Topic for the Week: Living in today

[caressa]

How do I cope with life on life's terms. This reading gives a good perspective on what I should do. Knowing what to do or what I should do, doesn't always mean I can do it when I am caught up in the moment. Hind sight is a good teacher.

It really is important to stay in the moment. I am not my past even though it sometimes comes up and tries to infiltrate my life in the form of old tapes and behaviors.

I can learn new life skills in today. I don't have to repeat old ways and I can pick up new tools to help me deal with life. One of the most helpful are the 12 Steps of AA.

What helps me is remembering to take my God with me as I start my day. Can't go too far wrong when I listen for his Good Orderly Direction and am mndful of his Diving Orderly Good in my life.

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The 90 Tools of Sobriety:

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[caressa]

It is so important, especially when I have periods of not sleeping that I stay in the moment and in the day. I was sharing with my family on the weekend, I really don't have a lot of time sense. It is either now or the past. Don't ask me how long in the past, because I just don't have a sense of how many one days have gone by since such and such a thng happened. I get caught up in today, and then it is gone.

My life isn't built on a lot of tomorrows. About the only thing I planned for was bridge and I'm not playing that much any more. I knew that when I got the latest Jean Auel book that everything would be put aside until it is read. I have a hard time putting it down. As soon as I saw it on the bookshelf, and saw it was about 3" thick, I couldn't wait to start reading it. I had to stay in today. I occasionally took a peak to see as to where I was on the waiting list. I have three weeks to read it but at the rate I am going it will be done in three days. My body have another plan, so will see. I did manage to read three books that were due before I picked it up. They are not due until the 16th, but I knew if I picked up the book, I would be lost. In the past, everything else would have been put aside. I wouldn't have even take the time to post. I am a fast reader and considering it brings up thngs from the other five books, I skim over that part because I am already in the know. I feel sad though because it is to be the last book in the series.

So again, it is acceptance of what is in the moment. Being responsible, doing what I need to do, take time for others because it isn't all about me any more.

[caressa]

One of the things that help me to live in today, is not to take on other people's stuff. People project things onto us. They try to manipulate and control us into doing what they want us to do and we need to learn not to buy into the game.

I need to recognize what is mine and what is not. I need to let go of the past, recognize it for what it was and look to what I need to do to change it in today. There are a lot of choices made in my past that I don't want to repeat. A lot of places I went, that I don't wish to return to. A lot of people who I can give thanks to for guiding me and teaching me the lessons I needed to learn. I am grateful for them, that doesn't mean it is good for me to have them in my life in today. Again, as the piece of prose says, "A reason, a season, a lifetime."

Many people, places and things I had to detach from. The key was filling that space with other good people, places and things instead of isolating myself. Allowing myself to become vulnerable and open to new experiences, lessons, and teachings. Every mindful that isolation is part of my disease, not part of my recovery.

[Lin]

I like the idea of living in today. When I focus on the past or obsess abtou the future I am usually miserable. If instead I focus on right now and what I can do about a situation right now...then let it go after that, I am uch happier.

I think I need to make a sign for my desk that says LIVE IN TODAY> Great idea!

LIN

[caressa]

Thought of a conversation with a member at a meeting not too long ago and thought this applied. Sometimes, it is hard to put one foot in front of the other and not give up. Sometimes I know I sit in my stuff far too long, before I decide to do something about it. The chaos and the feeling are familiar.

Instead of looking ahead and wondering about what will happen, how it will turn out, stressing about stuff that is none of my business and not mine to take on, stuck in an old pattern and behavior that I don't want to change, and the list goes on.

So important to stay in today. Don't look at the way it happened before, but know that if I take my God with me, it will be different this time. Don't project into the future and try to figure thngs out. Not my job! Just live in today, just be and do what is in front of me to be done.

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[majestyjo]

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

When Things Don't Work

Frequently, when faced with a problem, we may attempt to solve it in a particular way. When that way doesn't work, we may continue trying to solve the problem in that same way.

We may get frustrated, try harder, get more frustrated, and then exert more energy and influence into forcing the same solution that we have already tried and that didn't work.

That approach makes us crazy. It tends to get us stuck and trapped. It is the stuff that unmanageability is made of.

We can get caught in this same difficult pattern in relationships, in tasks, in any area of our life. We initiate something, it doesn't work, doesn't flow, we feel badly, then try the same approach harder, even though it's not working and flowing.

Sometimes, it's appropriate not to give up and to try harder. Sometimes, it's more appropriate to let go, detach, and stop trying so hard.

If it doesn't work, if it doesn't flow, maybe life is trying to tell us something. Life is a gentle teacher. She doesn't always send neon road signs to guide us. Sometimes, the signs are more subtle. Something not working may be a sign!

Let go. If we have become frustrated by repeated efforts that aren't producing desired results, we may be trying to force ourselves down the wrong path. Sometimes, a different solution is appropriate. Sometimes, a different path opens up. Often, the answer will emerge more clearly in the quietness of letting go than it will in the urgency, frustration, and desperation of pushing harder.

Learn to recognize when something isn't working or isn't flowing. Step back and wait for clear guidance.

Today, I will not make myself crazy by repeatedly trying solutions that have proven themselves unsuccessful. If something isn't working, I will step back and wait for guidance.