Friday, November 27, 2015
Nov. 27, 2015 - Something not to be grateful for: A GOP primary driven by hate and fear
Nov. 27, 2015 - Gratitude learned from a failed suicide attempt
Nov. 27, 2015 - Has AA's recovery literature become antiquated?
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| The Big Book |
Nov. 27, 2015 - Video: Jake Gyllenhaal in-depth on 'Brokeback Mountain' and LGBT equality
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| Jake Gyllenhaal |
Nov. 27, 2015 - Hollywood flashback: In 1985, 'An Early Frost' is first to tackle a new medical crisis - AIDS
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| Gene Rowlands and Aiden Quinn |
Nov. 27, 2015 - Gratitude to the doctor who outed a patient
Nov. 27, 2015 - Seven adventurously homoerotic Tinder date Ideas
Nov. 27, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Friday, Nov. 27, 2015
Today's thought from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
... satisfaction is a lowly thing, how pure a thing is joy.
--Marianne Moore
Our perfectionism generally dashes all hopes of self-satisfaction. But the program is here to show us that we can make progress. We can learn to believe that we are doing any task as well as we need to do it, at this time. Our job is the effort. The outcome is part of a larger plan, one that involves more than ourselves.
We'll find joy when we find acceptance of ourselves and our efforts and the belief that we are spiritual beings whose lives do have purpose and direction.
The wisdom that accompanies spiritual growth offers us security, that which we have sought along many avenues. And when we feel secure, we can trust that the challenges confronting us are purposeful and to our advantage.
One day at a time, one small prayer at a time, moves us even closer to spiritual security. We can look with glad anticipation at our many responsibilities and activities today. They are our opportunities for spiritual security. We can trust our growing inner resources by simply asking for guidance and waiting patiently. It will find us.
I must exercise my prayers if I want the spiritual security where I can find joy. I will ask for guidance with every activity today.
... satisfaction is a lowly thing, how pure a thing is joy.
--Marianne Moore
Our perfectionism generally dashes all hopes of self-satisfaction. But the program is here to show us that we can make progress. We can learn to believe that we are doing any task as well as we need to do it, at this time. Our job is the effort. The outcome is part of a larger plan, one that involves more than ourselves.
We'll find joy when we find acceptance of ourselves and our efforts and the belief that we are spiritual beings whose lives do have purpose and direction.
The wisdom that accompanies spiritual growth offers us security, that which we have sought along many avenues. And when we feel secure, we can trust that the challenges confronting us are purposeful and to our advantage.
One day at a time, one small prayer at a time, moves us even closer to spiritual security. We can look with glad anticipation at our many responsibilities and activities today. They are our opportunities for spiritual security. We can trust our growing inner resources by simply asking for guidance and waiting patiently. It will find us.
I must exercise my prayers if I want the spiritual security where I can find joy. I will ask for guidance with every activity today.
You are reading from the book:
Each Day a New Beginning by Karen Casey. © 1982, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation
Nov. 27, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Friday, Nov. 27, 2015
"There may be some wrongs we can never fully right. We don't worry about them if we can honestly say to ourselves that we would right them if we could. Some people cannot be seen - we send them an honest letter. And there may be a valid reason for postponement in some cases. But we don't delay if it can be avoided. We should be sensible, tactful, considerate and humble without being servile or scraping." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 6 ("Into Action"), p 83.
Today, I can't take on guilt - or be guilted - if I am in absolute honesty cannot make an amend to someone I have hurt if that amend inflicts further injure them or someone else. This is a vital qualifier of the Ninth Step - that we make amends directly "except when to do so would injure them or others." But this isn't a out from making amends or accepting responsibility. It is possible to postpone making an amend if an immediate one inflicts hurt. It is just as possible that I can never make amends to someone if that person cannot be found or is no longer available. In any case, if for no one other than myself, I can make "indirect" amends by admitting my wrong in writing, in a private journal even if no one else will read it. In doing that, I am at least giving voice to a silent wrong. The benefit could be that the guilt or fear of being "caught" is powerless because I have admitted my wrong and responsibility. If today I take the Ninth Step, I must temper my "confession" with the qualification that an act of atonement now could do what the Ninth warns against - inflicting further hurt. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2015
Nov. 27, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, Nov. 27, 2015
AA Thought for the Day
The way of AA is the way of sobriety, fellowship, service and faith. Let us take up each one of these things and see if our feet are truly on the way. The first and greatest to us is sobriety. The others are built on sobriety as a foundation. We could not have the others if we did not have sobriety. We all come to AA to get sober, and we stay to help others get sober. We are looking for sobriety first, last and all the time. We cannot build any decent kind of a life unless we stay sober.
Am I on the AA way?
Meditation for the Day
To truly desire to do God's will, therein lies happiness for a human being. We start out wanting our own way. We want our wills to be satisfied. We take and we do not give. Gradually we find that we are not happy when we are selfish, so we begin to make allowances for other peoples' wills. But this again does not give us full happiness, and we begin to see that the only way to be truly happy is to try to do God's will. In these times of meditation, we seek to get guidance so that we can find God's will for us.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may subordinate my will to the will of God. I pray that I may be guided today to find His will for me.
Hazelden Foundation
Nov. 27, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
Friday, Nov. 27, 2015
Reflection for the Day
The Program shows us how to transform the pipe-dream of our pasts into reality and a true sense of purpose, together with a growing consciousness of the power of God in our lives. It's alright to keep our head in the clouds with Him, we're taught, but our feet should remain firmly planted here on earth. Here's where other people are; here's where our work must be accomplished.
Do I see anything incompatible between spirituality and a useful life in the here and now?
Today I Pray
May my new "reality" include not only the nuts and bolts and pots and pans of daily living, but also my spiritual reality, my growing knowledge of the presence of God. May this new reality have room, too, for my dreams - not the drug-induced, mind-drifting fantasies of the past or the remnants of my delusions - but the products of a healthy imagination. May I respect these dreams, anchor them in earth's possibilities and turn them into useful creativity.
Today I Will Remember
Heaven has a place in the here-and-now.
Hazelden Foundation
Nov. 27, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
Friday, Nov. 27, 2015
Sorrow and happiness are mental states, but the effect they have upon our nervous system and our blood pressure is a recognized fact.
The "Atmosphere" of a hospital and its staff can lengthen or shorten the duration of an illness.
We alcoholics spent years driving nails into our coffins; let us spend today drawing those nails out.
Hazelden Foundation
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