DAILY PONDERABLES Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Good resources for Quarantiners   https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting   (Including mobile apps)   https://www.aa-intergroup.org/index.php    https://www.aa-intergroup.org/directory.php   (Directory of online meetings)  Zoom now requiring passwords   https://www.intherooms.com/home/   www.aagrapevine.org/we-are-here-to-help   https://www.recoverytapers.com/    Daily Reflections AN INSIDE LOOK We want to find exactly how, when and where our natural desires have warped us. We wish to look squarely at the unhappiness this has caused others and ourselves. By discovering what our emotional deformities are, we can move toward their correction. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 43 Today I am no longer a slave to alcohol, yet in so many ways enslavement still threatens--my self, my desires, even my dreams. Yet without dreams I cannot exist; without dreams there is nothing to keep me moving forward. I must look inside myself, to free myself, I must call upon God's power to face the person I've feared the most, the true me, the person God created me to be. Unless I can or until I do, I will always be running, and never be truly free. I ask God daily to show me such a freedom. From the book Daily Reflections © Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought for the Day Second, alcoholics recover their faith in a Power greater than themselves. They admit that they're helpless by themselves and they call on that Higher Power for help. They surrender their lives to God, as they understand Him. They put their drink problem in God's hands and leave it there. They recover their faith in a Higher Power that can help them. Have I recovered my faith? Meditation for the Day You must make a stand for God. Believers in God are considered by some as peculiar people. You must even be willing to be deemed a fool for the sake of your faith. You must be ready to stand aside and let the fashions and customs of the world go by, when God's purposes are thereby forwarded. Be known by the marks that distinguish a believer in God. These are honesty, purity, unselfishness, love, gratitude, and humility. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may be ready to profess my belief in God before others. I pray that I may not be turned aside by the skepticism and cynicism of unbelievers. From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day © Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation

NA - Just for Today Happiness Page 102 "We come to know happiness, joy and freedom." Basic Text, p. 91 If someone stopped you on the street today and asked if you were happy, what would you say? "Well, gee, let's see... I have a place to live, food in the refrigerator, a job, my car is running... Well, yes, I guess I'm happy," you might respond. These are outward examples of things that many of us have traditionally associated with happiness. We often forget, however, that happiness is a choice; no one can make us happy. Happiness is what we find in our involvement with Narcotics Anonymous. The happiness we derive from a life focused on service to the addict who still suffers is great indeed. When we place service to others ahead of our own desires, we find that we take the focus off ourselves. As a result, we live a more contented, harmonious life. In being of service to others, we find our own needs more than fulfilled. Happiness. What is it, really? We can think of happiness as contentment and satisfaction. Both of these states of mind seem to come to us when we least strive for them. As we live just for today, carrying the message to the addict who still suffers, we find contentment, happiness, and a deeply meaningful life. Just for Today: I am going to be happy. I will find my happiness by being of service to others. From the book Just for Today © Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Thought for Today "I came to this program to save my butt and found out it was attached to my soul."   --Anonymous "True Humility means not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less." Anonymous “Watch your thoughts, they become words; watch your words, they become actions; watch your actions, they become habits; watch your habits, they become character; watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” FRANK OUTLAW 1977 Late President of the Bi-Lo Stores

Buddha/Zen Thoughts Faith is the basis of the path, the mother of virtue; it nourishes all roots of goodness. -Wu-chien

Native American "The very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to [my people's] footsteps than to yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch." --Chief Sealth, DUWAMISH If you respect something, it will respect you back. If your ancestors respected something, the future generations will be respected back. The Indian ancestors always showed great respect for the Earth. That's why the Earth is so respectful to Indians today. Every Indian naturally feels connectedness to the Earth. We know the Earth holds our ancestors. If we continue to respect Mother Earth, our children will benefit and so will our grand- children. Today, we should think about and pray for our Mother Earth. Grandmother, let me have strong feelings for our Earth today.

Keep It Simple It's a simple formula: Do your best and somebody might like it.   --- Dorothy Baker Our program is a selfish program. It tells us to let go of what others think. We're staying sober for ourselves, not for anyone else. Our body and our spirit are at stake. And we know what we need to do to stay sober. If we fell shaky about going to a party, we don't go---no matter who gets upset. If our job makes it hard to stay sober, we get a different one---no mater who it upsets. It's simple we must take good care of ourselves before we can be good to others. In doing this, we learn how to be a friend, a good parent, a good spouse. we have to care for ourselves to have good relationships. Do I believe it okay to be selfish when it comes to my program? Prayer for the Day : Higher Power, help me do what is best for my recovery, no matter what others think. Action for the Day: I will remind myself that staying sober is simple. I don't use chemicals. And I work the program.

Big Book Chapter 2 THERE IS A SOLUTION (pg 27) Some of our alcoholic readers may think they can do without spiritual help. Let us tell you the rest of the conversation our friend had with his doctor. The doctor said: "You have the mind of a chronic alcoholic. I have never seen one single case recover, where that state of mind existed to the extent that it does in you." Our friend felt as though the gates of hell had closed on him with a clang. He said to the doctor, "Is there no exception?" "Yes," replied the doctor, "there is. Exceptions to cases such as yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences. To me these occurrences are phenomena. They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them. In fact, I have been trying to produce some such emotional rearrangement within you. With many individuals the methods which I employed are successful, but I have never been successful with an alcoholic of your description." Upon hearing this, our friend was somewhat relieved, for he reflected that, after all, he was a good church member. This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor's telling him that while his religious convictions were very good, in his case they did not spell the necessary vital spiritual experience.