The Daily Message: Life is a Balancing Act #DeepThoughts

The Daily Message: Life’s Balancing Act

We tend to live a life that seems to be filled with contradictions. If you are on Facebook enough you will see that when something tragic happens, everyone wants a law passed and the explanation is that if there was a law in place the event or episode would not have happened. That would be a 100% success rate. Now when have you seen a law curb 100% of the crimes committed? The danger in living in such a black and white world is not every situation is so black and white OR so absolute. When there are two people in the situation there is one person’s story, then the other person’s story and then somewhere in the middle lies the truth. The choices and the hard realities we face each day are augmented by our previous experiences and lessons. We do our best to prevent bad things from happening and in life we are making choices and keeping our ships afloat via a delicate balancing act.

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No matter if you are a married parent or single we all face tough decisions and we walk a very thin tightrope trying to keep everything from crashing down. This is what I call the balancing act. We take the information we are given (whether it’s truth or lies), our experiences and we make choices. It is within the Serenity Prayer as mentioned in the Daily Reflection at the bottom of this post that helps us fight the fear we have when it comes to making decisions in life. Recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous intentionally do not express opinions on controversial subjects in order to keep the members united. This unity is so strong because it is the the essence in helping addicts overcome their addictions. If the group ever expressed opinions on controversial subjects it would divide the group and deviate from the purpose of the group. This is a fine balancing act because we all have opinions about something. When we make decisions or judgments against others whether privately or publicly we are projecting an image of ourselves to others and the universe. The real lesson is “what have I done to feel this way or to make that judgment?” Exploring that is just one aspect of keeping this balancing act in place. There will also be times when we are hypocrites. Learn from that, embrace it and move on. We are hypocrites because experiences happen and change happens based on unique circumstances. We sometimes change positions on things as times and values change. Learning to accept this makes change easier and helps to avoid fear based decision making.

This Day in History

On this day in 1938, Orson Welles scared the world with his radio broadcast of the H.G. Wells science fiction novel, War of the Worlds.

On October 30, 1811, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility was published anonymously

In 2012 – Walt Disney purchases Lucasfilm Ltd and its rights for Star Wars and Indiana Jones for $4.05 billion

Today’s Scripture Reading –

Romans 8:26-30
26 And as well as this, the Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words;

27 and he who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God’s holy people are always in accordance with the mind of God.

28 We are well aware that God works with those who love him, those who have been called in accordance with his purpose, and turns everything to their good.

29 He decided beforehand who were the ones destined to be moulded to the pattern of his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers;

30 it was those so destined that he called; those that he called, he justified, and those that he has justified he has brought into glory.

Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol

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Daily Reflection

If you are in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) you will be familiar with the daily reflection. These lessons apply to everyone since everyone has an addiction of some kind whether it’s clearly visible like alcohol, drugs, food, or sex OR if it’s intangible or unseen such as rage, anger, depression etc. This is the daily reflection for October 30, 2013

LIVE AND LET LIVE

Never since it began has Alcoholics Anonymous been divided by a major controversial issue. Nor has our Fellowship ever publicly taken sides on any question in an embattled world. This, however, has been no earned virtue. It could almost be said that we were born with it. . . . “So long as we don’t argue these matters privately, it’s a cinch we never shall publicly.”

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 176

Do I remember that I have a right to my opinion but that others don’t have to share it? That’s the spirit of “Live and Let Live.” The Serenity Prayer reminds me, with God’s help, to “Accept the things I cannot change.” Am I still trying to change others? When it comes to “Courage to change the things I can,” do I remember that my opinions are mine, and yours are yours? Am I still afraid to be me? When it comes to “Wisdom to know the difference,” do I remember that my opinions come from my experience? If I have a know-it-all attitude, aren’t I being deliberately controversial?