Latest / The Daily Ripples Podcast / August 27 – Staying Centered

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August 27 – Staying Centered · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:04
  August 27, Staying Center, the sound.
• 0:08
  Strength comes from keeping my mind centered on God rather than on my circumstances.
• 0:13
  Ripple one practical.
• 0:15
  Today I will focus on what is within my control and surrender what is not.
• 0:19
  Fear and uncertainty lose their power when I stop feeding them with constant attention.
• 0:24
  A steady mind helps me take the next right step.
• 0:27
  Ripple 2, spiritual.
• 0:30
  As I keep my thoughts centered on God, the Holy Spirit gives me the courage to follow his leading.
• 0:34
  The Father is my source of strength and direction, and Jesus remained faithful even in the face of hardship and uncertainty.
• 0:43
  So for me, this particular stone reminds me that I have to practice daily, um, As soon as I wake up.
• 0:56
  Um, Asking God to get in my head before I get in my head.
• 1:02
  Mm, yeah.
• 1:03
  Um, I know for the longest time, um, It's been an automatic thing to jump up and get busy with life, you know, coffee, dogs, kids, school, work, shoes, keys, wallet, um,
• 1:22
  Or, you know, to get on this computer that I've got in my hand that can give me the latest and greatest news at the 1st top of the hour, all the notifications and the bing, bing, bing, bing that happens at the very beginning of my life with the day.
• 1:34
  And I know if I jump right into that, that my life may or may not turn out chaotic because something might really tick me off that I saw on the internet, or my kid is running late and he can't find things and things are going all wrong.
• 1:48
  So, um, this program, at least for me, has taught me that I've got to invite God into my life in my day, uh, as soon as I open my eyes.
• 2:00
  Um,
• 2:01
  And we have a 3rd step prayer and um, it's one of those things about asking God to, uh, have me follow his will.
• 2:10
  Um, follow what he wants me to have me be for the day.
• 2:14
  Um,
• 2:16
  So that's the very 1st thing I have to do.
• 2:20
  In that 3rd step prayer, you were saying is what I thought of immediately when you said starting the day letting God get into my thoughts before I get into my thoughts.
• 2:28
  And this is a great way to do it.
• 2:30
  Well, and for me, it's not a, it's not a the thy, thou kind of prayer.
• 2:34
  It's a, um, a woman seeking guidance and help from a friend, from, um, a creator, um, from a higher power and saying, hey, you know, I can't do this by myself.
• 2:51
  I need your help.
• 2:54
  One of the things I was thinking about when you were reading it today is, it's just written in the practical ripple just as fact, you know, that fear and uncertainty lose their power when I stop feeding them with constant attention.
• 3:10
  And why I thought of that is, I was thinking about, um, What you mentioned the other day, Corey, about the gentleman you had run across that was, you know, addicted to some other things that were not necessarily a substance, right?
• 3:26
  And I think about there are people that are addicted to things like, you know, screens and news and all the notifications and the ping, ping, ping at the start of the day that you mentioned, Steffani.
• 3:37
  And and how that is, in my opinion anyway, a lot of times that is feeding into people's fears, but they don't even realize it is feeding into their fears.
• 3:49
  For example, if I'm on the doom cycle of watching the news and really getting worked up or angered about things that I see on the news and things going on around the world, what am I really doing?
• 4:01
  It's not something that I can control or change through my actions today.
• 4:05
  I'm feeding into my fears.
• 4:07
  I'm feeding into my anxieties and my worries and it's taking time away from when I could be of use to another person.
• 4:13
  Me being stuck in that cycle addicted to a screen or a news reel or whatever, you know, just keeps me stuck into that fear.
• 4:22
  And it does, and if I'm being driven by that fear, then I'm not staying centered on what God wants or what God would have me do.
• 4:31
  You see, I can come up with all kind of practical reasons that sound good on paper as to why not to do really anything on a given day, you know, if it's something that I want to drive, but,
• 4:44
  And when I'm doing this, because I'm operating off of my fears.
• 4:48
  But when I am able to push past those, start my day, you know, centered on God, keep reconnecting with God throughout the day.
• 4:57
  That's the other aspect of that is that, you know, when I start to be driven by the selfishness or the pride or the ego or any of the, you know, any of the deadlies.
• 5:07
  It doesn't have to just be seven, but they can all be deadly for me if I let them go too far.
• 5:11
  I can stop and I can pray and I can reconnect with God right then.
• 5:14
  And most of the time, when that happens, some other person has revealed to me that I need to check in on or touch base with.
• 5:22
  It always drives me back to staying connected with other people.
• 5:27
  We've, uh, we've kind of talked about this a little bit before and, you know, how important, you know, but how important, like, that, and Steffani kind of touched on this, you know, the conscious contact with my higher power.
• 5:42
  You know, if that's the most important thing to me in my day, which today it is in my life, you know, even in my family's home life, right?
• 5:51
  Like that's the center of our family.
• 5:53
  And like, you know, it's represented in our family.
• 5:56
  Like, you know, every before every meal, you know, before bed, you know, in the morning, there's prayer.
• 6:01
  And so like, but, you know, I think, wait, what does that look like?
• 6:06
  you know, because, like, you know, I can get all of sorts a little bit during my day and I talk about a lot of this a lot, man, because, like, it's important because I've done a lot of meditation stuff, and like on the guided meditation, it'll have you follow your breath.
• 6:19
  And, you know, specifically, I, uh, I was meditating this morning and, man, I'll drift out onto a canyon, I'm about to fall off this canyon, and then I'll drift into like, you know, what I'm doing for the day, and then I'll drift back into this thought to this thought, but I just come back into that breath, right?
• 6:37
  I just, you know, go back and forth and then I come in back to thy will be done, not mine during my day, just like that meditation period.
• 6:44
  And you know, I think, you know, in meditation, though, it takes a little time.
• 6:48
  I think it, Definitely takes a lot of practice, a lot of discipline, and me to be able to sit there in, I mean, in the beginning, I think, even, you know, even now.
• 6:58
  Like when I go down into meditation and quiet on my knees and the way that looks in the morning, my morning routine is this.
• 7:05
  I roll baby over to baby's mom.
• 7:10
  I roll out of bed onto my knees.
• 7:14
  I say 7 step prayer. Because it's 7 step prayer says, you know, God help me to do your bidding while I go here to do your bidding.
• 7:22
  So the bidding is, to me, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12.
• 7:25
  So then I go in there.
• 7:27
  Usually if I don't forget to turn the coffee on my coffee, I get a cup of coffee.
• 7:32
  If not, I'll go, and then I'll have a cup of water instead and I have to wait for the coffee.
• 7:38
  I go to the bathroom.
• 7:40
  I sit down and I read 86, 2nd paragraph because it says on awakening.
• 7:49
  Let us think about the 24 hours ahead, we consider our plans for the day.
• 7:53
  Then it says something crazy, like before we begin, though, thinking about the 24 hours ahead.
• 8:00
  We ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest, self- seeking motives.
• 8:06
  And I stopped there.
• 8:08
  And you know, you get you get my morning thing every morning.
• 8:12
  We're on page 65 right now. And the big book and what I've been doing lately is I read a page.
• 8:17
  I go page for page for the big book and I'm a big parallel person, right?
• 8:21
  So I like the connections for the book and because I think the text proves the text.
• 8:25
  So I'll write about that and I'll write a little thought, then I'll write another, anyways, that, but that's what I've been going through for the last album, since the preface of the book.
• 8:34
  Um, and then I'll do that, then I'll go through the prayers in this book and the prayers starts on page 83.
• 8:42
  Because on page 83, it says in the big book.
• 8:45
  So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our creator shows the way a patient's tolerance, kind of lead us a love.
• 8:54
  I don't think that means... Maybe every other morning it says each morning, I don't know.
• 9:00
  And, um, you know, I messed with Pastor Mike about that.
• 9:04
  And, um, and then I flip over to 164.
• 9:06
  And 164 tells me, and I think it's a good gauge of where I'm at in my life on my spirituality too.
• 9:13
  Because on the 2nd to the last paragraph, it says, ask him in your morning meditation, not mine.
• 9:20
  Well, I do it in mind, though.
• 9:23
  What you can do each day for the man who is still sick.
• 9:26
  The answer will come if your own house is in order. And that's a consideration within myself in that moment is my house in order.
• 9:32
  Right. Because I come up into that, you know, conundrum or whatever, you know, in my head.
• 9:37
  I like, man, I got this thing blocking me a little bit.
• 9:40
  And it says, the answers will come, but obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't gotten.
• 9:46
  See to it that your relationship with shit with him is right and great events will come to pass for you and countless others.
• 9:51
  This is the great fact for us.
• 9:54
  So when I do that, and you know, I go through my day now, my day starts, and I'm going through my day.
• 9:59
  Thy will be done, not mine.
• 10:01
  You know, we talked about it.
• 10:02
  You know, sometimes while I'm walking and I'm really in a thing.
• 10:05
  as I'm stepping, you know, every step, honesty, hope, faith, courage, integrity, and willingness, humility, brother, love, justice, perseverance, spirituality service, the 12 principles.
• 10:13
  So if I just step those out, for some reason, my head and it's crazy what happens, I will stop on what.
• 10:20
  I won't stop saying it, but I'll stop on one of them with something I need to kind of, you know, perseverance spirituality.
• 10:26
  Maybe I need to go do a prayer, right?
• 10:28
  Maybe I need to pray for somebody.
• 10:29
  Maybe I need to call somebody.
• 10:31
  You know, come up to me in my head and God usually provides.
• 10:34
  And another thing, I know I'm kind of ranting on and taking over this, but it's okay.
• 10:38
  Just hold on.
• 10:40
  We're about done.
• 10:41
  Be good mission you were on caffeine pills.
• 10:43
  I am.
• 10:44
  So, I'm sorry, guys.
• 10:46
  But one thing in my meditation, as I'm breathing in, I say, I love you guys.
• 10:52
  in my head, in my breath out, I say, it's the, I love you.
• 10:57
  It's I love you, but it's from God.
• 11:00
  And as I'm doing that, breathe in, breathe out thing, right?
• 11:03
  Through my day, I found so many times because I come to rely upon it, right?
• 11:07
  That thoughter is, it talks about that.
• 11:09
  I rely upon this.
• 11:10
  Actually, when I breathe in with a question.
• 11:12
  For some reason when I breathe out, I have an answer.
• 11:15
  And that's not for me.
• 11:16
  I believe that's from God.
• 11:18
  And, you know, it's a really real deal.
• 11:19
  But yeah, that's what my morning and daily.
• 11:23
  that come into one with God looks like.
• 11:25
  I mean, the way that I that I filter through what are just my rampant thoughts versus what are the thoughts that are of and from God or the Holy Spirit talking to me is, if it is something that serves someone else or serves God that in no way externally benefits me, then I have 98% confidence and that's, you know, the voice of God urging me to do that.
• 11:50
  And when those thoughts come into my head, those are the ones that I have to be faithful to act upon, you know?
• 11:55
  And when I don't, what I've discovered is that I'm not going to be at peace, you know, until I do.
• 12:01
  till I give up what God's been trying to get me to give up.
• 12:04
  You know, I have found I've gotten on a kick on my Pandora, um, today's greatest spiritual hits or something in that regard.
• 12:16
  And it is really helped me, you know, not just motivation, but I've had a change in job circumstance and I'm now driving into the office.
• 12:25
  And, um,
• 12:28
  I've decided I want to have a happy day.
• 12:31
  I could be really upset about it, which I have been grieving and I've been going through a process of having to deal with changing my life, right?
• 12:38
  Nobody likes change.
• 12:39
  But at some point along the way, God said, hey, you know, you can either make your life miserable or you could just get over yourself, let this go.
• 12:47
  Um, and so I have started playing this spiritual music in the morning.
• 12:52
  And on my way to work.
• 12:54
  I have found that, um,
• 12:57
  I don't know, it's very emotional for me.
• 13:00
  Uh, especially when I can connect with something that resonates just with my soul.
• 13:06
  Uh, it makes my car drive slower.
• 13:09
  It makes me a nicer human being.
• 13:11
  Um, and it gives me a, you know, a half hour to connect with God in a way that I didn't realize that I really connect.
• 13:22
  So, um, you know, maybe it's a good benefit of going to the office.
• 13:27
  Yeah, that is a good benefit.
• 13:29
  And I remember, speaking of the spirituality that, you know, or the encouragement or the centering that you experienced through music, it's gotten to the point with me now where I hear God, you know, even through what would be considered secular songs at times, you know, there'll be lyrics that'll come on and I'll think, huh, that's kind of like, kind of like, God.
• 13:48
  I don't know if that ever happens with y'all, but yeah, it happens to me a lot too.
• 13:51
  Well, you know, it's kind of like when you get that new car, and it may not be a new car, but it's new to you.
• 13:57
  And then you see that car on the road everywhere.
• 13:59
  You notice it everywhere.
• 14:01
  You know, as soon as you start having these god-conscious moments where you see God.
• 14:05
  Yeah.
• 14:06
  You notice it more.
• 14:08
  And just cool things.
• 14:11
  And one of the benefits is, and I can't remember how or where this exactly relates to things that I've heard in the program, but, um, you know, well, I know what it is.
• 14:21
  I've heard people say in the program a lot in recovery rooms that I don't always understand what God's will is in my life, but I know what it's not.
• 14:29
  And so what they mean by that is, if it's something that's not, you know, loving or not life giving or something that's harmful to themselves or others, they know that's not from God.
• 14:41
  And so, I think that it relates to, as the book says, you know, deep down within us, every person is a consciousness of their higher power.
• 14:52
  How exactly is it worded core of you?
• 14:54
  Oh, on page 70.
• 14:57
  I knew it was going to has it.
• 14:58
  I was just waiting for it.
• 14:59
  70s chicks.
• 15:00
  It talks about what God's will is.
• 15:03
  And then I know, I was thinking about the guy. Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be a maximum service.
• 15:09
  The guy, the people bound us.
• 15:11
  It's the silliest thing for me to tell people, I don't know what God's will is, when it's love and deserve it.
• 15:16
  So, right?
• 15:17
  And like then it's through this work.
• 15:19
  Like, that's one of those things.
• 15:21
  That's one of those things I just, because it's like, what are we talking about?
• 15:25
  But what's God's will when I'm having to decide whether I can afford groceries for the week or pay my light bill?
• 15:31
  What's God's will then?
• 15:34
  Oh, buddy. I know.
• 15:35
  That's where we got to keep further.
• 15:37
  I tell you where the prayer and meditation come on page 109 and the 12 and 12.
• 15:41
  The persistent, the persistent, not every other day, not when I'm feeling bad.
• 15:45
  The persistent use of meditation and prayer we found did open the channel so that we where there had been a trickle.
• 15:54
  There was now a river which led to sure power and safeguidance from God, as we're increasingly better able to understand him.
• 16:01
  I'm about to understand God's will better.
• 16:04
  And I think in those times, what I'm trying to decide between groceries and the light bill, where God's will is for me, is to remain at peace and knowing that no matter what happens, you know, financially in my life, that God has carried me through... this one as well.
• 16:22
  And that's where the strength and the endurance of the faith come into play for me because that's where I'm staying to get back to, you know, what this topic was, staying center.
• 16:32
  If I'm staying centered, I can be at peace regardless of the circumstances around me and I think that is God's will for me.
• 16:38
  Or if you needed, like if you had some extra shoes.
• 16:41
  You could just sell a pair of shoes.
• 16:43
  Anyway, our prayer for the death.
• 16:45
  Steffani, you were, you were gonna, um, you were gonna pray.
• 16:47
  We all need prayer, that's for sure.
• 16:49
  Father God.
• 16:51
  Help me keep my thoughts centered on you today.
• 16:54
  Through your Holy Spirit, give me strength, courage, and discipline.
• 16:57
  Shape my life through the example of Jesus.
• 17:00
  Amen.
• 17:00
  Hey, amen.
• 17:02
  Speaking of discipline, Corey.
• 17:04
  I'll have you know.
• 17:05
  I think it's been at least 30 plus days since I bought a pair of shoes.
• 17:08
  He's got a shoe room, so Tokyo.
• 17:10
  We don't look, that's okay.