INCREASING YOUR DIVIDENDS
For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath (Matthew 25:29).
This great text has been a stumbling block to many. It looks like injustice. It sounds like cruelty. Yet Jesus said it, and we know that he was always right.
The explanation is logical when you have the key to life. Your experience is the expression (pressing out) of your state of mind or consciousness, at any time. When your consciousness is high, everything goes well. When your consciousness is low or limited, everything goes wrong.
When trouble comes the usual thing is to meet it with fear, anger, disappointment, self-pity, or brutal will power. This naturally lowers the consciousness a good deal more, and things get still worse. From him that hath not (much) harmony, shall be taken away even that which he hath.
Harmony and joy naturally raise your consciousness and your faith in God still higher, and so things improve further. Unto everyone that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance. This is a simple statement of natural law. Let us thank God that this wonderful law exists.
© 1931 by Emmet Fox
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A UNIVERSAL SEARCH
Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer.
~ ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 87
I do not claim to have all the answers in spiritual matters, any more than I claim to have all the answers about alcoholism. There are others who are also engaged in a spiritual search. If I keep an open mind about what others have to say, I have much to gain. My sobriety is greatly enriched, and my practice of the Eleventh Step more fruitful, when I use both the literature and practices of my Judeo-Christian tradition, and the resources of other religions. Thus, I receive support from many sources in staying away from the first drink.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc
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Gratefully Recovering
“We entertained the thought that staying clean was not paying off and the old thinking stirred up self-pity, resentment, and anger.”
~ Basic Text pg. 98
There are days when some of us wallow in self-pity. It’s easy to do. We may have expectations about how our lives should be in recovery, expectations that aren’t always met. Maybe we’ve tried unsuccessfully to control someone, or we think our circumstances should be different. Perhaps we’ve compared ourselves with other recovering addicts and found ourselves lacking. The more we try to make our life conform to our expectations, the more uncomfortable we feel. Self-pity can arise from living in our expectations instead of in the world as it actually is.
When the world doesn’t measure up to our expectations, it’s often our expectations that need adjusting, not the world. We can start by comparing our lives today with the way they used to be, developing gratitude for our recovery. We can extend this exercise in gratitude by counting the good things in our lives, becoming thankful that the world does not conform to our expectations but exceeds them. And if we continue working the Twelve Steps, further cultivating gratitude and acceptance, what we can expect in the future is more growth, more happiness, and more peace of mind.
We’ve been given much in recovery; staying clean has paid off. Acceptance of our lives, just for today, frees us from our self-pity.
Just for today: I will accept my life, gratefully, just as it is.
© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc
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A.A. Thought for the Day
Instead of pretending to be perfectionists, in A. A. we are content if we are making progress. The main thing is to be growing. We realize that perfectionism is only a result of false pride and an excuse to save our faces. In A. A. we are willing to make mistakes and to stumble, provided we are always stumbling forward. We are not so interested in what we are as in what we are becoming. We are on the way, not at the goal. And we will be on the way as long as we live. No A. A. has ever “arrived.” But we are getting better. Am I making progress?
Meditation for the Day
Each new day brings an opportunity to do some little thing that will help to make a better world, that will bring God’s kingdom a little nearer to being realized on earth. Take each day’s happenings as opportunities for something you can do for God. In that spirit, a blessing will attend all that you do. Offering this day’s service to God, you are sharing in His work. You do not have to do great things.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that today I may do the next thing, the unselfish thing, the loving thing. I pray that I may be content with doing small things as long as they are right.
© 1954, 1975, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation
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A New-Found Providence
When dealing with a prospect of agnostic or atheistic bent, you had better use everyday language to describe spiritual principles. There is no use arousing any prejudice he may have against certain theological terms and conceptions, about which he may already be confused. Don’t raise such issues, no matter what your own convictions are.
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Every man and woman who has joined A.A. and intends to stick has, without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three. Isn’t it true that, in all matters touching upon alcohol, each of them has decided to turn his or her life over to the care, protection, and guidance of A.A.?
Already a willingness has been achieved to cast out one’s own ideas about the alcohol problem in favor of those suggested by A.A. Now if this is not turning one’s will and life over to a new-found “Providence,” then what is it?
~ 1. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, P. 93
~ 2. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 35
© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc
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ARE THERE BETTER PATHS TO SOBRIETY?
Self-Honesty
Now that alcoholism recovery has been well established, alternatives to the AA program are being developed. These are designed to appeal to those who either will not or cannot accept AA.
Nobody in AA should feel threatened by these new programs. We should, in fact, be delighted if ways are found to reach those whom we are unable to help. The need is so great that we should welcome anything that helps alcoholics.
The only real test for any program is that it works. More important, it must work for us. No program is useful to us if we cannot apply it in our own lives.
If we have found sobriety in AA, we have no need to look further. If AA was able to help us in our hour of desperate need, it can help us as the days unfold into the future.
I’ll be thankful today for the sobriety AA has given me. I’ll also remember that my need for help in maintaining sobriety will never end.
© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation
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Freedom is not enough.
~ Lyndon B. Johnson
We are free of alcohol and other drugs. We’ve been given a second chance or third chance. For that, we thank our Higher Power. We’ve started a new life. But to keep this life, we need to change. We need new friends. We need to let a Higher Power guide our hearts, minds, and bodies. We need new friends. We need to let a Higher Power guide our hearts, and bodies. We need to learn new values and how to stand up for them. We need to learn how to give and receive.
Freedom from dependence is not enough. We also want to be happy, and to do something with our lives. So each day we keep learning, we keep growing. Each day without alcohol or other drugs is a gift, a gift from God.
Prayer for the Day:
Higher Power, You set me free. Now teach me to stay free. Guide me, for keeping my freedom is a big task
Action for the Day:
I will meditate on my freedom. I will take time to list all the ways I am now free.
Copyright © 1988 by Hazelden Foundation
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SHAME
“If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.”
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero ~
I was afraid to tell others what I thought. I was afraid to speak or be noticed. I sat for hours in silence. At times, I wished I could vanish into the furniture. I was afraid of my shadow.
This reveals not only my lack of confidence but also my low self-esteem. I did not think I had anything to offer that might be interesting. I would laugh at stupid things to please people.
Today I speak out with courage. I do not hide what I am thinking. I believe I have something to offer in the celebration of life. And it feels good! My spiritual growth is proportionate to my willingness to let others know who I am and what I think.
May I celebrate my joy in living by sharing it.
© 2008 Leo Booth
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Reflection for the Day
Although we came into the Program to deal with a specific problem, we soon became aware that we would find not only freedom from addiction, but freedom to live in the real world without fear and frustration. We learned that the solutions are within ourselves. With the help of my Higher Power, I can enrich my life with comfort, enjoyment, and deep-down serenity. Am I changing from my own worst enemy to my own best friend?
Today I Pray
May I praise my Higher Power for my freedoms—from addiction, from spiritual bankruptcy, from loneliness, from fear, from the seesaw of pride, from despair, from delusions, from shallowness, from doom. I give thanks for the way of life that has given me these freedoms and replaces the empty spaces with extra goodness and peace of mind.
Today I Will Remember
To give thanks for all my freedoms.
© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation
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GRATITUDE
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “Thank you,” that would suffice.
~ Meister Eckhart
I spent most of my life blaming my circumstances and those around me for the way I felt, for my eating problem and for my terrible life in general. There was nothing good in my life at all and I viewed everything through a dark cloud of negativity. I couldn’t see anything good in my life, and life became totally unbearable. Poor me, I thought. It really wasn’t fair that I had been made to suffer the way I had, and I felt awash with self-pity. The more sorry I felt for myself, the more I ate, and the more I ate, the worse I felt; it became a vicious circle.
When I was brought to my knees by this disease and came into the fellowship, I was forced to take stock and look honestly at my life. For the first time ever I considered the losses and difficult situations in my life that I had perceived as unfair and negative. In each case there had been amazing gains. For example, the car accident I’d been in hadn’t been my fault at all. In fact, it became the catalyst that enabled me to change careers. One of the bereavements that I had brought a wonderful and special friend into my life. And so it went. Before, I had bemoaned my fate as a compulsive overeater. Now, I am actually grateful to be a compulsive overeater, because without my disease I never would have a wonderful program that helps me to live my life sanely and serenely, nor would I have all the very special people who love and support me through thick and thin.
One Day at a Time . . .
I am grateful for all the wonderful miracles that have happened in my life as a result of this program … may I never forget to thank my Higher Power for all these wonderful blessings.
~ Sharon S.
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“Things would go well for us if we would think positively about everything.”
~ Mary Hayes, CLAOQUOT
Each of our thoughts are like individual seeds. These thoughts will plant our life garden. Whatever our thoughts, they grow in our gardens. Each day we will process about 50,000 thoughts or thought seeds. Positive thoughts will produce positive results. Have you ever been aware of what you are thinking about during the day? Of the possible 50,000 thoughts in one day-if the positive thoughts were flowers and the negative thoughts were weeds-how would your garden look at the end of the day?
Great Spirit, let me plant positive seeds.
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We will sabotage ourselves if we don’t believe we deserve success.
Maybe we could try a different approach – stop torturing ourselves for the things we have done wrong and then try forgiveness instead. We can make amends by doing service work – a way of keeping that self-sabotaging guilt at bay.
Sometimes people don’t know how to directly ask for forgiveness, but their behaviors will tell us that’s what they’re saying. Whenever somebody asks for forgiveness, whenever we have a list of resentments, whenever we’ve done something wrong, it’s a good time to start making things right.
From the book:
52 Weeks of Conscious Contact by Melody Beattie
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Every practicing alcoholic is firmly convinced that the Devil has all the good tunes. It was the music we had wanted and the tunes to which we had attuned our ears. His music was louder, more catchy and, to our thinking, was prettier. We suspected, however, that it did not have the soul-satisfying qualities that make good music.
We must learn all over again to train our senses to appreciate those things which are really good and not cheap imitations.
Copyright Hazelden Foundation
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Lightning rod at the pinnacle
Attracts power by its mere presence.
In the same way, we must work
For substance and height.
If we want communion with heavenly powers, we need only attain the proper spiritual height. Then heaven will come to meet us as surely as lightning is attracted to a lightning rod. The effort is only in the becoming, in the purification of our characters, in the reaching upward. Once the situation is correct, union is inevitable.
Some people say, "Who cares about heaven?" Some people say, "Why strain for refinement?" Of course, no one is required to make an effort in life. We can all go the easy way. But then we are still lightning rods. Only the forces we attract are not the powers of heaven, but the powers of demons, misfortune, and predators.
No, there is no true reason why anyone should want to purify for spiritual reasons. The fact is, no matter what kind of person you are, you will attract something to yourself. One of the major ways to control what comes to you is to refine your substance.
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Whether you are going or staying
Sitting or lying down,
The whole world is your own self.
You must find out
Whether the mountains,
Rivers, grass, and forests
Exist in your own mind
Or exist outside it.
Analyze the ten thousand things,
And when you take
This to the limit,
You will come to the limitless;
When you search into it,
You come to the end of search,
Where thinking goes no
Further and distinctions vanish.
When you smash the citadel of doubt,
Then the Buddha is simply yourself.
- Daikaku (1213-1279)
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