Latest / Sober Readings / ...And Letting Go Of It.
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Welcome to Sober Readings. Today is Tuesday, july seventh. 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 wisdom to know the difference. Today's reading from Daily Reflections and Letting Go of It. So before I begin this reading, I'll start by saying Yesterday's reading from Daily Reflections, the title was Identifying Fear. And today's title is And Letting Go of It. And so both yesterday and today's readings are talking about fear. Primarily fear that would lose something we already possessed or would fail to get something we demanded. Living upon a basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore, no peace was to be had unless we could find a means of reducing these demands. The difference between a demand and a simple request is plain to anyone. That's on page 76 of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. Peace is possible for me only when I let go of expectations. When I'm trapped in thoughts about what I want and what should be coming to me, I'm in a state of fear or anxious anticipation, and this is not conducive to emotional sobriety. I must surrender over and over to the reality of my dependence on God, for then I find peace, gratitude, and spiritual security. From twenty four hours, july seventh, AA thought for the day. We had become hopelessly sick people, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. The power that controlled us was greater than ourselves. It was John Barleycorn. Many drinkers have said, I hadn't gone that far, I hadn't lost my job on account of drink. I still had my family. I managed to keep out of jail. True, I took too much sometimes, and I guess I managed to make quite an ass of myself when I did. But I still thought I could control my drinking. I didn't really believe that I was an alcoholic. If I was one of these, have I fully changed my mind? The meditation for the day. Painful as the present time may be, you will one day see the reason for it. You will see that it was not only testing, but also a preparation for the life work that you are to do. Have faith that your prayers and aspirations will someday be answered. Answered in a way that perhaps seems painful to you, but is the only right way. Selfishness and pride often make us want things that are not good for us. They need to be burned out of our natures. We must be rid of the blocks that are holding us back before we can expect our prayers to be answered. And the prayer for the day. I pray that I may be willing to go through a time of testing. I pray that I may trust God for the outcome. Today's daily meditation from Touchstone. Those who are mentally and emotionally healthy are those who have learned when to say yes, when to say no, and when to say whoopee. That's a quote from Willard S. Crable. We men have fallen into many difficulties because of poorly defined personal boundaries. Some of us have never learned to say no to our mothers and felt invaded or ruled by them. Or we never truly said no to our fathers. Never went through a teenage rebellion to establish ourselves as adults. Others have gotten stuck saying no and have never learned to yield and say yes. Boundary problems have been part of the difficulty in many areas of our lives. We've told ourselves we have no right to our yes or no, or we've said we're strong enough to sacrifice for someone else, or we've welcomed the escape from ourselves in discarding our choice. Not saying no when we needed to or not saying yes when we wanted to has led many of us into doctors' offices, courts, jails, lost jobs, divorces, and bad marriages. Now the inner voice of our higher power is showing us our limits and encouraging us to stand up for them. I am learning to know myself by defining my boundaries and choosing when and when not to cross them. And for today's final reading, I'm gonna read from As Bill Sees It. And today we're reading from page three one zero. Learning to trust. Our entire AA program rests upon the principle of mutual trust. We trust God, we trust AA, and we trust each other. Therefore, we trust our leaders in world service. The right of decision that we offer them is not only the practical means by which they may act and lead effectively, but it is also the symbol of our implicit confidence. That's on page sixteen of Twelve concepts. If you arrive at AA with no religious convictions, you can, if you wish, make AA itself, or even your AA group, your higher power. Here's a large group of people who have solved their alcohol problem. In this respect, they are certainly a power greater than you. Even this minimum of faith will be enough. Many members who have crossed the threshold just this way will tell you that. Once across, their faith broadened and deepened. Relieved of the alcohol obsession, their lives unaccountably transformed. They came to believe in a higher power, and most of them began to talk of God. And that's in the twelve and twelve pages twenty seven to twenty eight. And before I close, I'd like to go back and talk about the daily meditation from Touchstones. The first line in the reading says We have fallen into many difficulties because of poorly defined personal boundaries. For me, personal boundaries are something I've only learned about in sobriety. This reading is very relatable to me because I've always said yes to people, even when I wanted to say no. Sometimes I've justified my saying yes to you and no to me because as this this line in here says, I'm strong enough to sacrifice for someone else. But What that does at times is creates a resentment in me, and we all know where resentments lead for us alcoholics. The last line in this reading says, I am learning to know myself by defining my boundaries. That's what I'm working on today, and it's helping to build self-confidence and self-esteem in my sobriety. So what are your thoughts and your comments on this reading? You want to share them with me? Just send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com. I'd love to hear them. And I could possibly even read them on the air for you. So that's gonna do it for today's episode of Sober Readings. Thank you for joining me. ⁓ if you enjoyed the show, click the like button and subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. And also if you'd like to be a guest reader on the show, I would love to have you. Again, send me an email at soberreadings with Scott at gmail.com and we can make that happen. And if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's reading, just go to my website, sobereadings.com and click the donate button. So again, thank you so much for listening today. Stay sober, keep reading, and I'll see 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, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.