Transcript

Peace Of Mind · Sober Readings

Scott Hayes: Morning and welcome to Sober Readings. My name is Scott. I am glad you're here with me today. Thank you for joining me. Today's Monday, September 14th. Let's begin 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, Peace of Mind. Do we lay the matter before our sponsor or spiritual advisor, earnestly asking God's help and guidance, meanwhile resolving to do the right thing when it becomes clear cost what it may? That's from the twelve steps and twelve traditions, pages eighty six to eighty seven. My belief in a higher power is an essential part of my work on step nine. Forgiveness, timing, and right motives are the other ingredients. My willingness to do the step is a growing experience that opens the door for new and honest relationships with the people I have harmed. My responsible action brings me closer to the spiritual principles of the program, love and service. Peace of mind, serenity, and a stronger faith are sure to follow. Today's reading from twenty four hours a day, september fourteenth, AA thought for the day. How does AA grow? Some of us sell AA as we go about. Little clusters of twos or threes and fives keep springing up in different communities through contact with the larger centers. Those of us who travel drop in at other groups as often as we can. This practice enables us to lend a hand to new groups which are springing up all over the land. New groups are being started each month. AA is even spreading outside the United States and is slowly becoming worldwide. Thus we grow. Today's question Am I doing all I can to spread AA wherever I go? And the meditation for the day. Lord, we believe. Help thou our unbelief. This cry of the human heart is an expression of human frailty. It signifies the soul's sincere desire for progress. As a person feels the existence of God in his power, that person believes in him more and more. At the same time, a person is more conscious of his falling short of absolute trust in God. The soul's progress is an increasing belief, then a cry for more faith, a plea to conquer all unbelief, all lack of trust. We can believe that that cry is heard by God and that prayer is answered in due time, and so our faith grows, little by little, day by day. The prayer for the day. I pray that with more power in my life will come more faith. I pray that I may come to trust God more each day. Next, let's read today's passage from Keep It Simple Daily Meditations for Twelve Step Beginnings and Renewal for September 14th. You must look into people as well as at them. That's a quote from Lord Chesterfield. When we were using alcohol and other drugs, we only looked at people. We treated them like objects. Often we could see only how they helped us get high or how they got in our way. Now we can see others as people. We look into them. We learn about their feelings and thoughts. We care about them. What a wonderful change. We are fully human again. We can have relationships. When we look into others, we see life. We see beauty, courage, hope, and love. We see bits of ourselves and our higher power. What a miracle life is. And the prayer for the day from this book, Higher Power, help me be fully human today. Help me see you in others. And the action for the day. Today I'll look into someone. I'll do this by having a talk with a friend, and I'll really listen. And for today's final reading, let's go to As Bill Sees It. Today we're reading from page 14 Newcomer Problems. The temptation is to become rather possessive of newcomers. Perhaps we try to give them advice about their affairs which we aren't really competent to give or ought not give at all. Then we are hurt and confused when the advice is rejected, or when it is accepted and brings still greater confusion. And that's on page one hundred one of the twelve and twelve. You can't make a horse drink water if he still prefers beer or is too crazy to know what he does want. Set a pail of water beside him, tell him how good it is and why, and leave him alone. If people really want to get drunk, there is, so far as I know, no way of stopping this. So leave them alone and let them get drunk. But don't exclude them from the water pail either. And that was written in a letter in 1942. And that's it for today's readings. I just want to make a comment real quick on the quote from Keep It Simple. It was, you must look into people as well as at them. And in sobriety, that reminds me not to judge someone only by what I can see on the surface. I can look at someone and see their behavior, their mistakes, their anger, or even the way they work their program, but looking into them requires empathy. It means remembering that there may be fear behind their anger or pain behind the attitude, or a struggle that I know nothing about. Recovery has taught me that everyone carries a story just like I do. And when I make the effort to understand rather than judge someone, it becomes easier to practice patience, tolerance, kindness, and love. And sometimes when I look deeply enough into another person, I recognize parts of myself. And that recognition can replace judgment with connection. And connection is the opposite of isolation. Thank you so much for listening to Sober Readings today. I hope you heard something that stays with you for the rest of your day. If you'd like to be a guest on the show and share your experience, strength, and hope with me, you'll find a link to my email in the notes down below, and I would love to hear from you. If you're enjoying sober readings and you'd like to help support the podcast, you can drop a dollar in the donation basket by using the link also in the show notes below. So again, thank you so much for listening today. As always, 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.