Alcoholics Anonymous Videos | DonInLondon

Alcoholics Anonymous | March 4 2013 | Steps In Action | Step 3 "Your Higher Power" "letting go self-sufficiency in order to gain independence. Let go and learn, let go and ask and find freedom of choice today…" Fellowship: all about emotional and spiritual, learning what our feelings are and experiencing them in the moment of now. In time feelings fit life as it is today, feelings can be good, bad and ugly depending on what is happening to us and our responses in the moment of now…

Video For Today:

"Acceptance Is The Key"

It may seem obvious that our mood impacts on our thinking and then thinking impacts on our actions? And yet somehow the very last thing we take account of are the feelings we have inside which determine our thinking and what we do next. If we are happy our thinking is happy and the actions which follow are likely to be happy actions and based on love. When our feelings are turned inside out and rather than love there is hate, we have hateful thoughts and actions can be hateful to ourselves and others. It may seem obvious, when we stand back, that feelings are very real, the problem is we often don't stop to consider our feelings and we often interpret other people's feelings to be the same as ours and when they are not we get mad and try to get even…

Letting go and forgiving everyone everything, realising the actions that are taken in the moment of now, are always the best they can be because of the way we are, means there is much room for forgiveness of ourselves and those around who are impacted and may respond with equal strength, and hold their ground, may have more strength and we lose ground, or maybe weaker and we trample all over them, without regard and often without realising the harm done to ourselves and them in the process…

A meeting and sharing of the acceptance of passage in the big book. I had the privilege to read it. And it always makes me understand more about myself and more about my impact on other people. Firstly, that alcohol lead to alcoholism in my case, that it is a disease, and a killer malady. And if I try to drink again I would be powerless over the outcomes and life will be unmanageable. This is my reality today. I need not drink. And I prefer not to drink. And this free choice can be made on a daily basis. And with the help of the twelve steps, I keep my freedom and my ability to experience my feelings in the moment of now. Life is full of good, bad and ugly moments. And if I know my feelings, I will know how my thinking is influenced and the best actions forward. And the beauty of letting go with step three is the ability to realise I do not always have the answer. And I can ask for help from anyone anywhere at any time. The higher power is always present in the ever present, present moment of now…

Last night in the company of people I know, in the company of new people with a lot of sobriety. Always open to new experience, strength and hope. And having shared about how much acceptance of life on life's terms has helped me, someone asked me how long had I been sober… Answering truthfully, on this occasion, just for the sake of it, I asked them how long they had been sober, and they replied with a number twice my sobriety. I never quite know when a person asks how long another has been sober, why the question has been asked in the first place. In this case, I reckon I was checked out for reasons of challenge about some of the things I said. And of course, depending on the mind-set of the person asking about the length of my sobriety, they could be looking for many reasons, either to discount, wonder where this person is coming from, namely me and actually I don't know if there is any good reason for asking another person how long we have been sober… Today is all we have…

Indeed in fellowship, all we have is today, and if we can be sober just for today, we have a good chance in our emotional and spiritual life, because it is one day long. When it comes to matters of the heart, or matters of wealth or finance, love is a constant hopefully and unconditional as we learn about love. And matters of wealth and finance are constantly fluctuating depending on income and expenditure one day at a time. How do we measure other people? The simplest answer is best not to try measure other people, and as acceptance suggests, better to understand one's own situation and not compare, or despair and most emphatically try not to judge others as they will judge back, usually more harshly and without a word being spoken…

One of the most important parts of acceptance is to realise that if anything we are judged by our actions and not our intentions. If we can be more clear about our intentions when we are with others, the more likely we share where we are coming from and what we are trying to do. Secrets kept intentionally will hinder, forgetting to share our intentions is equally disruptive because people just see the action that we take, and not the intentions, which may be quite honourable. And if we are dishonourable in our intentions and we try control or manipulate, just like any other human we undermine trust in the moment of now… Forgetfulness and misunderstandings can abound when we are unclear. And sometimes we can get clarity, by sharing how we feel, and the thoughts which follow...

Letting go self-sufficiency in the extreme, letting go the notion that our way is the only way, letting go the idea that we can persuade people to our point of view, without putting any effort into common ground on common understanding, will lead to havoc and a return to insanity, not just for today, often for many a day as we do not realise the impact we have on other people. All the world's a stage, and we are part of what goes on, and if we try command and control outcomes, as history has proved rebellion is never far away, either today or any other day…

How am I feeling this morning? Oddly enough, not too bad, even though sleep has been elusive, and my system physically upset by a simple soft drink full of all sorts of additives which are not good for somebody taking insulin it would seem. Just another learning lesson. And last night, going out with my best friend, to a meeting and listening and sharing always helps. It is never the amount of time we spend with a person which counts, it is the quality of time we have with a person which matters most. And not having seen my friend in person for a couple of weeks, when we do meet up the time flies, laughter and sadness and just being in good company is particularly wonderful as we are able to share the truth in those moments. Simply learning its okay just for today…

Alcoholics Anonymous | March 4 2012 | Steps In Action | Step 3 "Your Higher Power" Today's AA daily reflection: "growth and willingness." The fundamentals of step three for me are about letting go old notions and ideas and especially letting go of what I thought the truth was back in the day of drink…

Video For Today:

2009 - 2012

Someone said recently, "I need to be more assertive!" This was them talking about themselves, not about me. One thing I know, anyone can be assertive without being aggressive, which is good, but it does not make them right. Being assertive about how we feel, why and what to do is really helpful. Assertiveness need not be mistaken for truth, love and wisdom. We still need to learn what the truth is, what love is and keep learning wisdom day by day…

I enjoy not knowing the questions and not knowing the answers on a daily basis. That is to the big questions in life, for example? I just don't know yet. At the same time some basic routines for me include: step one, powerless over alcohol and if I take a drink life will become unmanageable. Step two, contingent on asking I can be restored to sanity just for today. Step three let go and ask…

And any time during the day when things are right it's a good time to reflect on why. And if things are wrong or feel wrong an even better time to reflect and get in conscious contact with something outside me!

"Two heads are better than one." "Many hands make light work." "Too many cooks spoil the broth." One or other or more than one may be appropriate at any time, and in any place… We still need to work that bit out and if I am confused it certainly is time to pick up the phone…

Two meetings yesterday and both were very, very helpful to me. Helping me by being in touch with people I know, hearing wisdom, sad stories and joyful stories for the truth, love and wisdom of life. From new beginnings, and newcomers to decades sober and old timers. All worth listening to, to understand life is always about learning how to be oneself just for a day…

DonInLondon 2005-2011

Obsession will drive us into the jaws of insanity ~ Anne Frank "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart." Balance in our daily endeavours, we get perspective in all matters of emotional and spiritual life...

Living in the ever present, imperfectly perfect, moment of now ~ Anne Frank "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." -/- Improving our outlook, attitude and behaviour, we are open and included in the world of now...

AA "All About" Learning who we are today ~ Sydney J. Harris "Ninety percent of the world's woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves." Emotional and spiritual learning is always just for today...

Open Honest & Willing, a new start every day.. ~ - Virginia Woolf "If we do not tell the truth about ourselves we cannot tell it about other people." -/- Clean house, our own back yard and our choices are clear and fresh...

AA Daily Reflection: WEEDING THE GARDEN ~ MARCH 4, The essence of all growth is a willingness to make a change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 115

By the time I had reached Step Three I had been freed of my dependence on alcohol, but bitter experience has shown me that continuous sobriety requires continuous effort. Every now and then I pause to take a good look at my progress. More and more of my garden is weeded each time I look, but each time I also find new weeds sprouting where I thought I had made my final pass with the blade. As I head back to get the newly sprouted weed (it’s easier when they are young), I take a moment to admire how lush the growing vegetables and flowers are, and my labour is rewarded. My sobriety grows and bears fruit.

-/-

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