Daily Motivation 3-5-2013

Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Today's Gift

Be Who You Are

...be yourself- not your idea of what you think somebody else's idea of yourself should be. ― Henry David Thoreau

Sometimes, our instinctive reaction to being in a new situation is: Don't be yourself.

Who else can we be? Who else would you want to be? We don't need to be anyone else.

The greatest gift we can bring to any relationship wherever we go is being who we are.

We may think others won't like us. We may be afraid that if we just relax and be ourselves, the other person will go away or shame us. We may worry about what the other person will think.

But, when we relax and accept ourselves, people often feel much better being around us than when we are rigid and repressed. We're fun to be around.

If others don't appreciate us, do we really want to be around them? Do we need to let the opinions of others control our behavior and us?

Giving ourselves permission to be who we are can have a healing influence on our relationships. The tone relaxes. We relax. The other person relaxes. Then everybody feels a little less shame, because they have learned the truth. Who we are is all we can be, all were meant to be, and it's enough. It's fine.

Our opinion of ourselves is truly all that matters. And we can give ourselves all the approval we want and need.

Today, I will relax and be who I am in my relationships. I will do this not in a demeaning or inappropriate way, but in a way that shows I accept myself and value who I am.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Keep It Simple

 

Loving, like prayer, is a power as well as a process. It's curative. It is creative. --Zona Gale

The expression of love softens us and the ones we love. It opens a channel between us. It invites an intimate response that closes the distance.

It feels good to express love, whether through a smile, a touch, or a prayer. It heightens our sense of being alive. Acknowledging another's presence means that we, too, are acknowledged. Each of us is familiar with feeling forgotten, unnoticed, or taken for granted, and recognition assures us all that we haven't been overlooked.

 

Knowing we are loved may be the key to our doing the things we fear. Love supports us to charge ahead, and we can support others to charge ahead. We know that if we fail, we have someone to turn to.

 

Love heals. It strengthens, making us courageous both when we receive it and when we give it. Knowing we are loved makes our existence special. It affirms that we count in another's life. We need to honor our friends by assuring them of their specialness, too.

 

Action for the Day: I can express my love today, and assure my loved ones that they are needed. Then, they and I will surge ahead with new life.

 

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One Day At A Time

 

Challenges

Life is meant to be lived by facing the challenges it brings.
Otherwise, I'm not living, just existing.
My Higher Power didn't give me this gift of sobriety to sit in a rocking chair,
imagining myself as some wise old person who has arrived somewhere.
There is no easier, softer way.
- The Best Of The Grapevine [Vol. 3], p. 320

Thought to Ponder . . .
Sobriety is a journey, not a destination.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
P I E = Peace Isn't Easy.

 

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Daily Motivation

Live for

It’s easy to figure out what you don’t like. Yet it is essential to also define and focus on what you do like and value.

You won’t get very far by simply avoiding and opposing whatever you find undesirable. Progress and fulfillment come not by living against, but by living for.

If there’s something that deeply troubles you, something you strongly dislike, you’re part of the way to discovering what you do like. Make the effort to replace that intense dislike with an even more intense positive desire.

When you fight against anything, you run the risk of making it much stronger. Instead of fighting against something, spend your time and energy living for a more positive alternative.

Don’t settle for a life lived in opposition. The way to make life less negative is to proactively make it more positive.

Live for what you truly love, value and appreciate. Fill your life with what you do like, and there will be no room left for what you don’t like.

— Ralph Marston