I try to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.
My sponsor told me that I should be a grateful alcoholic and always have "an attitude of gratitude" – that gratitude was the basic ingredient of humility, that humility was the basic ingredient of anonymity, and that "anonymity was the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities." As a result of his guidance, I start every morning on my knees, thanking God for three things: I’m alive, I’m sober, and I’m a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Then I try to live an "attitude of gratitude" and thoroughly enjoy another twenty-four hours of the A.A. way of life. A.A. is not something I joined; it’s something I live.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
When we came to our first A.A. meeting, we looked up at the wall at the end of the room and saw the sign: " But for the Grace of God." We knew right then and there that we would have to call on the grace of God in order to get sober and get over our soul-sickness. We heard speakers tell how they had come to depend on a Power greater than themselves. That made sense to us and we made up our minds to try it. Am I depending on the grace of God to help keep me sober?
Meditation For The Day
Share your love, your joy, your happiness, your time, your food, your money gladly with all. Give out all the love you can with a glad, free heart and hand. Do all you can for others and back will come countless stores of blessings. Sharing draws others to you. Take all who come as sent by God and give them a royal welcome. You may never see the results of your sharing. Today they may not need you, but tomorrow may bring results from the sharing you did today.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may make each visitor desire to return. I pray that I may never make anyone feel repulsed or unwanted.
Walk In Dry Places
Selfishness Self–improvement
We're told again and again that we have to be selfish about our own recovery, but this seems to be in conflict with the fact that selfishness is the root of our problem. How can selfishness be both good and bad? The selfishness we need for recovery is a devotion to self-improvement, rather than the selfish indulgence that made us sick. One is a giving of ourselves, the other is frantic taking that leads to destruction. The person who seeks self-improvement is competing only against his or her former self. The sick brand of selfishness, on the other hand, is usually involved in unhealthy competition with others. There is no easy way to test whether our selfishness is the right kind. If our conduct leads to long-term happiness and higher self-esteem, it is probably right. If it harms us or others, something is wrong. We can correct this by getting back to the basics of the program and pursing self-improvement rather than self-indulgence. Just for today, I will take part in that which will obviously benefit everyone.
Keep It Simple
Failure is impossible. – Susan B. Anthony
Failure is an attitude. Having an attitude of failure can't help us. It can only hurt us. If we're not careful, it can grow into a way of life. So, when we feel like failures, we better look at our attitudes. An attitude of failure often comes from making mistakes. But we can learn to see our mistakes as lessons. This turns mistakes into gains, not failures. Sometimes, we try to do things that just can't be done. When we act like we know everything, we're going to fail. if we try to act like God, we're going to fail. We can't control others. We can't know everything. We're not God. We're human. If we act human, we've already won.
Prayer for the Day: Higher power, help me to learn from my attitudes. Whatever the outcome, help me learn.
Action for the Day: Facing our past “Failures” is the first step to learning from them. I'll talk to my sponsor about a past "failure" and the good that came from it.
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
Self
“Wherever two people meet,
there are really six people
present. There is each man as he
sees himself, each man as the
other person sees him, and each
man as he really is.” – William James
Part of my spiritual journey involves the discovery of “Self”. For years I pretended to be what I was not; for years I pretended to be what I imagined myself to be; for years I pretended to be what you wanted me to be – always my real "self" eluded me.
Today I am beginning to know myself. I know my needs. I understand my strengths. I accept my weaknesses and I live with my confusions. >From the time I decided to put down the glass of alcohol, it progressively got better – but there is still a great deal I do not understand. Man's inhumanity to man, the daily violence and suffering, my own personal greed, cowardice and arrogance – where does it come from? I don't know and today that is okay. However, I still search; my suspicion is that the answer lies within my own insecurities.
In Your time, Master, may I grow in my understanding of self.
Daily Inspiration
When you follow God’s way, your life will flourish according to His great plan for you. Lord, guide me and make me aware of the ways You are working in my life.
Use the power of positive images in your mind to bring about good experiences. Lord, I will let my faith in You nourish my thoughts so that I can develop a healthy and joyful reality.
Contributed by Satish Kamat
