Acceptance Is The Answer To.......

ACCEPTING OUR PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES

Our very first problem is to accept our present circumstances as they are, ourselves as we are, and the people about us as they are. This is to adopt a realistic humility without which no genuine advance can even begin. Again and again, we shall need to return to that unflattering point of departure. This is an exercise in acceptance that we can profitably practice every day of our lives. Provided we strenuously avoid turning these realistic surveys of the facts of life into unrealistic alibis for apathy of defeatism, they can be the sure foundation upon which increased emotional health and therefore spiritual progress can be built.
                                                                                                                          AS BILL SEES IT p. 44

When I am having a difficult time accepting people, places or events, I turn to this passage and it relieves me of many an underlying fear regarding others, or situations life presents me. The thought allows me to be human and not perfect, and to regain my peace of mind.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day
The longer we're in A.A., the more natural this way of life seems. Our old drinking lives were a very unnatural way of living. Our present sober lives are the most natural way we could possibly live. During the early years of our drinking, our lives weren't so different from the lives of a lot of other people. But as we gradually became problem drinkers, our lives became more and more unnatural. Do I realize now that the things I did were far from natural?

Meditation for the Day
I will say thank you to God for everything, even the seeming trials and worries. I will strive to be grateful and humble. My whole attitude toward the Higher Power will be one of gratitude. I will be glad for the things I have received. I will pass on what God reveals to me. I believe that more truths will flow in, as I go along in the new way of life.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be grateful for the things I have received and do not deserve. I pray that this gratitude will make me truly humble.
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Thought for Today

"It's not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it."

--Hans Selye

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Buddha/Zen Thoughts

Someone who is about to admonish another must realize within himself five qualities before doing so [that he may be able to say], thus:

"In due season will I speak, not out of season. In truth I will speak, not in falsehood. Gently will I speak, not harshly. To his profit will I speak, not to his loss. With kindly intent will I speak, not in anger."

-"Vinaya Pitaka," translated by F.S. Woodward

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Native American

"From Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, there came a great unifying life force that flowed in and through all things-the flowers of the plains, blowing winds, rocks, trees, birds, animals-and was the same force that had been breathed into the first man. Thus all things were kindred, and were brought together by the same Great Mystery."

Chief Luther Standing Bear, SIOUX

The Great Spirit has six things that make up this life force. They are life, love, intelligence, soul, principle, and truth. These are the reasons the life cycle continues. None of this can be altered by man, but we can have access to these powers any time we wish. Just think about it-anytime I have a need I can access one or more of these powers."

Oh Great Mystery, let me know how to use these powers. Today, let me love life, let me know truth, let me live by principle, and let me follow Your intelligence.

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Keep It Simple

Remember always that you have not only the right to be individual, you have an obligation to be one.
Eleanor Roosevelt

When we were using alcohol and other drugs, we often thought that we were different from others. We secretly thought that no one could understand us. Maybe we tried to be one of the group, but we were lonely. Now we know for sure--we are different from others. Everyone's  unique. We all have this in common. Being like others helps us feel safe and normal. But we need to feel good about the ways we're different from others too. We think a little different, act a little different, and look a little different from anyone else. We each have our own way to make life better for others.

Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, help me be an individual. Help me use my special gifts, not hide them.

Action for the Day:  Today, I'll make a list of the things I'm good at. I'll think about how I can use these gifts.

Come visit us at Friendship House

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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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
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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."

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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"

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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.

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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

Ask yourself: Have you been kind today?

NO MORE STRUGGLE

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone — even alcohol.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84

When A.A. found me, I thought I was in for a struggle, and that A.A. might provide the strength I needed to beat alcohol.  Victorious in that fight, who knows what other battles I could win.  I would need to be strong, though.  All my previous experience with life proved that.  Today I do not have to struggle or exert my will.  If I take those Twelve Steps and let my Higher Power do the real work, my alcohol problem disappears all by itself.  My living problems also cease to be struggles.  I just have to ask whether acceptance—or change—is required.  It is not my will, but His, that needs doing.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day

We're all looking for the power to overcome drinking. When we alcoholics come into A.A., our first question is: "How do I get the strength to quit?"  At first it seems to us that we will never get the necessary strength.  We see older members who have found the power we are looking for, but we don't know the process by which they got it. This necessary strength comes in many ways.  Have I found all the strength I need?

Meditation for the Day

You cannot have a spiritual need that God cannot supply. Your fundamental need is a spiritual need, the need for power to live the good life.  The best spiritual supply is received by you when you want it to pass on to other people.  You get it largely by giving it away.  God gives you strength as you pass it on to another person.  That strength means increased health; increased health means more good work, and more good work means more people helped.  And so it goes on, a constant supply to meet all spiritual needs.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that my every spiritual need will be supplied by God.  I pray that I may use the power I receive to help others.

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Thought for Today

"Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world."

--Annie Lennox


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Buddha/Zen Thoughts

If happiness hasn't been recognized when alone, a group of people will be a cause of distraction.

-Adept Godrakpa, "Hermit of Go Cliffs"

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Native American

"Everything's so simple, and we make everything so complicated. That's why we're confused."
--Vickie Downey, TEWA/Tesuque Pueblo
The Creator designed a very simple set of Laws for us to follow. If we follow these simple things, we'll be happy. If we don't follow these simple things, our lives become complicated. For example:
Respect Mother Earth
Love one another
Be truthful
Give to your brother and sisters
Be gentle with each other
Be happy
Following these simple Laws will have great rewards.
Great Spirit, let me lead a simple life.

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Keep It Simple

If anything, we have tended to be people who wanted it all now. To hope is not to demand.  --- On Hope

Maybe we were a bit demanding. Maybe we were a bit impatient. Maybe that’s why we had such little hope.
Hope is believing good will come even in bad time. Hope is knowing that “this, too, shall pass.”
Hope is knowing that no matter how afraid we are, God will be with us. Hope is knowing we never
have to be alone again. It is knowing that time that time is on our side. Hope is giving up control. Hope is knowing we never had control in the first place. Hope is believing in ourselves. Hope is what our program is all about.

Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, in our program we share our experiences, our strengths, and our hopes. Thank you for giving all three of these to me to share.

Action for the Day:  I will share my hope for the future with myself, my Higher Power, and my friends. I also will share this with someone who has lost hope.

Visit 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.

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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.

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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.

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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



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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"



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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.

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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

_________________

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.

We Forgive

Often it was while working on this Step with our sponsors or spiritual advisers that we first felt truly able to forgive others, no matter how deeply we felt they had wronged us.  Our moral inventory had persuaded us that all-round forgiveness was desirable, but it was only when we resolutely tackled Step Five that we inwardly knew we'd be able to receive forgiveness and give it, too.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 58

What a great feeling forgiveness is!  What a revelation about my emotional, psychological and spiritual nature.  All it takes is willingness to forgive; God will do the rest.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

In the story of the Good Samaritan, the wayfarer fell among robbers and was left lying in the gutter, half dead. And a priest and a Levite both passed by on the other side of the road. But the Good Samaritan was moved with compassion and came to him and bound up his wounds and brought him to an inn and took care of him. Do I treat another alcoholic like the priest and the Levite or like the Good Samaritan?

Meditation for the Day

Never weary in prayer. When one day you see how unexpectedly your prayer has been answered, then you will deeply regret that you have prayed so little. Prayer changes things for you. Practice praying until your trust in God has become strong. And then pray on, because it has become so much a habit that you need it daily. Keep praying until prayer seems to become communion with God. That is the note on which true times of prayer should end.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may form the habit of daily prayer. I pray that I may find the strength I need, as a result of this communion.

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Thought for Today

"After you ask for guidance--Listen!"

--Barbara Ann Kipfer
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Buddha/Zen Thoughts

Patience is the sprouting of religion, firmness its root, good conduct is the flower, the enlightened heart the boughs and branches, wisdom supreme the entire tree, the "transcendent law" the fruit, its shade protects all living things. Say then! Why would you cut it down?

-Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king

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Native American

"It's time. If you are to walk the path of heart, then it is time..."
--Nippawanock, ARAPAHOE
If not now, when? If not me, who? To walk the path of the heart is a great honor. Every human has the choice to walk this path, but very few will decide to make it. Why? Well, because you can't act and behave like everyone else behaves. You must be the person who will learn to look within. You must be the person who will be fully accountable for yourself. You must be the person who prays and meditates. You must be the person who will sacrifice. You must decide to be a Peaceful Warrior. What will you decide today?
Oh, Great Mystery, lead me on the path of the heart.



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Keep It Simple

 The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.---Sydney J. Harris
Come relax at Friendship House

Relaxing is one of the little joys of life. We can learn to take time from our busy day to chat with a friend, take a hot bath, or spend a few moments sitting alone under a tree. The busier we are, the more we need to take time to relax.
When we rest, we stop fussing about the outside world. We find out how we're doing inside. While relaxing, we can best listen to our Higher Power. Our minds calm down. We put busy thoughts aside. Sometimes, we can almost hear our Higher Power say, "Stay quiet and listen! I have something to tell you!"
 

What Does God Think Of Me?

One of the assignments that we get quite often in this program is to write down the words that best describe our understanding of God. The ones we choose can tell us a great deal about our current spirituality. For many of us, however, the issue is not just what we think of God, but what we imagine God thinks of us.

In other words, if someone asked God for the five words that describe you, what do you think those words would be? Would they be positive? Or do you imagine that God thinks of you in a negative way? If that is what you believe, then your ability to pray will be adversely affected. The problem is that many of us were told that God judges and disdains us because of the kinds of things we’ve done. That belief will keep us from getting the benefits of this program. Our ability to pray and work the Steps improves when we believe that God always regards our persons in very positive and caring ways despite the worst things we’ve done.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I will come to believe that God sees me in positive ways and regards my person with genuine care. I ask my Higher Power to relieve me of negative beliefs that would keep me from having positive experiences in my daily prayer.

Come by Friendship House in Nashville, Tennessee and share your experience, strength and hope.

From our friend Jayne C

This Is How It Started For Me

As I work through the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous with sponsors and sponsees, I often think back to my childhood and the roll alcohol played in my early life. One of the things I remember about my old neighborhood in North St. Louis is that there was a tavern on just about every corner.

In the evening the families in the neighborhood would migrate to the stoop or front porch and social interaction of an urban area would begin. When I was at the home of my Grandparent's, which was just down the street from my own home, I found a way to put money in my pocket. The local men would pay me to walk to the corner bar and get the bartender to fill their beer buckets. If I made it back without spilling any of the precious liquid I got a nice tip.

In order to avoid spilling the beer I learned to sip the foam (head) off the bucket before I crossed the street. There was never a time that I did this that I didn't love the taste of the beer. I also liked the way it made me feel. I was somehow changed from being shy and introverted to being a teller of stories. In my Irish hood many people, especially the old ones, still spoke the old language and my Grandmother began to call me scéalaí (storyteller). I later learned that she may have been calling me a liar, an early indication of things to come.

By the time I was 9-years-old I had become an altar boy at my Parish church. My serving partner was the head Grandson of a St. Louis Mafia family Capo and we both learned about the perks of his status. We would get out of school to serve at funerals and we were the regular crew for the 6 A.M. weekday mass both of which took us out of class and the funeral tips were serious moneymakers for the time.

It was during this period that I started hitting the church wine every day. As I look back on it I see that it made life with the Nuns at school somewhat easier. This was the path I chose, the make it easy path, the try not to feel path, the path that I followed for the next 50 or so years until I walked into Friendship House and was ready to change and willing to do whatever it took to do to it. 

What's your story? If you would like to share it please do, we'd love to hear it.

HONESTY WITH THE NEWCOMER

Friendship House is the place for new comers, old timers and all those in between.

Tell him exactly what happened to you. Stress the spiritual feature freely.                                 

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pg. 93

The marvel of A.A. is that I tell only what happened to me. I don't waste time offering advice to potential newcomers, for if advice worked, nobody would get to A.A. All I have to do is show what has brought me sobriety and what has changed my life. If I fail to stress the spiritual feature of A.A.'s program, I am, being dishonest. The newcomer should not be given a false impression of sobriety. I am sober only thought the grace of my Higher Power, and that makes it possible for me to share with others.
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day
Unless we have the key of faith to unlock the meaning of life, we are lost. We do not choose faith because it is one way for us, but because it is the only way. Many have failed and will fail. For we cannot live victoriously without faith; we are at sea without a rudder or an anchor, drifting on the sea of life. Wayfarers without a home. Our souls are restless until they find rest in God. Without faith, our lives are a meaningless succession of unrelated happenings, without rhyme or reason. Have I come to rest in faith?

Meditation for the Day
This vast universe around us, including this wonderful earth on which we live, was once perhaps only a thought in the mind of God. The nearer the astronomers and the physicists get to the ultimate composition of all things, the nearer the universe approaches a mathematical formula, which is thought. The universe may be the thought of the Great Thinker. We must try to think God's thoughts after Him. We must try to get guidance from the Divine Mind as to what His intention is for the world and what part we can have in carrying out that intention.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not worry over the limitations of my human mind. I pray that I may live as though my mind were a reflection of the Divine Mind.

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Thought for Today

"While troubles will come, they are always temporary --
nothing lasts forever. Thus, there is the famous legend
that King Solomon, the wisest man of all times, had a
ring inscribed with the words, "This too shall pass".

--Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan


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Buddha/Zen Thoughts

The one whose mind knows the clarity of perfect wisdom is never afraid or even anxious. Why? Because when being at one with the living power of wisdom, the mother of all the buddhas, that person has the strength to remain in a state of undivided contemplation even while ceaselessly and skillfully engaging in compassionate action. The wise one is enabled to act because of concentration on a single prayer: "May all beings never leave the path of enlightenment, which is their own true nature and is empty of separate self-existence."

-Prajnaparamita

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Native American

"Parents have to demonstrate the value of trust, respect and honor."
--Haida Gwaii, Traditional Circle of Elders
Children learn more by watching than by listening. If we want our children to understand and value trust, they know it by watching how adults live their lives! If we want the children to be respectful, they will observe what the adults do and say to each other. We need to walk our talk. We need to remember the children are watching.
Grandfather, help me learn these important values: Trust, Respect and Honor.
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Walk In Dry Places

Deadlines

Facing delays

The procrastination of our drinking years caused some of us to become compulsive and fearful about meeting deadlines. We fret and stew if we're unable to get things done when we think they should be completed.

Without being careless or irresponsible, we should remember that we're really living in a spiritual world on a spiritual basis. There are times when a delay even turns out to be beneficial because additional information or assistance turns up later on to ensure the success of a project.

It is part of mature living to keep promises and to meet the proper deadlines. Let's be sure, however, that we're not simply meeting unrealistic deadlines of our own making. We don't have to do this to atone for any failures of the past.

I'll look over my plans today to make sure that I haven't set any unrealistic deadlines for myself. I may be trying too much, too soon.

Having Fun Yet?

Come Join Us For Some Fun At Friendship House

.  .  .  we aren't a glum lot.  If newcomers could see no joy or fun in our existence, they wouldn't want it.  We absolutely insist on enjoying life.  We try not to indulge in cynicism over the state of the nations, nor do we carry the world's troubles on our shoulders.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 132

When my own house is in order, I find the different parts of my life are more manageable.  Stripped of the guilt and remorse that cloaked my drinking years, I am free to assume my proper role in the universe, but this condition requires maintenance.  I should stop and ask myself, Am I having fun yet?  If I find answering that question difficult or painful, perhaps I am taking myself too seriously --- and finding it difficult to admit that I've strayed from my practice of working the program to keep my house in order.  I think the pain I experience is one way my Higher Power has to get my attention, coaxing me to take stock of my performance.  The slight time and effort it takes to work the program --- a spot-check inventory, for example, or the making of amends, whatever is appropriate --- are well worth the effort.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day Alcoholics are people whose drinking got them into a "blind alley." They haven't been able to learn anything from their drinking experiences. They are always making the same mistakes and suffering the same consequences over and over again. They refuse to admit they're alcoholic. They still think they can handle the stuff. They won't swallow their pride and admit that they're different from ordinary drinkers. They won't face the fact that they must spend the rest of their lives without liquor. They can't visualize life without ever taking a drink. Am I out of this blind alley? Meditation for the Day I believe that God has all power. It is His to give and His to withhold. But lie will not withhold it from the person who dwells near Him, because then it passes insensibly from God to that person. It is breathed in by the person who lives in God's presence. I will learn to live in God's presence and then I will have those things which I desire of Him: strength, power, and joy. God's power is available to all who need it and are willing to accept it. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may get myself out of the way, so that God's power may flow in. I pray that I may surrender myself to that power. *********************************

Thought for Today

"Aim at the sun and you may not reach it;
but your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed
at an object on a level with yourself."

--I. Hawks

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Buddha/Zen Thoughts

Let us live in joy, not hating those who hate us.

Among those who hate us, we live free of hate.

Let us live in joy, free from disease among those who are diseased.

Among those who are diseased, let us live free of disease.

Let us live in joy, free from greed among the greedy.

Among those who are greedy, we live free of greed.

Let us live in joy, though we possess nothing.

Let us live feeding on joy, like the bright gods.

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Native American

"Our true enemies, as well as our true sources of strength, lie within."

--Willaru Huayta, QUECHUA NATION, PERU

A long time ago, the Creator put inside the human being the secrets to the laws of life. We usually know this is true even though we may not know what these laws are. If something goes wrong with our lives, we usually fix the blame on something outside of ourselves. We tend to give up accountability. One way or another we say, "It's not my fault." We need to realize that all permanent and lasting change starts on the inside and works its way out. If it's meant to be, it is up to me.

Oh Great Spirit, let me realize fully that my problems are of my own making. Therefore, so are the solutions.

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Keep It Simple

Sex, like all else between human beings, is never prefect.  ---  Theodore Isaac Rubin

Addiction made our sex lives a mess. Maybe we wanted prefect sex or we wanted no sex.
We were afraid. Maybe we wanted a high from sex we just couldn't seem to get it. Some of us had lots of sex partners; some of us had none. What now?
We're doing what we need to do by being in recovery. We're getting to know ourselves. We're living by our real values. We’re being honest with ourselves and others. We're learning to love and care about others. It's open, honest caring we express with our bodies. Thus, sex can be trusting and safe.

Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, I turn over my sex life and my will to You---Just for today. I know You want me to be happy.

Action for the Day:  What do I believe about sex? How does it match with what's said in the third paragraph above?