The tapestry of life

We don’t accomplish anything in this life alone…and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.
~ Sandra Day O’Connor

Something to think about…

We each are spinning our individual threads, lending texture, color, pattern, to the “big-design” that is serving us all.  Person by person, our actions, our thoughts, our values complement those of others, those of the entire human race.  We are heading toward the same destination, all of us, and our paths run parallel on occasion, intersect perdiodically, and veer off in singleness of purpose when inspiration calls us.

It’s comforting to be reminded that our lives are purposeful.  What we are doing presently, our interactions with other people, our goals, have an impact that is felt by many others.  We are interdependent.  Our behavior is triggering important thoughts and responses in someone else, consistently and methodically.  No one of us is without a contribution to make.  Each one of us is giving what we are called upon to give when we are in a right relationship with God, who is the master artist in this design we are creating.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

Today is a new day!

Something to think about…

Today stands before us, ready for our involvement.  And it will offer us opportunities for personal growth and occasions to help another make progress on his or her path to the future.  Challenges are to be expected.  They further our purpose.  They foster our maturity.

How different it is, for many of us, to look forward today with secure anticipation, to trust in what the future holds.  We can still remember, all too vividly perhaps, the darker periods in our lives, periods that seemed to hold no promise; a time when we dreaded the future, fearing it would only compound those awful times.

The fear and the dread are not gone completely.  They hover about us, on occasion.  They no longer need to darken all of a day, however.  We can recognize their presence as parts of our whole, not all of it.  How free we are, today.  Our choices are many.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

A sense of spiritual well-being warms us when we are selfless

As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.
~ Mary Anne Radmacher

Something to think about…

A sense of spiritual well-being warms us when we are selfless, when we step away from our obsessing egos, when we let our pure, unfettered desires direct our thoughts and our steps.  Our egos maybe keeping us caged in old behavior, old fears.  Egos struggle for self-preservation; unfortunately, it’s our old, unhealthy self the ego is preserving.

Spiritual growth makes it possible for us to unload our baggage from earlier days, baggage that intrudes on our perception of today’s events, and clears the path so we can move responsibly forward.

Living creatively is living in the thick of the flow, trusting the flow, spontaneously moving with the flow, not controlling the flow.  We are Spirit-full when we let ourselves roll forward, resisting not, doubting not.  And our greatest contributions will be discovered when our ego takes a rest.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

A being and a becoming

Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.
~ Matthew Arnold

Something to think about…

We must take responsibility for ourselves, for who we become, for how we live each day.  The temptation to blame others may be ever present.  And much of our past adds up to wasted days or years, perhaps, because we did blame someone else for the unhappiness in our lives.

We may have blamed our own parents for not loving us enough.  We may have labeled our husbands the villains.  Other people did affect us.  That’s true.  However, we chose, you and I, to let them control us, overwhelm us, shame us.  We always had other options, but we didn’t choose them.

Today is a new day.  Our options are entirely open.  We are learning who we are and how we want to live our lives.  How exhilarating to know that you and I can take today and put our own special flavor in it.  We can meet our personal needs.  We can, with anticipation, chart our course.  The days of passivity are over, if we choose to move ahead with this day.

Every day is a new beginning.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

Our way will be illuminated

When you walk with God, you get where he’s going.

Something to think about…

We have met certain people who inspired laughter, hope, or changes in us, or those close to us.  We look forward to seeing them.  We leave their presence believing in ourselves, aware that we can tackle whatever problems had us immobilized.  That special gift to inspire is ours for the taking, too.  The inspiration comes from God.

We can look to God for the strength we need.  It will come.  We can look also to God for direction, for the steps we need to take today.   Those persons who inspire us have developed a secure connection to their God.  And it’s their connection that comes through them to inspire us.

We can take some time today, before the demands overwhelm us, to weave our connection to our higher power.  When that contact is secure, we won’t have to await inspiration from another person to forge ahead with our plans.  The inspiration will live within us, and it will beckon us onward.  Our way will be illuminated.

An answered prayer

Something to think about…

The difficult spells in our lives come to an end.  And no matter the depth of our disturbance, we will survive.  We forget that the depths teach us how to better appreciate the heights.

Sorrow heightens joy.  Depression heightens laughter.  We wouldn’t know the joys and laughter were it not for the sorrows.  In them, we learn to be patient, waiting for the wisdom which will light our way.  In them, we learn to listen for the guidance that beckons us forth.

We must reflect on the troubling experiences we’ve passed through of late.  They made us wiser; they gave us strength.  They changed us, moving us ever closer to the person, whole and happy, we desire to be.

Difficulties often precede enlightenment.  They pull us inward, perhaps push us to search for our connectedness to God, a connectedness that is at home in our hearts.  The paradox is that these painful periods strengthen our oneness with the Spirit.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

From this moment forth…

Something to think about…

Yesterday is gone, but its experiences will be reflected in those of today.  We learned from both the good and the bad situations of yesterday.  Where we travel today, likewise, will influence our direction tomorrow.  We can’t do over what has gone before, but we can positively incorporate all that life is offering us from this moment forth.

We are moving toward greater understanding of life’s mysteries with each experience.  As today unfolds, we can be moved by the adventures.  What we experience is ours alone and will contribute to the unfolding of our special destiny  We move forward, only forward  The doors behind us are closed forever.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

That which we fear grows in proportion to our obsession with it

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.

~ Bill Cosby

Something to think about…

How can we ever do that which seems impossible?  Taking a class, quitting a job, leaving a destructive relationship behind, asking for help; none of these can we do alone or with ease.  All of these we can handle when we rely on the help of one another and the help promised by our higher power.  Tackling, with God’s help, that which seems impossible, reduces it to manageable size.  It also deflates the power our fears have given it.

That which we fear grows in proportion to our obsession with it.  the more we fear a thing, the bigger it becomes, which, in turn, increases our fear.  How lucky we are that God awaits our call for the strength, the companionship that is guaranteed us.  We are in partnership, all the way, every day, if we’d only recognize it.  We can move toward and through anything.  And the added benefit is that we come to trust our partnership.  We soon know that all situations can be met.  All experiences can be survived.  Avoidance is no longer our technique for survival.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

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The teachers in our lives

Something to think about…

We can open ourselves to opportunities today.  They abound in our lives.  No circumstance we find ourselves in is detrimental to our progress.  No relationship with someone at work or at home is superfluous to our development.  Teachers are everywhere.  And as we become ready for a new lesson, one will appear.

We can marvel at the wonder of our lives today.  We can reflect on our yesterdays and be grateful for the lessons they taught.  We can look with hopeful anticipation at the days ahead — gifts, all of them.  We are on a special journey, serving a special purpose, uniquely our own.  No barrier, no difficult person, no tumultuous time is designed to interrupt our progress.  All experiences are simply to teach us what we have yet to learn.

Trusting in the goodness of all people, all situations, all paths to progress will release whatever our fears, freeing us to go forth with a quicker step and an assurance that eases all moments.

Try to recognize the teachers in our lives.  They help us clear away the baggage of the past and free us to accept and trust the will of God, made known to us by the teachers as they appear.

I am a student of life.  I can learn only if I open my mind to my teachers.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

Letting down our guard

Something to think about…

Letting down our guard, releasing the tension that keeps us taut, often invites our tears, tears that soften us, melt our resistance, reveal our vulnerability, which reminds us that we are only human.  So often we need reminding that we are only human.

Perfectionism may be our bane, as it is for so many of us.  We’ve learned to push, push harder, and even harder yet, not only ourselves but those around us.  We must be better, we think, and we tighten our hold on life.  We must try to loosen our grip.  The magic is that when we loosen our grip on this day, this activity, this person, we get carried gently along and find that which we struggled to control happening smoothly and naturally.  Life is a series of ironies.

We should not hide from our tears.  We can trust their need to be present.  Perhaps they need to be present for someone else, as well as ourselves.  Tears encourage compassion; maybe our assignment in life, today, is to help someone else experience compassion.

My tears will heal.  And the wounded are everywhere.

“Let your tears come.  Let them water your soul.”
~ Eileen Mayhew

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

The choice is ever present to relish the moment

Each passing minute is all that we are certain of having.  The choice is ever present to relish the moment, reaping fully whatever its benefits, knowing that we are being given just what we need each day of our lives.  We must not pass up what is offered today.

Time accompanies us like a friend, though often a friend denied or ignored.  We can’t recapture what was offered yesterday.  It’s gone.  All that stands before us is here, now.

We can nurture the moment and know that the pain and pleasures offered us with each moment are our friends, the teachers our inner selves await.  And we can be mindful that this time, this combination of events and people, won’t come again.  They are the gift of the present.  We can be grateful.

We miss the opportunities the day offers because we don’t recognize the experiences as the lesson designed for the next stage of our development.  The moment’s offerings are just, necessary, and friendly to our spiritual growth.

I will take today in my arms and love it.  I will love all it offers.  It is a friend bearing gifts galore.

Source:  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

Today’s experiences will move me a step closer to happiness

We are generally so certain that we know what’s best for ourselves. And we are just as often certain that what we think is best will guarantee happiness. Perhaps we should reflect on all the times in the past when our wishes didn’t come true — fortunately.

Did any one of us expect to be doing, today, what we are each doing? We may have expected children, a particular kind of home, a certain career, but did we really anticipate all that life has wrought? The happiness we experience today probably doesn’t visit us in the way we anticipated a few years back. But, it is measured out according to our needs. The choice to be happy with what is, is ours to make, every moment.

I can take life as it is, and trust that it is just right, just what it needs to be. The big picture guarantees me lasting happiness. Today’s experiences will move me a step closer.

Source (modified): Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

We each are traveling our own very special path in this life

We each are traveling our own very special path in this life.  At times our paths run parallel to each other.  On occasion, they may intersect.  But, we do all have a common destination: knowledge of life’s meaning.  And we’ll arrive at knowledge when we’ve arrived at the mountain’s summit, separately and yet together.

We do not go straight up the side of the mountain on this trip.  We circle it slowly, carefully, sometimes losing our footing, sometimes backtracking because we’ve reached an impasse.  Many times, we have stumbled, but as we grow in understanding, as we rely more and more on our inner strength, available for the taking, we become more sure-footed.

We have never needed to take any step alone on this trip.  Our troubles in the past were complicated because we did not know this; but now we do.  Our lifeline is to our higher power.  If we hang on to it, every step of the way we will feel secure.  The ground will be stable under us.

I am on a path to full understanding.  I am learning to trust the lifeline offered by God and my friends.  As I learn, my footing is less tentative, and it supports me more securely.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

Positive attitudes lighten whatever burden we may be learning from

Gratitude for what’s been offered us in our lives softens the harsh attitudes we occasionally harbor.  Life presents us with an assortment of blessings; some bring us immediate joy; some invite tears; others foster fear.  What we need help in understanding is that all experiences are meant for our good, all bless us in some manner.  If we are able to see the big picture, we’d greet all situations, large and small, with a thankful heart.

It’s so very easy to wish away our lives, never finding satisfaction with our families, our jobs, our friends.  The more we find fault with life, the more fault we are guaranteed to find.  Negative attitudes attract negative experiences, while positive attitudes lighten whatever burden we may be learning from.

The years pass so quickly.  Our chances to enjoy life pass quickly, too.  We can grab what comes our way and be grateful.  We are never certain that this experience offered now might not be our last.

Each morning I awake is blessing number one.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

It’s the deep waters of life that teach us to be better swimmers

Variety in experiences is necessary for our continued growth.  We mistakenly think that the “untroubled” life would be forever welcome.  It’s the deep waves of life that teach us to be better swimmers.

We don’t know how to appreciate the calm without the occasional storm that pushes us to new limits of ourselves.  The calm following the storm offers us the time we need to become comfortable with our new growth.  We are ever changing, refining our values, stepping gingerly into uncharted territories.  We are forever in partnership in these new territories, let us not forget.

We long for challenge even in the midst of the calm that blesses us.  Our inner selves understand the journey, a journey destined to carry us to new horizons; a journey that promises many stormy seasons.  For to reach our destination, we must be willing to weather the storms.  They are challenges, handpicked for us, designed to help us become all that we need to be in this earthly life.

Source:  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

We need to know that we matter in this life

We need to know that we matter in this life.  We need evidence that others are aware of our presence.  And thus, we can be certain that others need the same attention from us.  When we give it, we get it.  So the giving of attention to another searching soul meets our own need for attention as well.

Respectful recognition of another’s presence blesses that person, ourselves, and God.  And we help one another grow, in important ways, each time we pay the compliment of acknowledgment.

We’re not sure, on occasion, just what we have to offer our friends, families, co-workers.  Why we are in certain circumstances may have us baffled, but it’s quite probably that the people we associate with regularly need something we can give them; the reverse is just as likely.  So we can begin with close attention to people in our path.  It takes careful listening and close observation to sense the message another soul may be sending to our own.

I will be conscious of the people around me.  I shall acknowledge them and be thankful for all they are offering me.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

We are a composite of our actions, attitudes, choices, and decisions

There is no provision for blaming others in our lives.  Who we are is a composite of the actions, attitudes, choices, and decisions we’ve made up to now.  For many of us, predicaments may have resulted from our decisions to not act when the opportunity arose.  But these were decisions, no less, and we must take responsibility for making them.

We need not feel utterly powerless and helpless about the events of our lives.  True, we cannot control others, and we cannot curb the momentum of a situation, but we can choose our own responses to both; these choices will heighten our sense of self and well-being and may well positively influence the quality of the day.

I will accept responsibility for my actions, but not for the outcome of a situation; that is all that’s requested of me.  It is one of the assignments of life, and homework is forthcoming.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

We have many lessons to learn

What bothered us most a year ago?  A month ago?  Even a week ago?  It’s probable that whatever it was, we were obsessed with it, certain that our futures were ruined, that there was no reasonable solution.  It’s also probable that we feared we simply couldn’t survive the complexity of the situation.  But we did.  And we always will be able to survive any and all difficulties.  We are never, absolutely never, given more than we can handle.  In fact, we are given exactly what we need at any given time.

We have many lessons so learn.  Fortunately, we have tools, like these daily meditations, to guide us through the lessons.  We need mainly to remember what we are powerless over, that there is a power greater than ourselves, and that life will become simple; we’ll need no extra homework when we’ve turned it over to the care of God.

Whatever my problem today, I will let God have it.  A solution is in the making.  I’ll see it just as quickly as I can let go of the problem.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

God is present within and about us all the time

God’s presence is within us, now and always, even though we feel alone, alienated, scared, and forgotten much of the time.  We often overlook God’s presence because we don’t recognize it.  Our talents, our desires, and our pursuits are the evidence — all the evidence we’ll ever need once we understand it — that God is present within and about us all the time.

The creative potential goes unrealized among so many of us, perhaps because we have a rigid definition of what creativity is.  We are creative.  We are all, each of us, creative.  We must be, because God’s presence is here now.  When we choose to let it guide us, we’ll be able to offer our own unique gifts to the world of friends of around us.  Encouraging creativity, our own and someone else’s, may mean breaking old habits.  It surely does mean stepping out of our own way.  It also means giving ourselves fully to the experience of the moment and trusting that God’s presence will prompt the deliverance of our special gift.

In the moment lives God within us.  In the moment, I am creative, blessed with gifts like no other.  I will stay in the moment and offer them, guided by the God within.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

All of life’s elements are moving toward a state of total and perfect harmony

Harmony exists everywhere, as an entity of itself.  Our personal attitudes bring the disharmony to a situation.  An attitude of love can bless all situations and all people.

The converse is likewise true.  We all desire harmony in our relationships.  And we will find it every time we bring an attitude of honest gratitude into a situation.

How we feel today about this person or that situation reflects the strength of our relationship with God.  When we experience life in the company of our higher power, we will let life flow.  We will observe harmony, then, even in the midst of difference.

All of life’s elements are moving toward a state of total and perfect harmony.  We need not fear.  We can trust the company of our higher power and know that every situation, no matter how adverse its appearance, is contributing to a harmonious outcome if we’d but lend a trusting attitude.

Harmony is everywhere.  I will celebrate it.  I will trust the present.  I will trust the future.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

A steady flame can rekindle one that’s flickering

Our spiritual nature must be nurtured.  Prayer and meditation lovingly kindle the flame that guides us from within.  Because we’re human, we often let the flame flicker and perhaps go out, and then we sense the dreaded aloneness.  Fortunately, some time away, perhaps even a few moments in quiet communion with God, rekindles the flame.

For most of us, the flame burned low, or not at all, for many years.  The flickering we may feel today or tomorrow, or felt yesterday, will not last, so we may put away our fears.  We can listen to the voice of our higher power in others.  We can listen, too, as we carry the message.  Prayer surrounds us every moment.  We can fuel our inner flame with the messages received from others.  We can let our spirit spring forth, let it warm our hearts and the hearts of others.

We each have a friend whose flame may be flickering today.  I will help that friend, and thus myself.  A steady flame can rekindle one that’s flickering.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

Conscious involvement in our own lives

Choosing to participate actively in our own lives ushers in joy, and sometimes fear.  We are energized by our conscious involvement; making thoughtful choices regarding our development heightens our sense of well-being.  But, occasionally we may fear potential failure.  About as frequently, we may fear probably success.

Not every day do we want the responsibility for our lives, but we have it.  On occasion, we only want the loving arms of a caretaker.  The beauty of our lives at this time is that we do have a caretaker at our beck and call, a caretaker who has demonstrated repeatedly a concern for our safety, a caretaker who will help us shoulder every responsibility we face.

Once we have chosen to act responsibly, we ask for the guidance to live to the best of our abilities, and we will be helped to accomplish the tasks right for us in this stage of our lives.

All I have to do is make the right choices.  I will always know which they are, when I ask for guidance.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

Mastery over our attitudes

We can’t control the events of our lives, but we do have mastery over our attitudes.  The chances will be many, today, to react negatively or positively to circumstances we find ourselves in.  We can consider that each circumstance has something special in it for us.

Positive expectations regarding the planned as well as the spontaneous activities of the day will influence the activity’s flow, our involvement with it, and our interactions with the other people involved.  A positive attitude seems to breed positive experiences.  In other words, we attract into our lives that which we expect.  How often do we get up angry, feeling behind when the day has only begun, short-tempered with our children, “ready” for a tough one at work?  And we generally find it.

The Serenity Prayer offers us all the knowledge, all the wisdom we’ll ever need.  We can accept what has to be, change what we can, and not get confused between the two.  We can inventory our attitude.  Are we taking charge of it?  Our attitude is something we can change.

I won’t get trapped today by a negative attitude.  I will accept the challenge of turning my day around.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

Our actions reveal who we are

Taking the time to be thoughtful about our responses to the situations we encounter offers us the freedom to make choices that are right for us.  Impulsive behavior can be a thing of our past, if we so choose.  It seldom is the best response for our well-being.

Decision-making is morale-boosting.  It offers us a chance to exercise our personal powers, an exercise that is mandatory for the healthy development of our egos.  We need to make careful, thoughtful choices, because they will further define our characters.  Each action we take clear indicates the persons we are becoming.  When we have consciously and deliberately chosen that action because of its rightness for us, we are fully in command of becoming the persons we choose to be.

Our actions reveal who we are, to ourselves and others.  We need never convey an inaccurate picture of ourselves.  We need only take the time and risk the courage necessary to behave exactly as we choose.  We will know a new freedom when we are in control.

I will exercise my power to act and feel the fullness of my being.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

All moments are sacred, they will not come again

The moment, realized, is like a bud blossoming.  The day unfolds and, with each minute, we are moved along to the experiences right for us at this place and this time.  Our resistance to certain experiences and particular people creates the barrier that blocks the good in store for us.

We can rest assured, our higher power is caring for us.  Each breath we take is spirit-filled, and the plan for our lives is an accumulation of necessary experiences that are helping us to grow and develop our special talents.  What we often forget is that the difficult periods of our lives stretch us, enlighten us, ready us to be the person we desire within to be.

This moment is sacred.  All moments are sacred.  They will not come again.  What is offered this moment for us to grow on will not be offered in exactly this way again.  Our higher power knows our needs and is caring for them.  We can trust the goodness of today.

Whatever situation I encounter today, I will believe in its goodness.  It is right for me.  It may stretch my patience rather than elicit laughter, but it is right for me at this time.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations