“Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” – Mark Twain (1835 – 1910) U.S., novelist/satirist on survival
“OUR SURVIVAL KIT” – “We learn to work the steps in the order that they are written and to use them on a daily basis. The steps are our solution. They are our survival kit.” “Our steps are the principles that make our recovery possible.” (The Basic Text, p. 19)
What have you used to coax your bad “habits” down the stairs, i.e., “work the steps”, lately?
One Step at a Time – Jordin Sparks (3:33)
Mark Twain Brief Bio (1:55)
Hallelujah Gregorian Chant Meditation (6:29)
Human Habitat
by Alison Hawthorne Deming, 1946
Some did not want to alter the design
when the failure message
said massive problem with oxygen.
Some wanted to live full tilt with risk.
By then we were too weak for daily chores:
feeding chickens, hoeing yams,
calibrating pH this and N2 that . . .
felt like halfway summiting Everest.
We didn’t expect the honeybees
to die. Glass blocked the long-wave
light that guides them.
Farm soil too rich in microbes
concrete too fresh ate the oxygen.
We had pressure problems,
recalibrating the sniffer. Bone tired
I reread Aristotle by waning light.
Being is either actual or potential.
The actual is prior to substance.
Man prior to boy, human prior to seed,
Hermes prior to chisel hitting wood.
I leafed through Turner’s England,
left the book open at Stonehenge.
A shepherd struck by lightning lies dead,
dog howling, several sheep down too.
The painter gave gigantic proportion
to sulphurous god rimmed clouds
lightning slashing indigo sky
while close at hand lie fallen stones
dead religion, pages dusty
brown leaf shards gathering
in the gutter yet I cannot turn the page
wondering what I am and when
in the story of life my life is taking place.
Now what. No shepherd. No cathedral.
How is it then that I read love
in pages that lie open before me?
Good morning everyone + Happy Monday. Here is today’s thought. We have a new life in sobriety today. Together, let us move forward. Together, let us move further up + further in to God’s kingdom. Let us look with expectation to a beautiful brand new day, filled with all kinds of possibilities. May your day be blessed. BTW, check out the Gregorian Chant Meditation for the day. Very soothing. It is Tea For The Soul. Namaste, BB
I have been taking contrary action, lately. Like cleaning my place (the horror) when I’m feeling overwhelmed.
One Step at a time. Step One…one Step. Grieving the life I wanted. Knowing that Life is not the one I am living. So many gifts from my Higher Power: a job, a home, a cat, food, clothes, etc. Sometimes I scream inside, “I’m supposed to be rich! I’m supposed to live a life of luxury.” And into the silence I hear, “You have lessons to learn. You have gifts you have not yet discovered. You are beautiful and beloved exactly as you are.” With prayer and meditation I can hear this message in the silence, in the words of Friends in Program, in meetings from a stranger, in the goodwill of a friend. It shall be repeated until I finally hear, “My Life is my Gift. I have it because I am loved.”