"QUOTES"
"You have to be sober to learn to live sober." anon
=====================
DAILY
Keep It Simple
A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it is committing another mistake. — Confucius
Step Ten tell us that when we are wrong, we must “promptly” admit it. We aren’t used to admitting our mistakes. We defend ourselves and blame others. This is call denial.
Denial is bad for two reasons. First, it keeps from learning from our mistakes, so we keep making them. Second, we don’t listen to others, so we close ourselves and become lonely.
What a relief it is to admit our wrongs! We don’t have to keep trying to do things the hard way. We can learn new way to think and act that will work better for us. We can let other people be our teachers.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me out of denial, so I can see the
changes I need to make.
Action for the Day: Today, If I disagree with someone, I’ll promptly admit when I’m wrong. If I’m right, I’ll be gentle. I don’t have to prove anything.
==========================
Twenty Four Hours a Day May 20
Thought for the Day
If we get up in a meeting and tell something about ourselves in order to help the other person, we feel a whole lot better. It’s the old law of the more you give the more you get. Witnessing and confession are part of keeping sober. You never know when you may help somebody. Helping others is one of the best ways to stay sober yourself. And the satisfaction you get out of helping a fellow human being is one of the finest experiences you can have. Am I helping others?
Meditation for the Day
Without God, no real victory is ever won. All the military victories of great conquerors have passed into history. The world might be better off without military conquerors. The real victories are won in the spiritual realm. "He that conquers himself is greater than he who conquers a city." The real victories are victories over sin and temptation, leading to a victorious and abundant life. Therefore, keep a brave and trusting heart. Face all your difficulties in the spirit of conquest. Remember that where God is, there is the true victory.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that the forces of evil in my life will flee before God’s presence. I pray that with God I will win the real victory over myself.
=====================
ABRAHAM
1.Emotions are communicated from your Inner Being
Abraham: “Your emotions are not from your physical world. They come forth from the inner world and are directly communicated to you from your Inner Being.”
Abraham: “As you are feeling positive emotion - such as love, peace, happiness, joy, excitement, exhilaration … it is your Inner Being communicating to you in that moment that you are feeling the emotion - that your thoughts are in harmony with that which you are wanting, As you are experiencing negative emotion - such as fear or doubt, anger, hatred, jealousy, stress, guilt, anxiety .. it is a communication from your Inner Being telling you that in that moment - that which you are focused upon is not in harmony with what you are wanting.”
Abraham, A New Beginning, Volume 1
=====================
Vernon Howard’s SECRETS OF LIFE
"PAY ATTENTION
Hostile spirits like to cause grief by dividing and
confusing your attention. Split attention is a major
cause of accidents and inefficiency. When driving your car or handling tools, give full attention to the task, stay aware of your consecutive movements. This means to know what you are doing at the moment you are doing it, to remain with each action as it happens. Don?t get ahead
or in back of yourself. Results are rich."
SOLVED The Mystery of Life, p. 183
=============
SEEDS FOR THE THE GARDEN OF YOUR MIND
If you have built castles in the air,
your work need not be lost,
that is where they should be.
Now put foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau
Positive thinkers have dreams, set goals, make plans, follow through on plans, and get results. Action is the magic word. The more we believe in ourselves, the more we are able to accomplish.
One way to start getting positive results in our lives is to watch how others succeed. If we stick with the winners and learn from their attitudes, we can do just about anything we make up our minds to do.
Today let me choose to set a goal for myself and follow through until I attain it.
You are reading from the book:
~Our Best Days . . . by Nancy Hull-Mast~
The Daily Guru
=============
The Mills Brothers: Paper Doll with Dean Martin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPI5L-E1P_M&feature=related
A SCATTERING OF SEEDS
Affection
Therefore hold nothing dear, for separation from the dear is painful. There are no bonds for those who have nothing beloved or unloved.
The Buddha’s Path to Wisdom
==================
You’re not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
Dean Martin
CHUCKLE BAR
Why Women should shop alone:
After I retired,my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to Target.
Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunate, my wife is like most women - she loves to browse. Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local Target.
Dear Mrs. Samuel,
Over the past six months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been
forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against your husband, Mr. Samuel, are listed below and are documented by our video
surveillance cameras.
1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people’s carts when they weren’t looking.
2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
3. July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women’s restroom.
4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, ‘Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away’. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management
to lose time and costing the company money.
5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.
6. August 14: Moved a ‘CAUTION - WET FLOOR’ sign to a carpeted area.
7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he’d invite them in if they would bring pillows and
blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged.
8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, ‘Why can’t you people just leave me alone?’ EMTs
were called.
9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.
10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.
11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the ‘Mission Impossible’ theme.
12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his ‘Madonna look’ by using different sizes of funnels.
13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled ‘PICK ME! PICK ME!’
14. October 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed ‘OH NO! IT’S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!’
And last, but not least:
15. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, ‘Hey! There’s no toilet paper in here.’ One of the clerks passed out.
Tags: AA Daily
"QUOTES"
"God forgives in an instant,
but character building is a lifetime proposition." anon
=====================
DAILY
Keep It Simple
Sought through pray and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him. First half of Step Eleven
Through Step Eleven, we develop a lasting, loving relationship with our Higher Power. Conscious contact means knowing and sensing God in our lives throughout the day.
God is not just an idea. We talk with our Higher Power through prayer. As we meditate, we sense God’s love for us, and we get answers to our questions. When we pray and meditate, we become aware that God is always with us. Our Higher Power becomes our best friend. Our Higher Power is there for advice, support, celebration, comfort.
Prayer for the Day: Dear Higher Power, I pray that our relationship grows stronger every day. I accept the friendship You offer me.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll seek out God through prayer and meditation.
==========================
Twenty Four Hours a Day May 19
Thought for the Day
Fellowship is a big part of staying sober. The doctors call it group therapy. We never go to an A.A. meeting without taking something out of it. Sometimes we don’t feel like going to a meeting and we think of excuses for not going. But we usually end up by going anyway. And we always get some lift out of every meeting. Meetings are part of keeping sober. And we get more out of a meeting if we try to contribute something to it. Am I contributing my share at meetings?
Meditation for the Day
"He brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings." The first part, "He brought me up out of a horrible pit," means that by turning to God and putting my problems in His hands, I am able to overcome my sins and temptations. "He set my feet upon a rock" means that when I trust God in all things, I have true security. "He established my goings" means that if I honestly try to live the way God wants me to live, I will have God’s guidance in my daily living.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that my feet may be set upon a rock. I pray that I may rely on God to guide my comings and goings.
======================
ABRAHAM
1.Sara and Solomon
Sara knew what Solomon meant about matches. She had had many conversations with him about that. She remembered how Solomon had explained about Law of Attraction, and bird of a feather flocking together.
In other words, Sara, if you are experiencing a very strong felling that does not feel good to you, like fear or anger or jealousy or guilt, or blame…those feelings mean that you are thinking about something that matters very much to you–but that the thoughts that you are having are not a match to what you really want.
Sara listened.
However, when you are experiencing a very strong feeling that feels good to you, like love or appreciation or joy, or eagerness… those feelings mean that you are thinking about something that matters very much to you–and, in this moment, the thoughts that you are having ARE a match to what you really want.
Negative emotion is not a bad thing, Sara. It helps you to recognize what you are doing with your thoughts. You don’t think it is wrong when your sensitive fingertips tell you that the stove is hot. That sensitivity save your fingers from being damaged. And negative emotion is a similar indicator. It just let you know that to stay focused longer upon this thought that doesn’t feel good, really isn’t good for you.
From Sara, Book 3 A Talking Owl Is Worth A Thousand Words The Sara Series by Esther and Jerry Hicks
=====================
Vernon Howard’s SECRETS OF LIFE
"Intelligently work for this or that goal in your daily affairs, but give up all concern for results. Let whatever wants to happen go ahead and happen. You keep your peace when you don?t demand a certain result; for example, that
the customer should buy your product, or that this person should appreciate you. Set up no demands for anything from anyone. Grasp this tremendous principle and your life will never again be the same."
The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power, p. 146
=============
SEEDS FOR THE GARDEN OF YOUR HEART
Connect with the life force
"The spirit down here in man and the spirit up there in the sun, in reality are only one spirit, and there is no other one."
The Upanishads
"Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world.The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same.Every wonderful sight will vanish; every sweet word will fade, But do not be disheartened, The source they come from is eternal, growing, Branching out, giving new life and new joy.
Why do you weep?
The source is within you
And this whole world is springing up from it."
Jelaluddin Rumi
The Daily Guru
==================
Chet Atkins "Unchained Melody"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF8GUJ0eICc&feature=related
A SCATTERING OF SEEDS
Affection
From lust springs grief, from lust springs fear. From him who is wholly free from lust there is no grief; whence then fear?
The Buddha’s Path to Wisdom
==================
I’ll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They’re too much fun.
Babe Ruth
CHUCKLE BAR
Paddy and Brigid had been courting for 30 years, and decided it was time to marry. When Paddy saw the Monsignor to make the arrangements, he
admitted that all of the liturgical changes had him confused, and that he worried about the effect on the ceremony.
"Well," Monsignor responded, "You can have the old rite if you want but it’s so cold and formal! Now, with the NEW rite, there is WARMTH, and LOVE, and real PARTICIPATION. So, were I you, Pat, I’d take the new one." Every obedient, Paddy agreed.On his wedding day, Paddy was driving to the church alone when he got a flat tire. He quickly removed his jacket, shirt and tie, rolled his
trouser legs to the knees, and fixed the tire. By then he was quite late, and, in his haste, though he remembered to fix the rest of his clothing, he left his trouser legs as they were.
Fearing Brigid would think he’d stood her up after 30 years, Paddy
rushed into the church, quite breathless. Monsignor, seeing the state of Paddy’s attire, stage whispered to him, "Paddy! Pull down your trousers, now!"
The indignant Paddy replied, "irish father, I’ll take the old rite!"
Tags: AA Daily
"QUOTES"
"The wreckage of the past is environmentally safe and bio-degradable." anon
=====================
DAILY
The Housewife Who Drank At Home
She hid her bottles in clothes hampers and dresser drawers. In A.A., she discovered she had lost nothing and had found everything.
The fellowship I found in A.A. enabled me to face my problem honestly and squarely. I couldn’t do it among my relatives; I couldn’t do it among my friends. No one likes to admit that they’re a drunk, that they can’t control this thing. But when we come into A.A., we can face our problem honestly and openly. I went to closed meetings and open meetings. And I took everything A.A. had to give me. Easy does it, first things first, one day at a time. It was at that point that I reached surrender. I heard one very ill woman say that she didn’t believe in the surrender part of the A.A. program. My heavens! Surrender to me has meant the ability to run my home, to face my responsibilities as they should be faced to take life as it comes to me day by day and work my problems out. That’s what surrender has meant to me. I surrendered once to the bottle, and I couldn’t do these things. Since I gave my will over to A.A., whatever A.A., has wanted of me I’ve tried to do to the best of my ability. When I’m asked to go out on a call, I go. I’m not going; A.A. is leading me there. A.A. gives us alcoholics direction into a way of life without the need for alcohol. That life for me is lived one day at a time, letting the problems of the future rest with the future. When the time comes to solve them, God will give me strength for that day.
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition p. 300
***********************************************************
Tradition Twelve - "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."
Then came our first few excursions into major publicity, which were breathtaking. Cleveland’s Plain Dealer articles about us ran that town’s membership from a few into hundreds overnight. The news stories of Mr. Rockefeller’s dinner for Alcoholics Anonymous helped double our total membership in a year’s time. Jack Alexander’s famous Saturday Evening Post piece made A.A. a national institution. Such tributes as these brought opportunities for still more recognition. Other newspapers and magazines wanted A.A. stories. Film companies wanted to photograph us. Radio, and finally television, besieged us with requests for appearances. What should we do?
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions pp. 186-187
===============
Twenty Four Hours a Day May 18
Thought for the Day
We’re in A.A. for two main reasons: to keep sober ourselves and to help others to keep sober. It’s a well-known fact that helping others is a big part of keeping sober yourself. It’s also been proved that it’s very hard to keep sober all by yourself. A lot of people have tried it and failed. They come to a few A.A. meetings and then stay sober alone for a few months, but usually they eventually get drunk. Do I know that I can’t stay sober successfully alone?
Meditation for the Day
Look by faith into that place beyond space or time where God dwells and whence you came and to which you shall eventually return. "Look unto Him and be saved." To look beyond material things is within the power of everyone’s imagination. Faiths look saves you from despair. Faith’s look saves you from worry and care. Faith’s look brings a peace beyond all understanding. Faith’s look brings you all the strength you need. Faith’s look gives you a new and vital power and a wonderful peace and serenity.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may have faith’s look. I pray that by faith I may look beyond the now to eternal life.
================
ABRAHAM
1.You tend to think that your beliefs are rigid or unchanging
You tend to think that your beliefs are rigid or unchanging. When what your belief is, is only a thought that you keep thinking. It’s more like a habit of thought. Some of those habits of thought serve you really well. For example, if you have a habit of thought that goes something like, life is good, I am of value, I love my life, or this is a really good life… Then beliefs like that are so in sync with your Source Energy, that those beliefs don’t hinder Source Energy at all. Some other beliefs are more hindering in nature. For example, if you think physical human bodies decline before they die… it doesn’t serve you. Beliefs like that are extremely hindering in nature, because they are so vibrationally different from the Source Energy that knows you purely, that when you hold yourself in those kinds of thoughts, you are choosing vibrations that are so different that you are disallowing the Source Energy that the cells of your body are summoning. And when that happens, you feel negative emotion. When you are choosing, in this moment, to activate a belief that is serving you, that is allowing the Energy to flow, you feel invigoration, you feel eagerness, you feel passion, you feel love, you feel appreciation, you feel joy, you feel those good feelings. But when you are activating a belief that is not serving you well, you feel anger, you feel frustration, you feel fear, you feel defensiveness, you feel jealousy, you feel guilt, you feel frustration, you feel urgency… The degree to which you feel any of those feelings, good or bad, is the degree to which you are allowing or not allowing the Energy to flow.
Excerpted from the workshop in Kona, HI on
=====================
Vernon Howard’s SECRETS OF LIFE
"True courage belongs to the person who voluntarily gives up his fondness for having enemies. An unawakened man clings desperately
to his enemies, for without them he would feel empty, unimportant.
He fears the loss of the agitation supplied by enemies, for he is deceived into thinking that agitation is an exciting way of life.
Can we give up one enemy today, whether a person or stubborn machine or cloudy day? We can do that much in order to express the courage
for conquest."
Esoteric Mind Power, p. 119
=============
SEEDS FOR THE GARDEN OF YOUR HEART
Time to blossom
"The voice of our original self is often muffled, overwhelmed, even strangled, by the voices of other people’s expectations."
Julie Cameron
"For all those years you’ve protected the seed.
It’s time to become the beautiful flower."
Stephen C. Paul
The Daily Guru
================
Norah Jones - Cold Cold Heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g35zS1tVO3o&feature=fvw
A SCATTERING OF SEEDS
Affection
From attachment springs grief, from attachment springs fear. From him who is wholly free from attachment there is no grief, whence then fear?
The Buddha’s Path to Wisdom
==================
Drink is the feast of reason and the flow of soul. Alexander Pope
CHUCKLE BAR
The old irish priest was becomin’ faint of heart and overly upset at the mention of "adultery" in the confession. He gently suggested to the flock that they say that they had "fallen" instead. He’d know what they meant and it wouldn’t be so distressing.
The irish priest lived a good number of years and finally passed on, and a new irish priest was appointed.
After a few weeks, the new irish priest paid a visit to the mayor. "Y’ve got to do something about the sidewalks and curbs, Mr. Mayor. I’m alarmed at how many parishoners report to me that they’ve fallen of late."
The mayor figures out what is happening and howls with laughter.
Says the irish priest indignantly, "You wouldna think the problem was so funny when I tell you your own wife has fallen twice this past week!"
Tags: AA Daily
"QUOTES"
"If your head is full of you - you’ll learn nothing new." anon
=====================
DAILY
Keep It Simple
Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the light, even though for the moment you do not see…Bill W.
At times, we’ll go through pain and hardship, At times, we’ll have doubts. At times, we’ll get angry and think we just don’t care anymore. These things can spiritually blind us. But this normal. Hopefully, we’ll be ready for those times. Hopefully, we will have friends who will be there for you. Thank God for these moments! Yes, hard times can make our spirits deep and strong. These moments tell us who we are as sober people. These moments help us grow and change. Spirituality is about choice. To be spiritual, we must turn ourselves over to the care of our Higher Power.
Prayer for the Day: God, help me find You in my moments of blindness. This is when I really need You.
Action for the Day: Today I’ll get ready for the hard times ahead. I will list my friends who will be there for me.
===============
Twenty Four Hours a Day May 17
Thought for the Day
A lot of well meaning people treat an alcoholic like the priest and the Levite. They pass by on the other side by scorning him and telling him what a low person he is, with no willpower. Whereas, he really has fallen for alcohol, in the same way as the man in the story fell among robbers. And the member of A.A. who is working with others is like the Good Samaritan. Am I moved with compassion? Do I take care of another alcoholic whenever I can?
Meditation for the Day
I must constantly live in preparation for something better to come. All of life is a preparation for some thing better. I must anticipate the morning to come. I must feel, in the night of sorrow, that understanding joy that tells of confident expectation of better things to come. "Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Know that God has something better in store for you, as long as you are making yourself ready for it. All your existence in this world is a training for a better life to come.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that when life is over, I will return to an eternal, spaceless life with God. I pray that I may make this life a preparation for a better life to come.
=============================
ABRAHAM
1. Esther, 2-7-981.Choices/Contrast
Is one desire better than another? No.
Who gets to choose? You do.
Can you make one choice now and another choice later? Absolutely.
Is it likely that your choices will continue to change and evolve? Yes.
Is there somebody watching you and keeping score of what you choose? No.
Will there be punishment if you accidentally make the wrong choice? No. In other words, the punishment — there is not anything offered like that — but the suffering that you see as punishment is nothing greater than the negative emotion that you feel in any moment as you’re disallowing your true self to flow through you. That’s as bad as it gets. That guilt or anger or blame or frustration or depression that you feel because you’re choosing thoughts that aren’t in vibrational harmony with who you are. That’s as bad as it gets.
So is there a great law that says monogamy is more spiritual than having many sexual partners? No. There is no such law.
Are there people who would be more joyful in monogamy? Absolutely.
Are there people who would be more joyful eating frog legs? Absolutely.
Who gets to choose? You do.
How do you know if you’re making the right choice? You can feel it.
Will your choices evolve? Absolutely.
Can you make wrong choices? No.
Will other people agree? Never.
Are you going to be able to stand on your head in enough different ways to please them? No.
Any one of them? No.
Is that your job? No.
Then what is your job? To feel good.
What does that mean? Seek harmony with who you are.
Does that mean that the god within me wants me to have lots of sexual partners? No. That means that the god within you wants you to find harmony between your desire and your belief. In other words, that energy wants you to create a clear path for it to flow. And you can’t do that by saying, “that’s wrong,” because every time you see something is wrong you stop the flow.
Does that mean you have to embrace all things? No. It just means you must stop pushing against those things that you don’t want to include because every time you push against them, you don’t stop them, you include them, and now you’re out of sync again and you say “it’s your fault, you evil perpetrators of sin and violence and crime. If you would stop being so bad, I’d feel better.” And we say that’s true, but that’s never going to happen. You must allow them to be that which they are while you selectively sift that which lines up your energy. And when you’re in alignment with your source, all things are possible.
Esther Hicks, 2/7/98
=====================
Vernon Howard’s SECRETS OF LIFE
"The wise seeker uses discouragement to seek all the harder!"
1500 Ways to Escape the Human Jungle, # 630
=============
SEEDS FOR THE GARDEN OF YOUR HEART
What inspires you?
"It is never about how good your voice is;
it is only about feeling the urge to sing,
and then having the courage to do it with the voice you are given."
Katie in ‘True to Form’ by Elizabeth Berg
"Be an all-out, not a hold-out."
Norman Vincent Peale
The Daily Guru
============
Roy Orbison "The Three Bells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3HA1X9ubRI&feature=related
A SCATTERING OF SEEDS
Affection
From affection springs grief, from affection springs fear. From him who is wholly free from affection there is no grief, whence then fear?
The Buddha’s Path to Wisdom
==================
Responsible Drinking? Now that’s an Oxymoron.
Aaron Howard
CHUCKLE BAR
Brothers Mike and Seamus O’Malley were the two richest men in town, and complete shites both of ‘em. They swindled the Church out of its property, foreclosed on the orphanage and cheated widows out of their last mite. And that was just for starters.
Finally Seamus up and dies, and Mike pays a visit to the irish priest.
"irish father," he says, "my good name will be upheld in this town. You’ll be givin’ the eulogy for me brother, and in that eulogy you are going to say "Seamus O’Malley was truly a saint."
"I won’t do such a thing. T’would be a lie!"
"I know you will," says Mike. "I hold the mortgage on the parish school, and if you don’t say those words, I’ll foreclose."
The irish priest is over a barrel. "And if I pledge to say those words, then you’ll sign the note over free and clear?" "Done," cackles Mike, and he signs over the note.
Next morning at the funeral, the irish priest begins the eulogy:
"Seamus O’Malley was a mean-spirited, spiteful, penurious, lying, cheating, arrogant and hateful excuse for a human being. But compared to his brother, Mike,…Seamus O’malley was truly a saint."
Tags: AA Daily
"QUOTES"
"Enjoy the moment, in minute it’ll be a memory." anon
=====================
DAILY
Walk In Dry Places
Finding New Values____Restoration
Recovering alcoholics sometimes waste time and energy brooding over lost opportunities, and we do have a record of many lost opportunities! Bill W., the co-founder of AA, once made it big on Wall Street before crashing in the 1929 cataclysm. He later drank away two wonderful chances for a comeback. Most of us can recall similar opportunities we lost by drinking. We can eliminate these regrets by practicing gratitude for the recovery we have made. Without rationalizing, we can remind ourselves that few opportunities would have benefited us if we had continued to drink.
We can take comfort, too, in the clear evidence that there’s a wonderful restoration going on in our lives. While not every one gets back a lost job or rebuilds a business, many of us do find sufficient prosperity and productive work in our new lives. Some even find satisfying second careers or businesses after getting sober. Best of all, most recovering people discover that sobriety gives them the ability to appreciate their opportunities without worshipping material success.
I will make the best of my opportunities today and see them as stepping stones toward a more abundant life. I will not regret the past, because it brought necessary lessons.
===============
Twenty Four Hours a Day MAY 16
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.
===============
ABRAHAM
1.Resistance
Abe Imagine a room fan blowing air at you, very quietly. You know it’s on. You feel the air. You can’t hear it, but you can feel it. Now stick your pencil in the fan. That pencil in the fan would make quite a racket. Wouldn’t it? That pencil in the fan would slow the fan. So you would say the pencil in the fan is RESISTANCE. In other words, it slows the motion, or lowers the speed, of the fan. Well, RESISTANCE, in your physical realm, in terms of Energy, is the same thing. When you introduce a lower, slower vibration to a higher, faster one, the result is a slowing of the faster vibration. So when you give your attention to something that is in vibrational harmony with who you are, THERE IS NO RESISTANCE. When You Appreciate When you are praising, when you are appreciating, when you are acknowledging value, when you are looking for positive aspects, when you are laughing, when you are applauding, when you are joyous, when you are feeling that feeling of appreciation pulsing through you, in those times, there IS NO RESISTANCE within you. You are, in those moments, vibrationally up to speed with who you really are. When you are feeling anger or frustration or fear or loneliness or guilt, or those feelings that you describe as negative emotion, what that always means is, you are looking right at something that you do not want. =====================
Vernon Howard’s SECRETS OF LIFE
"Human laws do not change human nature."
Cosmic Command, # 1174
=============
SEEDS FOR THE GARDEN OF YOUR MIND
Do not spit into the well you may have to drink out of.
French Proverb
"You can learn many things from children.
How much patience you have for instance."
Franklin P. Jones
"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom
by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred."
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
"I am only one; but still I am one.
I cannot do everything, but I still can do something.
I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
Helen Keller
"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best."
Henry Van Dyke
BOREDOM
There is a subtle distinction between the "dry" alcoholic and the "sober" alcoholic.
The sober alcoholic chooses not to drink because he has accepted his alcoholism. The "dry" alcoholic is "not drinking" but is invariably angry and resentful — and he is not expressing these feelings. His abstinence is not exciting because he is not interested in it — he is bored.
The "dry" alcoholic is also boring to be around. Why? Because he is bored. His boredom makes him boring. He really wants to drink. He has stopped drinking for
reasons that do not include the acceptance of the disease; he is still a victim of the disease.
Sobriety, by contrast, is an adventure into self. It greets the new day with enthusiasm
and energy. Sobriety is the spiritual discovery of God in our lives.Let me always remember that my interests in life reflect my interest in You.
The Daily Guru
==============
Alison Krauss - The 3 Bells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwKI6oHCA-I&feature=related
A SCATTERING OF SEEDS
Affection
From endearment springs grief, from endearment springs fear. From him who is wholly free from endearment there is no grief, whence then fear?
The Buddha’s Path to Wisdom
==================
“Actually, it only takes one drink to get me loaded. Trouble is, I can’t remember if it’s the thirteenth or fourteenth.”
George Burns
CHUCKLE BAR
The Cork born irish father O’Connor’s reputation for castigating the Brits from the pulpit was legendary. However, the congregation in his new parish of
Boston, Mass., tired of him lambasting the Brits for the horrors they inflicted upon the Irish for generations. Ultimately, the Archbishop opted to send the good irish father to a small hamlet in the far reaches of Tennessee
where, His Grace said, "The folks know nothing of England and care less. So Knock off the Brit bashing and you’ll better serve Holy Mother Church."
Several weeks later, when irish father O’Connor stood into the pulpit to deliver his first sermon to his new congregation, the local Bishop, who knew of O’Connor’s reputation, was in attendance to check up-on him.
"My dear brethren," irish father O’Connor began, "this morning I’d like to talk about The Last Supper."
Not bad, though the Bishop. Safe enough ground.
"Now, the lesson to be learned from The Last Supper, where Christ knew He’d been betrayed, is that the sin of betrayal is the worst sin of all. A sin never forgiven by God or man," thundered irish father O’Connor.
Fair enough, thought the Bishop.
"Christ looked around at His apostles. ‘Was it you Peter, who betrayed me?’
He asked."
"Not I My Lord," answered Peter.
"Was it you John?"
"Not I My Lord."
"Christ asked each of them in turn and finally came to Judas, who was sitting at the end of the table, his head bowed. Was it you, Judas, who betrayed me? asked Christ, and Judas responded, "Wot? Me? Not on yer bloody life, Mi’lud."
The Bishop fainted
Tags: AA Daily
