“How To Listen To God”

Suggestions and results…

6. TEST
When the flow of thoughts slows down, stop. Take a good look at what you have written. Not every thought we have comes from God. So we need to test our thoughts. Here is where the written record helps us to be able to look at them. a) Are these thoughts completely honest, pure, unselfish and loving? b) Are these thoughts in line with our duties to our family – to our country? c) Are these thoughts in line with our understanding of the teachings found in our spiritual literature?

7. CHECK
When in doubt and when it is important, what does another person who is living two-way prayer think about this thought or action? More light comes in through two windows than one. Someone else who also wants God’s plan for our lives may help us to see more clearly. Talk over together what you have written. Many people do this. They tell each other what guidance has come. This is the secret of unity. There are always three sides to every question – your side, my side, and the right side. Guidance shows us which is the right side – not who is right, but what is right.

8. OBEY
Carry out the thoughts that have come. You will only be sure of guidance as you go through with it. A rudder will not guide a boat until the boat is moving. As you obey, very often the results will convince you that you are on the right track.

9. BLOCKS?
“What if I don’t seem to get any definite thought?” God’s guidance is as freely available as the air we breathe. If I am not receiving thoughts when I listen, the fault is not God’s. Usually it is because there is something I will not do: Something wrong in my life that I will not face and make right A habit or indulgence I will not give up A person I will not forgive A wrong relationship in my life I will not give up A restitution I will not make Something God has already told me to do that I will not obey Check these points and be honest. Then try listening again.

10. MISTAKES
“Supposing I make a mistake and do something in the name of God that isn’t right?” Of course we make mistakes. We are humans with many faults. However, God will always honor our sincerity. He will work around and through every honest mistake we make. He will help us make it right. But, remember this! Sometimes when we do obey God, someone else may not like it or agree with it. So when there is opposition, it doesn’t always mean you have made a mistake. It can mean that the other person doesn’t want to know or to do what is right.

“Supposing I fail to do something that I have been told and the opportunity to do it passes?” There is only one thing to do. Put it right with God. Tell Him you’re sorry. Ask Him to forgive you, then accept His forgiveness and begin again. God is our Father – He is not an impersonal computer. He understands us far better than we do.

11. RESULTS?
We never know what swimming is like until we get down into the water and try. We will never know what this is like until we sincerely try it.

Every person who has tried this honestly finds that a wisdom, not their own, comes into their minds and that a Power greater than human power begins to operate in their lives. It is an endless adventure.

There is a way of life, for everyone, everywhere. Anyone can be in touch with the living God, anywhere, anytime, if we fulfill His conditions.

When man listens, God speaks.
When man obeys, God acts.
This is the law of prayer.

God’s plan for this world goes forward through the lives of ordinary people who are willing to be governed by Him.

Post from: Blisstree

“How To Listen To God” – Results

“How To Listen To God”

Specific suggestions…

With the basic elements as a background, here are specific suggestions on How to Listen to God:

1. TAKE TIME
Find some place and time where you can be alone, quiet and undisturbed. Most people have found that the early morning is the best time. Have with you some paper and pen or pencil.

2. RELAX
Sit in a comfortable position. Consciously relax all your muscles. Be loose. There is no hurry. There needs to be no strain during these minutes. God cannot get through to us if we are tense and anxious about later responsibilities.

3. TUNE IN
Open your heart to God. Either silently or aloud, just say to God in a natural way that you would like to find His plan for your life – you want His answer to the problem or situation that you are facing just now. Be definite and specific in your request.

4. LISTEN
Just be still, quiet, relaxed and open. Let your mind go “loose.” Let God do the talking. Thoughts, ideas and impressions will begin to come into your mind and heart. Be alert and aware and open to every one.

5. WRITE!
Here is the important key to the whole process. Write down everything that comes into your mind. Everything. Writing is simply a means of recording so that you can remember later. Don’t sort out or edit your thoughts at this point.

Don’t say to yourself:

• This thought isn’t important
• This is just an ordinary thought
• This can’t be guidance
• This isn’t nice
• This can’t be from God
• This is just me thinking…, etc.

Write down everything that passes through your mind:

• Names of people
• Things to do
• Things to say
• Things that are wrong and need to be made right

Write down everything:

• Good thoughts – bad thoughts
• Comfortable thoughts – uncomfortable thoughts
• “Holy” thoughts – “unholy” thoughts
• Sensible thoughts – “crazy” thoughts

Be honest! Write down everything! A thought comes quickly, and it escapes even more quickly unless it is captured and put down.

Tomorrow – the balance of the suggestions and the results…

Post from: Blisstree

“How To Listen To God” – Specific Suggestions

“How To Listen To God”

Preparations and conditions…

These are a few simple suggestions for people who are willing to make an experiment. You can discover for yourself the most important and practical thing any human being can ever learn – how to be in touch with God. All that is needed is the willingness to try it honestly. Every person who has done this consistently and sincerely has found that it really works.

Before you begin, look over these fundamental points. They are true and are based on the experience of thousands of people.

1. God is alive. He always has been and He always will be.
2. God knows everything.
3. God can do anything.
4. God can be everywhere – all at the same time. (These are the important differences between God and us human beings).
5. God is invisible – we can’t see Him or touch Him – but, God is here. He is with you now. He is beside you. He surrounds you. He fills the room or the whole place where you are right now. He is in you now. He is in your heart.
6. God cares very much for you. He is interested in you. He has a plan for your life. He has an answer for every need and problem you face.
7. God will tell you all that you need to know. He will not always tell you all that you want to know.
8. God will help you do anything that He asks you to do.
9. Anyone can be in touch with God, anywhere and at any time, if the conditions are obeyed.

These are the conditions:

* To be quiet and still
* To listen
* To be honest about every thought that comes
* To test the thoughts to be sure that they come from God
* To obey

Next will be specific suggestions.

Post from: Blisstree

“How To Listen To God”

Beginning at midnight tonight, every two hours a new meeting will begin and the last meeting will be at midnight Thanksgiving night in Savannah.

It has been quite some time since I went through a holiday knowing that the holiday was, in reality, a serious drinking day. More often than not I could drink through a holiday without having to spend any money. My father-in-law was thrilled to offer me my drink of choice so that I wouldn’t drink his beer. Which means that “we” were usually at the in-laws for the holidays.

That wasn’t all. I’d developed, under the guise of a good motive, all the excuse I needed to be excessive with my alcohol consumption. I offered my then wife the keys to the car for the drive home at the end of the day. How self-consumed. I actually believed I was doing the right thing.

I’m sure now that the moment she saw those keys coming her way that knot in her stomach began to grow again. Something else I am sorry for Barbara, but you knew that, didn’t you?

If you’re new to recovery and don’t know what to do with yourself and all that new time you have on your hands, we’ll be in those marathon meetings waiting for you in your town or city. Folks will be bringing Thanksgiving turkey and all the fixin’s during the day for those of us left alone tomorrow.

Come join us!

Post from: Blisstree

Marathon Meetings

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

— Max Ehrmann, 1927

Post from: Blisstree

Desiderata ['Cuz I Need It - Do You?]

September is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. B5 media’s Health and Wellness Channel (check out B5’s new design btw) is taking the moment to present our collective individual experiences with the Twelve Steps. Or, we’re going to do the research needed to offer our readers valuable information on the Twelve Steps relating to a number of areas in the human nature.

If you are a new reader here are the Twelve Steps according to Alcoholics Anonymous. There are over 2000 other variations relating to groups and gatherings and fellowships other than AA who have their own versions;

• Step 1 – We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable
• Step 2 – Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
• Step 3 – Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him
• Step 4 – Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
• Step 5 – Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
• Step 6 – Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
• Step 7 – Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
• Step 8 – Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
• Step 9 – Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
• Step 10 – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
• Step 11 – Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out
• Step 12 – Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

If you’re not familiar with National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, here are the basics from Recoverymonth.org;

Every year, towns, counties, and states around the country observe National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month (Recovery Month) in September. This year, the 19th annual Recovery Month recognizes the impact that real people and real stories have on recovery, and celebrates those who have worked to advance the treatment and recovery landscape.

In 2008, we are highlighting the people for whom treatment and long-term recovery have given a renewed outlook on life. We invite you to take part in our theme, “Join the Voices for Recovery: Real People, Real Recovery,” and spread the word that addiction is a medical illness and that treatment is effective and recovery is possible. By getting involved, you can help more people on a path of recovery to lead more fulfilling lives.

Our other Health and Wellness bloggers thought I could offer you all some background on the Twelve Steps. Strangely, that feels like a difficult prospect due to the fact that most folks aren’t familiar with them. I believe the best information I might give you is that the Twelve Steps, regardless of which fellowship they are associated with, are designed to do the same thing – bring the person who practices them to a spiritual awakening and a psychic change sufficient enough to bring about a radical change in thinking. The change in thinking defines a blueprint for living making clear the realities of life allowing us to live free from our addictions and to find happiness in life that we hadn’t known before.

Post from: Blisstree

September – National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month

Thanks again Alex…

“No look at anonymity as practiced by AA can be truly complete without including the question: is it possible for an AA member to be too anonymous? Too anonymous for the good of the individual and the Fellowship? The answer is ‘yes.’ And there are more than a few examples of this: members who feel they must not tell their families or their friends or coworkers or doctors or ministers or lawyers that they are members of AA.

There have even been instances when members have sent requests for information to the General Service Office in New York and not included a last name or have sent checks to GSO – unsigned.

There is indeed such a thing as an AA member being too anonymous: where it can mean failure to extend the helping hand when the need arises; where it can mean failure to correct misconceptions about AA both inside and outside the Fellowship; and where it can stifle – even stop – the flow of AA knowledge and sobriety from one person to another.

This is anonymity at the personal level and can indeed be carried too far – in Bill’s words – to ‘the point of real absurdity.’“

It might be a thought to note that “they” made provision for misconceptions early – both inside and outside of the Fellowship. Yes, they exist.

Post from: Blisstree

To The Point Of Real Absurdity

Al-Anon Quiz – Are You Troubled By Someone’s Drinking?

“Millions of people are affected by the excessive drinking of someone close. Many times people who are close to alcoholics do not even realize how much they have been affected by someone else’s drinking.”

Buddy offers you this quiz to help you decide whether the Al-Anon Family groups might work for you.

One specific question that rings a bell with me – “Do you feel that if the drinker cared about you, he or she would stop drinking to please you?”

Buddy also offers you a resource for finding Al-Anon meetings in your local (USA) area. Follow this link.

Post from: Blisstree

Affected By The Drinking Of Someone Close To You?

We were to be entrusted with this legacy in order that Alcoholics Anonymous continue to be available for all who suffer from alcoholism, for all who wish to recover, for all who, by God’s grace, were going to walk into our rooms.

That legacy was for us to pass this “thing” on the way we received it. Not to dilute it nor to change it where it didn’t need changing, to change it where it did need changing to improve it.

Many of us have received it differently from our sponsors and the elder statesmen but you and I know with certainty that the message of Alcoholics Anonymous has not changed. There is life after alcohol, there is hope. Life gets better sober.

Why then do we do things like selling newcomers short?

I know we all love to hear ourselves talk. Yet, to have the largest percentage of our meetings be discussion meetings that face the constant challenge of a topic? What has happened to simple speaker meetings? Where have the exchange meetings disappeared to? Why aren’t local groups in contact with each other to share speaking commitments?

Why does it seem that anniversary meetings are our speaker meetings? The newcomer isn’t being asked to speak at an anniversary meeting (perhaps rightfully so). However, since it was suggested to me that I speak before my first sober anniversary in order to relive my story and help another alcoholic, it is apparent that our newcomers aren’t getting the opportunity to do this for a variety of reasons.

One of those reasons is that today’s speakers need to have a “great” story! Lame. Yeah, I said – lame. Labeling an alcoholics’ story “great” is lame. Because every speakers’ story is “great!” No speakers’ story is “great.” Because we want folks to show up at our anniversary meeting so we promote this months’ speaker as having a great story! We are way too wrapped up in ourselves and then we wonder why folks are getting drunk.

Or – you have to be a member of the “good ole boys club.” Early on I discovered that cliques were disliked yet people in cliques stayed sober together. We’ve taken it, like so much else we do, to the extreme. Promoting fellow members to convention committees as having great stories, being wonderful speakers, someone you’ve simply got to hear! And only a small group of individuals wind up speaking while the newcomer who hasn’t spoken languishes in obscurity, never getting a chance to follow through on an old and wise suggestion.

Yet we’ll swear we’re fulfilling the Primary Purpose.

This is not an improvement. This is not fulfilling our legacy!

Post from: Blisstree

Selling Newcomers Short

GOD, grant me the serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change,
Courage to change the
things I can, and the
wisdom to know the difference.

Living ONE DAY AT A TIME;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship as the
pathway to peace.

Taking, as He did, this
sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it.

Trusting that He will make
all things right if I
surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy
in this life, and supremely
happy with Him forever in
the next. Amen

Just mho, it never gets old and the repetition can’t hurt…

Post from: Blisstree

The Serenity Prayer – Long Version – Repeated