For John AKA aljunky, from In The Rooms RIP John

Daily Reflection

FEBRUARY 8
CONVINCING "MR. HYDE"
Even then, as we hew away, peace and joy will still elude
us. That's the place so many of us A. A. oldsters have come
to. And it's a hell of a spot, literally. How shall our
unconscious—from which so many of our fears,
compulsions and phony aspirations still stream —be
brought into line with what we actually believe, know and
want! How to convince our dumb, raging and hidden "Mr.
Hyde" becomes our main task.
THE BEST OF BILL, pp. 42-43
Regular attendance at meetings, serving and helping others
is the recipe that many have tried and found to be
successful. Whenever I stray from these basic principles,
my old habits resurface and my old self also comes back
with all its fears and defects. The ultimate goal of each A.A.
member is permanent sobriety, achieved One Day at a
Time.

Daily Reflection

FEBRUARY 7
A PATH TO FAITH
True humility and an open mind can lead us to faith, and
every A.A. meeting is an assurance that God will restore us
to sanity if we rightly relate ourselves to Him.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 33
My last drunk had landed me in the hospital, totally broken.
It was then that I was able to see my past float in front of
me. I realized that, through drinking, I had lived every
nightmare I had ever had. My own self-will and obsession
to drink had driven me into a dark pit of hallucinations,
blackouts and despair. Finally beaten, I asked for God's
help. His presence told me to believe. My obsession for
alcohol was taken away and my paranoia has since been
lifted. I am no longer afraid. I know my life is healthy and
sane.

Meditation Timer

Be sure to check out the meditation timer on the bottom of the page, everybody needs at least 10 min. of meditation everyday. IMHO

Words Of Wisdom From His Holiness Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama
To help us bring benefit to others through our words and actions, it is useful to cultivate an attitude of sympathetic joy in others’ achievements and good fortune. This attitude is a powerful antidote against envy, which is not only a source of unnecessary suffering on the individual level but also an obstacle to our ability to reach out and engage with others.

Daily Reflection

FEBRUARY 6
A RALLYING POINT
Therefore, Step Two is the rallying point for all of us.
Whether agnostic, atheist, or former believer, we can stand
together on this Step.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 33
I feel that A.A. is a God-inspired program and that God is
at every A.A. meeting. I see, believe, and have come to
know that A.A. works, because I have stayed sober today. I
am turning my life over to A.A. and to God by going to an
A.A. meeting. If God is in my heart and everyone else's,
then I am a small part of a whole and I am not unique. If
God is in my heart and He speaks to me through other
people, then I must be a channel of God to other people. I
should seek to do His will by living spiritual principles and
my reward will be sanity and emotional sobriety.

Daily Reflection

FEBRUARY 5
A GLORIOUS RELEASE
"The minute I stopped arguing, I could begin to see and
feel Right there, Step Two gently and very gradually began
to infiltrate my life. I can't say upon what occasion or upon
what day I came to believe in a Power greater than myself,
but I certainly have that belief now. To acquire it, I had
only to stop fighting and practice the rest of A.A. 's program
as enthusiastically as I could."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 27
After years of indulging in a "self-will run riot," Step Two
became for me a glorious release from being all alone.
Nothing is so painful or insurmountable in my journey
now. Someone is always there to share life's burdens with
me. Step Two became a reinforcement with God, and I
now realize that my insanity and ego were curiously linked.
To rid myself of the former, I must give up the latter to one
with far broader shoulders than my own.

Daily Reflection

FEBRUARY 4
WHEN FAITH IS MISSING
Sometimes A.A. comes harder to those who have lost or
rejected faith than to those who never had any faith at all,
for they think they have tried faith and found it wanting.
They have tried the way of faith and the way of no faith.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 28
I was so sure God had failed me that I became ultimately
defiant, though I knew better, and plunged into a final
drinking binge. My faith turned bitter and that was no
coincidence. Those who once had great faith hit bottom
harder. It took time to rekindle my faith, though I came to
A.A. I was grateful intellectually to have survived such a
great fall, but my heart felt callous. Still, I stuck with the
A.A. program; the alternatives were too bleak! I kept
coming back and gradually my faith was resurrected.

Words Of Wisdom From His Holiness Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama
The human capacity to care for others isn’t something trivial or something to be taken for granted. Rather, it is something we should cherish. Compassion is a marvel of human nature, a precious inner resource, and the foundation of our well-being and the harmony of our societies. If we seek happiness for ourselves, we should practice compassion: and if we seek happiness for others, we should also practice compassion.

Daily Reflection

FEBRUARY 3
FILLING THE VOID
We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. "Do I
now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a
Power greater than myself?" As soon as a man can say that
he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically
assure him that he is on his way.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 47
I was always fascinated with the study of scientific
principles. I was emotionally and physically distant from
people while I pursued Absolute Knowledge. God and
spirituality were meaningless academic exercises. I was a
modern man of science, knowledge was my Higher Power.
Given the right set of equations, life was merely another
problem to solve. Yet my inner self was dying from my
outer man's solution to life's problems and the solution was
alcohol. In spite of my intelligence, alcohol became my
Higher Power. It was through the unconditional love which
emanated from A.A. people and meetings that I was able to
discard alcohol as my Higher Power. The great void was
filled. I was no longer lonely and apart from life. I had
found a true power greater than myself, I had found God's
love. There is only one equation which really matters to me
now: God is in A.A.

Daily Reflection

FEBRUARY 2
RESCUED BY SURRENDERING
Characteristic of the so-called typical alcoholic is a
narcissistic egocentric core, dominated by feelings of
omnipotence, intent on maintaining at all costs its inner
integrity. . . . Inwardly the alcoholic brooks no control from
man or God He, the alcoholic, is and must be the master of
his destiny. He will fight to the end to preserve that
position.
A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 311
The great mystery is: "Why do some of us die alcoholic
deaths, fighting to preserve the 'independence' of our ego,
while others seem to sober up effortlessly in A.A.?" Help
from a Higher Power, the gift of sobriety, came to me when
an otherwise unexplained desire to stop drinking coincided
with my willingness to accept the suggestions of the men
and women of A.A. I had to surrender, for only by reaching
out to God and my fellows could I be rescued.

Daily Reflection

FEBRUARY 1
GOAL: SANITY
". . . Step Two gently and very gradually began to infiltrate
my life. I can't say upon what occasion or upon what day I
came to believe in a Power greater than myself, but I
certainly have that belief now."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 27
"Came to believe!" I gave lip service to my belief when I
felt like it or when I thought it would look good. I didn't
really trust God. I didn't believe He cared for me. I kept
trying to change things I couldn't change. Gradually, in
disgust, I began to turn it all over, saying: "You're so
omnipotent, you take care of it." He did. I began to receive
answers to my deepest problems, sometimes at the most
unusual times: driving to work, eating lunch, or when I was
sound asleep. I realized that I hadn't thought of those
solutions—a Power greater than myself had given them to
me. I came to believe.