Latest / Sober Readings / Avoiding Controversy
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- 10 31Reading: Happy Halloween, trick-or-treaters. Today is Saturday, October thirty first. I want to know if everybody's wearing costumes and going out trick-or-treating tonight. That would be outstanding. Leave a comment down below and let me know what you're doing for Halloween. Welcome to Sober Readings. My name is Scott. today we're gonna be reading from Daily Reflections, twenty-four hours, and as Bill sees it, let's get started today like we always do 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. The topic and the title today for Daily Reflections is Avoiding Controversy. And I'm gonna skip right to the bottom section of this reading. As an AA member and sponsor, I know I can cause real damage if I yield to temptation and give opinions and advice on others' medical, marital, or religious problems. I'm not a doctor, counselor, or lawyer. I cannot tell anyone how he or she should live. However, I can share how I came through similar situations without drinking, and how AA's steps and traditions help me in dealing with my life. So let's talk about sponsorship for a minute. My job isn't to tell my sponsees how to live their lives. give them advice on all their problems or make a long list of requirements they have to follow. My job is to share my experience, strength, and hope, and explain what worked for me, what didn't work, and what I've learned along the way. I'm not a therapist or an authority over anyone else's sobriety. I'm just another alcoholic who's been through some struggles and found a way to live a better life through the 12 steps and the fellowship. And as we like to say in the rooms, I'm just another bozo on the bus. I can share how I work my program, how I handle difficult situations today, and how my higher power has helped me change. But ultimately, each sponsee has to find their own path in recovery. I believe sponsorship is about guiding rather than controlling, encouraging rather than demanding, and leading by example rather than giving orders. And one of the greatest gifts of sponsorship is that while I'm sharing my experiences to help another alcoholic, I'm reminded of the very things that I need to keep doing to maintain my own sobriety. Today's reading from twenty four hours. The AA Thought for the Day. I have more peace and contentment. Life has fallen into place. The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle have found their correct position. Scroll down a little bit. I found my place of rest, my place where I belong. I am content. I do not vainly wish for things I cannot have. And the question here, have I found contentment in AA? And today's meditation for the day is something that I really enjoyed, and I'll talk about this after. In all of us there is an inner consciousness that tells of God, an inner voice that speaks to our hearts. It is a voice that speaks to us intimately, personally. In a time of quiet meditation. We can reach out into the darkness and figuratively touch the hand of God. As the big book puts it, deep down in every man, woman, and child is the fundamental idea of God. We can find the great reality deep down within us. And when we find it, it changes our whole attitude toward life. And in today's prayer for the day, I'm praying that I may follow the leading of the inner voice. And then I may that I may not turn a deaf ear to the urging of my consciousness. And so I've learned in sobriety that there's a a quiet inner voice, a conscious, or what we sometimes call a gut feeling, that knows the right direction long before my mind is willing to accept it. The problem is that the voice in my head can be pretty loud sometimes. I want things to happen my way, right now, on my schedule, and according to what I think is best. And when I start forcing those things to happen, especially when something deep inside me is telling me, stop, don't do it, it's telling me otherwise, I usually end up creating more problems for myself. Today, I believe that that quiet voice is often my higher power guiding me, and that the gut feeling is one of the ways God communicates his will to me. But I have to be willing to listen and to be patient and to trust that God's plan might be different from my plan. Through prayer and meditation and working the pr working the program, I've become better at recognizing that voice and distinguishing it from my own selfish wants and desires. I've learned that I don't always have to push, control, or manipulate situations to get the outcome I want. Sometimes the best thing I can do is get out of my own way and trust that inner voice and simply say thy will, not mine, be done. And I'll also say that my morning prayers I say out loud. Because if I don't and I keep them in my head, they get mangled up with all those other thoughts in my head. And it doesn't seem to feel the same as if I say that out loud. So for today's final reading, let's go to As Bill Sees It. And this one is titled Material Achievement. No member of AA wants to deprecate material achievement, nor do we enter into debate with the many who cling to the belief that to satisfy our basic natural desires is the main object of life. But we are sure that no class of people in the world ever made a worse mess of trying to live by this formula than alcoholics. We demanded more than our share of security, prestige, and romance. When we seemed to be succeeding, we We drank to dream still greater dreams. When we were frustrated, even in part, we drank for oblivion. In all these strivings, so many of them well intentioned, our crippling handicap was our lack of humility. We lacked the perspective to see that character building and spiritual values had to come first, and that material satisfactions were simply byproducts and not the chief aims of life. And that comes from the twelve and twelve. And I think for me, I finally realized that no amount of money or possessions or material success will ever make me truly happy, joyous, and free, as it says in the big book. There's nothing wrong with having nice things or earning a lot of money or enjoying the rewards of hard work. But when those things become the focus of my life, I'm setting myself up for disappointment. There's always going to be a nicer car, a a bigger house, more money to make. Or something else I convince myself I need in order to be happy. And the problem with that kind of thinking is that enough is never enough. I always want more. And I've learned that true happiness doesn't come from what I own, but from who I am and how I act. It comes from having peace of mind, a clear conscience, meaningful relationships, a connection with my higher power, and the ability to help others without expecting anything in return. Some of the greatest gifts I've received in sobriety haven't cost me a single penny. Today I'd much rather have a grateful heart, a peaceful mind, and a life filled with purpose than a house full of possessions, a brand new truck, and an empty feeling inside, which r is really the result of all those things. To me, that's what being happy, joyous, and free is really all about. And so that's it for today's episode of Sober Readings. Thank you so much for listening. Go enjoy your Halloween, get some good candy, and thanks for spending a few minutes of your day with me. So be good to yourselves, be good to others, and remember, we only have to do this one day at a time. So 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.