Latest / Sober Readings / The Gift Of Bonding
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Hey everyone, welcome to Sober Readings. Good morning. My name is Scott. Today is Tuesday, the twenty fifth of August. Let's begin today's episode with the serenity prayer. God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Today's reading from Daily Reflections The Gift of Bonding. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do thy will. That's on page sixty three of Alcoholics Anonymous, and that also happens to be part of the third step prayer. Many times in my alcoholic state, I drank to establish a bond between myself and others, but I succeeded only in establishing the bond of alcoholic loneliness. Through the AA way of life, I have received the gift of bonding with those who were there before me, with those who are there now, and with those yet to come. For this gracious gift from God, I am forever grateful. Today's reading from twenty four hours a day. August twenty five, AA Thought for the Day. Unless we discuss our defects with another person, we do not acquire enough humility, fearlessness, and honesty to really get the program. We must be entirely honest with somebody if we expect to live happily in this world. We must be hard on ourselves but always considerate of others. We pocket our pride and go to it, illuminating every twist of character and every dark cranny of the past. Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, We can look the world in the eyes. And the question here is have I discussed all my defects with another person? Today's meditation for the day. Never yield to weariness of the spirit. At times the world's cares and distractions will intrude and the spirit will become weak. At times like this, carry on and soon the spirit will become strong again. God's spirit is always with you to replenish and renew. None ever sincerely sought God's help in vain. Physical weariness and exhaustion make a time of rest and communion with God more necessary. When you are overcome by temporary conditions that you cannot control, keep quiet and wait for the power of the Spirit to flow back. Prayer for the day. I pray that I may not speak or act in the midst of emotional upheaval. I pray that I may wait until the tempest is past. Today's meditation from touchstone. To know oneself, one should assert oneself. That's a quote from Albert Camus. We learn about ourselves by bumping up against something solid, by throwing ourselves into a project, meeting an obstacle we can't overcome, perhaps making some mistakes, we learn what we are capable of and what we are not. We are not here to live a comfortable and placid life. Our task is to grow and learn, to make a contribution, and to have some tranquility while we do. The only way we can achieve those goals is to assert ourselves. Find out where the solid limits are, and assert our right to make mistakes in the process. When we first learn to drive a car, we oversteer and hit the brakes too hard or too softly. In the process, we learn how to feel what is just right. When we're learning to ask for what we need and to make a place for ourselves, we may ask too demandingly at times. This is not bad. It is how we will learn to do it well. Today I will have opportunities to assert myself. I will take the risks required to learn. And since those were all fairly short readings, I'm gonna read Day by Day, Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts. For august twenty fifth, being in trouble. Many of us have experienced failure in school, loss of jobs, quarrels with families and friends, and encounters with police and jails. In the beginning it is hard to realize that trouble is not simply a part of our personality. We may feel jinxed. But through the program, we realize we don't have to live that way. We don't have to feel jinxed. We can finally see what peace of mind means. Am I leaving my troubles behind me? And the daily prayer in this book says, Higher power, help me to realize all the choices I now have in my life. And the sentence for you to finish today in this book is, I will enhance my peace of mind today by you fill in the blank. And that's gonna do it for today's readings. Before I go, I'd like to go back to meditations from Touchstones. And the message here is to not live too comfortably. And actually the last sentence here says, I will have opportunities to assert myself. I will take the risks required to learn. As an alcoholic in recovery, helping myself means learning the difference between challenging myself and unnecessarily putting my sobriety at risk. Recovery doesn't require me to hide from the world or avoid every difficult situation, but it does require me to respect the disease I'm dealing with. I can assist myself by staying connected to other people in recovery, going to meetings, being honest about what I'm feeling, and recognizing situations that may be more dangerous for me than I want to admit. Sometimes growth means stepping outside my comfort zone, but there is no prize for proving that I can sit at a bar, be around heavy drinking, or handle a stressful situation alone. I have to ask myself whether what I'm doing is helping me grow or simply testing my sobriety. After experiencing relapse, I know how quickly confidence can turn into complacency and how easily I'll be fine can become permission to take chances I don't need to take. I can still live a full, adventurous life in recovery, but I have to remember that protecting my sobriety isn't weakness or fear. It's the foundation that makes the rest of that life possible. And so I'd love to hear your thoughts and your comments on asserting yourself and how you do that in sobriety without taking too big of a risk. You can either leave a comment or you can send me an email at soberreadingswithscmail.com. And so that's gonna do it for today's episode of Sober Readings. Thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to help me pass along the message, just click that like and share button. And if you'd like to drop a dollar in today's virtual donation basket, just go to my website, soberreadings.com, scroll down a little bit, and you'll see the donate button. So again, thank you so much for listening today. Stay sober, keep reading, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other. And remember, just for today, don't drink, go to a meeting, and keep coming back. Have a great day, everyone, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.