A GLORIOUS RELEASE

"The minute I stopped arguing, I could begin to see and feel.  Right there, Step Two gently and very gradually began to infiltrate my life.  I can't say upon what occasion or upon what day I came to believe in a Power Greater than myself, but I certainly have that belief now.  To acquire it, I had only to stop fighting and practice the rest of A.A.'s program as enthusiastically as I could."

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 27

After years of indulging in a "self-will run riot," Step Two became for me a glorious release from being all alone.  Nothing is so painful or insurmountable in my journey now.  Someone is always there to share life's burdens with me.  Step Two became a reinforcement with God, and now I realize that my insanity and ego were curiously linked.  To rid myself of the former, I must give up the latter to one with far broader shoulders than my own. 

Come share your story and your suggested solutions at Friendship House

******************************************************

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

One thing we learn in A.A. is to take a long view of drinking instead of a short view.  When we were drinking we thought more about the pleasure or release that a drink would give us than we did about the consequences that would result from our taking that drink.  Liquor looks good from the short view.  When we look in a package store window, we see liquor dressed up in its best wrappings, with fancy labels and decorations.  They look swell.  But have I learned that what's inside those beautiful bottles is just plain poison to me?

Meditation for the Day

I believe that life is a school in which I must learn spiritual things.  I must trust in God and He will teach me. I must listen to God and He will speak through my mind.  I must commune with Him in spite of all opposition and every obstacle.  There will be days when I will hear no voice in my mind and when there will come no intimate heart-to-heart communion.  But if I persist, and make a life habit of schooling myself in spiritual things, God will reveal Himself to me in many ways.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may regularly go to school in things of the spirit.  I pray that I may grow spiritually by making a practice of these things.
*************************************

Thought for Today

"Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way.
Stay away from what might have been, and look
at what can be."

--Marsha Petrie Sue (The CEO of You)

***************************************************

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

Anger or hatred is like a fisherman's hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

***************************************************
Native American

"Let the person I serve express his thanks according to his own bringing up and his sense of humor."

--Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa), SANTEE SIOUX

"It is better to give than receive." But it doesn't really matter if we are giving or receiving. There is an identical feeling associated with both. We get this feeling every time we receive. We can't control when we receive gifts but we can control when we give gifts. Therefore, the more we give, the better we feel. When we are given gifts, or someone does something for us, it is the Indian way to honor this person.

Great Spirit, let me honor and be respectful to those who are good to me today.

***************************************************

Keep It Simple

 Don't bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.  ---  Thomas Jefferson

Pleasure is important in recovery. But at times we think pleasure is the answer to life's pains. Alcohol and other drugs were what we liked best. We need to watch out so we don't switch to another addiction--such as gambling, food, sex, or work. The real answer to life's pains is in having a strong spiritual center. It is also our best way to avoid another addiction. Recovery lets us turn our pain over to the care of our Higher Power. Our Higher Power can handle any problem we may have. Our program can help us with our problems too. Recovery is a three-way deal. Higher Power, program, and us.

Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, help me avoid another addiction. When I have problems, have me come to You and to my program before anything else.

Action for the Day:  Today, I'll set aside time and ask the question, "Am I headed for another addiction/" I'll also ask my sponsor what he or she thinks.

Inner Peace

FAMILY OBLIGATIONS
....a spiritual life which does not include .....family obligations may not be so perfect after all.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 129
I can be doing great in the program--applying it at meetings, at work, and in service activities--and find that things have gone to pieces at home. I expect my loved ones to understand, but they cannot. I expect them to see and value my progress, but they don’t--unless I show them. Do I neglect their needs and desires for my attention and concern? When I'm around them, am I irritable or boring? Are my "amends" a mumbled "Sorry," or do they take the form of patience and tolerance? Do I preach to them, trying to reform or "fix" them? Have I ever really cleaned house with them? The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it." (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 83)





Come live it at Friendship House
**************************************************************
Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day
We alcoholics have to believe in some Power greater than ourselves. Yes, we have to believe in God. Not to believe in Higher Power drives us to atheism. Atheism, it has been said before, is blind faith in the strange proposition that this universe originated in a cipher and aimlessly rushes nowhere. That's practically impossible to believe. So we turn to that Divine Principle in the universe that we call God. Have I stopped trying to run my own life?

Meditation for the Day
"Lord, we thank Thee for the great gift of peace, that peace which passeth all understanding, that peace which the world can neither give nor take away." That is the peace that only God can give in the midst of a restless world and surrounded by trouble and difficulty. To know that peace is to have received the stamp of the kingdom of God. When you have earned that peace, you are fit to judge between true and false values, between the values of the kingdom of God and the values of all that the world has to offer.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that today I may have inner peace. I pray that today I may be at peace with myself.
**************************************************************
Thought For Today

SOLITUDE
        Greta Garbo was reported to have said, "I want to be alone." Life
        brings its pressures, but we all need to find a place where we can be
        "alone".  Alone - not to "think" or "do" - simply to be. We need time to simply
        rest in our lives. A time in the day which we can call our own, to have a
        visit with the most important person we have got in our lives -
        ourselves.
        To rest in self is to experience "spiritual selfishness" - the joy of
        self-love.
         And how much we look forward to setting aside a time just for heart
        and mind to center on the pathway to listening to God.

Loneliness - the pain of being alone.

Solitude - the joy of being alone.
*********************************************************************************************
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
 The most dangerous thing in the world is to think you understand something.

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Native American
"When you go inside that power, there's no fear. It's so beautiful!! There's no fear there. There's no pain."
---- Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA

Imagine you are standing on the edge of a stage. In the center of the stage is a spotlight shining from above. If you stand anyplace outside the spotlight, in the darkness, you will experience fear. But as soon as you step into the light in the center of the stage, all fear and pain go away. When we stand in the power, fear cannot exist. How do we find this place of power? We pray our way into it. We ask the Creator to take our hand and help us. When we get to that place, we will feel the fear go away.
Great Spirit, hold my hand and guide me today.

***************************************
Keep It Simple
 Who is the bravest hero? He who turns his enemy into a friend.  ---  Hebrew Proverb
In recovery we take our worst enemy, addiction, and turn it around. We were ashamed of our addiction. Over time we become proud of our recovery. We were our own worst enemy. Now we're our own best friend. We are brave people.

Being brave is about facing our fears. Often we think brave people don't get afraid, but this isn't true. Brave people learn to stay put, even when their knees are shaking. Many times in recovery, we will want to run when we should stay put. We may even think about using chemicals again.
We need to remember our bravery and how we turned our worst enemy into a friend.
Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, teach me when to run and when to stay put. Help me be brave.
Action for the Day:  I will claim bravery today. I'll hold my head up high and be proud of how far I've come. I now have nothing to be ashamed of.

 

CHARACTER BUILDING

Demands made upon other people for too much attention, protection, and love can only invite domination or revulsion.  .  .  .

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 44

When I uncovered my need for approval in the Fourth Step, I didn't think it should rank as a character defect.  I wanted to think of it more of an asset (that is, the desire to please people).  It was quickly pointed out to me that this "need" can be very crippling.  Today I still enjoy getting the approval of others, but I am not willing to pay the price I used to pay to get it.  I will not bend myself into a pretzel to get others to like me.  If I get your approval, that's fine; but if I don't, I will survive without it.  I am responsible for speaking what I perceive to be the truth, not what I think others may want to hear.

     

Similarly, my false pride always kept me overly concerned about my reputation.  Since being enlightened in the A.A. program, my aim is to improve my character.

********************************************************************

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

 

A.A. Thought for the Day

Since I've been in A.A., have I made a start toward becoming more loving to my family and friends? Do I visit my parents? Am I more appreciative of my spouse than I was before? Am I grateful to my family for having put up with me? Have I found real understanding with my children? Do I feel that the friends I've found in A.A. are real friends? Do I believe that they are always ready to help me and do I want to help them if I can? Do I really care now about other people?

Meditation for the Day

Not what you do so much as what you are, that is the miracle-working power. You can be a force for good, with the help of God. God is here to help you and to bless you, here to company with you. You can be a worker with God. Changed by God's grace, you shed one garment of the spirit for a better one. In time, you throw that one aside for a yet finer one. And so from character to character, you are gradually transformed.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may accept every challenge. I pray that each acceptance of a challenge may make me grow into a better person.
***********************************************

Thought for Today

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

--Will Rogers

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Buddha/Zen Thoughts

So much fear and desire come from that commitment to 'I am'--to being somebody. Eventually they take us to anxiety and despair; life seems much more difficult and painful than it really is.

But when we just observe life for what it is, then it's all right: the delights, the beauty, the pleasures are just that.

-Ajahn Sumedho, "Seeing the Way"

*****************************************************

Native American

"With children we always have to think about seven generations to come but yet unborn."

--Janice Sundown Hattet, SENECA

What we do today will effect the children seven generations form now. How we treat the Mother Earth will affect the children yet to be born. If we poison the water today, our children's children will be affected by the decision we made. Our children are the gateway to the future. Let us conscientiously think about the children and the seven generations to come.

My Creator, I thank you for my ancestors, seven generations ago.

*****************************************************

Keep It Simple

To know all things is not permitted.   ---  Horace

In recovery, we give up trying to be perfect. We give up trying to know
everything. We work at coming to know and accept our short-comings.  In
Step Four and Five, we look at our good points and our bad points. In Step
Six, we become ready to have our Higher Power remove our "defects of
character." Then in Step Seven we ask our Higher Power to remove our
"shortcomings."
Recovery is about coming to accept that we're not prefect. We admit that
trying to be perfect got in the way of being useful to ourselves, our
Higher Power, and those around us. Pretending to be prefect doesn't allow
us to be real. It's also boring and no fun---you never get to mess up.

Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, You will let me know what I need to know. Allow me to claim
my mistakes and shortcomings.

Action for the Day:  I will work at being okay today. Not prefect, just okay.

In Nashville, come by for a visit. Check out our website and visit us at 202.

OPENING UP TO CHANGE

Self-searching is the means by which we bring new vision, action, and grace to bear upon the dark and negative side of our natures.  With it comes the development of that kind of humility that makes it possible for us to receive God's help.  .  .  .  we find that bit by bit we can discard the old life---the one that did not work---for a new life that can and does work under any conditions whatever.

AS BILL SEES IT, pp. 10, 8

I have been given a daily reprieve contingent upon my spiritual condition, provided I seek progress, not perfection.  To become ready to change, I practice willingness, opening myself to possibilities of change.  If I realize there are defects that hinder my usefulness in A.A. and toward others, I become ready by meditating and receiving direction.  "Some of us have tried to hold on to our own ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely"  (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 58).  To let go and let God, I need only surrender my old ways to Him; I no longer fight nor do I try to control, but simply believe that, with God's help, I am changed and affirming this belief makes me ready.  I empty myself to be full of awareness, light, and love, and am ready to face each day with hope.

********************************************

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

 

A.A. Thought for the Day

Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. We always get worse, never better. We are never cured. Our alcoholism can only be arrested. No matter how long we have been sober, if we try liquor again, we're as bad or worse than we ever were. There is no exception to this rule in the whole history of A.A. We can never recapture the good times of the past. They are gone forever. Will I try to recapture them?

Meditation for the Day

Your life has been given to you mainly for the purpose of training your soul. This life we live is not so much for the body as for the soul. We often choose the way of life that best suits the body, not the way that best suits the soul. God wants you to choose what suits the soul as well as the body. Accept this belief and a wonderful molding of character is the result. Reject it and God's purpose for your life is frustrated, and your spiritual progress is delayed. Your soul is being trained by the good you choose. Thus the purpose of your life is being accomplished.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may choose what is good for my soul. I pray that I may realize God's purpose for my life.
******************************************

Thought for Today

Reality
The more I drank,
the more I fantasized everything.
I imagined getting even for hurts and rejections.
In my mind's eye I played and replayed scenes
in which I was plucked magically from the bar
where I stood nursing a drink
and was instantly exalted to some position of power
and prestige. I lived in a dream world.
AA led me from this fantasizing to embrace reality
with open arms.
And I found it beautiful!
I was at peace with myself. And with others.
And with God.

Thought to Ponder . . .
The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S O B E R = Son Of A Basket, Everything's Real.

******************************************************

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
there is no objection to anything in the world;
and when there is no objection to anything,
things cease to be—in the old way.
When no discriminating attachment arises,
the old mind ceases to exist.
Let go of things as separate existences
and mind too vanishes.
Likewise when the thinking subject vanishes
so too do the objects created by mind.

******************************************************

Native American

"So we are connected to the moon. That gives us power, a connection to the earth and the moon, men don't know about."

--Cecilia Mitchell, MOHAWK

The Elders tell us that the Woman has access to special powers. The Earth Mother gives her love in a special way to the Woman. The Moon also gives special powers to the Woman. She uses these powers to nurture, heal and guide the people.

Great Spirit, today, give a special Blessing to our Women.

***************************************************
Keep It Simple
 It's not enough to talk to plants, you also have to listen.  ---  David Bergman
Sometimes, we find ourselves doing all the talking. When this happens, we need to stop, think, and listen.
When we do all the talking, we're trying to control what happens. But when we listen, we get better results. No one has to be in control. What a relief!
And we're learning to listen better every day. It's great---the care, love, and help we find---just by listening.
Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, help me learn the "give-and-take" of talking and listening.
Action for the Day:  Today, I'll focus on listening, not only to other people but to my Higher Power's voice.

Join us at Friendship House and check out our website.

LIGHTING THE DARK PAST

Join us at Friendship House and share your experience strength and hope.

Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have---the key to life and happiness for others.  With it you can avert death and misery for them.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 124

No longer is my past an autobiography; it is a reference book to be taken down, open and shared.  Today as I report for duty, the most wonderful picture comes through.  For, though this day be dark---as some days must be---the stars will shine brighter later.  My witness that they do shine will be called for in the very near future.  All my past will this day be a part of me, because it is the key, not the lock.

*****************************************************************************************
Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

In A.A. we often hear the slogan "Easy Does It." Alcoholics always do everything to excess. They drink too much. They worry too much. They have too many resentments. They hurt themselves physically and men- tally by too much of everything. So when they come into A.A., they have to learn to take it easy. None of us knows how much longer we have to live. Ifs probable that we wouldn't have lived very long if we had continued to drink the way we used to. By stopping drinking, we have increased our chances of living for a while longer. Have I learned to take it easy?

Meditation for the Day

You must be before you can do. To accomplish much, be much. In all cases, the doing must be the expression of the being. It is foolish to think that we can accomplish much in personal relationships without first preparing ourselves by being honest, pure, unselfish, and loving. We must choose the good and keep choosing it, before we are ready to be used by God to accomplish anything worthwhile. We will not be given the opportunities until we are ready for them. Quiet times of communion with the Higher Power are good preparation for creative action.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may constantly prepare myself for better things to come. I pray that I may only have opportunities when I am ready for them.

************************************************************

Thought for Today

"Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't
cross a chasm in two small jumps."

-- David Lloyd George
***********************************************************************

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

"What is presented here is like a map; it is an entirely different experience to actually make this journey. It requires a guide to make this journey, and as well, we must make the proper preparations; our minds must be tamed and trained through the practice of meditation. Only then can we see the vajra world."

*******************************************
Native American

"Think only about what is holy. Empty your mind."
--Archie Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA
If we let our minds wander, we will come up with a lot of junk: maybe bad thoughts about a brother or sister, maybe angry thoughts, maybe self-pity thoughts. Our minds are not the boss. We can instruct our mind to think about whatever we want to think about. We cannot stop thinking, be we can choose what to think about. The Elders say we move towards what we think about. That's why they say, "Think about what is holy, think about the Grandfathers, think about culture, think about values, think about ceremonies, and think about good."
Great Spirit, today, empty my mind and let me experience what it would be like to think about what is holy.

*******************************************
Keep It Simple

Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.  ---  Unknown

As we work Step One, we accept that alcohol and other drugs are poison to us. We accept our limits.
This means we know that hanging around our using "buddies" can remind us of "the good old days."
Hanging around "slippery places" means we could "slip" back into our old ways. This isn't testing our sobriety; it's being reckless with it. So let's accept our limits. Everybody has limits. When we know our limits, we protect our recovery against the people and places that pull us from our spiritual center. This is what true acceptance means.

Prayer for the Day:  I pray for true acceptance. Higher Power, help me to stay away from slippery places. I will protect the gift You've given me.

Action for the Day:  Today, I'll list the people and places that are risky for me to be around. I will share this list with my sponsor, my group, and my sober friends.
 

My Aim Is To Improve My Character

CHARACTER BUILDING

Demands made upon other people for too much attention, protection, and love can only invite domination or revulsion.  .

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 44

When I uncovered my need for approval in the Fourth Step, I didn't think it should rank as a character defect.  I wanted to think of it more of an asset (that is, the desire to please people).  It was quickly pointed out to me that this "need" can be very crippling.  Today I still enjoy getting the approval of others, but I am not willing to pay the price I used to pay to get it.  I will not bend myself into a pretzel to get others to like me.  

If I get your approval, that's fine; but if I don't, I will survive without it.  I am responsible for speaking what I perceive to be the truth, not what I think others may want to hear.

     

Similarly, my false pride always kept me overly concerned about my reputation.  Since being enlightened in the A.A. program, my aim is to improve my character.

********************************************************************

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

 

A.A. Thought for the Day

Since I've been in A.A., have I made a start toward becoming more loving to my family and friends? Do I visit my parents? Am I more appreciative of my spouse than I was before? Am I grateful to my family for having put up with me? Have I found real understanding with my children? Do I feel that the friends I've found in A.A. are real friends? Do I believe that they are always ready to help me and do I want to help them if I can? Do I really care now about other people?

Meditation for the Day

Not what you do so much as what you are, that is the miracle-working power. You can be a force for good, with the help of God. God is here to help you and to bless you, here to company with you. You can be a worker with God. Changed by God's grace, you shed one garment of the spirit for a better one. In time, you throw that one aside for a yet finer one. And so from character to character, you are gradually transformed.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may accept every challenge. I pray that each acceptance of a challenge may make me grow into a better person.

***********************************************

Thought for Today

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

--Will Rogers

*******************************************************************************

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

So much fear and desire come from that commitment to 'I am'--to being somebody. Eventually they take us to anxiety and despair; life seems much more difficult and painful than it really is.

But when we just observe life for what it is, then it's all right: the delights, the beauty, the pleasures are just that.

-Ajahn Sumedho, "Seeing the Way"

*****************************************************

Native American

"With children we always have to think about seven generations to come but yet unborn."

--Janice Sundown Hattet, SENECA

What we do today will effect the children seven generations form now. How we treat the Mother Earth will affect the children yet to be born. If we poison the water today, our children's children will be affected by the decision we made. Our children are the gateway to the future. Let us conscientiously think about the children and the seven generations to come.

My Creator, I thank you for my ancestors, seven generations ago.

*****************************************************

Keep It Simple

To know all things is not permitted.   ---  Horace

In recovery, we give up trying to be perfect. We give up trying to know
everything. We work at coming to know and accept our short-comings.  In
Step Four and Five, we look at our good points and our bad points. In Step
Six, we become ready to have our Higher Power remove our "defects of
character." Then in Step Seven we ask our Higher Power to remove our
"shortcomings."
Recovery is about coming to accept that we're not prefect. We admit that
trying to be perfect got in the way of being useful to ourselves, our
Higher Power, and those around us. Pretending to be prefect doesn't allow
us to be real. It's also boring and no fun---you never get to mess up.

Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, You will let me know what I need to know. Allow me to claim
my mistakes and shortcomings.

Action for the Day:  I will work at being okay today. Not prefect, just okay.

Come join us at Friendship House

Thank God For Everything That Happens In Your Life

MYSTERIOUS WAYS

.  .  .  out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the conviction came that God does "move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 105

After losing my career, family and health, I remained unconvinced that my way of life needed a second look.  My drinking and other drug use were killing me, but I had never met a recovering person or an A.A. member.  I thought I was destined to die alone and that I deserved it.  At the peak of my despair, my infant son became critically ill with a rare disease.  Doctors' efforts to help him proved useless.  I redoubled my efforts to block my feelings, but now the alcohol had stopped working.  I was left staring into God's eyes, begging for help.  My introduction to A.A. came within days, through an odd series of coincidences, and I have remained sober ever since.  My son lived and his disease is in remission.  The entire episode convinced me of my powerlessness and the unmanageability of my life.  Today my son and I thank God for His intervention.

*****************************************************************

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

A.A. also helps us to hang onto sobriety. By having regular meetings so that we can associate with other alcoholics who have come through that same door in the wall, by encouraging us to tell the story of our own sad experiences with alcohol, and by showing us how to help other alcoholics, A.A. keeps us sober. Our attitude toward life changes from one of pride and selfishness to one of humility and gratitude. Am I going to step back through that door in the wall to my old helpless, hopeless, drunken life?

Meditation for the Day

Withdraw into the calm of communion with God. Rest in that calm and peace. When the soul finds its home of rest in God, then it is that real life begins. Only when you are calm and serene can you do good work. Emotional upsets make you useless. The eternal life is calmness and when you enter into that, then you live as an eternal being. Calmness is based on complete trust in God. Nothing in this world can separate you from the love of God.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may wear the world like a loose garment. I pray that I may keep serene at the center of my being.

********************************************

***********************
NA - Just for Today

True courage

Page 79

"Those who make it through these times show a courage not their own."

Basic Text, p. 86

Before coming to NA, many of us thought we were brave simply because we had never experienced fear. We had drugged all our feelings, fear among them, until we had convinced ourselves that we were tough, courageous people who wouldn't crack under any circumstances.

But finding our courage in drugs has nothing to do with the way we live our lives today. Clean and in recovery, we are bound to feel frightened at times. When we first realize we are feeling frightened, we may think we are cowards. Were afraid to pick up the phone because the person on the other end might not understand. We're afraid to ask someone to sponsor us because they might say no. We're afraid to look for a job. We're afraid to be honest with our friends. But all of these fears are natural, even healthy. What's not healthy is allowing fear to paralyze us.

When we permit our fear to stop our growth, we will be defeated. True courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the willingness to walk through it.

Just for Today: I will be courageous today. When I'm afraid, I'll do what I need to do to grow in recovery.

************************************************************

Thought for Today



"Every night I go to sleep and I'm grateful for my life, and I wake
up and I feel the same thing.
I just accept everything as it is -- whatever happens is what I'm
supposed to deal with."

--Ellen DeGeneres



*************************************************************************

Buddha/Zen Thoughts



Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things.

The Buddha meditated for six years, Bodhidharma for nine. The practice of meditation is not a method for the attainment of realization—it is enlightenment itself.

-Zen Master Dogen, "The Practice of Meditation"



***************************************

Native American



"By listening to the inner self and following one's instincts and intuitions, a person may be guided to safety."

--Dr. A.C. Ross (Ehanamani), LAKOTA

Be still and know. The Medicine Wheel teaches the four directions of inner power-not personal power, but the power of God. These four directions are emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual. As our emotions get too far our of control, we simultaneously create an equivalent mental picture, our physical body fills with stress and tension, and we become spiritually confused. When we experience these uptight feelings, the best thing to do is mentally pause, slow down our thinking, breathe slowly, or pray and ask the spirits to help. Only when we approach the stillness of the mind do we get access to our spiritual guidance system. To be guided, let your mind be still.

Creator, today, let me reside in Your stillness.

***************************************

Keep It Simple



 Skill to do comes of doing.  ---  Ralph Waldo Emerson


Often, we just want to sit and do nothing. And why not. We go to meetings, work the Twelve Steps, read, make new friends. All this takes energy and means taking risk. Haven't we earned the right to just sit and take it a break from it all? No! In the past, we avoided life. Now we're becoming people of action. We take risk. We're becoming people who get involved in life. We practice caring about people and caring about ourselves. At times, we may complain, but we do what is needed to stay sober. We gain skills by doing. why? We do it to save our lives. How? By trusting. We now trust that our Higher Power and friends will be there for us. They will help us push past our fears. As we practice daily how to stay sober, our skills grow.


Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, Yours is a spirit of action. Allow me to become skilled at being active.


Action for the Day:  Today, I'll work at being active and alive. Maybe I'll start a new friendship or try a new meeting.

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Big Book

Chapter 1  BILL'S STORY  (pg 4)

    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.
    Next morning I telephoned a friend in Montreal. He had plenty of money left and thought I had better go to Canada. By the following spring we were living in our accustomed style. I felt like Napoleon returning from Elba. No St. Helena for me! But drinking caught up with me again and my generous friend had to let me go. This time we stayed broke.
    We went to live with my wife's parents. I found a job; then lost it as the result of a brawl with a taxi driver. Mercifully, no one could guess that I was to have no real employment for five years, or hardly draw a sober breath. My wife began to work in a department store, coming home exhausted to find me drunk.

Come visit us at Friendship House

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Many of us Believed Surrender was a Sign of Weakness

WEEDING THE GARDEN

The essence of all growth is a willingness to make a change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails.

AS BILL SEES IT,  p. 115

By the time I had reached Step Three I had been freed of my dependence on alcohol, but bitter experience has shown me that continuous sobriety requires continuous effort. Every now and then I pause to take a good look at my progress.  More and more of my garden is weeded each time I look, but each time I also find new weeds sprouting where I had thought I had made my final pass with the blade.  As I head back to get the newly sprouted weed (it's easier when they are young), I take a moment to admire how lush the growing vegetables and flowers are, and my labors are rewarded.  My sobriety grows and bears fruit.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

Having surrendered our lives to God and put our drink problem in His hands doesn't mean that we'll never be tempted to drink.  So we must build up strength for the time when temptation will come.  In this quiet time, we read and pray and get our minds in the right mood for the day. Starting the day right is a great help in keeping sober.  As the days go by and we get used to the sober life, it gets easier and easier.  We begin to develop a deep gratitude to God for saving us from that old life.  And we begin to enjoy peace and serenity and quiet happiness.  Am I trying to live the way God wants me to live?

Meditation for the Day

The elimination of selfishness is the key to happiness and can only be accomplished with God's help.  We start out with a spark of the Divine Spirit but a large amount of selfishness.  As we grow and come in contact with other people, we can take one of two paths.  We can become more and more selfish and practically extinguish the Divine Spark within us, or we can become more unselfish and develop our spirituality until it becomes the most important thing in our lives.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may grow more and more unselfish, honest, pure, and loving.  I pray that I may take the right path every day.

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Thought for Today

"Set up as an ideal the facing of reality as honestly and as cheerfully as possible."

--Dr. Karl Menninger
 

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Buddha/Zen Thoughts

A person of wisdom should be truthful, without arrogance, without deceit, not slanderous and not hateful. The wise person should go beyond the evil of greed and miserliness.

Do not get excited by what is old, do not be contented with what is new. Do not grieve for what is lost or be controlled by desire.

-Sutta-nipata, translated by H. Saddhatissa

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Native American

"My father told me that Hopi earth does contain my roots and I am, indeed, from that land. Because my roots are there, I will find them."

--Wendy Rose, HOPI/MIWOK

Everything that comes from the earth will return to the earth. We should be able to realize the connectedness to the earth. We should be able to feel toward Her just like She is our real Mother. We can easily feel this connectedness if we can answer these three questions: why am I?, who am I?, and where am I going? If we cannot answer these questions, then perhaps we need to talk to the Elders. go to the Elders and ask, "Grandfather, why am I?; Grandmother, who am I?; Oh Great One, where am I supposed to go?" The Elders will help us with these three questions.

Grandfather, help me to stay centered today.

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Keep It Simple

 Better bend than break.  ---  Scottish proverb

Our program is based on bending. We call it "surrender." We surrender our self-will to the care of God. We do what we believe our Higher Power want us to do. We learn this as an act of love.
Many of us believed surrender was a sign of weakness. We tried to control everything. But we change as we're in the program longer and longer. We learn to bend. We start to see that what is important is learning. We learn to do what's best for us and others. To learn, we need an open mind. To bend, we must stay open. Love and care become the center of our lives.

Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, teach me that strength comes from knowing how and when to bend.

Action for the Day:  Today, I'll check myself. How open am I? Do I bend when I need to?

BROTHERS IN OUR DEFECTS

We recovered alcoholics are not so much brothers in virtue as we are brothers in our defects, and in our common strivings to overcome them.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 167

The identification that one alcoholic has with another is mysterious, spiritual---almost incomprehensible.  But it is there.  I "feel" it.  Today I feel that I can help people and that they can help me.
   
It is a new and exciting feeling for me to care for someone; to care what they are feeling, hoping for, praying for; to know their sadness, joy, horror, sorrow, grief; to want to share those feelings so that someone can have relief.  I never knew how to do this---or how to try.  I never even cared.  The Fellowship of A.A., and God are teaching me how to care about others.

Drinking And Drugging

As Blog administrator I don't often post articles but this one from Frank Bruni at the New York Times is a must read for people like us. I hope you find it as interesting as I did, and if you do please share it with your friends.

Drinking and Drugging

By FRANK BRUNI

New York Times

Published: February 19, 2012

"CRACK is wack."

Remember that phrase? I heard many people repeat it last week as they appraised the waste of Whitney Houston's later years and flashed back to her 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer, when she uttered those immortal words. She was bristling not at rumors that she abused drugs but at insinuations that she turned to cheap ones. With album sales like hers, you didn't have to suck on a pipe.

Sawyer wanted to know what Houston was on. Everyone wanted to know what Houston was on, and news reports after her death took unconfirmed inventory of the pills in her hotel suite, wondering if they represented the extent of her indulgences.

No. By many accounts, Houston also drank. More than a little. In fact one early, leading theory about the cause of her death, which won't be known until toxicology tests are finished, was that a mix of prescription drugs and alcohol did her in.