Dalai Lama
I'm Here Because I'm Not All There!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Words Of Wisdom From His Holiness Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
Daily Reflection
JUNE 30
SACRIFICE = UNITY = SURVIVAL
The unity, the effectiveness, and even the survival of A.A.
will always depend upon our continued willingness to give
up some of our personal ambitions and desires for the
common safety and welfare. Just as sacrifice means
survival for the individual alcoholic, so does sacrifice mean
unity and survival for the group and for A.A. 's entire
Fellowship.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 220
I have learned that I must sacrifice some of my personality
traits for the good of A.A. and, as a result, I have been
rewarded with many gifts. False pride can be inflated
through prestige but, by living Tradition Six, I receive the
gift of humility instead. Cooperation without affiliation is
often deceiving. If I remain unrelated to outside interests, I
am free to keep A.A. autonomous. Then the Fellowship will
be here, healthy and strong for generations to come.
SACRIFICE = UNITY = SURVIVAL
The unity, the effectiveness, and even the survival of A.A.
will always depend upon our continued willingness to give
up some of our personal ambitions and desires for the
common safety and welfare. Just as sacrifice means
survival for the individual alcoholic, so does sacrifice mean
unity and survival for the group and for A.A. 's entire
Fellowship.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 220
I have learned that I must sacrifice some of my personality
traits for the good of A.A. and, as a result, I have been
rewarded with many gifts. False pride can be inflated
through prestige but, by living Tradition Six, I receive the
gift of humility instead. Cooperation without affiliation is
often deceiving. If I remain unrelated to outside interests, I
am free to keep A.A. autonomous. Then the Fellowship will
be here, healthy and strong for generations to come.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Daily Reflection
JUNE 29
A RIPPLING EFFECT
Having learned to live so happily, we'd show everyone else
how. . . . Yes, we of A.A. did dream those dreams. How
natural that was, since most alcoholics are bankrupt
idealists. . . . So why shouldn't we share our way of life
with everyone?
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 156
The great discovery of sobriety led me to feel the need to
spread the "good news" to the world around me. The
grandiose thoughts of my drinking days returned. Later, I
learned that concentrating on my own recovery was a fulltime
process. As I became a sober citizen in this world, I
observed a rippling effect which, without any conscious
effort on my part, reached any "related facility or outside
enterprise," without diverting me from my primary purpose
of staying sober and helping other alcoholics to achieve
sobriety.
A RIPPLING EFFECT
Having learned to live so happily, we'd show everyone else
how. . . . Yes, we of A.A. did dream those dreams. How
natural that was, since most alcoholics are bankrupt
idealists. . . . So why shouldn't we share our way of life
with everyone?
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 156
The great discovery of sobriety led me to feel the need to
spread the "good news" to the world around me. The
grandiose thoughts of my drinking days returned. Later, I
learned that concentrating on my own recovery was a fulltime
process. As I became a sober citizen in this world, I
observed a rippling effect which, without any conscious
effort on my part, reached any "related facility or outside
enterprise," without diverting me from my primary purpose
of staying sober and helping other alcoholics to achieve
sobriety.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Daily Reflection
JUNE 28
THE DETERMINATION OF OUR FOUNDERS
A year and six months later these three had succeeded with
seven more.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 159
If it had not been for the fierce determination of our
founders, A.A. would have quickly faded like so many
other so-called good causes. I look at the hundreds of
meetings weekly in the city where I five and I know A.A. is
available twenty-four hours a day. If I had had to hang on
with nothing but hope and a desire not to drink,
experiencing rejection wherever I went, I would have
sought the easier, softer way and returned to my previous
way of life.
THE DETERMINATION OF OUR FOUNDERS
A year and six months later these three had succeeded with
seven more.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 159
If it had not been for the fierce determination of our
founders, A.A. would have quickly faded like so many
other so-called good causes. I look at the hundreds of
meetings weekly in the city where I five and I know A.A. is
available twenty-four hours a day. If I had had to hang on
with nothing but hope and a desire not to drink,
experiencing rejection wherever I went, I would have
sought the easier, softer way and returned to my previous
way of life.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Daily Reflection
JUNE 27
CONFORMING TO THE A.A. WAY
We obey A.A. 's Steps and Traditions because we really
want them for ourselves. It is no longer a question of good
or evil; we conform because we genuinely want to conform
Such is our process of growth in unity and function. Such is
the evidence of God's grace and love among us.
A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 106
It is fun to watch myself grow in A.A. I fought conformity
to A.A. principles from the moment I entered, but I learned
from the pain of my belligerence that, in choosing to live
the A. A. way of life, I opened myself to God's grace and
love. Then I began to know the full meaning of being a
member of Alcoholics Anonymous.
CONFORMING TO THE A.A. WAY
We obey A.A. 's Steps and Traditions because we really
want them for ourselves. It is no longer a question of good
or evil; we conform because we genuinely want to conform
Such is our process of growth in unity and function. Such is
the evidence of God's grace and love among us.
A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 106
It is fun to watch myself grow in A.A. I fought conformity
to A.A. principles from the moment I entered, but I learned
from the pain of my belligerence that, in choosing to live
the A. A. way of life, I opened myself to God's grace and
love. Then I began to know the full meaning of being a
member of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Daily Reflection
JUNE 26
A GIFT THAT GROWS WITH TIME
For most normal folks, drinking means conviviality,
companionship and colorful imagination. It means release
from care, boredom and worry. It is joyous intimacy with
friends and a feeling that life is good
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 151
The longer I chased these elusive feelings with alcohol, the
more out of reach they were. However, by applying this
passage to my sobriety, I found that it described the
magnificent new life made available to me by the A.A.
program. "It" truly does "get better" one day at a time. The
warmth, the love and the joy so simply expressed in these
words grow in breadth and depth each time I read it.
Sobriety is a gift that grows with time.
A GIFT THAT GROWS WITH TIME
For most normal folks, drinking means conviviality,
companionship and colorful imagination. It means release
from care, boredom and worry. It is joyous intimacy with
friends and a feeling that life is good
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 151
The longer I chased these elusive feelings with alcohol, the
more out of reach they were. However, by applying this
passage to my sobriety, I found that it described the
magnificent new life made available to me by the A.A.
program. "It" truly does "get better" one day at a time. The
warmth, the love and the joy so simply expressed in these
words grow in breadth and depth each time I read it.
Sobriety is a gift that grows with time.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Daily Reflection
JUNE 25
A TWO-WAY STREET
If we ask, God will certainly forgive our derelictions. But in
no case does He render us white as snow and keep us that
way without our cooperation.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 65
When I prayed, I used to omit a lot of things for which I
needed to be forgiven. I thought that if I didn't mention
these things to God, He would never know about them. I
did not know that if I had just forgiven myself for some of
my past deeds, God would forgive me also. I was always
taught to prepare for the journey through life, never
realizing until I came to A.A.—when I honestly became
willing to be taught forgiveness and forgiving—that life
itself is the journey. The journey of life is a very happy
one, as long as I am willing to accept change and
responsibility.
A TWO-WAY STREET
If we ask, God will certainly forgive our derelictions. But in
no case does He render us white as snow and keep us that
way without our cooperation.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 65
When I prayed, I used to omit a lot of things for which I
needed to be forgiven. I thought that if I didn't mention
these things to God, He would never know about them. I
did not know that if I had just forgiven myself for some of
my past deeds, God would forgive me also. I was always
taught to prepare for the journey through life, never
realizing until I came to A.A.—when I honestly became
willing to be taught forgiveness and forgiving—that life
itself is the journey. The journey of life is a very happy
one, as long as I am willing to accept change and
responsibility.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Daily Reflection
JUNE 24
A SPIRITUAL KINDERGARTEN
We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which
people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace
to go on living to better effect
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 95
When I came to A.A., I was run down by the bottle and
wanted to lose the obsession to drink, but I didn't really
know how to do that. I decided to stick around long enough
to find out from the ones who went before me. All of a
sudden I was thinking about God! I was told to get a Higher
Power and I had no idea what one looked like. I found out
there are many Higher Powers. I was told to find God, as I
understand Him, that there was no doctrine of the Godhead
in A.A. I found what worked for me and then asked that
Power to restore me to sanity. The obsession to drink was
removed and—one day at a time—my life went on, and I
learned how to five sober.
A SPIRITUAL KINDERGARTEN
We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which
people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace
to go on living to better effect
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 95
When I came to A.A., I was run down by the bottle and
wanted to lose the obsession to drink, but I didn't really
know how to do that. I decided to stick around long enough
to find out from the ones who went before me. All of a
sudden I was thinking about God! I was told to get a Higher
Power and I had no idea what one looked like. I found out
there are many Higher Powers. I was told to find God, as I
understand Him, that there was no doctrine of the Godhead
in A.A. I found what worked for me and then asked that
Power to restore me to sanity. The obsession to drink was
removed and—one day at a time—my life went on, and I
learned how to five sober.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
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