Female friendships that work are relationships in which women help each other to belong to themselves. —Louise Bernikow— To have anything worth giving to a friend, we must belong to ourselves. Are we someone we like? Does our behavior agree with our beliefs? Do our friends share our values, and when we are together do we support one another? If we don’t like our own company, we will try to hide our real selves. The more we hide, the further we are running from wholeness and health. We can assess ourselves, calmly and lovingly, so that we can keep on becoming the women we want to be. The more congruent are our behavior and our beliefs, the more we belong to ourselves. The better we like ourselves, the better friends we can be. The love and sympathy of my women friends can help me in my spiritual journey toward serenity, and I can help theirs. Today, I will accompany others on their journey, and thus find company for my own.
Our Folded Hands
Women helping Women. Reaching out to the Sister who still suffers. Helping each other through the Good times and the Difficult times. To get to the SOBER way of life, One Day at a Time.
Daily Readings And Meditations
New Beginnings
Reflections
EXACTLY ALIKE Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89 A man came to the meeting drunk, interrupted the speakers, stood up and took his shirt off, staggered loudly back and forth for coffee, demanded to talk, and eventually called the group’s secretary an unquotable name and walked out. I was glad he was there–once again I saw what I still could be. I don’t have to be drunk to want to be the exception and the center of attention. I have often felt abused and responded abusively when I was simply being treated as a garden variety human being. The more the man tried to insist he was different, the more I realized that he and I were exactly alike.
Promise
Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word “happiness” would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. —Carl Gustav Jung— Life is full of contrasts. What we perceive or feel at this moment is often heightened by an experience we just passed through. It’s the sum and substance of all experiences and all our feelings about them that give meaning to any single moment. Joy is understood only in a life where discouragement has made its mark. Our lives are recharged, even glorified, by every moving experience, no matter what kind of emotion is evoked. In fact, our very existence is verified each time an encounter invites an emotional response. When we are sad, it because it satisfies a need to feel that way. If we accept this fact, our acceptance of every emotion grounds our lives in a serenity which embraces and transcends all our feelings. Whatever I may feel today is cause for celebration. It’s a sign of my vitality.
Keep It Simple
Al didn’t smile for forty years. You’ve got to admire a man like that. — From the TV show, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”— Remember how we used to live? We were always trying to cover up some lie or mistake. We were all like Al. Our energy was going into our illness, not into living. Gratitude is the key word in the program. Gratitude is being thankful for the getting to know our Higher Power. Remember what it was like to not smile for all those years? Recovery has given us back our smiles. What a relief! We can relax and enjoy our new life. Prayer for the Day: I pray that I’ll always remember what is was like when I was using. I pray that I’ll not take my recovery for granted. I prayer for gratitude. Action For the Day: I will list all the things the program and recovery have given me. I will smile about them today.
Thought For The Day
Having got this far, shall we pause and ask ourselves some searching questions? We need to check up on ourselves periodically. Just how good an A.A. am I? Am I attending meetings regularly? Am I doing my share to carry the load? When there is something to be done, do I volunteer? Do I speak at meetings when asked, no matter how nervous I am? Do I accept each opportunity to do twelfth-step work as a challenge? Do I give freely of my time and money? Am I trying to spread A.A. wherever I go? Is my daily life a demonstration of A.A. principles? Am I a good A.A.? Meditation For The Day How do I get strength to be effective and to accept responsibility? By asking the Higher Power for the strength I need each day. It has been proved in countless lives that for every day I live the necessary power shall be given me. I must face each challenge that comes to me during the day, sure that God will give me the strength to face it. For every task that is given me, there is also given me all the power necessary for the performance of that task. I do not need to hold back. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may accept every task as a challenge. I know I cannot wholly fail if God is with me.
My Thoughts For The Day
🌈 Hello Sunshine❗…🌞🙋🏼♀️…What a Beautiful Program and Fellowship we have been given. It can help us appreciate the SUNSHINE We can shine through our ATTITUDES, our LOVE and our LIVES…💖☀📖…For we are here to SHINE when the sun isn’t…🤗🌥🤷♀️…So we can keep our boundaries, and not let People, Places,Things or Situations push those Buttons we are learning to have removed By the Grace of GOD❗…👥🚦🚗😘…We are who we choose to be today…HAPPY, sad, mad, Glad…😄😭😠😍…THE Choice is ours❗…It is up to us what we allow in our MINDS, and how we choose to perceive it, as well as In the way We PROCEED with what comes at us Today❗…HOW WILL I RESPOND TO LIFE TODAY⁉️…🤔/🐇👹🗣🤬🥳💖👩💻⛽🚥🚗🚑👩👩👧👦…For we are as HAPPY as we CHOOSE to Be at any Given Moment❗❓…💪🥰✌…You are AMAZING and Have a Fantastic day…BTW; I LOVE YOU❗…🎁💜💫💋💋💋