July-16 topics
- Jul 16, 2024
- 5 min read
This is my Tradition 5/7, step 12
Pancake Marathon
Its this moment when i come to the point in being able to just say okay, okay to the point that I have lead myself to this part of my life and okay to the point of what am I going to do about it; keep focusing on the pain or find out how to keep being part of my life, carrying the solution.
You may think that there are a thousand different things being done in recovery, really there's just a thousand different ways of saying a few simple things.
How do I keep on giving more than I can take?
acronyms and SLOGANS: Organized by Pancake Marathon
As I keep being able to stay teachable for it is in that of what is life that I keep giving time time, for it is the fact of the matter that letting go and giving it to god, will then I make it to the point of finding enjoyable moments in life; its in this that I will be able to keep on keeping on: at most just for this moment.
Slogans are wisdom written in shorthand and Acronyms are just the sum/the Virtues, of all that wisdom: WISDOM: When In Self, Discover Our Motives
Slogans (underlined) blog page Acronyms (bold) blog page Principles (italic): A.A. files
Step 12/to give where credit is due I got all of these readings from "recovery HQ" _ but I put them in a Living life on life's terms and to Better care of the message and you can actually find all of them in Daily Readings and Inspirations
Spiritual principle a day: Listening for Common Ground
Page 204
"In service, we listen well by listening for common ground rather than for ways to prove that our idea is better."
Guiding Principles, Tradition Four, "In Service"
NA offers plenty of opportunities for us to learn how to do a better job of living in the world. While very few of us show up to NA with the credentials of "great listener," sitting through recovery meetings can teach us much about making an effort to truly understand what others are saying. The listening skills we hone in recovery meetings are quite useful in NA service, too. Self-centeredness might cause us to put the responsibility for good communication on others: If they would just be clearer, we wouldn't have to listen so carefully. As we learn in meetings, with our sponsors, calling other addicts--communication is a two-way street, and we're much better off when we work on our side, rather than insisting on improvements across the way.
"I noticed a fellow trusted servant frequently restating things other members had shared, but in different words," a member wrote. "I got angry, thinking they wanted credit for everyone else's ideas. After a while, I realized that they were basically interpreting for themselves as they tried to understand what other people were saying. The service meetings take longer, but I think hearing things in multiple ways actually ends up being helpful."
There are many ways we can improve our ability to listen in service. For example, not talking while others are talking can be practiced well in most recovery meetings. Other techniques, like asking others to clarify what they're saying, might be better reserved for service meetings. Sponsorship helps, too, of course. A member wrote, "My sponsor would say, 'What I hear you saying is...' I started using that phrase in service, and soon my communication was improving dramatically!"
——— ——— ——— ——— ———
I typically have more in common with others than I may believe. I will listen for common ground with patience and gratitude.
Keep It Simple: We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by. ---Will Rogers
Humility is being thankful for the chance to watch the parade. There were days we thought that all that counted were the heroes. But our program has no heroes. It has many fine, spiritual people. . . but no heroes.
When someone is needed to make coffee or pick up after a meeting, we can be willing to do those things. Let's look at doing these little jobs as our way of looking for a good spot on the curb. . . .to watch the parade! The floats are so colorful, and the bands play so loud!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me be proud of who I am, instead of always putting myself down because I'm not who I "should" be.
Action for the Day: I will look and help someone today. Service to others is service to my Higher Power.
NA Just For Today: Self-esteem
"Deep inside, I had feellngs of inadequacy and inferiority."
Basic Text, p. 112
Somewhere along the way, many of us developed strong feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. Deep inside was a voice that continually cried out, "You're worthless!" Many of us learn to recognize this characteristic of low self-esteem very early in our recovery. Some of us may feel that our feelings of inferiority were where all our problems began.
Whether we learn this low self-esteem in our families or through our interactions with others, in NA we learn the tools for reclaiming ourselves. Building up our fractured self-esteem sometimes begins by simply accepting a service position. Or perhaps our phone begins to ring, and for the first time people are calling just to see how we are. They don't want anything from us but to reach out and help.
Next we get a sponsor, someone who teaches us that we are worthwhile and believes in us until we can believe in ourselves. Our sponsor guides us through the Twelve Steps where we learn who we really are, not who we have built ourselves up or down to be.
Low self-esteem doesn't go away overnight. Sometimes it takes years for us to really get in touch with ourselves. But with the help of other members of NA who share our same feelings, and by working the Twelve Steps, we blossom into individuals that others and, most importantly, we ourselves respect.
Just for today: I will remember that I am deserving of my Higher Power's love. I know that I am a worthy human being.
pg. 206
Daily Reflections: "A MEASURE OF HUMILITY"
In every case, pain had been the price of admission into a new life. But this admission price had purchased more than we expected. It brought a measure of humility, which we soon discovered to be a healer of pain. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 75
It was painful to give up trying to control my life, even though success eluded me, and when life got too rough, I drank to escape. Accepting life on life's terms will be mastered through the humility I experience when I turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as I understand Him. With my life in God's care, fear, uncertainty, and anger are no longer my response to those portions of life that I would rather not have happen to me. The pain of living through these times will be healed by the knowledge that I have received the spiritual strength to survive.
What is this page about/seems to be as:
simple literature Organized by Pancake Marathon: Daily Readings and Inspirations
Read It to me of the literature of recovery
Where I talk about my recovery journey
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