Friday, February 4, 2011

Words Of Wisdom From His Holiness Dalai Lama

Dalai LamaWe can't be useful to ourselves unless we're useful to others.

Online Daily Reflections

Online Daily Reflections — by A.A. Members for A.A. Members:
WHEN FAITH IS MISSING
FEBRUARY 4, 2011

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 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."

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Words Of Wisdom From His Holiness Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama
The whole purpose of engaging in the practice of patience is to become stronger in mind, stronger in heart."

Don McLean - American Pie

The Day The Music Died!
On this day in 1959, rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight headed for Moorehead, Minnesota.

R.E.M. Man On the Moon

Here's A Truck Stop Instead Of St. Peters, Yea, Yea. Yea, Yea!


Online Daily Reflections

Online Daily Reflections — by A.A. Members for A.A. Members:

FILLING THE VOID
FEBRUARY 3, 2011

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."

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

On Egypt...

I would hurry up, Egypt. Only three days left in the American attention span.

susan tedeschi angel from montgomery

Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama: "Dalai Lama Adopting a wider perspective includes working cooperatively with others. Crises that are global by nature, such as problems related to climate change or the modern economic structure, call for coordinated and concerted efforts among many people, with a sense of responsibility and commitment - this is more encompassing than any individual or personal issue."

Online Daily Reflections

Online Daily Reflections — by A.A. Members for A.A. Members: "RESCUED BY SURRENDERING
FEBRUARY 2, 2011
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."

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Dalai Lama (DalaiLama) on Twitter

Dalai Lama (DalaiLama) on Twitter: "The aim of spiritual and therefore ethical practice is to transform and perfect the individual’s motivation and mental disposition."

Online Daily Reflections

Online Daily Reflections — by A.A. Members for A.A. Members: "GOAL: SANITY
FEBRUARY 1, 2011
…Step Two gently and very gradually began to infiltrate my life. I can’t say upon what occasion or on 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."