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It's Okay To Be Me · Sober Readings

• Scott Hayes: Welcome to Sober Readings, today is Thursday the 14th of May. Let's begin today 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. It's okay to be me. Time after time, newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. They have turned to easier methods, but they had not learned enough humility. That's from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, pages 72 to 73. Humility sounds so much like humiliation, but it really is the ability to look at myself and honestly accept what I find. I no longer need to be the smartest or dumbest or any other-est. Finally, it is okay to be me. It is easier for me to accept myself if I share my whole life. If I cannot share in meetings, then I had better have a sponsor. Someone with whom I can share those certain facts that could lead me back to a drunk, to death. I need to take all the steps. I need the fifth step to learn true humility. Easier methods do not work. From 24 hours, May 14, AA Thought for the Day. Having got over drinking, we have only just begun to enjoy the benefits of AA. We find new friends so that they are no longer lonely. We find new relationships with our families so that we are happy at home. We find release from our troubles and worries through a new way of looking at things. We find an outlet for our energies in helping other people. So ask yourself, am I enjoying these benefits of AA? ⁓ The meditation for the day. The kingdom of heaven is within you. God sees as no man can see what is within you. He sees you growing more and more like himself. That is your reason for existence, to grow more and more like God, to develop more and more the spirit of God within you. You can often see in your fellow man those qualities and aspirations which you yourself possess. So also can God recognize His own Spirit in you. Your motives and aspirations can only be understood by those who have attained the same spiritual level as you have. today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may not expect complete understanding from others. I pray that I may only expect this from God as I try to grow more like Him. And for today's final reading, I'm going to read a short story from The Grapevine from January of 2015. And this is titled Traditions. ⁓ The other day, someone at our home group had to be interrupted by one of the long timers in the room. What could cause an interruption like this, you ask? Our group conscience says that the needs of the group come before the individual, in line with our first tradition. The limited time we have available is for carrying the message, not for providing a forum for someone to carry out a rant about how their life is all messed up. We try to be as tolerant as we can, But sometimes the meeting needs to get back on track. Where did I learn this? Some 25 years ago when I was a newcomer, my life was a complete mess. I was in a treatment center and learned to express my feelings in the group. However, the folks in AA were not so sure that was the answer. A couple of times people in meetings with a lot more time than me explained that it was in the best interest of the group that the members practiced the principles. My sponsor explained that it was best for me to call him with my problems and not to use up the group's time to vent all my feelings. He told me that it was okay to share about a problem no more than three times at a meeting. And I needed to try and share what kind of a solution I was going to be applying to the problem. He wanted me to get away from wallowing in my problem with its accompanying self-pity. Sometimes he would just ask, what step are you It does take some courage to interrupt someone when they wander off track, but in the long run it's best for the group. In my case, it was best for me in the long run too. There are times, however, when interruptions in meetings are not necessary for the good of AA. All too often I see a meeting interrupted with shouts of, who are you? When someone sharing inadvertently forgets to properly identify themselves. To me, this shows a lack of compassion and patience. Interruptions should be few and far between, such as when someone is disrupting the group. It's actually best to talk to someone after the meeting so that they are not made to feel less than. If you're ever in Roseburg, Oregon area, please stop in for a visit to my home group, the Brown Bag Group. It meets Monday through Friday at noon. You'll be made to feel welcome and will probably be asked to share. Newcomers are always welcome. That was written by Ken T. in Ten Mile, Oregon. This was a good reading and I can relate to some of this. I just want to add that when I was very new to AA, my sponsor told me after I had been complaining about someone who sharing about the same information every meeting I saw them about their dying horse, that if I can't sit quietly through three minutes of a share, then I have a lot more work to do on myself in the steps. And also that that person may need to share whatever it is they're sharing. If it's about their horse or about their kids or whatever it is, maybe that's what they need to share for their sobriety for that day. And so I hope you enjoyed that reading from the grapevine. So that's it for today's episode of Sober Readings. I hope you enjoyed the show and if you did, please do me a favor and hit that like button and share this episode. comment and let me know what you thought. And if you'd like to be a guest on the show, a guest reader on the show, just send me an email at sober readings with Scott at gmail.com. And also if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's readings, just go to sober readings.com and click the donate button. So thank you so much for listening. 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, keep coming back. Have a great day. And as my friend Larry says, best day ever.