative consequence, for after one or two such experiences in childhood, you learn to keep your fingers away from hot iron. So, it is with all-natural retribution— you suffer because you have a lesson to learn.

Walking

1. If someone walks fast, they tend to have a strong sense of purpose. 2. Someone who hums or sings often might be feeling nervous or anxious. 3. If someone fakes a smile a lot, they could be battling inner struggles. 4. People who apologize often may value peace over pride. 5. If someone spends a lot of time alone, they either enjoy solitude or feel misunderstood. 6. Someone who finds it hard to say "no" likely craves acceptance.

Why Vitthal and Rukmini are separated?

Why Vitthal and Rukmini are separated? After the boon Pundrik asked (he asked Lord to stand in the same posture always for him as he loved this pose), Lord Vitthal remain as it is. When Rukmini ji asked what I will do, Lord told her to stand there only (which means a bit far as she was standing). Since then they are separately standing in this form of God.