[bluidkiti]

May 12

Daily Reflections

THE PAST IS OVER

A.A. experience has taught us we cannot live alone with our pressing
problems and the character defects which cause or aggravate them. If
. . . Step Four . . . has revealed in stark relief those experiences we'd
rather not remember . . . then the need to quit living by ourselves
with those tormenting ghosts of yesterday gets more urgent than
ever. We have to talk to somebody about them.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 55

Whatever is done is over. It cannot be changed. But my attitude
about it can be changed through talking with those who have gone
before and with sponsors. I can wish the past never was, but if I
change my actions in regard to what I have done, my attitude will
change. I won't have to wish the past away. I can change my feelings
and attitudes, but only through my actions and the help of my fellow
alcoholics.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

When we come into A.A., looking for a way out of drinking, we really
need a lot more than that. We need fellowship. We need to get the
things that are troubling us out into the open. We need a new outlet
for our energies and we need a new strength beyond ourselves that
will help us face life instead of running away from it. In A.A. we find
these things that we need. Have I found the things that I need?

Meditation For The Day

Turn out all thoughts of doubt and fear and resentment. Never
tolerate them if you can help it. Bar the windows and doors of your
mind against them, as you would bar your home against a thief who would
steal in to take away your treasures. What greater treasures can you have
than faith and courage and love? All these are stolen from you by doubt and
fear and resentment. Face each day with peace and hope. They are
results of true faith in God. Faith gives you a feeling of protection and
safety that you can get in no other way.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may feel protected and safe, but not only when I am in the
harbor. I pray that I may have protection and safety even in the midst
of the storms of life.

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As Bill Sees It

Spot-Checking, p. 132

A spot-check inventory taken in the midst of disturbances can be of
very great help in quieting stormy emotions. Today's spot check
finds its chief application to situations which arise in each day's
march. The consideration of long-standing difficulties had better be
postponed, when possible, to times deliberately set aside for that
purpose.

The quick inventory is aimed at our daily ups and downs, especially
those where people or new events throw us off balance and tempt us
to make mistakes.

12 & 12, pp. 90-91

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Walk in Dry Places

Repeating the old hurts
Serenity
It's been pointed out that the real meaning of resentment is to "re-feel" an old injury. This means that we let ourselves feel again the pain we had when we were previously wronged.
Common sense tells us that this is a foolish practice. But with emotions like resentment, common sense can be crowded out. It is a rare person who can avoid resentment about matters that caused deep injury. Resentment is so much a part of everyday life. In fact, that it's considered abnormal not to resent a real wrong.
We've also been conditioned to believe that we're being spineless and wimpy if we don't become outraged by certain injustices and wrongs. There's a difference, however, between feeling strongly that something is wrong and being sullen and resentful about it. The first kind of feeling helps us remedy the problem; the second feeling simply intensifies our hurt. Under no circumstances can we afford resentment.
I'll make this day resentment-free, despite the currents of feeling and bitterness around me. "Re-feeling" old injuries is not the way to the happier life I seek.

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Keep It Simple

You can observe a lot just by watching. Yogi Berra
When we watch others, we learn how to "act as if." We watch a patient person, and then we "act as if we're a patient person. The result? Over time, we'll become a patient person. We watch how good listeners listen, and we "act as if" we know how to listen. Then one day, we realize we're really listening! We watch people who have faith, and we "act as if" we have it. Then over time, we become spiritual people!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me find You in the people and events of my day.
Action for the Day: I will "act as if" my Higher Power is standing next to me all through the Day.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Every human being has, like Socrates, an attendant spirit; and wise are they who obey its signals. If it does not always tell us what to do, it always cautions us what not to do. --Lydia M. Child
Our Spirit is our inner guide. And our Spirit never, never, gives us wrong directions. Because we're human, it's all too easy to deny the voice from within. Some call it conscience. And our behavior, maybe frequently, maybe occasionally, belies what our conscience knows is right. We suffer for it.
We are trying to be healthy, emotionally, spiritually, physically. Each day we can make progress. With each action we take, we have a choice. Our Spirit, our conscience, should be consulted. Right choices make for right actions that will emotionally and spiritually benefit us and the other persons close to us.
It's comforting to rely on the inner voice. It assures us we're never alone. No decision has to be made alone. No wrong action need ever be taken. A sense of security accompanies the partnership between each of us and our Spirit.
I will let the partnership work for me today.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

Abruptly in October 1929 hell broke loose on the New York stock exchange. After one of those days of inferno, I wobbled from a hotel bar to a brokerage office. It was eight o'clock-five hours after the market closed. The ticker still clattered. I was staring at an inch of the tape which bore the inscription XYZ-32. It had been 52 that morning. I was finished and so were many friends. The papers reported men jumping to death from the towers of High Finance. That disgusted me. I would not jump. I went back to the bar. My friends had dropped several million since ten o'clock-so what? Tomorrow was another day. As I drank, the old fierce determination to win came back.

p. 4

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Four - "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."

We thought "conditions" drove us to drink, and when we tried to correct these conditions and found that we couldn't to our entire satisfaction, our drinking went out of hand and we became alcoholics. It never occurred to us that we needed to change ourselves to meet conditions, whatever they were.

p. 47

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Life is like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are
getting somewhere or just standing still.
--Lou Erickson

"Stop worrying. The bridges you cross before you come to them are
almost always over rivers that aren't there."

A person desperately searching for God is like a fish desperately
searching for water.

Principles of the Twelve Concepts
1. Responsibility
2. Reliance
3. Trust
4. Participation
5. Democracy
6. Accountability
7. Balance
8. Consistency
9. Vision
10. Clarity
11. Respect
12. Spirituality

"The way to develop the best that is in a man is by appreciation and
encouragement."
--Charles Schwab

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

RESPONSIBILITY

"Man must cease attributing his
problems to his environment and
learn again to exercise his will, his
personal responsibility in the
realm of faith and morals."
--Albert Schweitzer

God has created me to be a responsible human being and that means
that I must seriously consider the choices and decisions that could
affect my life and the lives of others. Today I understand that true
freedom can only be experienced within the restraints of a responsible
life.

For years I blamed other people for my drunken behavior - family,
bishops, job, world situations - even God! But the truth was that I
lived an irresponsible life around alcohol. I ignored the facts that
surrounded my drinking.

Today I make a responsible decision not to drink, and I also take
responsibility for my life. I cannot blame other people for the mistakes
that I made. My real freedom is experienced in my responsibility.

Give me the freedom to impose my own constraints.

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"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His
might."
Ephesians 6:10

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside
still waters. He restoreth my soul: He guideth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake.
Psalm 23:2-3

Truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to
this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it shall move; and
nothing shall be impossible to you.
Matthew 17:20

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt
you.
James 4:10

"Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your
wings."
Psalm 17:8

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Daily Inspiration

Today do what you can and expect no more of yourself. Lord, I will feel joy in my accomplishments today and gratitude for the things I have to do tomorrow.

Praise accomplishes great things. Lord, let me be your instrument in touching lives and changing hearts.