This Day in History
The first barrel ride down Niagara Falls was on this day in 1901. According to History.com, 63 year old Annie Edson Taylor was the first person and the first woman to take the plunge. After her husband died in the civil war, she was strapped for cash and seeking fame. After hearing about the popularity of Niagara Falls, she concocted the scheme. In the end she did in fact receive her 15 minutes of fame with photo-ops and speaking engagements but never quite got rich off the stunt. However, she did inspire a lot of copycats. I guess you could say she was a pioneer in reality shows before the Kardashians. In the daily message we talk about about how ego can influence your life decisions
On October 24, 1945 the United Nations was formally established. The U.N. Charter came into force upon its ratification by the five permanent members of the Security Council and a majority of other signatories.
On October 24, 1971, Texas Stadium officially opens in Irving, TX. Before today’s impressive AT&T Stadium the Dallas Cowboys played in Texas Stadium. The stadium has since come down and the area is up for redevelopment.
On October 24, 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph was sent. Stephen J. Field, chief justice of California, sent the first transcontinental telegram to President Abraham Lincoln, predicting that the new communication link would help ensure the loyalty of the western states to the Union during the Civil War. The smartphone as we know it today would not be possible without the steps we made back then for communications.
The Daily Message:
It takes a lot of EGO for a 63 year old to step into a barrel and go over Niagara Falls. When Ms. Taylor decided to do it, she was short on cash and seeking fame. She had moved all over the US before finally settling down. For her ego, she was seeing approval from the outside world and her happiness was reliant on that approval. The other part of her ego had to do with personal self – gain (monetary) from the publicity stunt. Dr. Richard E. Cytowic, M.D, has a great quote that fits the ego lifestyle:
A strong ego is not the cause of decisions, but the result of them
The ability to remove ego from your life decisions will make decision making easier for you. Day in and day out we are inundated with so much information and messages about EGO. From social media, Facebook, television, billboards, smartphones, friends, family and coworkers we are fed directly and indirectly images and words about how others think our lives should be – this is the end result or as Dr. Cytowic explains “The Ego.” We get the FEED and then we begin to get clouded on the steps (the decisions) we need to do to reach our goals. Ego is a trick to the brain and it’s an illusion or a mirage. So how can we fix that? Start Paying Attention! Detect your usual defenses. Dr. Cytowic outlines those defenses here! You have to be willing to accept it. Just like in AA or any addiction program, you have to have a desire to quit the bad act. Do you have a desire to quit making decisions to get the result of ego?
Today’s Scripture Reading – Romans 6:19-23
19 I am putting it in human terms because you are still weak human beings: as once you surrendered yourselves as servants to immorality and to a lawlessness which results in more lawlessness, now you have to surrender yourselves to uprightness which is to result in sanctification.
20 When you were the servants of sin, you felt no obligation to uprightness,
21 and what did you gain from living like that? Experiences of which you are now ashamed, for that sort of behaviour ends in death.
22 But, now you are set free from sin and bound to the service of God, your gain will be sanctification and the end will be eternal life.
23 For the wage paid by sin is death; the gift freely given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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 24, 2013
“BY FAITH AND BY WORKS”
On anvils of experience, the structure of our Society was hammered out. . . . Thus has it been with A.A. By faith and by works we have been able to build upon the lessons of an incredible experience. They live today in the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, which — God willing — shall sustain us in unity for so long as He may need us.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 131
God has allowed me the right to be wrong in order for our Fellowship to exist as it does today. If I place God’s will first in my life, it is very likely that A.A. as I know it today will remain as it is.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
[…] but had I taken a serious look at the person I was marrying rather than making a decision based on EGO and what everyone else thought I would not have gotten married. Of course my daughter would not […]