Readings for each day of the week
Alcoholics Anonymous, pages 86 to 88; Step Eleven, morning
Friday
On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.
Saturday
In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don’t struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while. What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it.
Sunday
We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems. We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn’t work. You can easily see why.
Monday
If circumstances warrant, we ask our wives or friends to join us in morning meditation. If we belong to a religious denomination which requires a definite morning devotion, we attend to that also. If not members of religious bodies, we sometimes select and memorize a few set prayers which emphasize the principles we have been discussing.
Tuesday
There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one’s priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer.
Wednesday
As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day “Thy will be done.” We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions.
Thursday
We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.
It works—it really does.
We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined.
Calendar readings
01 January 2021
Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar.
C. S. Lewis
02 January 2021
It’s hard to keep from trying to control the lives of others, especially in a family. We can learn from the man whose friend drove twenty miles to and from work on the freeway every day. “How can you do it?” he asked. “I’ve tried, and I can’t go a mile in such traffic without screaming at the crazy drivers who cut in, go too slow, change lanes. Nobody listens. I’d lose my mind if I had to do it your way.” His friend replied, “Your trouble is trying to drive every car around you. I relax and drive only one car—my own.”
Thought For The Day
03 January 2021
This vast universe around us, including this wonderful earth on which we live, was once perhaps only a thought in the mind of God. The nearer the astronomers and the physicists get to the ultimate composition of all things, the nearer the universe approaches a mathematical formula, which is thought. The universe may be the thought of the Great Thinker. We must try to think God’s thoughts after Him. We must try to get guidance from the Divine Mind as to what His intention is for the world and what part we can have in carrying out that intention.
The Little Black Book
04 January 2021
This material world is not your true place, for your soul descended into this body from a luminous, heavenly place.
And you are here for a purpose, to channel that heavenly light into this world.
Likutei Sichot, vol. 15, pg. 433
05 January 2021
In 1990 I gave Max a written Declaration of Emotional Independence. It stated that she was no longer responsible for my feelings and I was no longer responsible for hers. My anger and all my feelings, I admitted, came from me, not from her. From that point on, I could no longer say, “You made me angry.” I could only say, “I chose to get angry when you did what you did.”
Dr Paul O
06 January 2021
I first learned the concept of non-violence in my marriage.
Mohandas K. Gandhi
07 January 2021
Those who will play with cats must expect to be scratched.
Cervantes
08 January 2021
There is a widely held belief in A.A. that if a newcomer will simply continue to attend meetings, “Something will finally rub off on you.” And the implication, of course, is that the something which rubs off will be this so-called miracle of A.A. Now, there is no doubt in my mind that many people in A.A. accept this statement quite literally. I have observed them over the years. They faithfully attend meetings, faithfully waiting for “something to rub off.” The funny part about it is that “something” is rubbing off on them. Death. They sit there — week after month after year — while mental, spiritual, and physical rigor mortis slowly sets in. I believe the real “miracle of A.A.,” the “something” that will rub off, we hope, is simply the alcoholic’s willingness to act.
A Member’s Eye View of Alcoholics Anonymous
09 January 2021
I greet The Indwelling Warehouse Keeper within Us.
Today’s “Pay Forward” gift is—Invisible Means of Support. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy,” (Martin Luther King, Jr). I had no firm ground to stand on when I came to Alcoholics Anonymous. I had worn out all who knew me. People were tired of me breaking my word, which I had intended to keep. The life of an active alcoholic was my failing support. The way I reacted to challenge was with anger and by blaming others. Joining my AA support group in service, I was willing and able to take suggestions. I became part of, instead of apart from. I was learning to trust my AA group. I accepted the dismantling of my personal “reality”, my false self, by working the Steps and by watching the successful, peaceful members of Alcoholics Anonymous. I began to give and receive unconditional love: selfishness cannot survive in the presence of continuous self-giving. It does not matter what a newcomer has done or not done—we want them to keep coming. That’s as unconditionally loving as humans can be. By the grace of our Father through our support group, we are doing the impossible; for us that’s a miracle. “Sometimes the worst thing that happens to you, the thing you can’t survive … that’s the thing that makes you better than you used to be,” Jennifer Weiner. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
10 January 2021
A visitor to an insane asylum found one of the inmates rocking back and forth in a chair cooing repeatedly in a soft, contented manner, “Lulu, Lulu ...”
“What’s this man’s problem?” he asked the doctor.
“Lulu. She was the woman who jilted him,” was the doctor’s reply.
As they proceeded on the tour they came to a padded cell whose occupant was banging his head repeatedly against the wall and moaning, “Lulu, Lulu, ...”
“Is Lulu this man’s problem, too?” asked the visitor.
“Yes,” said the doctor. “He’s the one Lulu finally married.”
Reported by Anthony de Mello
11 January 2021
I greet The Indwelling Presence within Us.
Today’s “Pay Forward” gift is—Altering My Consciousness. When I was around 8 or 9 years old, I was already trying to alter the way I experience life. I would whirl until I was too dizzy to stand. Later, I heard about the Whirling Dervishes, whirling rapidly to bring about a mystical state. They were taught to love everyone. I tried to copy them but couldn’t. ... Smoking, drinking, and sex altered my state of consciousness for a while. ... We have to get to the conditions and causes: the root of our alcoholism was seeking a different way to alter our consciousness. How and when did you alter your consciousness, or did you? Practising AA’s principles, I had a Spiritual awakening, which altered my consciousness at a much deeper level. Now, I know to travel within for that desired shift in my consciousness. I want a Spiritual union with our Father within to continue: join me on that serendipity journey Home. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
12 January 2021
The plans you make for safety all are laid within the future, where you cannot plan. No purpose has been given it as yet, and what will happen has as yet no cause. Who can predict effects without a cause? And who could fear effects unless he thought they had been caused, and judged disastrous now? Belief in sin arouses fear, and like its cause, is looking forward, looking back, but overlooking what is here and now. Yet only here and now its cause must be, if its effects already have been judged as fearful.
A Course In Miracles, T-26.VIII.5
13 January 2021
Only the darkness must wind itself to its end, and it must be robbed of the treasures it holds. For the most precious things of this world are held in darkness. That is why we must struggle with the darkness now and not run from it. All the torment it gives us, all our toil to overcome it, to tame it and to dig out the diamonds it conceals, all is with meaning and purpose.
Bringing Heaven Down To Earth, Book Two
14 January 2021
Yet space between you and your brother is apparent only in the present, now, and cannot be perceived in future time. No more can it be overlooked except within the present. Future loss is not your fear. But present joining is your dread. Who can feel desolation except now? A future cause as yet has no effects. And therefore must it be that if you fear, there is a present cause. And it is this that needs correction, not a future state.
A Course In Miracles, T-26.VIII.4
15 January 2021
Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day ... The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.
Seneca
16 January 2021
I greet The Indwelling Creator within Us.
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—Co-creating. ‘One of the most important things to remember is that we are always causing something to be created for us. And that whatever cause we have set in motion must produce some kind of effect,’ (The Science of Mind, page 194). Every thought is co-creating or making up our world view. When my thoughts are in alignment with our Father’s Will, I am co-creating. When my thoughts are in the image and likeness of my personal ‘reality’, they express my defective, too-limited world view. I am practising Alcoholics Anonymous’s Spiritual principles and rewriting and rewiring my storehouse of old useless and harmful ideas and beliefs. Accepting my powerlessness and my defects, I was able to surrender them to our Father, to be transformed into assets. By accepting our Father’s grace my whole being is brought into alignment with His Will, His Love. ‘The Law of Detachment says that in order to acquire anything in the physical universe, you have to relinquish your attachment to it’ (Deepak Chopra). Letting go of my way, opens me up to our Father’s Will. Out of enlightened self-interest I detach from what is no longer useful or is harmful. ‘You must be the change you wish to see in the world’ (Mohandas Gandhi). Gandhi was one of my greatest heroes. He understood the true meaning of co-creating, and demonstrated it in the way he lived; he changed the way I view the world. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
17 January 2021
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
18 January 2021
Be expectant. Constantly expect better things. Believe that what God has in store for you is better than anything you ever had before. The way to grow old happily is to expect better things right up to the end of your life and even beyond that. A good life is a growing, expanding life, with ever-widening horizons, an ever-greater circle of friends and acquaintances, and an ever-greater opportunity for usefulness.
Anonymous
19 January 2021
Absolutely nothing is too good to be true, too wonderful to happen or too good to last. I have unshakable faith in the perfect outworking of every situation in my life, for God is in absolute control, and all things are working together for my highest good and all is well. And so it is and so I let it be!
Anonymous
20 January 2021
We’ve all heard the story of the impoverished villager who dreams of a treasure buried under a bridge in Krakow. Arriving in the big city, he locates the bridge of his dream. The tollkeeper, noticing a loitering man with a shovel and suspicious intentions, confronts the pauper, who confesses his mission. “Dreams!” exclaims the guard. “Why, only last night I dreamt that in the home of Chaim Yankel the peddler in the village of Usseldorf, a chest of gold coins is buried in the wall behind the stove. So do I travel all the way to Usseldorf to break down the wall of some poor yokel’s home?” Chaim Yankel hurries home, demolishes the wall behind his stove, and lives happily ever after on his buried treasure.
Chabad.org
21 January 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—Seek And Find Our Created Self. ‘It’s quite simple: it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eyes,’ Antoine De Saint-Exupéry. What I call divine discontent is that part of our guidance system that is telling us we are acting, feeling, or thinking in a way that is contrary to our created Self. It is always present, but too often our conscious mind is dwelling on a useless side-track. I am reminded that we did not create, nor do we maintain ourselves; that is beyond humans’ pay grade. It’s an infinite intelligence within each of us doing the works. Alcoholics Anonymous found its beginning in the Oxford Group. Some of our AA members had/have a problem accepting the Oxford Group’s Four Absolutes—Love—Unselfishness—Purity—Honesty. At best I can only handle a few short moments at a time. I am OK living AA’s three essentials—Honesty—Willingness—Open-Mindedness. ‘We are not saints. The point is that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.’ To live AA’s spiritual principles as a way of life, and receiving the promises, involves a real commitment, with our heart, mind, strength, and soul; in other words it is seeking, and awakening to our Higher Power and our created Self; it’s a very good investment. I soon found that ‘Half measures availed us nothing.’ Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
22 January 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—The Coming Of The Kingdom. A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain to the level of any adult expert. They come from many walks of life. The widely propagated claim that most humans only use 10 per cent of their brain’s capacity seems to have some validity, if one compares the average human being to a child prodigy. Before I began to practise spiritual principles as a way of life, 10 per cent was a generous guesstimate. When I was meditating on child prodigies, it came to me that our Father is giving us a preview of how humans will be when His Kingdom has come in earth as it is heaven. We will have the wisdom to know that His Will and Love is being done. By practising the spiritual principles we find in The Sermon on the Mount, in all our affairs, we have found much of our Father’s Kingdom in our daily life here and now. ‘Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls. For Life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me,’ Kahlil Gibran. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
23 January 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—The Kingdom Of Heaven Within. I did not create myself, nor do I maintain myself, alone and unaided, by transforming what I eat into flesh, bones, energy, in other words, everything we call life. There is an infinite intelligence, and indwelling Presence within each of us doing that. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you and me. Heaven means the Omnipresence of our Creator. It is by His grace that you and I are expressing some tiny part of His Will and His Love. I am consciously and consistently seeking to practise the Presence of our Father. I fall far short of my goal. When I fail, I am quick to forgive myself, dust myself off, and get back on the path. There is only one of each of our Father’s individually divinely designed beings. You and I are one of those. If you took just one cell from an individual, the DNA of that cell would identify an individual. The indwelling Presence is within each living cell. The Kingdom of Heaven is present within every living cell. We are never separate from our Father, which art in Heaven; His Holy Spirit. Every separation is only an illusion we made up or went along with—the big lie. If you want to experience the omnipresence of the Kingdom of Heaven, take a serendipity journey within yourself, via prayer and meditation, starting at the invisible silent gateway of your heart. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
24 January 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—Love Part Eleven—Self-Love—’To thine own self be true, and, like the night follows the day, thou canst not be false to any man.’ What we receive by Grace, from our Creator, we become, and we must pass it on, to fulfil, express, demonstrate, and experience it. ‘You cannot lose that which belongs to you by right of consciousness.’ What you see is your own concept. Each of us was created as an individual, which means that we each have a purpose. We cannot be happy and fulfilled being anything else. We need to give away some of whatever we have received and become by our Father’s grace; otherwise our assets will not expand and grow. To be a master receiver, we must become a master giver, that is giving all of our self, to whomever we are drawn to. ‘Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of thy heart, and with all thy soul, and all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second in like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the laws and the prophets,’ (Matthew 22). We must forgive and love ourselves, or else we will have to say, ‘Poor neighbour!’ Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
25 January 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—Love Part Ten—Primal Love, the most basic of all loves and the second most inclusive. Without Primal Love we could not have what we call life. It is the sharing of itself, from the simplest expression to the most complex, and this is the origin of meaning and purpose. No matter what the motive may be, sharing is a form of love. To the degree we can realise our Higher Power’s Divine Design, Blueprint, found in His expressions of love, we know His Will. To realise this gives us a better opportunity to choose His Will. His universal love is truly all-inclusive, even for you and me. All things are rendered conscious through their capacity to be conscious. ‘Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower, but it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee. For, to the bee, a flower is a fountain of life, And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love, And to both bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy. People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees,’ (The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran). ‘Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?’ (Job 12:9). Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
26 January 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—Love Part Nine—Eros. Here are a few of its characteristics. Falling in love is something that happens. It comes by grace. Being in love is something we do. Eros is like a garden, which must be cared for. Sexual desire without Eros wants ‘it’—gratification—and then loses interest. When Eros is present, one wants and needs ‘this’ person and no other. With Eros, lovers are face to face; they talk a lot about their relationship, each other, and how they affect each other. Even if the lovers are bad for each other and the relationship is really sick, they would rather be with their lover than anyone else. If your innermost self does not tell you this, it is not Eros. When we make a god of our love, it will fall short. Eros is a need-love. Eros calls on all past and present lovers to join in an understanding of ‘this’ love as a universal union. Lovers have their own individual ‘laws’ that give the illusion of overriding God’s universal principles, but these ‘laws’ will fail. Eros may suffer long, with unending toils for the beloved, giving up family, friends, career, health, wealth, power, and honour, yet count it as nothing to win their beloved. To be in love one promises and intends eternal constancy, ‘I shall ever be true,’ without being asked. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
27 January 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—Love Part Eight—Philia. Here are a few of its characteristics. It may be the most spiritual and the most evil. A group of friends is at some level a resistance movement. The approval of our friends is what matters, not what outsiders think or believe. So a great deal of good and bad stuff may come out of a strong group of friends. Philia is the most misunderstood and neglected love. It’s the least biological of the loves. It is the least jealous, selfish, or threatening, and the least, natural or necessary. Friends walk side-by-side, talk little about their relationship, or about themselves, but more about what they have in common; it can change by grace. Unlike Eros, more than two are better, in fact, the bigger the group of friends one has, the more powerful and fulfilling. Philia can be totally opposed to what we believe to be the Nature of God. Friends may join together to do some of the most selfish, hideous, dreadful, unfair, appalling, cowardly things known to mankind in the name of their group, often caring nothing for the wellbeing of any outsider. A group of friends makes those who are brave braver, a kind person kinder, and a cruel person crueller. In other words, it underlines, endorses, and sanctions its members. Alcoholics Anonymous is an easy place to make friends, because we have so much in common—both the recovery and the dis-ease. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
28 January 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—Love Part Seven—Storge. Here are some of its characteristics. It has a driving need to be needed (one example being a mother giving all to her baby). It is the most homely, comfortable, the least demanding of others, and it’s humble—it can serve love to anyone. It is the most common and peaceful of the loves. It often appears to be Agape because it gives so much, but its affection, nurturing can turn into hate. It is a need-love, not a Gift-Love. Too often people think that it’s their ‘right’ by birth, in the context of the types of relationship or rules they make up, freeing them from any form of responsibility. Storge is seen all throughout nature, like a dog wagging its tail at those they know and barking at those they don’t know. Storge may get jealous when a loved one finds a new way of life that seems to exclude them. Some experienced from their family and friends this when they joined AA. Storge is based on dependence, the need for others, and it often turns sick with over-dependency, then fear, anger, and resentments. Motherly love is often a love for the helpless. The AA member has a need to share their experience, strength, and hope with others. A sponsor, even as a mother, has a need to bring their sponsee to the point where the sponsor is no longer needed. Holding on after that time can cause problems. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
29 January 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—Love Part Six—Agape; unconditional love. Affirming love’s characteristics: the Spiritual Love which goes out from us to God came first from Him. Where Agape is, the Presence of God Is, for God Is Love. When we have cleaned house, new useless illusions rush in, but when God arrives, Agape fills our consciousness, and the demi-gods are transformed into His service. The need for the beloved is not love. The desire to be loved is not love. The delight in being loved is not love. When Agape enters our natural loves, Philia, Storge, Eros, Primal Love, and Self-Love are transformed into God’s loving service. Agape is a Gift-Love. Each of the natural loves is a reflection of Agape, but all fall short. Natural loves are need-loves, whilst Agape has no need. God’s Love works both ways. He gives us His Love, and He causes us to be able to receive His Love. With this come the ability to love others, and also the ability to receive love from others. It enables us to love Him back. With Agape we need humans less but delight in loving more. With Storge, Philia, Eros, and Self-Love we have a problem receiving the unconditional Love of God, because we are so conditional. Humans want to be loved and special in the eyes of God or others. We are created in our Father’s image and likeness, which is love, and so are we. Thy Love, Thy Will Be done.
Al Kohallek
30 January 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—Love Part Five. ‘Let us love, since that is all our hearts were made for.’ St Thérèse of Lisieux. Let’s take a look at another group of examples of love. Agape (Spiritual Love—God is Love), Storge (Affection—Nurturing), Philia (Friendship), Eros (Being in Love—Romance), Primal Love (all-inclusive expressions of love), and Self-Love (the least understood). The divisions of love may be endless. Most of us have from time to time tried to generalise love, as though one love fits all. For example: two people may be the best of friends (Philia), and then they decide to add romance to the relationship (Eros); perhaps a little sex is included. Before long, all kinds of problems come up, the fun flows out; the demands charge in. Another example: Primal Love—the creative action of extension or sharing—is a manifestation of love, from the simplest form of creation to the most complex, an expression of Omnipresence; it can seem to be Agape (Spiritual Love—God is Love), the First Cause, of which Primal Love is simply an effect, an expression. Another example: perhaps the most limiting and harmful misunderstanding is that of Self-Love, believing it is the same as selfish, ego-driven self-centeredness. All relationships are expressions of love, but often we need the Eyes to see beyond the appearance. Ask your Higher Power for guidance on your serendipity journey towards love. Perhaps these ‘Pay Forward’ affirmations will help broaden and deepen our understanding of love, our true nature, and its Loving Source. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
31 January 2021
Do not offer advice unless it is asked for.
Do not offer advice unless qualified.
Judge no person, situation, or circumstance.
Encourage others to rely on God.
When you don’t know, say so.
Let others seek clarity from God
Trust God’s aim will be achieved.
Dwell on the good.
Realise: God is in everything.
Discern others’ good intentions.
Anonymous
1 February 2021
... there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
Hamlet
2 February 2021
There is no use in merely saying everything will be alright. Thinking rightly, of course, means putting God into all your affairs and expecting him to change them. For example, if you are living in a shack it is no good pretending that it is a palace. Cheap optimism is never spiritual. Realise that you are living in a shack, but claim the Presence of God to guide you to something better.
Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path… (Psalm 27:11).
Emmet Fox
03 February 2021
When the mind is at peace, the world too is at peace. Nothing real, nothing absent. Not holding on to reality, not getting stuck in the void, you are neither holy nor wise, just an ordinary fellow who has completed his work. And God Himself shall wipe away all tears. Father, unless I judge I cannot weep. Nor can I suffer pain, or feel I am abandoned or unneeded in the world. This is my home because I judge it not.
Mixture of sources
04 February 2021
Let me today behold the world uncondemned, through happy eyes forgiveness has released from all distortion. Let me see Your world instead of mine. And all the tears I shed will be forgotten, for their source is gone. Father, I will not judge Your world today.
A Course In Miracles
05 February 2021
God’s world is happy. Those who look on it can only add their joy to it, and bless it as a cause of further joy in them. We wept because we did not understand. But we have learned the world we saw was false, and we will look upon God’s world today.
A Course In Miracles
06 February 2021
When this pain is no longer needed it will leave. It is filling a need presently—I now choose release the need and replace my judgements of right and wrong, guilt, punishment, and blame with the reality of God’s healing, forgiveness, and correction for myself and others—I know prayer works, so I pray for the ultimate good of all today!
07 February 2021
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Rumi
08 February 2021
Everyone who needs help, regardless of the form of his distress, is attacking himself, and his peace of mind is suffering in consequence. These tendencies are often described as “self-destructive,” and the patient often regards them in that way himself. What he does not realize and needs to learn is that this “self,” which can attack and be attacked as well, is a concept he made up. Further, he cherishes it, defends it, and is sometimes even willing to “sacrifice” his “life” on its behalf. For he regards it as himself. This self he sees as being acted on, reacting to external forces as they demand, and helpless midst the power of the world.
A Course In Miracles
09 February 2021
[the therapeutic process], then, must restore to his awareness the ability to make his own decisions. He must become willing to reverse his thinking, and to understand that what he thought projected its effects on him were made by his projections on the world. The world he sees does therefore not exist.
A Course In Miracles
10 February 2021
... Its whole function, in the end, is to help the patient deal with one fundamental error; the belief that anger brings him something he really wants, and that by justifying attack he is protecting himself. To whatever extent he comes to realize that this is an error, to that extent is he truly saved.
A Course In Miracles
11 February 2021
... Their aim is to be able to retain their self-concept exactly as it is, but without the suffering that it entails. Their whole equilibrium rests on the insane belief that this is possible. And because to the sane mind it is so clearly impossible, what they seek is magic. In illusions the impossible is easily accomplished, but only at the cost of making illusions true. The patient has already paid this price. Now he wants a “better” illusion.
A Course In Miracles
12 February 2021
No joy can equal the joy of serving others
Sai Baba
13 February 2021
Look out into the universe and contemplate the glory of God. Observe the stars, millions of them, twinkling in the night sky, all with a message of unity, part of the very nature of God.
Sai Baba
14 February 2021
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song, a medley of extemporanea, And love is a thing that can never go wrong, and I am Marie of Romania.
Dorothy Parker
You cannot love parts of reality and understand what love means. … To believe that special relationships, with special love, can offer you salvation is the belief that separation is salvation. … Because of guilt, all special relationships have elements of fear in them. This is why they shift and change so frequently. They are not based on changeless love alone. … The Holy Spirit knows no one is special. Yet He also perceives that you have made special relationships, which He would purify and not let you destroy. However unholy the reason you made them may be, He can translate them into holiness by removing as much fear as you will let Him. You can place any relationship under His care and be sure that it will not result in pain, if you offer Him your willingness to have it serve no need but His.
A Course In Miracles
15 February 2021
You seek too much information and not enough transformation.
Sai Baba
16 February 2021
It is only in the depths of silence that the voice of God can be heard.
Sai Baba
17 February 2021
Be simple and sincere.
Sai Baba
18 February 2021
Let us love and serve each other and be happy.
Sai Baba
19 February 2021
Love is selflessness. Self is lovelessness.
Sai Baba
20 February 2021
When you undertake to do something, do it thoroughly or not at all.
Sai Baba
21 February 2021
All action results from thought, so it is thoughts that matter.
Sai Baba
22 February 2021
There is no use if knowledge grows while desires multiply. It makes one a hero in words and a zero in action.
Sai Baba
23 February 2021
Today’s ‘Pay Forward’ gift is—The Boss Is Never Too ‘Busy’. I was not going to write an affirmation today because I am too ‘busy’. When I take a little time out to rest from my busyness, I realise the Infinite Presence I depend on never sleeps and never takes time out or a day off, although some believe He does. I am reminded that I don’t attend to all my ‘important busyness’ very well by trying to do it alone and unaided. Yesterday and today, I have many opportunities to watch the play of life and love unfolding. I know that sounds like I’m being judgemental, and, you’re right, it is just a hair’s breadth away. But in reality, it is an opportunity when I see lack to extend silently to others what is most fulfilling; that is I can offer a prayer for that person or those persons. Prayer does change us: it is love unfolding by means of grace, and it is fulfilling. Yesterday I saw so many calls for love. Some think or feel no one knows that their hunger and thirst for love is showing. Some are experiencing a ‘hidden’ sober love affair no one could possible know about, as they have been so careful. Our minds are in direct union with the Divine Mind, calling us to come out and play, to express the love we are. I pray for the vision to see and hear the call for love beyond the surface and to extend it. Yes, love is a healing power touching everything, everyone into Wholeness. Love is also our teacher and forgiver. Come let us love one another. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Al Kohallek
24 February 2021
Two camels meet on the steep ascent to Beit-Horon; if they both ascend simultaneously, both will tumble down into the valley. If they ascend one after the other, both can go up safely. How should they act? If one is laden and the other unladen, the unladen camel should let the laden one go first.
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 32b
25 February 2021
W-pI.8.2. The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here. 2 To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. 3 Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. 4 The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything.
A Course In Miracles
26 February 2021
“A Vidalia onion is not an apple. When I was a kid, there was a story on the news about a new kind of onion that was so sweet you could eat it like an apple: Vidalia onions. My mom and I thought that was so cool, like Willy Wonka’s Gobstoppers. So, we got on her ATV, went to Kroger’s, and bought a bag of Vidalia onions. We didn’t even wait to get home. We sat in the parking lot and on three, we each took a huge bite. And you know what they tasted like? Fudging onions.
The world is a Vidalia onion. It’s a lie, it stinks, and it makes you cry. Sooner or later you just gotta stop biting onions.”
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only manages well?
Big Book
27 February 2021
“This world was over long ago.”
A Course In Miracles
Al Kohallek
28 February 2021
I believe our pains as well as our joys are our ‘growing-up’ messengers. Our pain tells us we are off purposeful path, and our joy tells us we are on it. Currently I have a pain in my neck. It began two nights ago when I had a nightmare; I was trapped in a box alive and could not get out. I was in great fear trying to fight my way out, straining every muscle of my body. When I awakened I had this pain in my neck. At this time, I am very busy with a number of projects, most of which I know how to do. Although I continue to do my morning prep-work, which includes prayer, meditation, reading and writing, I feel rushed. When I reminded myself this morning that my pain in my neck is my messenger telling me I am off my mission path, I prayed for understanding. The insight coming to me is simple. Because most of the ‘too many’ projects are things I can do, I forgot to first centre myself within our Father, which left the results up to me, alone and unaided. I am reminded how much I act as if it is me alone and unaided doing the works. I don’t even think about my breathing as long as it is flowing freely, but let it get blocked and watch me turn to prayer. Many years ago I began building a habit of say our Creator’s name, Father, which centred me within my True Source. At some point that habit lost its deeper meaning, as heart knowledge and became head knowledge. This pain in my neck reminded me I forgot to include my Source at all levels. This does not require perfection but a genuine striving for that perfection. Let me remember even for this instant to turn to our Father and then go about my little works. Thy Love, Thy Will be done.
Friday
On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.
Saturday
In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don’t struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while. What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it.
Sunday
We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems. We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn’t work. You can easily see why.
Monday
If circumstances warrant, we ask our wives or friends to join us in morning meditation. If we belong to a religious denomination which requires a definite morning devotion, we attend to that also. If not members of religious bodies, we sometimes select and memorize a few set prayers which emphasize the principles we have been discussing.
Tuesday
There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one’s priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer.
Wednesday
As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day “Thy will be done.’’ We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions.
Thursday
We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.
It works—it really does.
We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined.
Calendar readings
01 March 2021
‘As each part [of the individual divine designed body] does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.’ (Ephesians 4:16) We may place a number of other bodies in the brackets, but the spiritual principle will still be served. The growth of our divine purpose is an ongoing process. It is like a seed we plant in the ground, where it germinates. Later in the process, it will bear fruit. We are in a process and we will bear fruit. We have a choice as to what we do with that fruit when we harvest it. Will we freely share it even as it was given to us? If our partner is our Father we are compelled to share it, knowing there is an abundance of leftovers. Loving service in not blind; it merely sees only what matters. Likewise, faith. Come, let us be about our Father’s business. If we choose, we can work out of the AA office. ‘Thy love; Thy will be done.’
Al Kohallek
02 March 2021
Sandy Beach would tell a story about his sponsor stopping him from saying, ‘you might be right,’ suggesting he instead say, ‘I was wrong’: his point was that whole programme can be condensed to three words: ‘change your mind’. We need to access sufficient grace to implement page 66’s ‘column 3½’: we were prepared to see things from an entirely different angle.
Anonymous
03 March 2021
Fr Rohr says that we either transform our pain or we continually transmit it—to our partner, our spouse, our children, our friends, our colleagues, our ‘enemies.’ Usually we just continue to project it outward and blame someone else for causing our pain and are generally inclined to either create victims of others or play the victim ourselves, both of which are no solution but only perpetuate the problem.
Anonymous
04 March 2021
I believe there is a big difference between giving up and letting go. Letting go means freeing yourself from something that is no longer serving you. It means removing toxic people and belief systems from your life so that you can make room for relationships and ideas that are conducive to your wellbeing and happiness. Giving up reduces your life. Letting go expands it. Giving up is imprisoning. Letting go is liberation. Giving up is self-defeat. Letting go is self-care. So the next time you make the decision to release something or someone that is stifling your happiness and growth, and a person has the audacity to accuse you of giving up or being weak, remind yourself of the difference. Remind yourself that you don’t need anyone’s permission or approval to live your life in the way that feels right. No one has the authority to tell you who to be or how to live.
Anonymous
05 March 2021
Forgiveness of ourselves and of others releases us from the past. The Course in Miracles says over and over that forgiveness is the answer to everything. I know that when we are stuck, it usually means there is some more forgiving to be done. When we do not flow freely with life in the present moment, it usually means we are holding on to a past moment. It can be regret, sadness, hurt, fear, or guilt, blame, anger, resentment, and sometimes even the desire for revenge. Each one of these states comes from a space of non-forgiveness, a refusal to let go and come into the present moment.
Anonymous
06 March 2021
There is an old Emmet Fox exercise for dissolving resentment that always works. He recommends that you sit quietly, close your eyes, and allow your mind and body to relax. Then, imagine yourself sitting in a darkened theatre, and in front of you is a small stage. On that stage, place the person you resent the most. It could be someone in the past or present, living or dead. When you see this person clearly, visualise good things happening to this person, things that would be meaningful to them. See her smiling and happy.
Hold this image for a few minutes, then let it fade away. I like to add another step. As this person leaves the stage, put yourself up there. See good things happening to you. See yourself smiling and happy. Be aware that the abundance of the Universe is available to all of us.
The above exercise dissolves the dark clouds of resentment most of us carry. For some, it will be very difficult to do. Each time you do it, you may get a different person. Do it once a day for a month, and notice how much lighter you feel and the sense of freedom you get.
Anonymous
07 March 2021
God has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. God has no body now on earth but yours.
Anonymous
08 March 2021
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing that you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and everyone of us.
Anonymous
09 March 2021
I still have to be vigilant with my thoughts at all times. As times goes on I find it easier to invite God in as my partner and work with God instead of against God by replacing seeing the bad in myself and others and situations with finding and seeing only the good. Today I try to see everything as one of two pathways toward one ultimate goal of love. Everything, without exception, is either an expression of love or a cry for love. When I see my or others’ failings and misbehaviour in this light of love, it is the perfect substitution. ‘You will learn the full meaning of “Love thy neighbour as thyself.”‘ (page 153).
Anonymous
10 March 2021
There comes a moment in life when we see that the horizon line no longer stretches to infinity and time’s a-wasting. The distractions of worldly clamours, whether within or without, lose their grip. We were given a purpose that has nothing to do with how much we earn, our job title, the kind of car we drive, or where we live. Authenticity becomes more important than others’ opinions.
‘This is the day the Lord hath made.’ THIS is the day. What will I do with it? What will I serve? Will I step closer to becoming who I was meant to be?
Anonymous
11 March 2021
With a loving heart, I practice non-resistance.
I may not always agree with another person’s opinion. During those times, I focus on the idea of non-resistance—an acceptance of what is minus labels or condemnation. Applying my spiritual gift of discernment, I acknowledge my opinion is just one viewpoint.
I pray not to change a situation I don’t like or the perspective of another human being. Rather, I pray to be aware of my thoughts, to remember the spiritual truth of my being. I am one with the ever-present divine flow.
External events and situations have no effect on the calm peace of my soul. With a loving heart, I accept what is. Through the practice of non-resistance, I learn to receive gifts in every experience. I move through life with patience, love, and non-resistance.
Anonymous
12 March 2021
As Chuck C put it, ‘If we’re going to work with alcoholics, we can’t afford to become emotionally involved in their problem, or we lose all of our possibility for help. You’ve got to stay above the problem. Now it seems like, maybe, that would be a cold attitude. It is not. You have to love more to stay emotionally uninvolved in the problem than you do to become involved in it. The answer is not in the problem; the answer is in the answer. I worked on my problem for ten years, and the more I looked at the problem and the harder I worked on the problem, the greater the problem became. It was just like fertilising and watering and cultivating a weed. It grew out of all proportions. I think we have to be able to live above the problem to be of value to those that have it. We don’t get emotionally involved in the problem. It’s not that we love less; it’s that we love more. I think it takes much more love to release than it does to hold onto.’
Anonymous
13 March 2021
We sometimes discover within ourselves a flow of thought that has been evolved independently of the reasoning process, and we are puzzled about its origin and its safety as a guide. In its beginnings this seemingly strange source of knowledge is turned aside as a day-dream; again it seems a distant voice, an echo of something that we have heard and forgotten. One should give attention to this unusual and usually faint whispering of Spirit in man. It is the development in man of a greater capacity to know himself and to understand the purpose of creation.
truthunity.net
14 March 2021
Misunderstanding and disappointment arise when people mistake the teaching for some kind of elaborate conjuring trick. When a man supposes that by a wave of the hand, or the repetition of an incantation, his circumstances can be changed for the better without any corresponding change in his own mentality, he is doomed to disappointment.
Emmet Fox
15 March 2021
No matter how you seem to fatten on a crime, there can never be good for the bee which is bad for the hive.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
16 March 2021
Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. (Page 58, Big Book)
Rather than using the topic to share about oneself, one should use oneself to share about the topic. (Anonymous)
17 March 2021
Don’t mistake gratitude for the programme for personal affection or attachment. (Anonymous)
Your pet Komodo dragon does not love you. It loves heat and flies. And you supply both. (Anonymous)
18 March 2021
Passion governs, and she never governs wisely. What we can’t remedy we must endeavour to bear.
From Benjamin Franklin to Joseph Galloway, 5–7 February 1775
19 March 2021
Taking a question into Step Eleven:
What am I going to ask?
What is the intent behind the question?
What is God telling me, right now?
What has God been telling me through others?
Are these ideas that are coming to me consistent with the Big Book?
If so, which passage, on which page?
What spiritual principles can I apply to this situation?
Anonymous
20 March 2021
Focus on the good, letting go of and forgiving any grievances or perceptions thereof; become centred in living in the good and basing my life thereon; be so far in the centre of the good that I cannot see the edges of the bad. In that deepest centre, within my higher Self, are God, His Peace, and the north-star beam of what He wants for me.
Anonymous
21 March 2021
There’s a familiar story about the so-called wise man who wanted to become wiser. He went to a Zen master, travelling many hundreds of miles, and asked him, ‘How can I become wiser? I know so much, I have so much wisdom, but people tell me that you are able to give me even greater wisdom.’ The Zen master invites him to sit down and he puts two cups in front of them, and he starts to pour the wise man’s tea. He keeps on pouring, and pouring, until the tea overflows. It overflows into the man’s lap and he cries out, ‘Stop, stop! Why are you doing that?’ The Zen master said, ‘This is to show you that if the cup is already full, then there is no space for any more.’
Anonymous
22 March 2021
If the cup of our everyday mind is full of opinions, full of old beliefs, full of clinging to old relationships or whatever, we cannot be open to the new. We cannot be open to the new good. We have to be empty in order to learn, and we have to be willing to be a fool, we have to be willing to be playful like a child. Someone said, ‘You have to come as a child.’ That means to come with an open mind, to come spontaneously, not to be locked in to other rigid patterns and methods. To transform, we must let go of our limited mind and come with an open mind, with a sense of emptiness.
Anonymous
23 March 2021
Trim the fat in your life and don’t be afraid of the Silence. All worldly clamours are forms of diversion from this fear of the Silence, where all true power, vision, and peace rest, waiting inside and beyond.
Anonymous
24 March 2021
Now is the only time we can experience Divine gratification, because now is the only time there is. Instant gratification is a way of life; we want products, service, and answers now. Our Creator within doing the works called ‘life’ is always communicating Reality to us, through us. The problem is it most often passes through our personal ‘reality’s’ filter system. I believe each creature has a Divine purpose in which we can experience Divine gratification by demonstrating that purpose. We don’t see things as they are, but as we are, most often our personal ‘reality’s’ world view.
Al Kohallek
25 March 2021
Take impatience for an example: when I am impatient, it is because I am judging something as a waste of time, having no purpose. Intuitive wisdom tells me that everyone and everything has a purpose for me or I would not experience it. I don’t have to understand it; I need only accept it and act accordingly. ‘It may take much patience and a great deal of faith, but the end is as sure as is the reality of a Supreme Being itself,’ (Ernest Holmes).
Al Kohallek
26 March 2021
Let us look at the work of art that is reflected when we see ourselves in the mirror. Only an infinite Creator could create and maintain this life 24/7. Let us affirm what His Love; His Will is being done as each of us, through us. Ask this Source for whatever it will take to carry out your purpose here and now. Patience takes trust and faith in His Loving grace.
Al Kohallek
27 March 2021
He gives a long list of the kinds of people who make us angry: those who mock us, for instance, or those who stop us drinking when we are thirsty, or those who get in our way at work. Also those who speak ill of us, and show contempt for us, in respect of the things we most care about. Thus those who seek a reputation as philosophers get angry with those who show disdain for their philosophy; those who pride themselves upon their appearance get angry with those who disparage it, and so on. We feel particularly angry if we believe that, either in fact or in popular belief, we are totally or largely lacking in the respective qualities. For when we are convinced that we excel in the qualities for which we are mocked, we can ignore the mockery.
Anthony Kenny on Aristotle
28 March 2021
The antidote to my sickness is love, not hatred.
Spiritual Paul
29 March 2021
‘The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.’ (Exodus 14:14)
30 March 2021
Sometimes it was more like a rude awakening than a spiritual awakening.
Spiritual Paul
31 March 2021
Pray: God, if it be your will, please open all spiritual doors, in order that I can serve the greater good of all. If it not be your well, please preserve me from the wrong path.
Anonymous
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