You are reading from the book Today’s Gift.
All music is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments. –Walt Whitman
A small group of friends sat in a room around a record player. It was a heavy old thing, with parts that had to be operated by hand and only one speaker–nothing like a modern stereo at all, but more like an antique phonograph. The record–a recording of their favorite music–was old, too, and scratched, its grooves worn smooth as a stone in some places. The tone arm skipped and scratched, and the sound was tinny, hard on the ears.
Most of the friends squirmed in their seats as they listened, and several grumbled that it was impossible to hear the music with such inferior equipment.
But one of the group sat listening, her eyes closed, swaying to the music and humming softly to herself.
“How can you enjoy this?” the others asked.
“Ah,” she said with a mysterious smile. “I am listening beyond the recording to the music I know is there!”
Can I find the music that’s playing for me today?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
It’s the awareness, the full experience… of how you are stuck, that makes you recover. –Frederick S. Perls
When we become aware of how far off our path we have strayed, when we see how cold and hard we were to someone we love, when we are no longer blind to our blindness – then we are touched by painful feelings. We feel guilty about the harm we caused. We grieve the lost moments and lost opportunities. We may feel angry with ourselves for our stubbornness. But even with our pain, we are worlds away from that blindness.
This new awareness is a spiritual place. It brings us back into contact with our Higher Power and makes us available to the words of wisdom and concern of others. It reminds us that no man can walk this path on his own power. We all must remain open and in contact with the healing relationships around us.
I pray for awareness today as my doorway to spiritual healing.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Change occurs when one becomes what she is, not when she tries to become what she is not. –Ruth P. Freedman
Learning self-acceptance, and then loving the selves we are, present perhaps our two biggest hurdles to the attainment of emotional and spiritual health. Fortunately, they are not insurmountable hurdles. The program offers ready assistance.
Women everywhere are making great strides in self-love and self-acceptance. We are learning self-love. And we are changing. The support we can give our sisters, and the support we receive, multiplies many times the healthy energy created–healthy energy that touches us all.
Emotional and spiritual health are gifts promised by the program, when we work it. We must move beyond our perfectionism and relish our humanness. And the Steps are the way. We must learn humility and develop faith, and the Steps are the way. Learning to love all our parts, the qualities we like and the traits that discouragingly hang on, offers a new freedom. A freedom that invites change. A freedom that safeguards the emotional and spiritual well-being that we strive for.
Confidence will come with my healthy self-acceptance.
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Awareness
When we first become aware of a problem, a situation, or a feeling, we may react with anxiety or fear. There is no need to fear awareness. No need.
Awareness is the first step toward positive change and growth. It’s the first step toward solving the problem, or getting the need met, the first step toward the future. It’s how we focus on the next lesson.
Awareness is how life, the Universe, and our Higher Power get our attention and prepare us for change. The process of becoming changed begins with awareness. Awareness, acceptance, and change – that’s the cycle. We can accept the temporary discomfort from awareness because that’s how we’re moved to a better place. We can accept the temporary discomfort because we can trust God, and ourselves.
Today, I will be grateful for any awareness I encounter. I will display gratitude, peace, and dignity when life gets my attention. I will remember that it’s okay to accept the temporary discomfort from awareness because I can trust that it’s my Higher Power moving me forward.
Today I celebrate all of me exactly as I am. –Ruth Fishel
God help me to stay sober and clean today!
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The other day I was asked to share at a meeting about gratefulness…I am so very grateful for all of the many blessings in my life…I shared about being sober & clean…About knowing my higher power who I call God…I was grateful for my friends & family…Grateful for oh so many things…Then a man got up and share that he was grateful for his eyes…and the ability to see…His nose & to smell…His legs & to be able to walk…He continued for quite awhile…After I was thinking & I realized that I indeed was very thankful for all the THINGS in my life but what about the GIFTS that we so easily overlook…I realized then that I needed to spend some time with my gratitude list & really get down to the nitty gritty of things…Soon after I shared about this subject in an AA meeting & I focused on the GIFTS as well as the things…I gave a much fuller view of my gratefulness but to GOD this time & not things…I hope you got something out of this…If so please leave me a comment…KenneyTechnorati Tags: gifts, recovery, gratitude, God
