[bluidkiti]

June 14

Daily Reflections

WHEN THE GOING GETS ROUGH

It is a design for living that works in rough going.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 15

When I came to A.A., I realized that A.A. worked wonderfully
to help keep me sober. But could it work on real life problems,
not concerned with drinking? I had my doubts. After being
sober for more than two years I got my answer. I lost my job,
developed physical problems, my diabetic father lost a leg,
and someone I loved left me for another - and all of this
happened during a two-week period. Reality crashed in, yet
A.A. was there to support, comfort, and strengthen me. The
principles I had learned during my early days of sobriety
became a mainstay of my life for not only did I come through,
but I never stopped being able to help newcomers. A.A. taught me
not to be overwhelmed, but rather to accept and understand my
life as it unfolded.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

In A.A. we have to learn that drink is our greatest enemy.
Although we used to think that liquor was our friend, the time
came when it turned against us and became our enemy. We don't
know just when this happened, but we know that it did because
we began to get into trouble - jails and hospitals. We realize
now that liquor is our enemy. Is it still my main business to
keep sober?

Meditation For The Day

It is not your circumstances that need altering so much as
yourself. After you have changed, conditions will naturally
change. Spare no effort to become all that God would have you
become. Follow every good leading of your conscience. Take each
day with no backward look. Face the day's problems with God, and
seek God's help and guidance as to what you should do in every
situation that may arise. Never look back. Never leave until
tomorrow the thing that you are guided to do today.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that God will help me to become all that He would have me
be. I pray that I may face today's problem as with good grace.

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As Bill Sees It

"Success" in Twelfth-Stepping, p. 165

"We now see that in twelfth-stepping the immediate results are not so important.
Some people start out working with others and have immediate success. They are
likely to get cocky. Those of us who are not so successful at first get depressed.

"As a matter of fact, the successful worker differs from the unsuccessful only in
being lucky about his prospects. He simply hits newcomers who are ready and able
to stop at once. Given the same prospects, the seemingly unsuccessful person would
have produced almost the same results. You have to work on a lot of newcomers
before the law of averages commences to assert itself."

<< << << >> >> >>

All true communications must be founded on mutual need. We saw that each sponsor
would have to admit humbly his own needs as clearly as those of his prospect.

1. Letter, 1942
2. A.A. Today, p. 10

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Walk In Dry Places

True Satisfaction
Contentment
True satisfaction never comes from feeding addition. Nothing is ever enough. The only possible outcomes for those who do not seek recovery from their additions will be complete breakdown and untimely death.
St. Augustine explained why it’s impossible for humans to find true satisfaction in pursuing pleasure. “Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they repose in thee,” he wrote, with reference to the Divine.
As we come to understand that true satisfaction comes from the Spirit, we will, surprisingly, receive more satisfaction from the worldly things we use. We will begin to look upon our possessions for the service they give rather than as things that should make us happy. A new car should give us comfortable satisfactory transportation, but it cannot give us peace and true self-esteem. New clothes can please us, but they will not do anything for our spiritual depression.
Why didn't we know this all along? Probably because we falsely believed that certain possessions would bring fulfillment. They can't do that, but when we are thinking right, our appreciation of everything should increase.
I'll not expect true satisfaction in this world, although I'll get more out of it if I put things in right order.

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Keep It Simple

Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once.---unknown
Time always seems to pass too slowly or too quickly for us. .We want the fun times to last longer. We want the boring or painful times to go faster. But times goes at just the right pace. Any faster, and we wouldn't have enough time to learn as we go. Any slower, and we'd lose interest. In our program, we learn to respect the pace of time. We let go, and we let time go at it's own pace. We call this patience.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thank-you for patience. Help me look forward to the future without rushing. Help me live fully in the here and now. Help me make today a good one by doing Your will.
Action for the Day: I'll list five ways I can use time to be more healthy---in body, mind and spirit. Which of these five things can I do today?

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Each Day a New Beginning

All of us have unique talents and gifts. No obstacle, be it physical, mental or emotional, has the power to destroy our innate creative energies. --Liane Cordes
Believing this fully is difficult at times; for some of us, most of the time. But it is true. What each of us can contribute to the world is unlike every other contribution. Each talent is slightly different from every other talent. And they are all needed. We are all needed.
Creativity--any kind--writing, photography, cooking, child care, weaving, managing, woodworking--nourishes the self that feels isolated and worthless. And as the self is nourished, it grows; it recovers.
Recovery means changing our lifestyle. It means reaching out to others and being there for one another. It means rejoining the human race by giving of ourselves. Our talents are the gifts the human race awaits, needs, in fact. Do we know our talents?
I will search out my secret dreams today. In them lie my talents. I will develop them. Help awaits me.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

For a moment I was alarmed, and called my friend, the doctor, to ask if I were still sane. He listened in wonder as I talked.
Finally he shook his head saying, "Something has happened to you I don't understand. But you had better hang on to it. Anything is better than the way you were." The good doctor now sees many men who have such experiences. He knows that they are real.

p. 14

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Five - "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."

Perhaps, though, your relation to him is such that you would care to reveal only a part of your story. If this is the situation, by all means do so, for you ought to make a beginning as soon as you can. It may turn out, however, that you'll choose someone else for the more difficult and deeper revelations. This individual may be entirely outside of A.A.--for example, your clergyman or your doctor. For some of us, a complete stranger may prove the best bet.

p. 61

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The memories of tomorrow depend on your attitude today.
--Dave Weinbaum

"Make sure the thing you're living for is worth dying for."
--Charles Mayes

"I have a special purpose!"
--Steve Martin

"When we become aware of our humility, we've lost it."
--Anonymous

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have
the life that is waiting for us.
--Joseph Campbell

Injure others, injure yourself.
--Chinese Proverb

"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I
can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
--Helen Keller

"I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep
down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline... I firmly
believe that any man's finest hour - this greatest fulfillment to all he
holds dear – is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a
good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious."
--Vince Lombardi

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

LIFE

"To be free is to have achieved
your life."
--Tennessee Williams

Yesterday's tapes: I need a drink. I can't exist without a fix. How will
I get through the morning without taking something? Do people see
me shake? Are people watching me? Where can I get money? The
prison of addiction!

Today I am free because I took courage and asked for help. Today I
am free because I still ask for help. Today I have learned to say "no"
to the first drink and life is more comfortable and less painful.

Freedom is a precious spiritual gift that I work for on a daily basis.
God is involved - but so am I. The freedom from alcoholism is only
guaranteed by the creative choices I make and in the choice is the
freedom.

God, my memory is the key to today's freedom; may I continue to
remember.

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"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy
name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who
forgives all your inquiry, who heals all your diseases."
Psalm 103:1-3

"For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:38-39

"I will praise You, O LORD, among the peoples, And I will sing praises
to You among the nations."
Psalms 108:3

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Daily Inspiration

To be successful in the projects you undertake today, you must believe in yourself and your abilities even if you are walking on new ground. Lord, guide me in my endeavors and open my mind to new solutions if things aren't going as I have planned.

The smallest kindness is worth more than the greatest intention. Lord, help me not to overlook the opportunities that I have to enrich the lives of others or think I am too busy to reach out with a word or even a smile.