Today's Thought - February

[bluidkiti]

February 1

Reflection for the Day

For a good part of my life, I saw things mostly in negative terms. Everything was serious, heavy, or just plain awful. Perhaps now I can truly change my attitude, searching out people in recovery who have learned how to live comfortably in the real world—without numbing their brains with mood-altering substances. If things get rough today, can I take a quiet moment and say to myself, as the philosopher Homer once said, “Bear patiently, my heart—for you have suffered heavier things”?
Today I Pray

May peace fill the place within me that once harbored my despair. May an appreciation for living—even for life’s trials—cancel out my former negative attitudes. During heart-heavy moments, help me remember that my heart was once much heavier still.
Today I Will Remember

I, too, am healing and living comfortably.

Today's reading is from the book A Day at a Time

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February 2

Believing in a Higher Power changes our perspective.

Gone are the long days of feeling adrift, days we had no hope or direction. For too long we agonized over the circumstances of our lives, tormented by the drinking and lying of our loved ones. Our attempts to control didn’t work. They still won’t. Yet some days we try anyway.

Most days, though, we use the principles of the program, relying on the wisdom of the first three Steps to take our focus off the person we’re trying to control. Accepting that we are powerless, coming to believe in a Power that is greater than we are, letting it guide the behavior of the other person and ourselves—these things give us clarity and peace about the actions we need to take. We aren’t adrift today.

I am so lucky that I have a greater Power that I can call on today. I can be certain that I’ll be taken care of.

Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own

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February 3

When we bring awareness to any difficult situation, we can choose to do things differently so that we don’t react in habitual ways that fit us like a worn-out shoe. They may be familiar, but ultimately they don’t help us get where we want to go.

Recovery teaches us to be mindful of what triggers our strong desire to escape, to grab our addiction of choice and run for the hills. It is not about judging these impulses or making oneself wrong for having them; it is about noticing them as they arise, even playfully naming them. “Oh, there is Ira, impulsive again” or “Here comes escaping Eddie.”

It’s time to just take a deep breath and do our best to stay present, allowing ourselves to feel what we desperately want to avoid. We can become aware of what our body is trying to tell us, where we are holding the tension. Such mindfulness requires that we pause before we act or react.

We need to take a moment to sense what is really happening inside before we change what goes on outside. When we just stop and allow whatever feelings are there to percolate through us, we taste a bit of freedom.

When I want to run is when I most need to stay present and aware.

Today's reading is from the book Cornerstones

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February 4

Once I accept things as they are, I can create things as they might be.

~Mike O.

Nothing so ties us to the past as regret. Think about it. It is almost impossible to venture forth while facing backward.

But today’s reality is what we must accept and work with. What was is gone. All we can do in the here and now is to accept it as it is without rage or blame, without regret or resentment. All the voting has already been done that made today be what today is.

Ah, but the future! Tomorrow! That’s quite a different matter. Today, we vote for what tomorrow will be. Today’s seeds are tomorrow’s harvest; today’s struggle is tomorrow’s victory.

When we accept today as it is without regret, we shuck off the terrible burden of self-pity with all its “shoulds,” “if onlys,” and “what ifs.” A thousand “ifs” don’t equal a single “is.” When we build on accepted reality, we build on solid rock.

Now I choose. From this day forward, the choice is mine!

Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy

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February 5

Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.

~Leo Buscaglia

Every one of us has a special gift deep in our soul. Some of us have already found it. But some of us don’t yet see the gift that makes us special. Maybe it’s time to find it. When we were in our active addiction, all our best energy went into the wrong goal—getting high. Now that we are sober and have a life that is more sane, we have energy for good things. The time is right. We can put some of that extra energy into finding our talent.

Our program has taught us how to look at ourselves in Step Four, Step Eight, and Step Ten. We have learned to listen to feedback to improve ourselves in Step Five and Step Eleven. We can use these skills to find our talent.

It’s scary to be special. It means being different. But that is why the world needs all of us—we each bring something different. And now we have the energy, we have the skills, and we have people who care about us who will help guide us. Isn’t it exciting?
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, I have made a decision to turn over my life and my will to your care. Please show me how to use my talent.
Today's Action

Today I will find one thing I’m good at. I will talk with my sponsor and a friend about how I can use this talent.

Today's reading is from the book God Grant Me

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February 6

She lives on the reflections of herself in the eyes of others. She doesn’t dare to be herself.

~Anaïs Nin

Do I know myself only in the image of what others make of me? Do I exist only in the gaze of others? What would happen if there was nobody to see me, to make me up? Would I simply disappear and cease to exist?

If we lack a sense of ourselves as people changing, on the move, in a process of growth, then it is easy to let ourselves become fixed, defined, static, lifeless. Other people will always be happy to do the work of defining us if we are unwilling to find out who we are ourselves. Of course we need to be seen and noticed and valued by others—but not at the expense of ourselves. We must dare to be. We must take the risk of creating ourselves and get to know and like ourselves—this strange and wonderful creature.

I am going to dare to be myself and welcome change and growth.

Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart

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February 7

Seeking Wisdom

He who knows and knows he knows, he is wise—Follow him!

~Arabian saying

In the beginning of practicing the principles of our program, a complete understanding of them and knowing why they work is not really important. Sponsors usually tell a newcomer, “Just do it!” and “Fake it ’til you make it!” Analyzing “why” may become important later. But in the beginning, we accept advice blindly because the friends who teach us are, themselves, examples of why the principles work.

The program we follow is a simple one. All we need to do is know that the Steps work, and follow that knowledge. Those who find comfortable recovery know that what they’ve learned has been basically simple facts about themselves and their obsessive illness.

Learning the simple facts of my illness and practicing the principles of my program will lead to wisdom and lasting recovery.

Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It

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February 8

Love doesn’t grow on the trees like apples in Eden—it’s something you have to make.

~Joyce Carey

There probably aren’t many of us who feel we’re loved enough. The paradox is that looking for love is not the way to find it. Abundant love will find us when we make the decision to attentively and unconditionally give it to all the people God has invited to share our life.

Our primary purpose today is to know and give love. Most of us turned to alcohol and other drugs in part because we felt unloved, unworthy, without purpose. This new life we’ve been graced with—a life filled with opportunities to experience positive ways of thinking, meaningful endeavors, and a family of loving friends—hasn’t come to us accidentally or coincidentally. It has been God’s will throughout our life that we know love, and be able to openly and freely offer it to others.

God is the caring guide who will help me know love as a result of my willingness to love.

Today's reading is from the book In God's Care

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February 9

The way we see the problem is the problem.

~Stephen R. Covey

Many of us have a mind-set that keeps us on a treadmill. It’s not for lack of effort that our lives reel out of control. We struggle to move forward. We work hard to manage the unmanageable. But with all our busy efforts, we can’t see that we are continuously recycling the same problem over and over.

The solution we need may be right before our eyes. Our denial is confusing us; we don’t even know we are denying anything. We cannot solve our problems alone—or even see the problems clearly from the inside. That’s what friends do for us. They reflect back to us what we are missing. That’s why we need to have good talks with others who have walked the same path that we are on. The strongest, most powerful men have wise advisers who show them things they don’t know. They accept the role of seeker and learner because that is the way they enhance themselves.

Today, I will be open to seeing my problems in ways I couldn’t imagine on my own.

Today's reading is from the book Stepping Stones

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February 10

AA Thought for the Day

Alcoholics who are living in a blind alley refuse to be really honest with themselves or with other people. They’re running away from life and won’t face things as they are. They won’t give up their resentments. They’re too sensitive and too easily hurt. They refuse to try to be unselfish. They still want everything for themselves. And no matter how many disastrous experiences they have had with drinking, they still do it over and over again. There’s only one way to get out of that blind-alley way of living and that’s to change your thinking. Have I changed my thinking?
Meditation for the Day

I know that the vision and power that I receive from God are limitless, as far as spiritual things are concerned. But in temporal and material things, I must submit to limitations. I know that I cannot see the road ahead. I must go just one step at a time, because God does not grant me a longer view. I am in uncharted waters, limited by my temporal and spatial life, but unlimited in my spiritual life.
Prayer for the Day

I pray that, in spite of my material limitations, I may follow God’s way. I pray I may learn that trying to do His will is perfect freedom.

Today's reading is from the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

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February 11

If anything, we have tended to be people who wanted it all now. To hope is not to demand.

~Anonymous

Maybe we were a bit demanding. Maybe we were a bit impatient. Maybe that’s why we had such little hope.

Hope is believing good will come, even in bad times. Hope is knowing that “this, too, shall pass.” Hope is knowing that no matter how afraid we are, our Higher Power will be with us. Hope is knowing we never have to be alone again. It is knowing that time is on our side. Hope is giving up control. Hope is knowing we never had control in the first place. Hope is believing in ourselves. Hope is what our program is all about.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, in our program we share our experiences, our strengths, and our hopes. Thank You for giving all three of these to me to share.
Action for the Day

I will share my hope for the future with myself, my Higher Power, and my friends. I also will share this with someone who has lost hope.

Today's reading is from the book Keep it Simple

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February 12

Destiny’s Ladder

What a gift it would be if, while I was working on being the best person I could be—the person I was meant to become when I was planted on this earth—you were working on the same thing. What a wonderful gift it would be, from me to you and you to me. I would know that you’ll be okay, that you’re doing the things you need to do to be happy and healthy, and you would know the same things about me. We could each live life to the fullest. I wouldn’t have to worry about you, and you wouldn’t have to worry about me.

What a gift it would be if we each grabbed the life we’ve been given—if we each climbed our own destiny’s ladder—and worked hard on rising to the top. You see, I can’t climb yours for you, and you can’t climb mine for me. One of us would be stuck at the bottom, having gotten no* where at all, looking up with regret.

What a gift it would be if, side by side, we could bask in the joy, the peace, the pride of watching each other—and our own selves—progress.

The greatest gift you can give somebody is your own personal development. I used to say, “If you will take care of me, I will take care of you.” Now I say, “I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of you for me.”

~Jim Rohn

Today's reading is from the book Tending Dandelions

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February 13

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.

~André Berthiaume

The masks men wear are as varied as those who wear them, but their purpose is quite simple. We wear masks to hide our real faces from those around us and even from ourselves. There are seductive masks, innocent masks, white knight masks, tough guy masks, black sheep masks, lone wolf masks, and many more. Sometimes we want to take on another identity so others won’t see our insecurities. Or we think taking the form of someone else will give us power over others, or they will like us better, or we can escape ourselves.

The cost of wearing a mask is not getting a chance to develop our real personalities. What masks are we attached to? Are we willing to give them up in the interest of our spiritual growth?

May I have the courage to drop my phony masks in order to grow stronger in self-knowledge.

Today's reading is from the book Touchstones

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February 14

Handling the little things

Is it really the crises that damage our quality of life—or is it more the daily irritations? There is some recognition for handling the big crises, but who notices how we handle the little things?

There is no recognition for handling irritations, but instead, there is peace and serenity. When peace and serenity dominate our lives daily, we begin to appreciate the real gift of this program, the gift of daily living.

Am I learning to handle the little things?

Higher Power, grant me patience and perspective as I practice dealing with all the little things.

I will change how I handle irritations today by…

Today's reading is from the book Day by Day

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February 15

Reflection for the Day

All my life, I looked to others for comfort, security, and all the other things that add up to what I now call serenity. But I’ve come to realize that I was always looking in the wrong place. The source of serenity is not outside, but within myself. The kingdom is within me, and I already have the key. All I have to do is to be willing to use it. Am I using the tools of the program on a daily basis? Am I willing?
Today I Pray

My Higher Power gave me the courage to seek out the kingdom inside myself, to find that wellspring within me that has its source in the never-ending, life-giving receiver of all that is good. May my soul be restored there. May I find the serenity I seek.
Today I Will Remember

To seek the inner kingdom.

Today's reading is from the book A Day at a Time