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

Living in the here and now

Living in the here and the now opens up untold possibilities for new growth.  Our inner self is enticed in new directions when our attention is fully in the present.  When our minds are still on last night’s argument or tomorrow’s board meeting, we wear blinders to the activity at hand.  And God, as our teacher and protector, resides in this experience, in the hearts of these people present.

Every single moment has something for us.  Maybe a new piece of information.  A piece that solves a problem that’s been puzzling us, perhaps a chance to make a new friend, one who will be there in a time of need.

Letting go of yesterday frees us.  We need not be burdened.  It is gone.  Our lives could be eased so much if we kept our focus on the experience at hand, where the problems we ponder have their solutions.  Always.

I will greet today, skipping, smiling, ready for the answers, the truths, the directions meant only for me.  The wonders of today will bless me.

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

The decision to be happy is ours to make

Happiness is our birthright.  The decision to be happy is ours to make, every day, when confronted with any experience.  Too many of us grow up believing that life needs to be a certain way for us to be happy.  We look for the right lover, the right job, the right dress.  We look outside of ourselves for the key to happiness.  In time, we even look to alcohol, drugs, food perhaps — to no avail.

Happiness lies within.  We must encourage it to spring forth.  But first we need to believe that happiness is fully within our power.  We must trust that the most difficult circumstances won’t keep it from us when we have learned to tap the source within.

Life is a gift we are granted moment by moment.  Let us be in awe of the wonder of it, then revel in it.  We can marvel at creation for a moment and realize how special we are to be participants.  Happiness will overcome us if we let it.  We can best show our gratitude for the wonder of this gift by smiling within and without.

That I am here is a wonderful mystery to which joy is the natural response.   t is no accident that I am here.

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

Love can change the complexion of the universe

The act of loving someone else brings us together, closes whatever the gap between us.  It draws us into the world of another, making richer the world we call our own.  Love is the great equalizer.

We no longer wish to conquer or dominate those whom we love.  And our love for one increases our capacity for loving others.  Love heals another, and love heals ourselves, both giving it and receiving it.

Love from another acknowledges our existence, assuring us that we do count, that our presence is valued by someone else.  It is human to need these reminders, these assurances.  But our need for them is lessened each time we acknowledge another person in our midst.

Where love is absent, people, even in a crowd, feel alone, forgotten, unimportant.  No doubt we can each recall times of quiet desperation — moments of alienation.  We must reach out to someone and send thoughts of love to someone who may need to be remembered.  Our loving thoughts for persons close and far away always reach their destination.  They do unify us.

Love is powerful.  It can change the complexion of the universe.  It will change the direction of my life.

Source:  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

It’s not infrequent that we are faced with a dilemma

It’s not infrequent that we are faced with a dilemma: What is the best action to take in a certain situation?  We can be guided, rightly, in every situation if we but turn inward and let our conscience direct our behavior.  We have often hear it said that when we long for a message from God we will hear it, either through our conscience or in the words of our friends.  Thus we can never really be in doubt; our conduct can always be above reproach if we but listen.

Right behavior leads to fortunate opportunities for those who look for them.  Behavior that we’re proud of seems to attract blessings in our lives.  One’s good fortune is really God-given and in proportion to one’s willingness to act well toward others in all situations.

Simply, what goes around, comes around.  Our behavior comes back to us, manyfold.  In our encounters with others today, we’ll have numerous occasions to decide about the best behavior for the particular circumstance.  We must not forget that our behavior elicits the responses we receive.

I will invite blessings today.  I will also shower blessings on my friends.

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

I will be in control of my attitude today

“Women like to sit down with trouble as if it were knitting.
~ Ellen Glasgow

How often we turn minor challenges into monumental barriers by giving them undue attention, forgetting that within any problem lies its solution!  However, the center of our focus must be off the problem’s tangle if we are to find the solution’s thread.  The best remedy for this dilemma is the Serenity Prayer.

We cannot change our children, our spouses or partners, not even the best friends who we know love us.  But with God’s help we can change the attitude that has us blocked at this time.  A changed attitude, easing up on ourselves, lessening our expectations of others, will open the door to the kind of relationships we seek, the smooth flowing days we long for.

We need not take life so seriously.  In fact, we shouldn’t take it so seriously.  We can measure our emotional health by how heartily we laugh with others and at ourselves.  The 24 hours stretching before us at this time promises many choices in attitude.  We can worry, be mad, depressed, or frustrated, or we can trust our higher power to see us through whatever the situation.  So, we can relax.  It is our decision, the one decision over which we are not powerless.

I will be in control of my attitude today.  I can have the kind of day I long for.

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

As we are changed by our experiences, that which we know also changes

As we are changed by our experiences, that which we know also changes.  Our experiences foster growth and enlightenment, and all awarenesses give way to new understandings.  We are forever students of life blessed with particular lessons designed only for us.  There is joy in knowing that learning has no end and that each day offers us a chance to move closer to becoming the persons we are meant to be.

To understand something more deeply requires that we be open to the ideas of others, willing to part with our present opinions.  Throughout our lives we discover new interpretations of old ideas, and we will continue to expand our understanding.

Every situation, every person, every feeling, every idea has a slightly different hue each time we encounter it.  The wonder of this is that life is forever enriched, forever fresh.

Each moment offers me a chance to know better who I am and to understand more fully the real contribution that is mine to make in this life.  I will let the anticipation of my changing ideas excite me.

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

Peace awaits me today

Self-centeredness, egocentrism, and selfishness are familiar to most of us.  We have judged our world, and all the situations and people in it, in terms of how their existence affects our own.  We have become tied to him or to her or to a situation just as surely as an anchor to a boat.  Most of us learned, in very early childhood, to read others’ behaviors.  And we determined our own worth accordingly.

As adults, we still struggle, trying to read another’s actions, hoping to find acceptance.  Which means we are always vulnerable, exposing our “self” to the whims of other, equally vulnerable “selves.”  What we search for is peace and security.  We think if others love and accept us, we’ll be at peace, we’ll know serenity.  A most important lesson for us to learn in this life is that peace is assured when we anchor ourselves to our God.  Peace, well-being serene joy will accompany our every step when we expose our vulnerable selves to God’s care and only God’s care.  We’ll no longer need to worry about the self we try to protect.  It will be handled with care.

Peace awaits me today.  I will look to God, and only God, to know that all is well, that I am all that I need to be.

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

Neither the water nor the moon make any effort to achieve a reflection

Moon above water.
Sit in solitude.

If waters are placid, the moon will be mirrored perfectly. If we still ourselves, we can mirror the divine perfectly. But if we engage solely in the frenetic activities of our daily involvements, if we seek to impose our own schemes on the natural order, and if we allow ourselves to become absorbed in self-centered views, the surface of our waters becomes turbulent. Then we cannot be receptive to Tao.

There is no effort that we can make to still ourselves. True stillness comes naturally from moments of solitude where we allow our minds to settle. Just as water seeks its own level, the mind will gravitate toward the holy. Muddy water will become clear if allowed to stand undisturbed, and so too will the mind become clear if it is allowed to be still.

Neither the water nor the moon make any effort to achieve a reflection. In the same way, meditation will be natural and immediate.

Source: 365 Tao Daily Meditations | Deng Ming-Dao

To really live, I must fully participate

Every moment is special and offers us an opportunity — to let an experience change us in an important way, to invite another person into our life, to nurture the growing, changing person within.  Life’s events move so rapidly, we seldom relish the moments individually, but each day teems with tiny gifts divinely designed for our well-being.  The woman smiled at in the grocery store yesterday, or the man acknowledged on the bus last week, felt special.  And we were softened, too, by our expression.

We change, and we change our world, when we acknowledge one another’s presence in it.  The wonderful reality is that we are in another’s world because of the special qualities we each have and are able to share with one another.

For many of us, in times past, no moment felt important.  The days were simply long and painful.  But now we can relish even the past pain for what it taught us.  We know now that we can look to this day before us with expectation.  We can be conscious of every moment, thankful for every experience and every person we encounter.

In this inner game of life, I share the court, and I will have my turn to serve.  To really live, I must participate fully.

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

Deciding to chuckle rather than snarl

Laughter can cure a physical condition; it can and will positively affect an emotional condition, as well. Laughter ushers in a new perspective which gives vent to a changed attitude. And our attitude toward any situation, any individual, is all-powerful.

A negative, critical attitude toward our financial situation, toward our disease, toward our boss, or spouse, or children, determines how we feel moment by moment. In like manner, when we raise our sights, look at the world with lightness in our hearts, expecting to enjoy the day, the people, the activity, we’ll succeed.

Finding humor in a situation, any situation, prevents us from succumbing to feelings of powerlessness. Choosing a humorous response, opting to laugh at our situation, at any point in time, keeps our personal power where it belongs — with ourselves.

My emotional well-being depends on my active involvement in deciding who I am, right now. Deciding to chuckle rather than snarl will give me an unexpected emotional boost.

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