TWO "MAGNIFICENT STANDARDS"

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^*~*~*~*~* April 28, 2024 TWO "MAGNIFICENT STANDARDS" All A.A. progress can be reckoned in terms of just two words: humility and responsibility. Our whole spiritual development can be accurately measured by our degree of adherence to these magnificent standards. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 271 To acknowledge and respect the views, accomplishments and prerogatives of others and to accept being wrong shows me the way of humility. To practice the principles of A.A. in all my affairs guides me to be responsible. Honoring these precepts gives credence to Tradition Four– and to all other Traditions of the Fellowship. Alcoholics Anonymous has evolved a philosophy of life full of valid motivations, rich in highly relevant principles and ethical values, a view of life which can be extended beyond the confines of the alcoholic population. To honor these precepts, I need only to pray, and care for my fellow man as if each one was my brother. *************************************************** Self-Respect through Sacrifice At the beginning we sacrificed alcohol. We had to, or it would have killed us. But we couldn't get rid of alcohol unless we made other sacrifices. We had to toss self-justification, self-pity, and anger right out the window. We had to quit the crazy contest for personal prestige and big bank balances. We had to take personal responsibility for our sorry state and quit blaming others for it. Were these sacrifices? Yes, they were. To gain enough humility and self-respect to stay alive at all, we had to give up what had really been our dearest possessions – our ambition and our illegitimate pride. A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 287 **************************************************** Crying only a little bit is no use. You must cry until your pillow is soaked. Then you can get up and laugh . . . —Galway Kinnell Many of us were raised to deny our feelings; that is, we might have been allowed to describe them politely, but we were not allowed to express feelings on the spot by wailing, jumping for joy, or dancing. This is often considered rude. In a proper home, we often hear, if people have feelings, they have them quietly. But many of us have suffered living this way. We need a full and thorough expression of a feeling in order to know it, experience it, and move beyond it. This is the way we let go of sadness, for instance. Feelings come and go. If we are not afraid to let them have their moment, we will not be afraid to express them. What am I feeling right now? ***** When you are conscious you cannot judge, and to not judge is to express forgiveness. Then, you have forestalled the infectious nature of hate. Allow awareness to dissolve those forces in the light of consciousness within. Danny Schwarzhoff **************************************************** "The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear." “Alcoholics Anonymous” Every so often we might come across certain good-natured people, who recognize how harmful resentment, anger, these negative emotions are. Often, these are spiritually egoistic folks. You may encounter them in a variety of settings like self-help groups, group therapy, Twelve Step fellowships, Bible classes and churches. Yet despite the profound acknowledgment that something is wrong, they somehow remain enslaved to a malevolent energy. They intuitively sense that negative emotions aren’t proper for humans. But rather than allowing God to save them from it, they remain caught up in a struggle to manage the conflict within themselves. It’s a heck of a rut in which they find themselves. These aren’t evil people. They are simply folks who struggle because they don’t know that resentment doesn’t stem from spiritual illness. No one explained to them how it’s the other way around. They don’t realize that spiritual illness is the result of resentment. You must not be angry or judgmental with these people. Seeing the wrong in others does no good if you’re still wrong yourself. In the longer run, self-righteousness will allow you to become sick and even more corrupt than those you condemn as the exchange of justified negative energies dominates. If you’ve been one of these people yourself, it’s crucial you not become upset by this description. Solve the problem you have with resentment. First, get free from anger. Then become instantly well. This isn’t hyperbole. I mean right then, in that moment. Unless we get free from anger, we won’t ever have a life worth much. Perhaps this is your time, right now, to overcome the alcoholic's greatest enemy. “Alcoholics Anonymous”, 4th edition, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 145:3 ************************************************ Letting go of the Need to Control The rewards from detachment are great: serenity; a deep sense of peace; the ability to give and receive love in self-enhancing, energizing ways, and the freedom to find real solutions to our problems. Letting go of our need to control can set others and us free. It can set our Higher Power free to send the best to us. If we weren't trying to control someone or something, what would we be doing differently? What would we do that we're not letting ourselves do now? Where would we go? What would we say? What decisions would we make? What would we ask for? What boundaries would be set? When would we say no or yes? If we weren't trying to control whether a person liked us or his or her reaction to us, what would we do differently? If we weren't trying to control the course of a relationship, what would we do differently? If we weren't trying to control another person's behavior, how would we think, feel, speak, and behave differently than we do now? What haven't we been letting ourselves do while hoping that self-denial would influence a particular situation or person? Are there some things we've been doing that we'd stop? How would we treat ourselves differently? Would we let ourselves enjoy life more and feel better right now? Would we stop feeling so bad? Would we treat ourselves better? If we weren't trying to control, what would we do differently? Make a list, and then do it. Today, I will ask myself what I would be doing differently if I weren't trying to control. When I hear the answer, I will do it. God, help me let go of my need to control. Help me set others and myself free.