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bluidkiti · 11-04-2013, 08:59 AM

November 5

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Nature, the Gentlest Mother, is
Impatient of no Child . . . .
--Emily Dickinson
When a girl sits on the seashore, the waves do not try to slap her around. When a boy wanders alone in a field, the sky does not accuse him of talking back. When a man is alone in the woods, does the earth nag him for failing once more? And when a woman is alone in the park, does the wind whisper behind her back? Nature never blames or condemns: she gives us freedom of thought and plenty of space. Nature's ways are proven and true; she lets us grow at our own rate. Nature brings us sleep, dawn, new days; she is full of new life.
We are a part of nature, and everything we do is part of it. We can find comfort in this knowledge, if we take the time to remember it when we are feeling bad. Nature is always willing to share its serenity.
When we escape to nature, what feelings do we have that we want to take back home with us?

You are reading from the book Touchstones.
The struggle of the male to learn to listen to and respect his own intuitive, inner promptings is the greatest challenge of all. His ... conditioning has been so powerful that it has all but destroyed his ability to be self-aware. --Herb Goldberg
Men strive to be successful with mechanical, physical, and powerful things. Some of us have succeeded in those supposedly "male" ways and others haven't. But whether we have or not, most of us have poured our energies into those directions and neglected the other way of being strong men. We may not have learned how to be gentle and helpful fathers, sensitive lovers, or men in tune with our own spirits and feelings. Many of us never learned to recognize what we feel.
Perhaps we were taught to stand up for ourselves. But have we learned to stand up for our right to have feelings? Do we stand up for our right to be learners and to make mistakes? Do we stand up for our right to be aware and to be the men we find ourselves to be, rather than what others tell us we should be?
I will become more aware of my inner-self as a growing man on this uncharted journey.

You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
The future is made of the same stuff as the present. --Simone Weil
The only lessons that matter for our lives at this time will come to us today. Just as what we needed and were ready for yesterday came yesterday, tomorrow insures more of the same. Concerning ourselves with any other moment but the present prevents us from responding when "the teacher appears."
In years gone by, we perhaps hung onto yesterday's problems. We may still struggle to hang onto them. Or perhaps we try to see too far ahead. But we are learning that there is a right time for all growth. A right time for all experiences. And the right time may not fit our timetable. What doesn't come our way today, will come when the time is right. Each day we are granted just what is needed. We need not worry about the future. It will offer us whatever rightly comes next, but it can't do so until we have experienced these 24 hours before us.
There is wonder and joy awaiting me, each day. The growth I experience is just what is needed at this time. I am a student, and the teacher will appear.

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Let's Make a Deal
The relationship just wasn't working out, and I wanted it to so badly. I kept thinking if I just made myself look prettier, if I just tried to be a more loving, kind person, then he would love me. I turned myself inside out to be something better, when all along, who I was okay. I just couldn't see what I was doing, though, until I moved forward and accepted reality. --Anonymous
One of the most frustrating stages of acceptance is the bargaining stage. In denial, there is bliss. In anger, there is some sense of power. In barraging, we vacillate between believing there is something we can do to change things and realizing there isn't.
We may get our hopes up again and again, only to have them dashed.
Many of us have turned ourselves inside out to try to negotiate with reality. Some of us have done things that appear absurd, in retrospect, once we've achieved acceptance.
"If I try to be a better person, then this won't happen...If I look prettier, keep a cleaner house, lose weight, smile more, let go, hang on more tightly, close my eyes and count to ten, holler, then I won't have to face this loss, this change."
There are stories from members of Al Anon about attempts to bargain with the alcoholic's drinking: "If I keep the house cleaner, he won't drink.... If I make her happy by buying her a new dress, she won't drink... If I buy my son a new car, he'll stop using drugs."
Adult children have bargained with their losses too: "Maybe if I'm the perfect child, then Mom or Dad will love and approve of me, stop drinking, and be there for me the way I want them to be." We do big, small, and in between things, sometimes-crazy things, to ward off, stop, or stall the pain involved with accepting reality.
There is no substitute for accepting reality. That's our goal. But along the way, we may try to strike a deal. Recognizing our attempts at bargaining for what they are - part of the grief process - helps our lives become manageable.
Today, I will give others and myself the freedom to fully grieve losses. I will hold myself accountable, but I will give myself permission to be human.

Today I do everything that I can to be in the now. That means letting go of all the baggage of the past that I am still carrying with me. --Ruth Fishel

*************************************

Journey to the Heart

Create Your Destiny from Your Heart

Be aware of life’s energy moving, pushing, pulling, guiding you forward each moment of the day

And know each moment is your destiny.

You’re connected to and part of a mysterious, invisible life force. Let it guide you forward. Let it move you along. Clear yourself of all that blocks your connection to that life force– old emotions, old beliefs, remnants of the past.

Listen to your heart. It will take you, move you to where you need to go. No, you cannot see as far ahead as you would like, as far ahead as you used to think you could. That is because you have undertaken the journey to your heart. Seeing would prevent you from listening, trusting, opening to the magical guidance that comes from within. You would confuse things, think you had to control, manage, make things happen. You would confound yourself with the illusions of the past. You would become afraid.

Stay in the present moment. Listen to your inner guidance. Trust the wisdom of your heart. Feel the life force, guiding you, moving you forward. Go where it leads.

Embrace your destiny. Know you help create it by what you choose each step of the way.

*****

more language of letting go
A miracle is taking place

One evening, I was sitting with my children around the dinner table. Shane was talking about his plans for the next day. Nichole was planning a pajama party. I was working on some project at that time. I was partly thinking about it but still enjoyed listening to the children talk.

It was a friendly, relaxed supper. Later, I put the children to bed and quietly went to my room, peacefully getting ready to retire for the night.

That's when it hit me. Like the proverbial bolt of lightening, it struck out of the blue.

I was so terrified when I had begun the journey of being a single parent. After ten years of being married, I was scared of little things like sleeping alone in bed at night and falling asleep without a man in the house.

Sometimes I went to bed with the phone in my hand, ready to dial 911. Everything about this new life as a single parent had overwhelmed me. I didn't feel up to the task. But somewhere along the line, I had come to believe I could. I didn't know when it happened. It wasn't an instant transformation. It had happened slowly, bit by bit.

"Woohoo!" I said, doing a victory dance in the room.

"I didn't think I could do this. But I can and I am."

Celebrate the miracle of transformation in your life-- whatever you're trying to become, do, or learn. Let it happen as quickly, or as slowly, as it needs.

Day by day, month by month, then year after year, the feeling of quiet confidence will slowly replace the overwhelming fear. That task or job that first seemed so overwhelming will begin to feel natural and right. You'll gradually become so comfortable you may not even know when that miraculous transformation took place.

Enjoy where you are today in your process of growth. You might not see it or know it yet, but an ordinary miracle is taking place.

God, thank you for where I am in my learning curve and growth process today. Help me know that whether I see it or not, a miracle is taking place.

*****

Seeing Ourselves
You Are Beautiful

by Madisyn Taylor

Many of us do not take the time to notice and acknowledge how beautiful we are as humans.

Many of us do not take the time to notice and acknowledge how beautiful we are as humans. We may be great lovers of beauty, seeing it in the people, places, and things around us, while completely missing it in ourselves. Some of us feel that it is vain to consider our appearance too much, or we may find that when we look at ourselves, all we see are imperfections. Often we come to the mirror with expectations and preconceived notions about beauty that blind us from seeing ourselves clearly. As a result, we miss the beauty that is closest to us, the beauty we are. Sometimes we see our beauty in a shallow way, noticing how well we are conforming to social norms, but failing to see the deeper beauty that shines out from within and that will continue to shine regardless of how we measure up to society’s ideal.

If we can cut through all these obstacles and simply appreciate how beautiful we are, we free up so much energy. We also become less dependent upon the opinions and feedback of others since we become our own greatest admirers. Many of us know that after a great yoga practice or a long, deep meditation, we are more able to see how beautiful we are. This is because we have released some of our baggage, thus unburdening ourselves and summoning forth the spirit that dwells within us. It is the heady combination of the divine spirit and the human body that conveys beauty more accurately than anything else.

To keep ourselves in touch with our own beauty, we can surround ourselves with images that reflect our beauty back to us—photos of a relative or child who has our eyes, images of teachers who embody spirit, or self-portraits that capture our essence in a way that allows us to see ourselves anew. The best way to keep ourselves in touch with our own beauty is to keep looking deeply into our own souls and opening our eyes to the human being we see in the mirror every day. Published with permission from Daily OM

*************************************

A Day At A Time
November 5

Reflection For The Day

For many months after I came to The Program, I paid little attention to the practice of serious meditation and prayer. I felt that it might help me meet an emergency — such as a sudden craving to return to my old ways — but it remained among the lowest levels on my list of priorities. In those early days, I equated prayer and meditation with mystery and even hypocrisy. I’ve since found that prayer and meditation are more rewarding in their results than I could ever have imagined. For me today, the harvest is increasingly bountiful, and I continue to gain peace of mind and strength far beyond my human limitations. Is my former pain being replaced by tranquility?

Today I Pray

May I discover that prayer and meditation make up the central hall of my life’s structure — the place where my thoughts collect and form into order. May I feel God’s mystery there, and an overwhelming resource of energy.

Today I Will Remember

Fantasy is mine. Mystery is God’s.

*************************************

One More Day
November 5

I remember those happy days and often wish I could peak into the ears of the dead the gratitude which was due to them in life and so ill-returned.
– Gwyn Thomas

We respond to loss in predictable ways. One common response to loss — whether of a loved one or of good health — is regret. “I should have told him how much he was loved,” or “I wish I’d told her I was sorry for what I said.” These statements of regret are much like the regrets accompanying chronic illness. “I wish I’d pursued my dreams when I was healthy.” We move out of our sadness only when we are able to remember that our only mistake was a human one — always believing there would be more time to say and do the things we wanted. Our healing is complete when we bring this awareness to the present, when we say and do positive things today.

Letting go of past regrets frees me to be a more loving person today.

11-04-2013, 08:59 AM	#5
bluidkiti Administrator Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 70,626	November 5 You are reading from the book Today's Gift. Nature, the Gentlest Mother, is Impatient of no Child . . . . --Emily Dickinson When a girl sits on the seashore, the waves do not try to slap her around. When a boy wanders alone in a field, the sky does not accuse him of talking back. When a man is alone in the woods, does the earth nag him for failing once more? And when a woman is alone in the park, does the wind whisper behind her back? Nature never blames or condemns: she gives us freedom of thought and plenty of space. Nature's ways are proven and true; she lets us grow at our own rate. Nature brings us sleep, dawn, new days; she is full of new life. We are a part of nature, and everything we do is part of it. We can find comfort in this knowledge, if we take the time to remember it when we are feeling bad. Nature is always willing to share its serenity. When we escape to nature, what feelings do we have that we want to take back home with us? You are reading from the book Touchstones. The struggle of the male to learn to listen to and respect his own intuitive, inner promptings is the greatest challenge of all. His ... conditioning has been so powerful that it has all but destroyed his ability to be self-aware. --Herb Goldberg Men strive to be successful with mechanical, physical, and powerful things. Some of us have succeeded in those supposedly "male" ways and others haven't. But whether we have or not, most of us have poured our energies into those directions and neglected the other way of being strong men. We may not have learned how to be gentle and helpful fathers, sensitive lovers, or men in tune with our own spirits and feelings. Many of us never learned to recognize what we feel. Perhaps we were taught to stand up for ourselves. But have we learned to stand up for our right to have feelings? Do we stand up for our right to be learners and to make mistakes? Do we stand up for our right to be aware and to be the men we find ourselves to be, rather than what others tell us we should be? I will become more aware of my inner-self as a growing man on this uncharted journey. You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning. The future is made of the same stuff as the present. --Simone Weil The only lessons that matter for our lives at this time will come to us today. Just as what we needed and were ready for yesterday came yesterday, tomorrow insures more of the same. Concerning ourselves with any other moment but the present prevents us from responding when "the teacher appears." In years gone by, we perhaps hung onto yesterday's problems. We may still struggle to hang onto them. Or perhaps we try to see too far ahead. But we are learning that there is a right time for all growth. A right time for all experiences. And the right time may not fit our timetable. What doesn't come our way today, will come when the time is right. Each day we are granted just what is needed. We need not worry about the future. It will offer us whatever rightly comes next, but it can't do so until we have experienced these 24 hours before us. There is wonder and joy awaiting me, each day. The growth I experience is just what is needed at this time. I am a student, and the teacher will appear. You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go. Let's Make a Deal The relationship just wasn't working out, and I wanted it to so badly. I kept thinking if I just made myself look prettier, if I just tried to be a more loving, kind person, then he would love me. I turned myself inside out to be something better, when all along, who I was okay. I just couldn't see what I was doing, though, until I moved forward and accepted reality. --Anonymous One of the most frustrating stages of acceptance is the bargaining stage. In denial, there is bliss. In anger, there is some sense of power. In barraging, we vacillate between believing there is something we can do to change things and realizing there isn't. We may get our hopes up again and again, only to have them dashed. Many of us have turned ourselves inside out to try to negotiate with reality. Some of us have done things that appear absurd, in retrospect, once we've achieved acceptance. "If I try to be a better person, then this won't happen...If I look prettier, keep a cleaner house, lose weight, smile more, let go, hang on more tightly, close my eyes and count to ten, holler, then I won't have to face this loss, this change." There are stories from members of Al Anon about attempts to bargain with the alcoholic's drinking: "If I keep the house cleaner, he won't drink.... If I make her happy by buying her a new dress, she won't drink... If I buy my son a new car, he'll stop using drugs." Adult children have bargained with their losses too: "Maybe if I'm the perfect child, then Mom or Dad will love and approve of me, stop drinking, and be there for me the way I want them to be." We do big, small, and in between things, sometimes-crazy things, to ward off, stop, or stall the pain involved with accepting reality. There is no substitute for accepting reality. That's our goal. But along the way, we may try to strike a deal. Recognizing our attempts at bargaining for what they are - part of the grief process - helps our lives become manageable. Today, I will give others and myself the freedom to fully grieve losses. I will hold myself accountable, but I will give myself permission to be human. Today I do everything that I can to be in the now. That means letting go of all the baggage of the past that I am still carrying with me. --Ruth Fishel *********************************** Journey to the Heart Create Your Destiny from Your Heart Be aware of life’s energy moving, pushing, pulling, guiding you forward each moment of the day And know each moment is your destiny. You’re connected to and part of a mysterious, invisible life force. Let it guide you forward. Let it move you along. Clear yourself of all that blocks your connection to that life force– old emotions, old beliefs, remnants of the past. Listen to your heart. It will take you, move you to where you need to go. No, you cannot see as far ahead as you would like, as far ahead as you used to think you could. That is because you have undertaken the journey to your heart. Seeing would prevent you from listening, trusting, opening to the magical guidance that comes from within. You would confuse things, think you had to control, manage, make things happen. You would confound yourself with the illusions of the past. You would become afraid. Stay in the present moment. Listen to your inner guidance. Trust the wisdom of your heart. Feel the life force, guiding you, moving you forward. Go where it leads. Embrace your destiny. Know you help create it by what you choose each step of the way. * more language of letting go A miracle is taking place One evening, I was sitting with my children around the dinner table. Shane was talking about his plans for the next day. Nichole was planning a pajama party. I was working on some project at that time. I was partly thinking about it but still enjoyed listening to the children talk. It was a friendly, relaxed supper. Later, I put the children to bed and quietly went to my room, peacefully getting ready to retire for the night. That's when it hit me. Like the proverbial bolt of lightening, it struck out of the blue. I was so terrified when I had begun the journey of being a single parent. After ten years of being married, I was scared of little things like sleeping alone in bed at night and falling asleep without a man in the house. Sometimes I went to bed with the phone in my hand, ready to dial 911. Everything about this new life as a single parent had overwhelmed me. I didn't feel up to the task. But somewhere along the line, I had come to believe I could. I didn't know when it happened. It wasn't an instant transformation. It had happened slowly, bit by bit. "Woohoo!" I said, doing a victory dance in the room. "I didn't think I could do this. But I can and I am." Celebrate the miracle of transformation in your life-- whatever you're trying to become, do, or learn. Let it happen as quickly, or as slowly, as it needs. Day by day, month by month, then year after year, the feeling of quiet confidence will slowly replace the overwhelming fear. That task or job that first seemed so overwhelming will begin to feel natural and right. You'll gradually become so comfortable you may not even know when that miraculous transformation took place. Enjoy where you are today in your process of growth. You might not see it or know it yet, but an ordinary miracle is taking place. God, thank you for where I am in my learning curve and growth process today. Help me know that whether I see it or not, a miracle is taking place. * Seeing Ourselves You Are Beautiful by Madisyn Taylor Many of us do not take the time to notice and acknowledge how beautiful we are as humans. Many of us do not take the time to notice and acknowledge how beautiful we are as humans. We may be great lovers of beauty, seeing it in the people, places, and things around us, while completely missing it in ourselves. Some of us feel that it is vain to consider our appearance too much, or we may find that when we look at ourselves, all we see are imperfections. Often we come to the mirror with expectations and preconceived notions about beauty that blind us from seeing ourselves clearly. As a result, we miss the beauty that is closest to us, the beauty we are. Sometimes we see our beauty in a shallow way, noticing how well we are conforming to social norms, but failing to see the deeper beauty that shines out from within and that will continue to shine regardless of how we measure up to society’s ideal. If we can cut through all these obstacles and simply appreciate how beautiful we are, we free up so much energy. We also become less dependent upon the opinions and feedback of others since we become our own greatest admirers. Many of us know that after a great yoga practice or a long, deep meditation, we are more able to see how beautiful we are. This is because we have released some of our baggage, thus unburdening ourselves and summoning forth the spirit that dwells within us. It is the heady combination of the divine spirit and the human body that conveys beauty more accurately than anything else. To keep ourselves in touch with our own beauty, we can surround ourselves with images that reflect our beauty back to us—photos of a relative or child who has our eyes, images of teachers who embody spirit, or self-portraits that capture our essence in a way that allows us to see ourselves anew. The best way to keep ourselves in touch with our own beauty is to keep looking deeply into our own souls and opening our eyes to the human being we see in the mirror every day. Published with permission from Daily OM ********************************* A Day At A Time November 5 Reflection For The Day For many months after I came to The Program, I paid little attention to the practice of serious meditation and prayer. I felt that it might help me meet an emergency — such as a sudden craving to return to my old ways — but it remained among the lowest levels on my list of priorities. In those early days, I equated prayer and meditation with mystery and even hypocrisy. I’ve since found that prayer and meditation are more rewarding in their results than I could ever have imagined. For me today, the harvest is increasingly bountiful, and I continue to gain peace of mind and strength far beyond my human limitations. Is my former pain being replaced by tranquility? Today I Pray May I discover that prayer and meditation make up the central hall of my life’s structure — the place where my thoughts collect and form into order. May I feel God’s mystery there, and an overwhelming resource of energy. Today I Will Remember Fantasy is mine. Mystery is God’s. *********************************** One More Day November 5 I remember those happy days and often wish I could peak into the ears of the dead the gratitude which was due to them in life and so ill-returned. – Gwyn Thomas We respond to loss in predictable ways. One common response to loss — whether of a loved one or of good health — is regret. “I should have told him how much he was loved,” or “I wish I’d told her I was sorry for what I said.” These statements of regret are much like the regrets accompanying chronic illness. “I wish I’d pursued my dreams when I was healthy.” We move out of our sadness only when we are able to remember that our only mistake was a human one — always believing there would be more time to say and do the things we wanted. Our healing is complete when we bring this awareness to the present, when we say and do positive things today. Letting go of past regrets frees me to be a more loving person today. __________________ "No matter what you have done up to this moment, you get 24 brand-new hours to spend every single day." --Brian Tracy AA gives us an opportunity to recreate ourselves, with God's help, one day at a time. --Rufus K. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. --Franklin D. Roosevelt We stay sober and clean together - one day at a time! God says that each of us is worth loving.