A Prayer & Some Thoughts - January

[bluidkiti]

January 17

Let Go of Pride Prayer

Dear Lord,
I want to believe I am not a prideful person…but the truth is I still wrestle with pride. Please help me to let go of pride. I pray for a humble heart. I pray I would not see myself as better than anyone. I pray I would not hinder others from helping just so I can receive praise for doing it all myself. I pray I would not let pride motivate me to argue with others. Instead I pray humility would lead me. I pray love would be my motivation not pride.
Amen

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Just a Thought

Service to others makes the world a good place.

Civilization would cease if all of us were always and only for ourselves. We alcoholics have a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the well-being of the world. We have a common problem. We find a common answer. We are uniquely equipped to help others with the same problem. What a wonderful world it would be if everybody took his own greatest problem and found the answer to it and spent the rest of his life helping others with the same problem in his spare time. Soon we would have the right kind of a world.

So ............

Do I appreciate my unique opportunity to be of service?

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Just a Contemplation

Feelings

It's okay to have and feel our feelings - all of them. Many of us needed to shut down the emotional part of ourselves to survive certain situations. We shut down the part of us that feels anger, sadness, fear, joy, and love. We may have turned off our sexual or sensual feelings too. Many of us lived in systems with people who refused to tolerate our emotions. We were shamed or reprimanded for expressing feelings, usually by people who were taught to repress their own.

It is okay now for us to acknowledge and accept our emotions. We don't need to allow our emotions to control us; neither do we need to allow our emotions to control us; neither do we need to rigidly repress our feelings. Our emotional center is a valuable part of us. It's connected to our physical well being, our thinking, and our spirituality. Our feelings are also connected to that great gift, instinct. They enable us to give and receive love.

We are neither weak nor deficient in indulging in our feelings. It means we're becoming healthy and whole. I will allow myself to recognize and accept whatever feelings pass through me. Without shame, I will tune in to the emotional part of myself.

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Pride

Some see pride as just a minor issue. I see pride, and resistance to change, as the deadliest character flaw every alcoholic deals with on a daily basis. The only answer I've ever found in dealing with such a high level of denial, is written about in the Big Book, and can be found in action at just about any AA meeting in the world.

From: The AA Grapevine, April 2014

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Just a Quote

"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you. " ~ C.S. Lewis