Peace through Honesty - Sept 19th

Who's not sat tense before his own heart's curtain?
—Rainer Maria Rilke

Meeting our Higher Power and ourselves is the universal spiritual process. Sitting before the curtain of our hearts may feel as awesome to us or as frightening as anything we will ever do. When we first admit to ourselves a deeper truth, we feel these overpowering tensions. For some of us, this is a necessary step, which leads to self-knowledge and inner peace. We feel unique, different, alone, and maybe even crazy. For the first time, we are listening to our inner truth rather than outside messages.

Let's think for a moment about today's tensions and strains. Are we really aware of their source? Perhaps they are created by the disturbing honesty of our hearts? We may find our spiritual growth in yielding to the truth. When we are cynical about spiritual experience or when we minimize the importance of our soft-spoken inner wisdom, we are avoiding the truth from our hearts. And we miss the possibility of becoming strong from within.

Today, I will live through the tension and fear of my honesty to reach the point of peace with myself.

Faith in a Higher Power - Sept 18th

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

A.A. Thought for the Day
Step Two is, "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." Step Three is, "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him." Step Eleven is, "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." The fundamental basis of A.A. is a belief in some Power greater than ourselves. Let us not take this lightly. We cannot fully get the program without this venture of belief. Have I made the venture of belief in a Power greater than my own?

Faith in a higher power was a roadblock for me throughout most of my life. The very idea of God was troubling  and I would avoid the topic. Now I am not so concerned about what God is I simply believe that there is a higher power that loves unconditionally and wishes the best for everyone. 

~ Mike

Acceptance - Sept 17th

“Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.”
~ William James

A.A. Thought for the Day

Step One is, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable." This step states the membership requirement of A.A. We must admit that our lives are disturbed. We must accept the fact that we are helpless before the power of alcohol. We must admit that we are licked as far as drinking is concerned and that we need help. We must be willing to accept the bitter fact that we cannot drink like normal people. And we must make, as gracefully as possible, surrender to the inevitable fact that we must stop drinking. Is it difficult for me to admit that I am different from normal drinkers?

Accepting that my life had gone off the rails was one thing - but asking for help in setting my life right was the hardest thing I've ever done. I hope you can do the same.

~ Mike

Practicing the Steps - Sept 16th

What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step.
~ C. S. Lewis

A.A. Thought for the Day

Today, let us begin a short study of The Twelve Suggested Steps of A.A. These Twelve Suggested Steps seem to embody five principles. The first step is the membership requirement step. The second, third, and eleventh steps are the spiritual steps of the program. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and tenth steps are the personal inventory steps. The eighth and ninth steps are the restitution steps. The twelfth step is the passing on of the program, or helping others, step. So the five principles are membership requirement, spiritual basis, personal inventory, restitution, and helping others. Have I made all these steps a part of me?

Only in practicing the AA 12 Steps in my daily life am I able to break the destructive patterns I had practiced in my life before AA.

~ Mike

Think Positive - Sept 14th

When a person drowns himself in negative thinking he is committing an unspeakable crime against himself.

•   Maxwell Maltz  

Negative thoughts can rule our lives as compulsively as an addiction. The feelings of power we get from holding a dismal and gloomy outlook deprive us of the positive and pleasant parts of life. Some of us have said, "If I expect the worst, I won't be disappointed. If I think the worst about myself, no one else can cut me down." It is like taking a driving trip and looking only for trash and garbage in the ditches, ignoring the beauty beyond. Indeed, what we see may be real, but it is a very limited piece of the picture.

When we have relied on negative thinking, it feels risky to give it up. We cannot do it in one day. We can begin by imagining ourselves with a more open attitude toward the world and ourselves. Then we can try it out as an experiment in little ways, with no commitment. Finally we reach the point where we can take a risk and entrust our Higher Power with the outcome.

Today, I will experiment with hopeful and positive thoughts about what happens.

Haven - Sept 12th

“Home is not where you live, but where they understand you”
~ Christian Morganstern

A.A. Thought for the Day

"What draws newcomers to A.A. and gives them hope? They hear the stories of men and women whose experiences tally with their own. The expressions on the faces of the women, that indefinable something in the eyes of the men, the stimulating atmosphere of the A.A. clubroom, conspire to let them know that there is haven at last. The very practical approach to their problems, the absence of intolerance of any kind, the informality, the genuine democracy, the uncanny understanding which these people in A.A. have is irresistible." Have I found a real haven in A.A.?

Finding a good home group in AA is key to acceptance. The find a safe haven with people you can relate to will give you no end of comfort.

~ Mike

New Friends - Sept 11th

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one”
~ C.S. Lewis

A.A. Thought for the Day

Continuing the answers to the question of how a person can live without liquor and be happy, we say: "You will be bound to the other A.A.s with new and wonderful ties, for you and they will escape disaster together and all will commence shoulder to shoulder the common journey to a better and more satisfactory life. You will know what it means to give of yourself that others may survive and rediscover life. You will become happy, respected, and useful once more. Since these things have happened to us, they can happen to you." Have these things happened to me?

Overcoming my fear of people opened up a whole new life for me. Making new friends in AA has been a true blessing and has given me the opportunity to see that I am not so different. In being like others I don't feel so disconnected from the world.

~ Mike