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^*~
September 10, 2017
RECOVERY BY PROXY?
They [the Promises] will always materialize
if we work for them.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS p. 84
Sometimes I think:
"Making these amends is going too far!
No one should have to humble himself like that!"
However, it is this very humbling of myself
that brings me that much closer
to the sunlight of the spirit.
A.A. is the only hope I have
if I am to continue healing
and gain a life of happiness, friendship and harmony.
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Free of Dependence
I asked myself,
I asked myself,
"Why can't the Twelve Steps work
to release me from this unbearable depression?"
By the hour, I stared at the St. Francis Prayer:
"It is better to comfort than to be comforted ."
Suddenly I realized what the answer might be.
My basic flaw had always been
dependence on people or circumstances
to supply me with prestige, security, and confidence.
Failing to get these things
according to my perfectionist dreams and specifications,
I fought for them.
And when defeat came, so did my depression.
Reinforced by what grace I could find in prayer,
I had to exert every ounce of will and action
to cut off these faulty emotional dependencies
upon people and upon circumstances.
Then only could I be free to love as Francis had loved.
GRAPEVINE, JANUARY 1958
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous
World Services, Inc.
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Real love pours itself out
upon the object of its affection,
without demanding any return.
--Florence Scovel Shinn
Loving another wholly, purely, with no strings attached
Loving another wholly, purely, with no strings attached
promises ecstasy, and yet seldom do we dare chance it.
Often we want the promise of love
in return if we're to offer it.
Our fragile egos are held tentatively intact
by the slim gestures and fleeting words of love tossed our way.
But when we bargain for love, we don't find it.
Real love will forever elude us
Real love will forever elude us
unless we put our own selves aside
and unabashedly love the self of someone else.
Freely spreading the warm glow of love to others
Freely spreading the warm glow of love to others
magically invites its return –
another of life's mysteries.
*****
Prayer under Pressure
Whenever I find myself under acute tensions,
I lengthen my daily walks and slowly repeat
our Serenity Prayer in rhythm to my steps and breathing.
If I feel that my pain has in part been occasioned by others,
I try to repeat,
"God grant me the serenity to love their best,
and never fear their worst."
This benign healing process of repetition,
sometimes necessary to persist with for days,
has seldom failed to restore me to at least
a workable emotional balance and perspective.
Bill W. Grapevine, March 1962
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Perspective
Too often, we try to gain a clear perspective before it is time.
That will make us crazy.
We do not always know why things are happening the way they are. We do not always know how a particular relationship will work out. We do not always understand the source of our feelings, why we've been led down a particular path, what is being worked out in us, what we are learning, why we needed to recycle, why we had to wait, why we needed to go through a time of discipline, or why a door closed. How our present circumstances will work into the larger scheme of events is not always clear to us. That is how it needs to be.
Perspective will come in retrospect.
We could strain for hours today
Too often, we try to gain a clear perspective before it is time.
That will make us crazy.
We do not always know why things are happening the way they are. We do not always know how a particular relationship will work out. We do not always understand the source of our feelings, why we've been led down a particular path, what is being worked out in us, what we are learning, why we needed to recycle, why we had to wait, why we needed to go through a time of discipline, or why a door closed. How our present circumstances will work into the larger scheme of events is not always clear to us. That is how it needs to be.
Perspective will come in retrospect.
We could strain for hours today
for the meaning of something that may come
in an instant next year.
Let it go.
Let it go.
We can let go of our need to figure things out,
to feel in control.
Now is the time to be. To feel. To go through it.
Now is the time to be. To feel. To go through it.
To allow things to happen. To learn.
To let whatever is being worked out in us take its course.
In hindsight, we will know. It will become clear.
In hindsight, we will know. It will become clear.
For today, being is enough.
We have been told that all things shall work out
for good in our life.
We can trust that to happen, even if we cannot see the place
today's events will hold in the larger picture.
Today, I will let things happen without trying to figure everything out. If clarity is not available to me today, I will trust it to come later, in retrospect. I will put simple trust in the truth that all is well, events are unfolding as they should, and all will work out for good in my life - better than I can imagine.
Today, I will let things happen without trying to figure everything out. If clarity is not available to me today, I will trust it to come later, in retrospect. I will put simple trust in the truth that all is well, events are unfolding as they should, and all will work out for good in my life - better than I can imagine.
*****
Grapevine quote of the day
"I am feeling much better now
and I thank God for AA and my good friends.
I have learned how to accept their help."
Queens, N.Y., February 1971
"Carrying the Message"
Emotional Sobriety II
"Carrying the Message"
Emotional Sobriety II
******************************
Lies
Father Leo’s Meditation
"A liar needs a good memory."
– Quintilian
I lied to impress. I lied to hide my guilt and shame. I lied to cover my mistakes. I lied to bridge the silence. I lied to fantasize. I lied to hurt and destroy. I lied to hide the real me. Then I lied to cover the lies. Then I lied to cover the lies I told to cover the original lies! So it went on. Endless. Exhausting. Meaningless. A part of me always loathed the lies I told. Then I grew to hate myself.
Today, because I understand spirituality to be based on truth, I try not to tell lies. When I do lie, I make an effort to correct myself and apologize. Today lying is painful for me. Today I try to use my mind, imagination and memory for better things.
O God, who gave mankind the miracle of language and communication, let me not abuse Your gift with destructive deceit.
******************************
A Glum Lot I think not
GOOD SAMARITAN
A man walks in to a bar and orders a drink. He looks down the bar and sees another piss drunk man keep falling off his stool. The man finishes his drink watching the other man try to get back up on the stool.
Feeling sorry for the drunk, the man tries to stand him up, but the drunk keeps falling. The man thinks that this drunk needs to be taken home, so he finds his address in his wallet. On the way to his car, the man had to practically carry the drunk man.
After finally finding his house, the man carries the drunk man to the front door. He rings the doorbell and a lady answers. "Ma'am, your husband is drunk, so I decided to give him a lift home."
The woman replies, "Thank you sir, but I have one question...Where's his wheelchair?"
Feeling sorry for the drunk, the man tries to stand him up, but the drunk keeps falling. The man thinks that this drunk needs to be taken home, so he finds his address in his wallet. On the way to his car, the man had to practically carry the drunk man.
After finally finding his house, the man carries the drunk man to the front door. He rings the doorbell and a lady answers. "Ma'am, your husband is drunk, so I decided to give him a lift home."
The woman replies, "Thank you sir, but I have one question...Where's his wheelchair?"
Please Lord
Teach us to laugh again but,
God don't ever let us
forget that we cried.
******************************
~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*
^*^*^*^*^
(\ ~~ /)
( \ (AA)/ )
(_ /AA\ _)
/AA\
^*^*^*^*^
Vision ^*^*^*^*^^*^*^ "Vision is, I think, the ability to make good estimates,
both for the immediate and for the more distant future.
Some might feel this sort of striving to be a sort of heresy,
because we AA's are constantly telling ourselves,
'One day at a time.'
But that valuable principle really refers to our
mental and emotional lives and means chiefly
that we are not foolishly to repine over the past
nor wishfully today - dream about the future. . .
Vision is therefore the very essence of prudence,
an essential virtue if ever there was one."
^*^*^*^*^
(\ ~~ /)
( \ (AA)/ )
(_ /AA\ _)
/AA\
^*^*^*^*^
Vision ^*^*^*^*^^*^*^ "Vision is, I think, the ability to make good estimates,
both for the immediate and for the more distant future.
Some might feel this sort of striving to be a sort of heresy,
because we AA's are constantly telling ourselves,
'One day at a time.'
But that valuable principle really refers to our
mental and emotional lives and means chiefly
that we are not foolishly to repine over the past
nor wishfully today - dream about the future. . .
Vision is therefore the very essence of prudence,
an essential virtue if ever there was one."
Bill W., 1962
1962AAWS, Twelve Concepts for World Service,
1962AAWS, Twelve Concepts for World Service,
26th Printing, p. 40 ^*^*^*^*^*
******************************
Thought to consider . . .
The road to recovery
The road to recovery
is always under construction.
~*~*~*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*~*~*~
O D A A T = One Day at a Time
O D A A T = One Day at a Time
******************************
~*~*~*~*~*^ Just For Today! ^*
All I Could Think Of
From: "A Vision of Recovery"
While in a juvenile detention center about 500 miles from my home, I received word that my mother was dying of cancer. I was able to get a pass and return home to spend time with her. One evening my family asked me if I would stay home with my mother and give her the medicine she was required to take. I had already had a few drinks and was anxious to get out and party with my friends, but I reluctantly agreed to stay. Self-pity set in, and all I could think of was the good time I could have been having. I got very impatient with my mother, and when she refused to take her medicine, I almost forced it into her mouth; then I left to join my friends. The next morning I woke up in county jail, about 100 miles from home. I had attempted a break-and-enter, and was caught by the police.
That very evening, as I sat in jail, my mother died.
2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, page 495-496
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~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*
When and How to Give
Men who cry for money and shelter as a condition of their sobriety are on the wrong track. Yet we sometimes do provide a new prospect with these very things -- when it becomes clear that he is willing to place his recovery first. It is not whether we shall give that is the question, but when and how to give. Whenever we put our work on a material plane, the alcoholic commences to rely upon alms rather than upon a Higher Power and the AA group. He continues to insist that he cannot master alcohol until his material needs are cared for. Nonsense! Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: that, job or no job, wife or no wife, we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place material dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God.
Men who cry for money and shelter as a condition of their sobriety are on the wrong track. Yet we sometimes do provide a new prospect with these very things -- when it becomes clear that he is willing to place his recovery first. It is not whether we shall give that is the question, but when and how to give. Whenever we put our work on a material plane, the alcoholic commences to rely upon alms rather than upon a Higher Power and the AA group. He continues to insist that he cannot master alcohol until his material needs are cared for. Nonsense! Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: that, job or no job, wife or no wife, we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place material dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 98
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*~*~*~*^Twenty-four Hours a Da
September 10
A.A. Thought for the Day
Here are answers to the question
of how a person can live without liquor and be happy:
"The things we put in place of drinking
are more than substitutes for it.
One is the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.
In this company, you find release
from care, boredom, and worry.
Your imagination will be fired.
Life will mean something at last.
The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead.
Among other A.A.s you will make lifelong friends.
You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties."
Does life mean something to me now?
Meditation for the Day
Do you want the full and complete satisfaction
Meditation for the Day
Do you want the full and complete satisfaction
that you find in serving God
and all the satisfactions of the world also?
It is not easy to serve both God and the world.
It is difficult to claim the rewards of both.
If you work for God,
you will still have great rewards in the world.
But you must be prepared
to sometimes stand apart from the world.
You cannot always turn to the world
and expect all the rewards which life has to offer.
If you are trying sincerely to serve God,
you will have other and greater rewards
than the world as to offer.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not expect
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not expect
too much from the world.
I pray that I may also be content
with the rewards that come from serving God.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012
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*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Qu
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