Alcoholics Anonymous | March 26 2013 | Steps In Action | Step 3 "Your Higher Power" All your life, you have been the best that you can be with what you know. Everyone everywhere is the best they can be in the moment of now. It does not matter whether people are being good, bad, or behaving in an ugly way. It is the best they can be right now, and was the best they could be back in the day. This applies to you too, you are the best you can be now. Looking back with hindsight we have all the wisdom of what happened and we can change the way we are one day at a time…
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And what about the “higher power?” When does it work? And why do we feel that some days there is no higher power and there is only darkness? Hungry, angry, lonely and tired. H. A. L. T. When we feel isolated and alone, physically and mentally tired, we cannot feel a power greater than ourselves. Unless we actively seek out the company of others, so we can be included in something bigger than us, we have no connection to what we need most, "inclusion, friendship, affection and unconditional love." My higher power, always works through people, is there in fellowship, can be there in family, can be found if we have the courage, faith and confidence to share the truth about what is going on and how we are feeling today…
In the old life, where fear, pride and ego would stop me from sharing the truth of my situation, I could only rely on my own feeling and thinking and the actions which would follow would be based on my own knowledge and wisdom. In that life of fear, pride and ego, I could not show weakness and would cover up my feelings about situations and accept very often the unacceptable behaviour of other people so I might fit in and find some sort of love and friendship in relationships. It was the best I could be with what I knew, and the people I was with, they were doing the best they could with what they knew too. Communications were very poor, listening and developing an understanding the truth of any situation was always hampered by putting on a brave face and rarely being able to share the real deep of who I was. Today, with courage, faith and confidence I can be the person I was meant to be, included, being able to love, being able to receive love without conditions. It can still feel very awkward today…
My higher power is working, I pick up the phone when it rings, I share with a friend what's going on and how I am feeling today. They share what they are doing, how the higher power is working for them and we agree that the higher power works when we are in company, or simply asking for help to do something which we would like to do, the higher power in all human's… Shared and included and in friendship, in family and in any relationships, when we are open, honest and willing to share the truth of now, we are in conscious contact with our higher power. The higher power works through people, doing the best they can today, and sometimes the best they can be is our worst nightmare. That's when we wake up to realise that even when people are at their worst, it does not mean that we need behave like them, we are learning the wisdom of what we can do and what we cannot do today. I can change the way I behave with grace and humility, and not grovel. I cannot change you or how you behave today and I cannot change people, places and things, I can change me, my outlook and the people, places and things which are right for me in the moment, in the hour and in the day…
The twelve steps, open me up, they allow me to be me, I get my freedom back, and my free choices. I am able to share to the best of my ability. What the truth is, I know my truth and can share it. And in order to get to a bigger truth about the real bigger picture, I need your truth and your outlook and your wisdom. It does not mean that your wisdom is right for me, what I need to be able to do is respect you, your outlook and your opinion, even though it may be completely different to mine. The higher power works through people, being open, honest and willing to keep on changing and adapting to the reality of now. Our spiritual connection: coping with reality and living a life where happiness is possible and the truth always aids action and happiness. Peace, serenity, happiness and respecting the diversity of beliefs and opinions will always open the door to a greater understanding of the truth, love and wisdom, the universal truth, love and wisdom of today is the spiritual path of life…
If my understanding of the universal truth, love and wisdom, which is available in the moment of now, I can be in tune with our higher power, and you are part of the higher power because you have wisdom. The real power is always in truth, sometimes truth is acceptable because we like where we are, sometimes truth feels like it is unacceptable because of where we are, it is still the truth and that truth is greater than me. In sharing this morning with a friend, I feel better, I feel better equipped, to have a day with meaning and purpose. Because of the twelve steps, the new life with courage, faith and confidence, means I can face the truth, and the truth can be good, bad and ugly. And any combination today of everything that life can throw at us is better faced with openness, honesty and willingness to be part of the big picture, and whatever endeavour or purpose comes our way, we can live it and be a part of it in the ever present, imperfectly perfect moment of now…
And sharing recently with a friend, they have a foundation in their faith and religion. And for a long time they were disconnected from their faith and religion. Tentative steps on their part have led to a new truth about what is right for them. And I respect their view, their beliefs and their opinions, because they share the truth of what they know and how it works for them. I have gratitude, a gentle reminder to me that human contact, being able to share without fear, less fear, than before. And that they will not be judged. We talked about forgiveness for the way people treated us, and we realised whilst we were doing the best we could with what we had, the same applies to everyone, everyone does the best they can with what they have and how they behave is based on the knowledge and wisdom they have learned. We learn forgiveness for the best we could be, and we learn forgiveness for everyone, being the best they could be whenever it was. And the same applies forgiveness is key, we don't need to make it an issue, we practice forgiveness by what we do, and how we behave with ourselves and other people. One day at a time…
Alcoholics Anonymous | March 26 2012 | Steps In Action | Step 3 "Your Higher Power" | Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "our learning is never over…" The quote actually reads "the teaching is never over." I am not a teacher, I am a learner and I learn with you and together we make progress and we are not perfect or qualified beyond the moment of now…
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Every day in recovery we trudge the road of destiny. The road of destiny can be guess work, can be planned, cannot be planned or the road is "what it is..." The saying, "the blind leading the blind" might be applicable if we were unable to keep learning what works today and what does not work today. Our emotional and spiritual path, where my emotions fit my situation in the moment of now offer the best opportunity to learn. If I'm sober I can learn more about life and living it making progress today…
How I understand the difference between being "a learner" and being "a teacher" is important for me. If I say I am a teacher, I'm likely to try and teach you. If I am a learner, I'm likely to be learning with you. And this fits with my understanding of humility and having the capacity to keep learning life, letting go old ideas, attitudes and actions and being willing to listen and develop new attitudes and actions and keep changing and adapting as life changes every day…
"It works if you work it, so work it you're worth it!" This is sometimes added to the serenity prayer at the end of the meetings here in London UK. Some people are happy with the serenity prayer and do not add this particular sentence. Grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. And I don't mind these days adding it works if you work it, so work it you're worth it. It reminds me when I let go the old ways, I need to work on new ways of life in all that life offers today…
We cannot learn and adopt new attitudes and behaviour from simply reading, listening and watching. Adopting new attitudes and behaviour requires practice, not to be perfect, simply to learn by doing, by feeling and engaging in living in the moment of now. Someone said recently in a meeting, "I had to stop thinking and start living again." Understanding our feelings is crucial to coping with reality and although we might try think and analyse everything before doing it does lead to paralysis and no action if there is no practice. A bit like knowing the answer and how it should be: but having no practical skills to get there. Fellowship is learning as we go just for today…
DonInLondon 2005-2011
Fellowship.. similarities in experience, strength and hope develop unity and recovery ~ Voltaire "Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?" -/- Learning by living our lives we experience what we can and cannot do and share wisdom to know the difference...
"We win half the battle when we make up our minds to take the world as we find it, including the thorns."- Orison Swett Marden
I woke up, said the serenity prayer, can do, cannot do, tripped over my wisdom to know the difference and said it again! ~ Louis L'Amour "A body shouldn't heed what might be. He's got to do with what is" -/- Step one.. step two.. step three and serenity, let go and let good, now I smile gently ...
Open To Truth, Love And Wisdom of Others [we let go having to be right, self-obsessed and self-medicating our lives away into oblivion and harm’s way]
-/-
AA Daily Reflection: Daily Reflections ~ THE TEACHING IS NEVER OVER Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you - until then. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164
These words put a lump in my throat each time I read them. In the beginning it was because I felt, “Oh no! The teaching is over. Now I’m on my own. It will never be this new again.” Today I feel deep affection for the A.A. pioneers when I read this passage, realizing that it sums up all of what I believe in, and strive for, and that - with God’s blessing - the teaching is never over, I’m never on my own, and every day is brand new.
-/-
As Bill Sees It ~ True Independence of the Spirit The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. Therefore, dependence as A.A. practices it is really a means of gaining true independence of the spirit. At the level of everyday living, it is startling to discover how dependent we really are, and how unconscious of that dependence.
Every modern house has electric wiring carrying power and light to its interior. By accepting with delight our dependence upon this marvel of science, we find ourselves personally more independent, more comfortable and secure. Power flows just where it is needed. Silently and surely, electricity, that strange energy so few people understand, meets our simplest daily needs. Though we readily accept this principle of healthy dependence in many of our temporal affairs, we often fiercely resist the identical principle when asked to apply it as means of growth in the life of the spirit. Clearly, we shall never know freedom under God until we try to seek His will for us. The choice is ours. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 36
-/-
Just For Today, and every day cherish always...
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AA Official Online Site: Daily Reflections
http://www.aa.org/lang/en/aareflections.cfm
AA Official Online Site: Big Book And Twelve And Twelve
http://www.aa.org/lang/en/subpage.cfm?page=359
January 2013 | Step One Reading Video Link:
January 2013 | Video Reading How It Works:
January 2013 | Video Reading A Vision For You:
January 2013 | Playlist About Step One:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD1355CD80542DBFC
don@doninlondon.com |
"music for airports" By Brian Eno | http://www.enoshop.co.uk/ |
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