Friday 4 May 2012

May 4 2012 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 5 Admit And Accept | Alcoholics Anonymous

May 4 2012 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 5 Admit And Accept | Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "entirely honest…" Learning what it means to be entirely honest can be very difficult. Anything in our lives which we do not like, offers the opportunity to find ourselves in denial, "I don't believe it." Strangely when I don't believe something, I have started on the road of acceptance…

Living in the moment of now where I know what my feelings are and they seem to fit with reality is a good place to be. Sometimes the world and everyone around us is saying one thing, and in our heart or another minds we may be agreeable or disagreeable about our situation. "To be honest…" It can be very difficult to know honestly what has happened to us, what the real choices are for us, and how honestly we can face up to reality…

Simple truth, may be a good starting point? And the only way I can start to get to the simple truth, I need to share what is going on in my noggin, usually with one or two other human beings who seem to be sharp as a tack! Simple truth, when shared with myself is always or not always in my favour depending on my emotional and spiritual condition. My emotional and spiritual condition really needs to be challenged by sharing and debating when needed. I usually need help most when I decline the offer of help and brush off the notion that any help is needed at all…

By sharing my emotional and spiritual condition with others, how I am feeling in the moment of now will give me feedback from others if I ask for it. Very often we can sound off about how we feel in the moment of now and not wish to change anything. We just want to sound off. Experience over the years in recovery, it is better to sound off and share, and then listen to what other people may be able to feed back, supposing of course, that I have the capacity to listen. Not always the case…


DonInLondon 2005-2011

Freedom of expression, restoring our journey of being open, honest and willing to embrace the truth. How we are feeling, why and what we can do. We no longer feel the need to "spin" our life story as we make progress one day at a time. We learn to trust who we are for today...

May 4 - 5 2007

“Courage To Change” - DonInLondon ‘Day In The Life’

Why change, if we have a successful pattern of living which works why change it? My answer is to ask yourself how successful you are now and make choices. As for me, my life went out of whack for a long time, and really I did need to find some courage to change.

Friday Nights and the Bolton’s "glam hour": Well it is a bit glamorous; people do dress well and behave as well as they can! Of course we are a bunch of recovering alcoholics, so what we may consider normal may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Courage to change is the theme and in truth we all needed courage to change back to a recovering way of living and being. Some of us are learning new skills and ways to live as others return to their best way of living for they had a successful pattern before drink got them pretty well messed up.

Disease we have one at least, for most that’s plenty, yet plenty of us have others as well, so being in recovery is essential to deal with other living scenario’s before we ever head to near normal and cross the bridge back to living sober, happy, joyous and free.

Truth

Truth is as hard to find as anything we cannot touch and hold tight. it’s the truth of life, where we are, what we need do, taking responsibility and accepting that in the big scheme of things, life is inevitably as it may be. As we develop our understanding of now, then we get choices back and how to live is the real issue, just live simply in the day, and that’s a complicated thing to do when reality has been lost along the way and living has been so distorted.

If we had hindsight which we could apply, then maybe we would never have become addicts, if we did this, if we did that. Well the list is infinite. Life s just the way we live. And when we get to understand the possible, the opportunities get a little more obvious.

Nothing is ever a given in this world.

Change

Change happens all around us, change makes us develop differently or get left behind believing something which just may not be so. As we hold to beliefs and sometimes we promise things for a lifetime, we get dreadfully upset when we have to let go our promises and start living another way.

We change, others change and we learn where others need to be a part of our living and where they are best on their own path.

Loyalty to an Ideal

So often we are held to principles and outlooks which are eroded and lost in time. What we feel ought could or should, well time changes how we feel and we can have inner conflicts as we realise the promises and principles, well they change too.

Let Go

We do need understand that blind loyalties and beliefs, well if they are not shared or understood, the outcome can be less than helpful.

Let Go

Yes we do have to sometimes. Let go what we thought or felt, or even we understand that we were right in our outlook and still we wished it different somehow. The letting go is so necessary in recovery or we kill our chance for happy, joyous and free living. We can be loyal where loyal is important. We can be principled and follow a path of truth and integrity. And we are very well served when we check out the rest of our living connections are doing the same. Or we find that denials and lies and deceits send us careering backwards again.

Other People and their Principles

Other people may feel they are exactly right the way they are. Yet in many instances they will fall short of our own measures and principles, being human as we are, they too can be changed by time and circumstances.

Some elements of how we behave are often inconsistent without intent, we do well when we realise everyone is in this every changing moment of now, where we understand more as we live more.

Forgive

Forgive and let go. We need forgive ourselves as well as we forgive others for their humanity. Forgiveness of ourselves is simply the only way we get to forgive others, as they are making progress same as we do.

Intellect

Thinking and Intellect trip us up more than anything as we learn our feelings. Comparing is even worse. And worse still is living in denial most of the time. It’s a hard lesson learned over and over through life.

Change makes it so, love makes it inevitable.

Love

So abundant and so misunderstood: Love is unconditional. For anyone who loves with condition, love will be lost somewhere along life’s highway. Before we go to bed, we do well to forgive everyone everything. And in the morning when we wake to do the same again: One day we may forgive ourselves for our human frailty as much as we can forgive others.

Progress is perfection, and change is another key, a day at a time…

When I was a kid of seven, walking home from school I saw a lump hammer on a wall, picked it up and took it home. Hours later I saw a man looking for it when I was out playing.. in fear I kept silent, the guilt and shame lingered and even today I wish I had returned it. The hammer unused and lost, the amend, a good charity a beneficiary always these days.. Others may have forgotten, unlikely that we do...
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AA Daily Reflection: "ENTIRELY HONEST... We must be entirely honest with somebody if we expect to live long or happily in this world. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 73-74
Honesty, like all virtues, is to be shared. It began after I shared “. . . [my] whole life’s story with someone . . . ” in order to find my place in the Fellowship. Later I shared my life in order to help the newcomer find his place with us. This sharing helps me to learn honesty in all my dealings and to know that God’s plan for me comes true through honest openness and willingness..."
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AA Official Site Daily Reflections ~ AA Official Big Book And Twelve And Twelve Online
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"Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. Chapter 6, Into Action, Big Book From: Page 72 Thru: Page 75, the bottom of the page. 12 And 12 Step 5."
May ~ All About Step Five:"Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs"
Step 5 "Admit And Accept" Reading Video Link:

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May ~ Video Reading Chapter Six Into Action Link:

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I do not speak for Alcoholics Anonymous I speak for myself. Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of unique and authentic people who speak for themselves where they will to share experience, strength and hope about recovery on a daily basis. Anonymity affords sanctuary to find how to live sober and be open, honest and willing to learn life day by day. For me "truth," "love" and "wisdom" offer the best spiritual experience by living reality today. Into the fabric of recovery from alcoholism are woven the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions, steps to be open, honest and willing to learn, traditions to live unity, service and recovery.
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Spiritual principles ~ Forgiveness Acceptance Surrender Faith Open-mindedness Honesty Willingness Moral-inventory Amends Humility Persistence Spiritual-growth Service
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