Daily readings from Al-Anon's Magazine The Forum • Recovery Reflections • Quote/Sayings
Monday 10/25/21
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The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. -Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Inspiration I never know where inspiration will find me... but... it always does. Inspiration appears in the words of a simple conversation... A line in a movie or a book that seems to resonate more than the rest. It appears while watching people interact with each other... the emotions on their faces... and the connections I am privileged to witness. Inspiration presents itself to me as a gift... a gift that takes away my pain, my despair, my lack of faith, my anger or frustration, if only I allow myself to be aware... present... available to it each and every day. If I can look beyond my suffering and see what is all around me, and allow inspiration to invoke the creative force inside of me, then I become part of the whole... I become tied to everyone and everything and centered in my spirit. "Dear God, thank you for the gift of inspiration. Help me to be present in my day-to-day life." |
A Renewed Spirit
At 10 o’clock on a Friday night I had just gotten up off the floor. That’s where I felt the most comfortable when I was sad and lonely. My life had fallen back into the boring pattern of waiting for my husband to come home so I could feel secure. I was explaining these feelings to my dog when suddenly I thought about Step One.
Why didn’t Step One work both ways? If I was powerless over the alcoholic, wasn’t the alcoholic powerless over me? If that was the case, why did I continue to feel so controlled by this person? It didn’t seem fair that the person I lived with could influence my feelings so easily when he appeared to have so little concern for how I left. The more I thought about my powerlessness over the alcoholic, the less power I felt he had over me. Slowly my body regained its life and my spirit felt renewed. Needless to say, I had the Al-Anon program to thank once more. Without the tools to keep me moving steadily forward, I would have remained on the floor. Before Al-Anon, I had similar feelings of abandonment and didn’t know how to cope. For many years, I stayed in a constant state of depression. When I found the Al-Anon program, my life took on a new and exciting meaning. I developed the self-confidence to seek out interesting challenges, and relied less on other people to bring meaning into my life. None of this means that my life is one big bowl of cherries. I’m human, too. But now when I find myself on the floor it doesn’t take long before I pick myself up and tackle another challenge—such as writing to The Forum. Sandy B., British Columbia September, 1998 Reprinted with permission of The Forum Al-Anon Family Groups Incorporated, Virginia Beach, VA 
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Today's Hope is a Recovery themed site with a focus on Friends and Families of Alcoholics and problem drinkers. We are not affiliated with any 12 Step program. The daily sharings contain a reading from
Al-Anon's Conference Approved publication The Forum, an inspirational quote/saying and a recovery based reading/meditation. The intent of Today's Hope is to share experience, strength and hope. Please take what you like and leave the rest. |