Today's Thought - February

[bluidkiti]

February 16

Good guidance comes from the right source.

Many times we have been anxious over what to do. In our youth we often followed the direction of friends. That often exaggerated our problems. As adults we looked to our peers too, but until we found our new circle of friends, we often failed to get guidance that lovingly addressed our circumstances.

It’s a treasured gift of our program to have a Higher Power who is always there with the guidance we need. But if we still feel uncertain of that guidance, we can turn to trusted friends who will share with us God’s wisdom in another way.

The anxiety that troubled us for so long seldom surfaces anymore. What a miracle that is! We thought we’d feel the tightness and the burning and the nausea for our whole life. Now when we get a twinge of it, we know the time has come to go within and ask God for the help we need.

I will get the direction, the comfort, or the answers I really need today if I ask for them from the right source. My Higher Power or my friends in the program can show me the way through my feelings.

Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance*

[bluidkiti]

February 17

Doubt indulged soon becomes doubt realized.

~Frances Havergal

There is no faith without moments of doubt and deep discouragement. We may wonder whether we have chosen the right path, whether we have the courage needed to fulfill our dreams, or whether others in our lives can find the inner guidance we want for them. Perhaps we feel overwhelmed by difficulties and disappointments. We wonder what sort of Higher Power would burden us with more than we can handle.

At such times, instead of giving ourselves over to doubt or despair, we can expand our faith and envision a Higher Power that is larger than the limitations of our understanding and faith. We can envision infinite love and compassion, infinite wisdom, infinite patience and power to heal. As we affirm these qualities in our Higher Power, our own compassion, wisdom, patience, and gift for healing are fed and strengthened.

Today, I make my Higher Power larger than anything I have so far imagined.

Today's reading is from the book Glad Day: Daily Meditations for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender People*

[bluidkiti]

February 18

Saying Yes

Today let’s discuss an important word: Yes.

We can learn to say yes to things that feel good, to what we want—for ourselves and others.

We can learn to say yes to fun. Yes to meetings, to calling a friend, asking for help.

We can learn to say yes to healthy relationships, to people and activities that are good for us.

We can learn to say yes to ourselves, what we want and need, our instincts, and the leading of our Higher Power.

We can learn to say yes when it feels right to help someone. We can learn to say yes to our feelings. We can learn to identify when we need to take a walk, take a nap, have our back rubbed, or buy ourselves flowers.

We can learn to say yes to work that is right for us. We can learn to say yes to all that will nurture and nourish us. We can learn to say yes to the best life and love have to offer.

Today, I will say yes to all that feels good and right.

Today's reading is from the book The Language of Letting Go: Daily Meditations on Codependency*

[bluidkiti]

February 19

The truth shall set you free, but first it will make you miserable.

~James A. Garfield

A young woman at a meeting said something that is often heard from newly recovering people: “Recovery created more problems than I had before.” The more likely reality, of course, for her and for all of us when we’re just starting out, is not that there are so many new problems, but that we are now able to see old problems that we never before saw.

Recovery creates insight—and with insight comes heightened awareness of the need for decisions. Those decisions can hurt. They can call from us the very strengths and skills we have the least of and fear the most.

Before recovery, we didn’t have to make decisions because we didn’t face our problems. After recovery begins, sure, there will be some painful decisions—but all the pain is growing pain.

I can look for ways to deal with my problems, rather than ways to avoid them.

Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy: Daily Meditations for Adult Children*

[bluidkiti]

February 20

There’s a rhythm to flying, and it’s the rhythm of the universe.

~William Steig

Nature has a lot to teach us. One of these lessons is to stop trying to control everything and “Let go and let God.” Think of a flock of geese flying in a V-formation. What a beautiful sight! How do you think all those geese know what to do? It’s all in the rhythm of the universe.

How does a seed know when to sprout? How do our hearts know when to beat and our lungs know when to breathe? It’s all in the rhythm of the universe.

We each have a rhythm to our lives. We lost it somewhere along the way—perhaps in our active addiction, perhaps earlier. When we move too fast, we waste a lot of energy. When we move too slow, we miss out. But when we make the decision to put our life and our will into the care of our Higher Power, we will find the right rhythm for us. We just let go, and the timing will come to us as we practice listening to the rhythm of our spirit.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, teach me to live like the geese fly, with grace and direction and with my friends.

Today I will think of a time I tried to control things, when I had the timing all wrong. Then I will think of a time when everything went well, and the timing was perfect. What am I learning about rhythm and trust?

[bluidkiti]

February 21

Honesty

I hope I shall follow firmness of virtue enough to maintain that I consider the most enviable of all titles—the character of an honest man.

~George Washington

Happiness in recovery and in society depends on our honesty. We create pain for others, and ourselves, when we are dishonest. True honesty begins within each of us and flows out to touch those around us. If we are to be true to society, and to ourselves, we cannot feel one thing in our hearts and outwardly speak different views.

There is no such thing as too much honesty. When we practice honesty in all our affairs, we discover that the reason for being honest is not because it is expected of us, but because we find that honesty avoids problems and makes our life happier.

When I am honest with myself and others, I am making progress toward greatness of character.

Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It: A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations*

[bluidkiti]

February 22

God delays but doesn’t forget.

~Spanish saying

It’s frustrating to get sick, lose a job, or encounter financial setbacks. We suddenly feel curtailed, with the rhythm of our lives changed in a way we never anticipated. But our Higher Power slows us down for a reason. There can be gifts in adversity. They can provide us with time alone, time to think. Being alone gives us the chance to find ourselves in a new way. We may be surprised to find inner resources we didn’t know we had. A period of waiting through adversity can also turn us to our Higher Power when the solace we need is beyond the capacity of people to give.

It’s challenging to do nothing when the world tells us that we must always take action. When action isn’t possible, accepting the circumstances of our lives enables us to experience the value of being, rather than doing.

When some part of my life is beyond my control, I can be patient and simply wait. Inaction is not necessarily inactivity.

*Meditations can be specific, but themes are universal: apply as needed on your personal journey.

[bluidkiti]

February 23

Conceit is God’s gift to little men.

~Bruce Barton

It’s easy to recognize shortcomings like conceit in others. It’s not always so easy to forgive them.

We easily love and accept people who are humble, people who show genuine concern for us and others. We’re naturally drawn to them as role models. We learn from them that positive, spiritually motivated behaviors are possible, even desirable.

But those men and women we turn away from because their unappealing behavior offends us, can teach us lessons that are perhaps even more important. Their efforts to get our attention are usually a distorted, confused cry for love and acceptance that even they might not understand. We are given an opportunity to learn tolerance, patience, forgiveness, and finally—with God’s help—genuine acceptance. Until we can learn love and acceptance for everyone, we won’t be able to fully and freely love and accept even the people we’re drawn to—or ourselves.

Today I will make a special effort to give honest and loving attention to those who are difficult for me to love.

Today's reading is from the book In God's Care: Daily Meditations on Spirituality in Recovery*

[bluidkiti]

February 24

There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are interesting monologues, that is all.

~Rebecca West

How often we want to be heard, to be truly listened to by our spouse, our children, friends and co-workers. And we deserve to be fully attended to. So do the other persons in our lives who come to us to be heard. We let our minds wander in the midst of important messages. And we may miss the very phrase that we need to hear—the answer to a problem, perhaps. Our minds wander, randomly, looking for a place to light, unconsciously searching for peace, the serenity promised by the Twelve Steps.

Living fully in the present, soaking up all the responses of the life we are immersed in for the moment, is the closest we can get to our higher power, our God. Being there* fully—is conversation with God. How can we know all that God intends for us to know if we don't take advantage of God's many messages? Every moment of every day offers us information, divine information. Each time we turn our minds to self-centered thoughts, we're refusing the chance to grow.

As I come together with friends and family today, l will remember to listen for God's message. l will hear what I need to hear if I will but listen.

Today's reading is from the book Each Day a New Beginning: Daily meditations for Women*

[bluidkiti]

February 25

I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.

~Henry James

When we don’t know ourselves very well, we may be desperate to have everyone like us. Sometimes we even notice more intently that one person who doesn’t seem to like us than the many who do. We are looking outward to verify that we are okay. Of course, it feels good to have someone else like and respect us. Until we begin to know and accept ourselves, we have an unquenchable, unselective thirst for more applause from others. In that condition, the search for others’ approval drives us like the need for survival.

It is amazing how our sense of ourselves grows as we live in the Twelve Step program. We get to know ourselves by working the Steps, and we develop into the kind of men we respect. Now, having others like us is no longer a survival need. It is a wonderful benefit of being part of the human community.

Today, I am grateful for the true friendships that I have in my life.

Today's reading is from the book Stepping Stones: More Daily Meditations for Men*

[bluidkiti]

February 26

AA Thought for the Day

We’ve gotten rid of our false, drinking selves and found our real, sober selves. And we turn to God, our Father, for help, just as the prodigal son arose and went to his father. At the end of the story, the father of the prodigal son says: “He was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.” We alcoholics who have found sobriety in AA were certainly dead and are alive again. We were lost and are found. Am I alive again?
Meditation for the Day

Gently breathe in God’s spirit, that spirit which, if not barred out by selfishness, will enable you to do good works. This means rather that God will be enabled to do good works through you. You can become a channel for God’s spirit to flow through you and into the lives of others. The works that you can do will only be limited by your spiritual development. Let your spirit be in harmony with God’s spirit and there is no limit to what you can do in the realm of human relationships.
Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may become a channel for God’s spirit. I pray that God’s spirit may flow through me into the lives of others.

Today's reading is from the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day: A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life*

[bluidkiti]

February 27

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

~Langston Hughes

Watching birds spread their wings and soar can remind us of the best in ourselves. In joyful moments we all feel our own desire to fly, to reach toward what we dream of doing.

Our dreams give us a direction to fly. Birds fly toward the light for joy, toward green leaves for shelter, to water and berries for food. In the same way, our dreams direct us to the course of our own joy, shelter, and nourishment.

Sometimes as we fly, we bump into disappointments. They may temporarily stun us or slow us down. But just like birds that are occasionally wounded, we can heal ourselves and fly again. We can choose to not let the hardships of life break our spirited wings. Rather, we can keep spreading our wings, soaring in the spirit of joy.

Am I flying today, or must I heal a wound first?

Today's reading is from the book Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families*

[bluidkiti]

February 28

I noticed my hopelessness was because I had lost my freedom of choice.

~Member of the AA fellowship

By doing a Fourth Step, we start to see ourselves more clearly. We see how we’ve acted against ourselves. Soon, we hear a little voice inside telling us to stop before we act. “Are you sure you want to say or do that?” the little voice asks. Then we make a choice: we do something the same old way, or we try a new way.

One part of us will always want to do things the old, sick way. This is natural. But we’re getting stronger every day. Our spirit wants to learn new ways so we can be honest and loving. Sometimes we don’t know how. But we still have a choice. We can ask for help.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me listen to the little voice inside that helps me see that I have choices.
Action for the Day

Today I’ll make a choice between old ways and new ways of acting. I will call my sponsor this evening to talk about my choices.

Today's reading is from the book Keep it Simple: Daily Meditations for Twelve Step Beginnings and Renewal*