September 15 2012 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 9 Amends In Action Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "life will have new meaning…" And the question is, "does my life have new meaning today?" Emphatically yes my life does have a new meaning, I can relate to people, places and things in an emotional and spiritual way. I understand my mood and my feelings today and how the impact of people can change the mood and feeling. The same is true for places and things, my mood changes with my environment. Every feeling is valid always and always impacts on my thinking and actions in the moment of now…
Video For Today:
It is perfectly okay to say to myself and to other people, "I simply don't feel: “like doing that, right about the situation and so on." And I can also say: "I would love to do that, that's absolutely right and would love to be involved and so on" life does take on new meaning when we can say yes to what we feel like doing and not feel guilty about saying no to things which are wrong for us on a fundamental level or that we simply don't want to, it is okay today…" Although we may be free from the emotional blackmail we have felt in the past, of course we do make compromises, make negotiations and enter into dialogue when we are sharing time with other people, fundamentally we have freedom to choose our path one day at a time and in the moment of now…
Helping people! Fellowship reinforces my values and my moral code and behaviour. We all have our own way of seeing the world in full colour, black and white and shades of grey and it is not for me to set a moral code or dictate behaviour to anyone else, and not to interfere with their beliefs and faith. Now I realise I have my own moral compass and it works for me when I am truthful, open honest and willing, and keep on learning what the truth is with the passage of time and the humility to learn…
It really is exciting to meet new people, be comfortable in the right place and surrounded by things that matter and build and relish all the new and all the constant elements of my life. This new life where love is real, not impaired by the old half-life, where only half my feelings seemed to be appropriate. When I say: "I have a good feeling about this or I have a bad feeling about this," and sharing truth with people around me, I get good feedback and learn the why, or the why not of what my next steps may be…
When I realise the new freedoms in my life today, to express the truth of me, my mood in the moment of now, the good the bad and the ugly feelings, I need always take account that everyone has the same rights and responsibilities. I have the right to say my piece and at the same time so does everyone else. I need to keep on developing my listening skills so I know how life is for everyone around me, and similarly be able to express and share. We develop interdependent relationships, where we understand when to compromise and when to stick to our guns. And everyone has the right to say they are included in a situation or not included. When we feel excluded and not included, this can be a situation where our expectations are too high and others don't want us to be involved. Expectations are always resentments under construction if we have failed to really understand the possibilities and our situation with other people, in particular places in particular events and actions… Beware ego!
DonInLondon 2005-2011
How am I feeling this morning? Calm, pain free emotionally and physically. Right now in the moment "this moment is where spiritual happens," my feelings fit with now. No history bludgeoning, or future concerns pulling me into fantasy. Life on life's terms. Able to love, be loved and useful, routines and meditation. Steps 1 2 3, "I am responsible" and serenity prayer, steps 10 11 12, just for today...
A request for help may come in fellowship. We might not get the message immediately. So important we have many to ask for help in fellowship. Always the many who may respond in good time and us when we can? We are responsible and responsive, if we cannot another often can…
Always tomorrow, always looking for the next best something to help me make sense of my life, what a struggle for me or anyone. I share about the past because breaking with it can be the very devil. Sometimes we hear the phrase, “the devil is in the detail,” and we wonder what we may have missed. Was I missing out, had I made the right decisions, could it be different and could I improve my situation and life?
On an on striving to be perfect and never so, not only driving me bonkers, driving those around me with a restlessness that never seemed to go away. And of course we can have the fear of not being good enough. We learn some of these feelings of inadequacy early on in life, from home, school, the neighbourhood, sport, girlfriends. Or more often than not once the rot is set, from us. A moving target is more difficult to hit. And ambition driving us always to keep on going and making more efforts to fit in or the opposite not to fit in at all, rebels without causes and no purpose other than to find a cause.
Life, learning how to love, be loved and useful is something which has struck home in sobriety. Learning how to cherish people always and not be superficial and indifferent to their situation and circumstances. All good fundamental learning each and every day about how to live simply one day at a time.
Self-help and self-improvement can be a very lonely exercise for human beings geared to live and be interdependent. Another of my musings has been that most self-help literature lacks context, offers a person more power over their destiny and often unrealistic expectations. The best self-help books are full of blank pages we fill in as we go. We develop wisdom through experience and learn through action rather than understanding the theory.
Aspirations are good when they have foundations in reality and we have choices. Dreams are helpful and if we ask ourselves what we need to do to make our way forwards, and we can see it is realistic, and then we have a plan and a first step.
We never know what is round the corner, how the big picture may change radically and squash our dreams, or make a dream possible through sharing our outlook and desires.
Today and every day we can share experience, strength and hope with each other find out wisdom and learn wisdom. We are not driven to perfection; we are more likely to be living reality with every real possibility of happiness and opportunity to make choices and be free in the ever present, imperfectly perfect moment of now.
Our living amend, sober and in reality. No longer driven by self will run riot, enough self-will to make choices and be a part of the big picture. Acceptance of reality offers us a firm foundation to make plans, subject to change with agreeableness, rather than resentfulness. We are always under construction today...
A new life always lived in the moment of now. Life relished as it happens, not as it was and not as it may be in the future. With our focus on what makes life work today, we are building firm foundations for spiritual, emotional and physical well-being, sober we are best equipped to experience hardship and happiness always...
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AA Daily Reflections ~ "a new life... Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous... Life will mean something at last. [Big book]
Life is better without alcohol. A.A. and the presence of a Higher Power keep me sober, but the grace of God does even better; it brings service into my life. Contact with the A.A. program teaches me a new and greater understanding of what Alcoholics Anonymous is and what it does, but most importantly, it helps to show me who I am: an alcoholic who needs the constant experience of the Alcoholics Anonymous program so that I may live a life given to me by my Higher Power."
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September 15 2007
DonInLondon - ‘Day In the Life’ Life Is As It May Be
Or as the song goes - Let It Be
Yes it does feel like this today, let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. And being me I do feel better informed and therefore free. Another song from my past is Silence is Golden, yet silence says so much, we can conjure up imagined scenarios, far off the mark.
This is how some things play out. We get something completely off the mark and then find that all is well and we need not be worried about people places and things.
Truth is a strange commodity, when shared it informs and relaxes our sensibilities, and as always truth does set us free.
I was ambling along last night and doing a video for you tube, all about how the AA programme works, which accompanies this piece of my day.
Seems good to be informed and now a misunderstanding feels less vague, less unclear. And as my outlook has not really deviated too much from the path of living as best one can, then all is well this morning.
Deluded
I can be deluded and easily fall into the trap of imaginings. And yet my imaginings have not been far out. And so it feels ok today to be better equipped with truth. Silence on some matters will always leave us in the dark and trying to work out what is really going on. This always made me uneasy. And in the past it was something which dragged me down and led to drink. Not so today as truth whatever it may be is far better digested as time modifies our outlook and connections.
I am relieved actually about a situation which was puzzling me. Not so now, and glad to know all is well. This helps me be free and helps make for a calmer outlook.
Enough said for now, more as time allows.
September 15th 2006 [ all about last year]
Balance and Steps to Recovery
In recovery from addiction there is much emphasis on self-examination. When we look at the recovery programme I follow most in fellowship, sometimes I feel bogged down and weighed heavy by the past. I don’t know why this is completely, but I am beginning to understand more fully where our fellowship fails to help and sometimes hinders our progress and return to normality.
There is much self-examination of our behaviour and conduct day to day. And a lot of the time we can be caught in negativity. We certainly need to examine our route to addiction and make good use of all we discover. And in the process see our errors and put them right as we move on. Sometimes though we are caught in a trap of negative emotions and dwelling deeply on our faults and defects.
We forget there is balance in all our living, and while we may have made big mistakes in our lives, we learn from them and how to move on. We can make good our journey in living. We need not be held to account day after day and year after year.
Steps to recovery is a day by day gradual process. It is not a big leap, a big revelation, just a gradual return to being a human being. Being able to make decisions to the good and equally being able to make mistakes. We learn to be more flexible in our living and we learn to moderate our behaviour to a code of practice we can understand and is to our own good, and the good of our community.
Good working practice, is about action, and responses to our day to day living. A good way to live to our good conscience. It requires self-examination, it most often needs context and sharing with another human being, maybe a sponsor of mentor, or partner. And it can be sharing our life in our meetings, where things go to the good, or go off the rails. It’s about progress and not perfection.
As we learn to become better in our living and more open, honest and willing, we get free of old fears and old habits. We get more esteem, from learning how to live life. We make mistakes, we fall down, we make our peace with ourselves and those around us. We stand up and get on, we share, we learn, we let go and make space for new opportunities. We know we make our journey more enriching as we go, when we know our code of practice, our way of living, and honour ourselves as we honour our relationships.
We most likely come to realise we are the same as everyone else, as important, and neither bigger or smaller in significance than anyone else. We realise our values to the good are usually shared, and we know others are merely learning too. So we are all imperfect perfect. We are all perfectly able to make our lives work to the good, learning as we go from life. We make mistakes and learn, we gain wisdom and we learn. And we make our way a day at a time.
Just for today...
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AA Official Online Site: Daily Reflections
AA Official Online Site: Big Book And Twelve And Twelve
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Step 9 "If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves." Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us…sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them." AA Promises
Step 9 Amends In Action Alcoholics Anonymous Anonymous Reading Video Link:
“How It Works” Reading Video Link:
“Into Action" Reading Video 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 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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About Psychosis And Depression:
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