*~*~*~*~*^DailyReflections^*~*~*~*~* HAPPINESS IS NOT THE POINT
I don't think happiness or unhappiness is the point. How do we meet the problems we face? How do we best learn from them and transmit what we have learned to others, if they would receive the knowledge?
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 306 In my search "to be happy," I changed jobs, married and divorced, took geographical cures, and ran myself into debt-financially, emotionally and spiritually. In A.A., I'm learning to grow up. Instead of demanding that people, places and things make me happy, I can ask God for self-acceptance. When a problem overwhelms me, A.A.'s Twelve Steps will help me grow through the pain. The knowledge I gain can be a gift to others who suffer with the same problem. As Bill said, "When pain comes, we are expected to learn from it willingly, and help others to learn. When happiness comes, we accept it as a gift, and thank God for it." (As Bill Sees It, p. 306)
When I look back on my last few drinking days I know today that I am happy, Even if I have a few tears today thats ok I know everything will pass. I try to do the best I can each day as thats all I can do and you know what, its keeping me happy,and yes I thank my God for this always because he has given me work to do,carry the message and I will again today.
"One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts that are mine-- both temporal and spiritual. Here I try to achieve a state of joyful gratitude. When such a brand of gratitude is repeatedly affirmed and pondered, it can finally displace the natural tendency to congratulate myself on whatever progress I may have been enabled to make in certain areas of living. I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know." Bill W., Box 1980: The AA Grapevine, March 1962 As Bill Sees It, p. 37
