Each day is a new beginning

It is only when people begin to shake loose from their preconceptions, from the ideas that have dominated them, that we begin to receive a sense of opening, a sense of vision.     ~Barbara Ward

A sense of vision, seeing who we can dare to be and what we can dare to accomplish, is possible if we focus intently on the present and always the present. We are all we need to be, right now. We can trust that. And we will be shown the way to become who we need to become, step by step, from one present moment to the next present moment. We can trust that, too.

The past that we hang onto stands in our way. Many of us needlessly spend much of our lives fighting a poor self-image.
 

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is an act, not a feeling. Though it may generate feelings, forgiveness is an exercise of the will. When we forgive, we refuse to be further damaged by the wrongdoing of others.

A refusal to forgive is called a resentment. And the victim of resentment is always the one who carries it. The people we refuse to forgive may neither know nor care about our resentment.

To hang on to a resentment is to harbor a thief in the heart. By the minute and the hour, resentment steals the joy we could treasure now and remember forever. It pilfers our energy to celebrate life—to face others as messengers of grace rather than ambassadors of doom. We victimize ourselves when we withhold forgiveness.

Today, I will remember that forgiveness is a giver and resentment is a taker. Because I deserve it, I will forgive old hurts. I will see forgiveness as a gift to myself.

 

Happiness

 

Most of us want to be happy. We just don’t know how. We aren’t sure what happiness is. We’ve learned the hard way that some things we wanted didn’t make us happy.

We’re learning that happiness comes when we live the way our Higher Power wants us to live. That’s when we’re honest. When we do our best work. When we are a true friend. We make happiness; we don’t find it.

Sometimes we don’t even know we’re happy. We’re too busy with our work, our recovery program, our friends and family. We need to slow down and know that when we do what we need to, happiness comes.

Prayer for the Day

Experience Strength & Hope

We benefit by sharing our experience, strength, and hope.

Hearing how others have handled experiences similar to ours makes us aware that our old behaviors didn’t serve us very well. We also learn that any situation can be handled with the support of the Twelve Step fellowship.

In time we also come to appreciate what we gain by sharing with newcomers how we have survived painful, humiliating experiences. This gives them hope and a pattern to follow, similar to the one we received from the old-timers.

Over development

We’ve all said, “I didn’t do anything. Don’t blame me; I didn’t mean any harm.” Over development of innocence contradicts our spiritual growth. The painful truth is, we do have an impact on other people. Many times we have cultivated innocence as a style, and it has stood in our way of being accountable.

We cannot be in a relationship without sometimes hurting the ones we love. Spiritual growth requires us to take action and to take responsibility for what we do. It is painful to acknowledge we made a mistake and hurt someone. But giving up our innocent style is constructive pain. It opens the possibility to correct our ways, make repairs, and be forgiven. Then we are in the mainstream of a hearty spiritual life.

May I have the grace to let go of my innocence by taking action and admitting my mistakes.

 

FIRST, THE FOUNDATION

Practicing the A.A. program is like building  a house. First I had to pour a big, thick concrete slab on which to erect the house; that, to me, was the equivalent of stopping drinking.
 

But it's pretty uncomfortable living on a concrete slab, unprotected and exposed to the heat, cold, wind and rain. So I built a room on the slab by starting to practice the program.
 

 The first room was rickety because I wasn't used to the work. But as time passed, as I practiced the program, I learned to build better rooms.
 

 The more I practiced, and the more I built, the more comfortable, and happy, was the home I now have to live in.