1/2/2013

Just for today
Take a deep breath and talk to God

"Sometimes when we pray, a remarkable thing happens: We find the means, ways, and energies to perform tasks far beyond our capacities."

Basic Text p. 44
Coping successfully with life's minor annoyances and frustrations is sometimes the most difficult skill we have to learn in recovery. We are faced with small inconveniences daily. From untangling the knots in our children's shoelaces to standing in line at the market, our days are filled with minor difficulties that we must somehow deal with.

If we're not careful, we may find ourselves dealing with these difficulties by bullying our way through each problem or grinding our teeth while giving ourselves a stern lecture about how we should handle them. These are extreme examples of poor coping skills, but even if we're not this bad there's probably room for improvement.

Each time life presents us with another little setback to our daily plans, we can simply take a deep breath and talk to the God of our understanding. Knowing we can draw patience, tolerance, or whatever we need from that Power, we find ourselves coping better and smiling more often.

Just for today: I will take a deep breath and talk to my God whenever I feel frustrated.

pg. 2

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

What makes A.A. work? The first thing is to have a revulsion against myself and my way of living. Then I must admit I was helpless, that alcohol had me licked and I couldn't do anything about it. The next thing is to honestly want to quit the old life. Then I must surrender my life to a Higher Power, put my drinking problem in His hands and leave it there. After these things are done, I should attend meetings regularly for fellowship and sharing. I should also try to help other alcoholics. Am I doing these things?

Meditation For The Day

You are so made that you can only carry the weight of twenty-four hours, no more. If you weigh yourself down with the years behind and the days ahead, your back breaks. God has promised to help with the burdens of the day only. If you are foolish enough to gather again that burden of the past and carry it, then indeed you cannot expect God to help you bear it. So forget that which lies behind you and breathe in the blessing of each new day.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may realize that, for good or bad, past days have ended. I pray that I may face each new day, the coming twenty-four hours, with hope and courage.

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Walk In Dry Places

The Delusion of "Just one more"
Other Excesses

A binge is a chain reaction that starts with one drink. After a grim period of enforced abstinence, that first drink may have brought us intense emotional release and a peak feeling of euphoria. For the rest of the binge, there was a continuing delusion that the next drink would help us recapture that peak experience.

Delusion leads us to other excesses. Some alcoholics also binge on smoking, food, sex, and power and recognition. In this frantic seeking, our basic delusion is that substances and things can satisfy what is really a spiritual need. Instead of realizing that there is a law of diminishing returns in the enjoyment of such things, we cling to the delusion that "just one more" will bring the relief and satisfaction we want. Delusions brought disillusionment, and only the truth set us free from alcohol. Other excesses might not hurt us to the extent alcohol did, but the excesses of our drinking years carry lessons that are equally applicable to other human problems.

I will carry out the day's activities knowing that I already have enough of everything I need for this day alone.

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Keep It Simple

..our lives had become unmanageable. Second half of Step One.

The First Step tells us a lot about our addiction. We were out of control. Our addiction was in control. Addiction managed everything. It managed our relationships. It managed how we behaved with our families. As Step One says, "...our lives had become unmanageable." But we pretended we managed our lives. What a lie! Addiction ran our lives--not us. We weren't honest with ourselves. Our program heals us through self-honesty. We feel better just speaking the truth. We are becoming good people with spiritual values. Our spiritual journey has begun.

Prayer: Higher Power, I give YOU my life to manage. When I'm faced with a choice, I'll ask myself, "What would my Higher Power choose for me?"

Action: Today, I'll be honest with a friend about how unmanageable my life had become.

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Each Day a New Beginning

I believe that true identify is found . . . in creative activity springing from within. It is found, paradoxically, when one loses oneself. Woman can best re-find herself by losing herself in some kind of creative activity of her own. --Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Creative activity might mean bird watching, tennis, quilting, cooking, painting, writing. Creative activity immerses us fully in the here and now, and at the same time it frees us. We become one with the activity and are nourished by it. We grow as the activity grows. We learn who we are in the very process of not thinking about who we are.

Spirituality and creativity are akin. There is an exhilaration rooted deep within us that is a lifeline to God. Creative activity releases the exhilaration, and the energy goes through us and out to others. We find ourselves and our higher power through the loss of our self-conscious selves while creating--a picture, a sentence, a special meal.

Creativity is a given. It is another dimension of the spiritual presence guiding us all. I'll get out of its way today.

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"Making prompt amends is the fresh air of each new day." --Sandra Little

"We have to do the best we can. This is our sacred human responsibility." --Albert Einstein

"Never settle for anything less than your best." --Brian Tracy

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly. --Siddhartha Gautama

Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, and faith looks up. --unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

MARTYRS

"A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."
-- Oscar Wilde

I came to the conclusion in my battle with alcoholism that my involvement with God's will for me was crucial; my choice is the result of God's bestowed gift of freedom. And freedom is awfully real! The price of freedom is Auschwitz; the price of freedom is the world's starving millions; the price of freedom is the dead drunk in a derelict building. Men do insane and destructive things, usually because they think they know best. Men die to protect their ego. The sin of Adam, wanting to be like God, haunts us all.

Today I am learning to detach spiritually in order to discover a pure and selfless love. I stand back and consider before I act; often after a time of reflection I see the event differently --- and it is okay to change my mind.

Lord, I understand choice to be the key to my humanity.

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See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:19

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105

"By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness." Luke 1:78-79

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Daily Inspiration

Peace is one of our greatest needs because it provides for the strength we need in times of turmoil. Lord, I turn to You because You are my source of peace.

Laughter is a great way to reduce stress and prevent taking ourselves too seriously. Lord, bless me with a healthy sense of humor.