Daily ponderables

Meditation for the Day: There is a time for everything. We should l.

Honesty and spirituality. “The right to a God of your understanding is total and without any catches. Because we have this right, it is necessary to be honest about our belief if we are to grow spiritually.”. – Basic Text, pp. 25–26. In meetings, over refreshments, in talks with our sponsor, we hear our NA friends talking about the way ...Learning how to live again “We learn new ways to live. We are no longer limited to our old ideas.” – Basic Text, p. 56. We may or may not have been taught right from wrong and other basics of life as children.When we work the steps and pray each time we discover we’re not living in the present, we’ll notice that those times aren’t occurring as often as they used to. Our faith will help us live just for today. We’ll have hours, even days, when our full attention is focused on the current moment in time, not the regrettable past or fearful future.2 days ago · The restoration of self-esteem is one of Al-Anon’s prime functions. It doesn’t encourage a big-ego view of ourselves, but in helping us to see ourselves as we really are, we learn to sort out our good qualities, and on that foundation to build stronger, better personalities. “I am grateful for what Al-Anon is doing for me. The rewards we find through the simple action of writing are many. Clarity of thought, keys to locked places inside of us, and the voice of conscience are but a few. Writing helps us be more honest with ourselves. We sit down, quiet our thoughts, and listen to our hearts. What we hear in the stillness are the truths that we put down on paper. DAILY PONDERABLES Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny Daily Reflections LOOKING OUTWARD We ask especially for freedom from self-will and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS p. 87 AA Thought for the Day: When we come into AA looking for a way out of drinking, we really need a lot more than that. We need fellowship. We need to get the things that are troubling us out into the open. We need a new outlet for our energies and we need a new strength beyond ourselves that will help us face life instead of running away from it.Courage to Change: It is not necessary for me to map out a master plan for my recovery — my Higher Power has already done that. It is only necessary to humbly ask for God’s guidance and for the willingness to follow that guidance today. I know that I am not alone: I will receive all the help I need along the way.Maybe we think that if a spouse or lover leaves us, we will have to get high. If we lose our job, surely, we think, we will use. Or maybe it’s the death of a loved one that we expect to be unbearable. In any case, the reservations we harbor give us permission to use when they come true — as they often do. We can prepare ourselves for ...Are you a student who has just completed their 12th grade and is now pondering the vast array of options available for higher education? Well, you’re not alone. If you have pursued...There we sat with our Fourth Step in front of us, thinking and thinking, finally deciding that we just didn’t have any resentments. Perhaps we talked ourselves into believing that we weren’t so sick after all. Such unwitting denial of our resentments stems from the conditioning of our addiction. Most of our feelings were buried, and buried ...Are we having fun yet? “ln time, we can relax and enjoy the atmosphere of recovery.” – Basic Text, p. 56. Imagine what would happen if a newcomer walked into one of our meetings and was met by a group of grim-faced people gripping the arms of …Meditation for the Day: I will learn to overcome myself, because every blow to selfishness is used to shape the real, eternal, unperishable me.On his desk, Dr. Bob had a plaque defining humility: “Perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised,Learning how to live again “We learn new ways to live. We are no longer limited to our old ideas.” – Basic Text, p. 56. We may or may not have been taught right from wrong and other basics of life as children.AA Thought for the Day: We can depend on those members of any AA group who have gone all out for the program. They come to meetings. They work with other alcoholics. We don’t have to worry about their slipping. They’re loyal members of the group. I’m trying to be a loyal member of the group. When I’m tempted to take a drink, I tell ...Today’s Reminder: Moving from awareness to acceptance to action takes time, but the benefits are worth the wait. As I learn to accept my defects, circumstances, and feelings, I learn that I am a worthwhile human being just as I am. With that kind of self-acceptance, I begin to see my options, and slowly I can begin to take action, to change.Courage to Change: Alcoholism in a family tends to promote neglect of self. Consequently, I never learned how to take care of myself when I didn’t feel well. Even with a high fever, I went about my business just as I would any other day. Anything else seemed self-indulgent and weak. In Al-Anon l’ve had a chance to discover a different way ...True courage. “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 …Today’s Reminder: As I look back over this year, I will consider calmly my actions and attitudes, just as though I were evaluating the progress of someone else. I will not make it an occasion for guilt and regret. I will blame no one else for anything that happened, for I have learned in Al-Anon that I am not a judge of others. This day, and ...Oct 5, 2023 · Things are going good, and each year in recovery brings more material and spiritual gifts. We may have a little money in the bank, a new car, or a committed relationship. We have a little self-confidence, and our faith in a Higher Power is growing. Then, something happens. Someone breaks into our new car and steals the stereo, or the person we ... Thought for the Day. Hazelden Betty Ford's Thought for the Day offers daily meditations for people in recovery or affected by addiction to alcohol or other drugs. Browse daily …Meditation for the Day: God’s spirit is all around you all day long. You have no thoughts, no plans, no impulses, no emotions that He does not know about. You can hide nothing from Him. Do not make your conduct conform only to that of the world and do not depend on the approval or disapproval of others. God sees in secret, but He rewards …A good chuckle or an engrossing activity can lift my spirits and cleanse my mind. I will refresh myself by adding some lightness to this day. “Now I look for humor in every situation, and my Higher Power is a laughing God who reminds me not to take myself too seriously.”. – As We Understood…. From the book “Courage to Change”.Gift-giving occasions often leave us pondering over the perfect present. While some may argue that giving money lacks creativity, there are countless ways to make it more exciting ...AA Thought for the Day: After I became an alcoholic, alcohol poisoned my love for my family and friends, it poisoned my ambition, it poisoned my self-respect. It poisoned my whole life, until I met AA. My life is happier now than it has been for a long time. I don’t want to commit suicide.Al-Anon is wonderful for those of us who want to know ourselves, who are brave enough to acknowledge our faults. It helps us to examine, with courage and honesty, our good and bad qualities. Al-Anon works for those who want to build on the good and whittle away at the bad, until, one by one, we get rid of the self-deceptions that have kept …Prayer for the Day: I pray that today I may try to follow the inner pressure of God’s leading. I pray that I may try to follow my conscience and do what seems right today.AA Thought for the Day: The way of AA is the way of sobriety, fellowship, service, and faith. Let us take up each one of these things and see if our feet are truly on the way. The first and greatest to us is sobriety. The others are built on sobriety as a foundation.AA Thought for the Day: If we allow an alcoholic thought to lodge in our minds for any length of time, we are in danger of having a slip. Therefore we must dispel such thoughts at once, by refusing their admittance and by immediately putting constructive thoughts in their place.I turn my head away. I squeeze my eyes shut. My knuckles ache as my fists clench. Fingernails bite into my palms. I exhaust myself. I hurt! On the other hand, when I trust God to give me what I need, I let go. I face forward. My hands are free for healthy, loving, and enjoyable activities.May 11 – NA Just for Today. 00:00. Balancing the scales. “A lot of our chief concerns and major difficulties come from our inexperience with living without drugs. Often when we ask an oldtimer what to do, we are amazed at the simplicity of the answer.” – Basic Text, p. 43.Self-discovery “The Tenth Step can help us correct our living problems and prevent their recurrence.” – Basic Text, p. 42. Our identities, how we think and feel, have been shaped by our experiences. Still, it is important to remember that the past is over. We are powerless over what has gone before. Although we can take steps to make amends, we cannot change the fact that we have harmed others. And we cannot change the fact that others have harmed us. We have only the power to change this present day. The best use we can make of the past ... The Daily Ponderables guy, Stephen Todd shares his story of recovery and hope. Stephen is a regular meeting attender that carries the message everywhere he goes. This Tennessee attorney tells it like it is, yet has a beautiful humility that shines through. To subscribe to the Daily Ponderables click here! (https://bit.ly/3TfrZLg)The Daily Ponderables guy, Stephen Todd shares his story of recovery and hope. Stephen is a regular meeting attender that carries the message everywhere he goes. This Tennessee attorney tells it like it is, yet has a beautiful humility that shines through.All of us have heard and shared in discussions, at Al-Anon meetings, as to whether this should be interpreted as “alcohol” or the “alcoholic.”. We have no power over either one. No one can control the insidious effect of alcohol, or its power to destroy the graces and decencies of life. No one can control the alcoholic’s compulsion to ...Meditation for the Day: These meditations can teach us how to relax. We can be of service to other people in a small way, at least. And we can be happy while doing it.Turning turmoil into peace “With the world in such a turmoil, l feel l have been blessed to be where l am.” – Basic Text, p. I45. Some days it doesn’t pay to turn on the news, we hear so many stories about violence and mayhem.As you start to plan your family, it’s natural to ponder what that might look like. Whether you hope to have one child or six, there’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to siz...

For centuries, Zen masters have used stories and koans, or paradoxical riddles, to help students realize their true nature. These stories are often puzzling and may seem nonsensica...Meditation for the Day: You were meant to be at home and comfortable in the world. Yet some people live a life of quiet desperation. This is the opposite of being at home and at peace in the world.When a doctor sends a biopsy sample to “the lab,” they’re referring to a pathology lab, where technicians and pathologists prepare and analyze the tissue for cancer or other diseas...We achieve self-acceptance through the process of ongoing recovery. Working the Twelve Steps of Narcotics Anonymous teaches us to accept ourselves and our lives. Spiritual principles like surrender, honesty, faith, and humility help relieve us of the burden of our past mistakes. Our attitude changes with the application of these principles in ...Courage to Change: Today I seek to become a little more accepting of myself, a little more comfortable in my own skin. Although it is important to recognize and admit my limitations and flaws, only my Higher Power can remove them. Condemning my imperfections has never enhanced my appreciation of life or helped me to love myself more.
May 23, 2016 · On his desk, Dr. Bob had a plaque defining humility: “Perpetual quietness of heart. .

One way to learn to love myself is to accept the love of others. Even if I don’t feel deserving, I can be grateful for another’s kindness. And if I appreciate something about someone else, I can tell them so. A small gesture can go a long way toward healing a hurting soul. “I’ve heard people in Al-Anon say they got back their self-worth.May 6, 2024 · Thankfully, our newcomers are usually met by a group of friendly, smiling folks who are obviously fairly content with the lives they’ve found in Narcotics Anonymous. What an enormous amount of hope this provides! A newcomer, whose life has been deadly serious, is strongly attracted by an atmosphere of laughter and relaxation. Courage to Change: There are many times when I doubt the existence of anything that cares about what goes on in this world, let alone in my life. Being agnostic, doubt comes easily to me; belief is difficult. But then I think of how someone guided me to Al-Anon when my life was at its darkest. I reflect on times when the words and music of ...More Powerful Than Words “We learn that a simple, loving hug can make all the difference in the world…” – Basic Text, p. 9I. Perhaps there have been times in our recovery when we were close to someone who was in great pain.Meditation for the Day: In material things, you must rely on your own wisdom and that of others. In spiritual things, you cannot rely so much on your own wisdom as on God’s guidance.Nov 27, 2023 · AA Thought for the Day: The way of AA is the way of sobriety, fellowship, service, and faith. Let us take up each one of these things and see if our feet are truly on the way. The first and greatest to us is sobriety. The others are built on sobriety as a foundation. AA Thought for the Day: We can depend on those members of any AA group who have gone all out for the program. They come to meetings. They work with other alcoholics. We don’t have to worry about their slipping. They’re loyal members of the group. I’m trying to be a loyal member of the group. When I’m tempted to take a drink, I tell ...The restoration of self-esteem is one of Al-Anon’s prime functions. It doesn’t encourage a big-ego view of ourselves, but in helping us to see ourselves as we really are, we learn to sort out our good qualities, and on that foundation to build stronger, better personalities. “I am grateful for what Al-Anon is doing for me.A closed mind “A new idea cannot be grafted onto a closed mind…. Open-mindedness leads us to the very insights that have eluded us during our lives.”One Day at a Time in Al-Anon: It seems strange, when I think of it, that God is most vivid to my consciousness when I am in the depths of despair, and all I can say to Him is: “God help me!”. And He does help us when we turn to Him in our great need, for “man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.”. An equally imperative reason for ... The Al-Anon program works when I keep the focus on myself, attend lots of Al-Anon meetings, and make recovery my top priority. As I become more fully myself, I am better able to treat others with love and respect. “We are best able to help others when we ourselves have learned the way to achieve serenity.”. From the book “Courage to ... 6 days ago · One Day at a Time in Al-Anon: When an Al-Anon wife describes her grievances at a meeting, and explains “what she did because of what he did,” it is very possible that we can see through her motivations more clearly than she can. We see the bitterness, the self-pity and self-deception that have built a wall between her and reality. The ... Courage to Change: Today I seek to become a little more accepting of myself, a little more comfortable in my own skin. Although it is important to recognize and admit my limitations and flaws, only my Higher Power can remove them. Condemning my imperfections has never enhanced my appreciation of life or helped me to love myself more.Addicts often feel terminally unique. We’re sure that no one used drugs like we did or had to do the things that we did to get them. Feeling that no one really understands us can keep us from recovery for many years. But once we come to the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous, we begin to lose that feeling of being “the worst” or “the craziestJan 7, 2024 · Meditation for the Day: In silence comes God’s meaning to the heart. I cannot judge when it enters the heart. I can only judge by results. God’s word is spoken to the secret places of my heart, and in some hour of temptation, I find that word and realize its value for the first time. Courage to Change: I tried so hard to learn detachment. Living with active alcoholism was confusing, and the idea of detachment seemed vague. The alcoholic in my life was a restless sleeper who fell out of bed almost every night. Feeling it my duty, I would always help him back into bed. One night, after attending Al-Anon meetings for a while ...Life just happens, and sometimes it hurts. Many of us have lost love through no fault of our own. Some of us have lost all of our material wealth. A few of us have even grieved the loss of our own children. Life can be terribly painful at times, but the pain is not inflicted on us by our Higher Power. Rather, that Power is constantly by our ...Today’s Reminder: Moving from awareness to acceptance to action takes time, but the benefits are worth the wait. As I learn to accept my defects, circumstances, and feelings, I learn that I am a worthwhile human being just as I am. With that kind of self-acceptance, I begin to see my options, and slowly I can begin to take action, to change.AA Thought for the Day: The way of AA is the way of sobriety, fellowship, service, and faith. Let us take up each one of these things and see if our feet are truly on the way. The first and greatest to us is sobriety. The others are built on sobriety as a foundation.Keep coming back “We have come to enjoy living clean and want more of the good things that the NA Fellowship holds for us.” – Basic Text, p. 27 Self-pity or recovery—it’s our choice. “Self-pity is one of the most destructive of defects; it will drain us of all positive energy.”. – Basic Text, p. 80. In active addiction, many of us used self-pity as a survival mechanism. We didn’t believe there was an alternative to living in our disease — or perhaps we didn’t want to ...