OUR OWN FAMILY JEWELS – “We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets. The alcoholic’s past thus becomes the principal asset of the family and frequently it is almost the only one!” (The Big Book, p. 124)
“It is the enemy who can truly teach us to practice the virtues of compassion and tolerance.”
– 14th Dalai Lama (1935 – ) Tibetan spiritual leader on how to ease tensions
HARM DOES NOT HAPPEN IN A VACUUM – ” … Step Eight isn’t simply a restatement of our inventory. We are now looking for the people, places, and institutions we harmed, not just the types of harm we inflicted. [We] didn’t just lie; we lied to someone. [We] didn’t just steal; we stole from various people.” (It Works, How & Why, p. 56 to cause harm)
“The healthiest of all human emotions is gratitude.”
– Hans Selye (1907 – 1982) Canadian biologist on stress theories
“FEAR IS A STRANGER TO THE WAYS OF LOVE” – “I am at home. Fear is the stranger here. Fear is a stranger to the ways of love. Identify with fear, and you will be a stranger to yourself. And thus you are unknown to you (ACIM Wkbk Lesson 160)
“If you know the
enemy and know your-
self you need not fear the
results of a hundred battles.”
– Sun Tzu (c. 403-221 BC) Chinese philosopher/ war tactician
Today’s SFZ
THE BOND OF SELFLESSNESS – “Make us servants of Your will and grant us a bond of selflessness, that this may truly be Your work, not ours – in order that no addict, anywhere, need to die from the horrors of addiction.” (The Basic Text,p. xi on the self)
NO TIME TO WASTE. JUMP INTO ACTION & OCCUPY LOVE TODAY! “But if a willing start is made, then the great advantages of doing this will so quickly reveal themselves that the pain will be lessened as one obstacle after another melts away.” (12 & 12, pp. 77 – 78)
“We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts.”
– Patrick Henry (1738-1799) U.S. Revolutionary War Statesman
ACCESSING OUR H.P. IN THE NOW – “Our actions may have left permanent physical or emotional scars… . We must somehow learn to live with such things.” “We may have difficulty in forgiving ourselves, but we can ask for the forgiveness of a loving God [or H.P.]” (It Works, How & Why, pp. 64 – 65)
Today’s SFZ