I'm constantly diverted to secondary or even useless activities by AA's whose demands seem to them primary, but are not really so. Peace is the result of righteousness. Bill wrote "the pains of failure are converted into assets. Eventually, came the discovery that willingness provides the flexibility to surrender, to listen and to change. Pain is the touchstone of all spiritual progress summary. Do I feel deeply that they are my brothers or my sisters? Twenty-Four Hours A Day. —Joan Walsh Anglund. Indeed pain is one of our greatest teachers. If you sat next to me at the bar and told me about your problems, I'd say, "What do you expect? When such a brand of gratitude is repeatedly affirmed and pondered, it can finally displace the natural tendency to congratulate myself on whatever progress I may have been enabled to make in some areas of living.
When we have surgery, the pain hurts most the day after the operation. Sometimes we need to develop acceptance for what may come to pass tomorrow, and yet again we shall have to accept a condition that may never change. He it is whose camp is round about them that fear Him; He is the true Michael whose foot is upon the dragon. I had to admit that he was right. So we react to our feelings of guilt rather than really hearing what she wants to say about her experience. It is only when we seek God and realize that He can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves that we receive these gifts as we daily turn over our will and ask that His will be done. Location: British Virgin Islands. I could not have done with one less. How many times have we heard well-intentioned people claim the guidance of God when it was plain that they were mistaken? Then, my soul, it is not needful for thee to sin, for Jesus was a man, and if one man endured these temptations and sinned not, then in His power His members may also cease from sin. But for all, we can be thankful for the riches of autumn and begin our preparations for the coming frost. PAIN IS THE THRESHOLD OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH. Even though the person may not even recognize pain as a Spiritual tester or even acknowledge Spirituality at all. Hopefully, it will encourage us to pray for direction, and then to be responsive to the guidance. The program is not something we pick up and put down when we feel like it.
So it is a strong statement to say: "pain was the touchstone of all spiritual progress. For others, it is a time of relaxation and thanksgiving for the harvest. Then Luke damn near pushed me out the door asking, "Now do I have your attention? "
Sharing our commitment out loud, with another person, reinforces it. Attitude is a direction which we follow. We need a big, fat shove out a moving vehicle before we do anything. For instance, I can sit here and wish the house were cleaner.
We neither ran nor fought. Who are the people we aren't at peace with? Cold words kill and kind words kindle, By words withheld a dream may dwindle. Against foul fiends to aid us militant! Beyond Codependency. Loyalty to their Lord leads them to take a deep interest in the children of His love; they rejoice over the return of the prodigal to his father's house below, and they welcome the advent of the believer to the King's palace above. Watch yourself as you go through life encountering different situations. Meetings, sponsors and phone calls provide ways out from under. There's a decided lack of "self pity" in these discussions which I confess I often am annoyed at hearing in the tone of some AA's discussion of their "depression'. Pain is the touchstone of all spiritual progress notes. Be clear with yourself and others on what your intentions are.
Do you even know what it is? We thought we knew what was best. People of very high spiritual development almost always insist on checking with friends or spiritual advisers the guidance they feel they have received from God. Hence in this life we shall attain nothing like perfect humility and love. At the same time, pain becomes the gift.
I get that life is occurring in the moment and that each moment brings a new quality and measure. When we try to avoid necessary pain, we fall prey to a state of neurosis. The answer to why "most alcoholics have to be pretty badly mangled" came while I was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge with my friend, Luke, a long-time member in my home group. That's our unfinished business, the unfinished business of the heart. It means accepting the reality of the situation and then deciding what, if anything, I can and will do about it. For instance, we might intend to get a person sober, but they may have no desire to sober up. I created in freedom my own horror stories. Touchstones Into Stepping Stones By Christine R. Lord, help me be aware that today will never return so that I will not misuse my time or waste it unwisely. So that is what I am going to the feelings to be there for as long as they need, work really hard to not weave them into a story that makes me and everyone around me feel worse and begin to tell myself a new story that allows for the old one to just be as it is, with its attendant pain, its attendant drama and sorrow and allow it just to be there until it leaves. This discussion of depression is very different from what I often hear from AA's.
Feeling pain, whether physical, emotional or mental is the way our bodies perceive danger. Though I still find it difficult to accept today's pain and anxiety with any great degree of serenity–as those more advanced in the spiritual life seem able to do–I can, if I try hard, give thanks for present pain nevertheless. Today, I will grow more if I set my ego aside when others are talking to me. Daily Reflections October 3 // Reflections For Today #AA. On entering AA, we become the beneficiaries of a very different experience. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me know when I'm stubborn.
Why is it so difficult to accept pain as a well respected teacher? It may lead us astray for a time, but it will also introduce us to uncharted territories, which offer many opportunities for flexibility. This is what I have been pondering most of late. In order to do this, the attitude toward pain has to change. Then you will understand what he says. And I could do the above - pretty much every fucking time except for the high emotional state that accompanies the above. The struggle for wealth, power, and prestige was tearing humanity apart as never before. I am not talking about creating unnecessary pain. Pain is the touchstone of all spiritual progress svg. "Not really, " I replied. Oh, I still got drunk all right, but the booze didn't kill the termites of fear that gnawed night and day on the foundation of my life. Blessed be any wind that blows us into the port of our Saviour's love! If the reaction is to say "This to shall pass" the Spiritual life seems fit and healthy.
"How oft do they with golden pinions cleave. So why if the stories I tell myself are not even true do I believe them? If we lean away from spiritual values, our actions will become insignificant or unimportant. May "the things I cannot change" not give me and excuse for inaction. I pray that I may attain a state of true calmness.