September 29 2013 [ Full daily blog link:http://donoddylondon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/alcoholics-anonymous-sept-29.html ] | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 9 Amends In Action Alcoholics Anonymous Today’s AA daily reflection 2012: “forgiveness and consequences… Have you forgiven yourself get?” I don’t feel like I’ve thought about this particular aspect of living today, forgiveness for the way we were, forgiveness for the way we are and accepting the consequences of life experiences, the good, the bad and the ugly…
When we look back at all the things that have happened to us over the years, we look back with the benefit of hindsight. Would we have done this or that with what we know today? The answer is no often, and given the experiences we have had we often choose to behave differently and act differently because we have changed through time. Whether we are in a good place, a bad place or place of not knowing how emotional and spiritual condition, we always the best we can be in the moment. The consequences of how we were, still has an impact on our emotional and spiritual life today. When we are beyond denial, anger and resentments of the past, we can forgive ourselves for what we did to other people in those times and what other people did to us over the years? I feel we must forgive, accept consequences and decide how we will live our lives today…
I look back now, some of the hurtful situations which impacted on me, and the hurtful reactions I had towards others emotionally and spiritually. When we don’t know what to do with ourselves and we are struck by grief, struck by loss of any sort, we are not equipped to deal with the extremes. And we need to understand we may never know exactly why certain circumstances made us hurt and hate, made us cherish and love even though there was no rhyme and no reason. Certainly the reasons why on a thinking level can explain the logic, on the other hand the emotions are more difficult to deal with. We all need help to fathom the deep of the past, learn from it, cherish the good, cherish the bad and cherish the ugly of what we and others were capable of doing back in the day…
Sometimes the attitudes of people outside fellowship can be quite alarming and at the same time I understand why they have these attitudes. The eleventh Commandment which is adopted by some, not by me, “thou shalt not get found out.” On a profound level I prefer the truth, no matter what it is, because these days I can cope with and understand how I feel about my history and history with others. Open, honest and willing, to share and make amends where ever possible without doing further harm is okay. I feel hurt more by the obvious silences, the obvious missing detail and the desire to cover up what happened. At the same time I accept not knowing, and not knowing the answers means that acceptance is always in the moment and always today…
Forgive everybody everything, every day we always face consequences which can result in anger and resentment, a need to cover up and silences which harm the inner being. And the problem we face in forgiving everyone and also facing our own consequences for our own actions, is that other people in our lives or in the past may not be of the same mind emotionally and spiritually. And that is where the harm can be done. We can deliberate and try make a decision on our own, and yet we find ourselves wrong-footed because we haven’t consulted with those who have the experience and who have trampled on the feelings of other people who don’t wish to explore the journey from back then to now…
It’s not our job to enlighten other people directly. We may enlighten and share our experience, strength and hope. The journey in our emotional and spiritual lives, it works when we have the experience and is not something that can be imposed on another person. Another person might understand what we are saying on a thinking level, have the intelligence to understand what is being said but have no direct experience of the emotions and how they work in the moment. Our thinking brains can take on the message ready for the emotional experience, but the emotional experience has to happen to truly understand how life works, however it is in the moment of now…
Have you forgiven yourself for being human today…? And are you ready to accept the consequences…?
DonInLondon [ Full daily blog link: http://oddbook.co ]
AA Official Online Site: Daily Reflections http://www.aa.org/lang/en/aareflections.cfm
AA Official Online Site: Big Book And Twelve And Twelve http://www.aa.org/lang/en/subpage.cfm?page=359
September 2012 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 9 Amends In Action Alcoholics Anonymous Anonymous Reading Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRgwBCdVyVM
September 2012 | Video Reading How It Works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rj3wPVvk3Q
September 2012 | Video Reading Into Action : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueS51r5FzH4