Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul Daily Inspirations (Chicken Soup for the Soul)
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Lana Fletcher
The strength of a man’s virtue must not be measured by his efforts, but by his ordinary life.
Blaise Pascal
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 13
There is something unique about each one of us. We all have different ways of expressing ourselves, of handling adversity or conflict. Misunderstandings are the basis for most quarrels and it requires patience to listen to what is said between the lines. To recover from hurts and injustices I must first look at myself. If something I did or said added to the conflict, then I must take responsibility for my actions and apologize. If the other person cannot accept it and the relationship suffers, it is their problem. I have done my best.
Joan Clayton
Forgiveness is the bridge for restoring relationships.
Joan Clayton
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 14
It is a sign of wisdom to be able to set goals and then, having done so, to let them go. All that is required for success is a vision of the destination. The journey itself will reveal the means that will take you there.
Mistakes will not throw you off course unless you let them stop you. A good navigator keeps a sure eye on the final destination, but steers there through a series of approximations.
Brahma KumarisWorld Spiritual University
Your determination pulls success toward you, and your focus pushes obstacles away.
Brahma Kumaris
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 15
We can be so quick to judge, to label actions, people, circumstance as good or bad, right or wrong. By doing so we essentially limit our experience of life. Even the painful path of an alcoholic need not be labeled or judged as bad, for this path provides perspective, consciousness, gifts unattainable in any other way.
Today, I let go of my need to label or judge, remembering that often gifts are well disguised, and that God has a much bigger perspective than I.
Jeffrey R.Anderson
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 16
Ilove to awaken to the birdsong outside my bedroom window as I wonder what the new day will bring. As I look outside, it looks cold and damp as if it has been raining. Yet, regardless of the weather, the little robin perched on her branch will continue singing. The robin knows that all her needs will be provided for daily. There is no need to worry.
I also have needs, but unlike the little robin, I do worry. But, just for this morning, I will surrender my cares to the one God who provides for all creation.
Theresa Meehan
Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated.
Confucius
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 17
For me, the greatest part of recovery is the feeling that I am never alone. I have a whole sober community that I share my life with. One day someone is holding me up; another day that same person is shaky and I get to be their strong support. In recovery I have been given so much love and so much hope. A passage in “Promises” from The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says it best, “We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.”
Dorri Olds
I once was lost but now I’m found.
John Newton
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 18
Choosing an attitude of joy regardless of circumstances is a courageous act of faith, but it is also a matter of will. Such an attitude enables us to set a strong hand to whatever good we can do, lighting brave little candles against the darkness. It is a conscious decision to make my world better rather than worse. I choose this day to notice and savor every good thing. I will walk in joy that cannot be disturbed by the actions of others, but can be passed on to those who desire it.
Rhonda Brunea
We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.
Joseph Campbell
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 19
Paint it all. Not just the sunshine and the rainbows, but also the floods and the storms. Write it all. Not just about laughter and cheers, celebrations and victories, but also write about pains and tears, failures and fears. Because as the years go by and you go over your life, you will not want to miss out on anything. For even the faintest smile, even the smallest teardrop has made your life as it is.
Maria Isabel A.Arellano
Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, happiness, which is everything in the world.
Blaise Pascal
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 20
Iaccept that each time I grow or change, somewhere pain will be present. Issues that I may have accumulated over a period of decades I am dealing with in a much shorter time frame. The pain of confronting myself in these ways will be present alongside the joy that I feel. The easiest way to have the joy rests in not denying the pain, which is also a natural part of the process. All change requires a giving up, and this in itself is cause for mourning. It is this giving up, however, that clears the path for change. I know today that I am going through a purification process and though it is not easy, it is deeply worthwhile.
Tian Dayton
In order to unify ourselves we must change, renounce, give ourselves; and this violence to ourselves partakes of pain.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 21
When our last child left home I had “empty nest” syndrome big time. “Let’s get in the pickup and go for a drive,” my husband said, brushing away my tears. After a few miles I saw it. A large piece of gnarled white driftwood had been discarded by a country road. The white wood glistened in the sunlight. We put this treasure in our front yard. After many years it still stands, sharing its beauty while reminding me the best things in life are free. Letting go of my children was hard, but like my driftwood, they glisten with beauty in their freedom too.
Joan Clayton
It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.
Alan Cohen
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 22
How many times did our mother talk to us about keys? The key to happiness was trust. The key to a decent meal was practice. Being prepared was the key to end all keys. Save three months’ pay (in case you lose your job). Keep a canned hamin the pantry (for unexpected company). Have clean underwear (in case you have to go to the hospital). But I wasn’t prepared for her to die. I wasn’t prepared for a tomorrow without her. Not until our four-year-old granddaughter Amy leaned over Mom’s coffin and shook her sleeve and whispered, “When you get to Heaven, say hello to my other grandma, okay?” A child passed us the key.
Mary Lee Moynan
To live fully is to let go and die with each passing moment, and to be reborn in each new one.
Jack Kornfield
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 23
Life is fair because everything balances out; tears are eventually replaced with laughter, loneliness with companionship, fear with bravery, and pain with strength.
Today I embrace this adventure called life—taking it all in. I am able to accept what comes my way even if it’s a deep valley because I know there’s a mountaintop to come.
Brenda Nixon
Life is not so much a matter of position as of disposition.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 24
Glimpses of divine guidance do not usually appear to me as flashes of inspiration or overwhelming feelings of spiritual bliss. Often they arrive more subtly, as in a magazine article someone sends to me, or a book I happen to pick up without knowing why. I find my answers in the everyday moments as often as I do in the br
eathtaking cathedrals or quiet times of prayer. When I am too busy looking for the grand gesture, I often miss the soft whisper. Today I will keep my mind open to the tiny messages that appear to me throughout the day. I have faith that they are there; it is up to me to be open to receiving them.
Amy Ellis
Start by doing what is necessary then do what is possible. And suddenly, you are doing the impossible.
St. Francis of Assisi
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 25
We often grasp the stem of a rose precariously, fearing the pain of getting pricked. Just as sometimes, in a difficult situation, we tend to dance around the real problem in hopes of not getting hurt. We make excuses for unseemly actions committed by a loved one or ourselves. We refuse to discuss an issue that may force us to change our familiar lifestyle. We convince ourselves that a difficult task is probably not necessary after all. In avoiding the problem we lose the opportunity to correct it. We remain fearful and out of control. The fact is that by grasping the stem of a rose firmly one does not feel the prick of the thorns.
Kay Conner Pliszka
Only by facing fears can we defuse them and put ourselves back in control.
Hugh Delehanty
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 26
Before recovery, we had many questions, the most frequent being “Whyme?”Our answers to that were often too painful to face, so we drowned ourselves in alcohol, substances, food or sex.
The morning after, there still were no answers.
Just for today, we’ll ask: “Why not me?”
Candy Killion
What is the answer? In that case, what is the question?
Gertrude Stein
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 27
Everything you need has already been given to you. You have legs so you can turn and face your fears. You have arms to reach out to others. You have shoulders to brace yourself when bad times come. You have ears so you can hear the advice of others. You have eyes to see what needs to be done. And you have a smile so you can always show the face in the mirror that you’re going to be okay.
ShelleyWake
Be gentle with yourself, learn to love yourself, to forgive yourself, for only as we have the right attitude toward ourselves can we have the right attitude toward others.
Wilfred Peterson
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 28
As I become healthier, my desire to live joyfully grows. Healing means that I no longer want to live in fear, indecision or despair. If this means that I must leave a painful or destructive situation, I am free to do so. No longer do I believe that I am supposed to suffer, nor do I believe that God is ready to punish me at any moment. These beliefs are part of the addicted family sickness. Getting well means acknowledging God’s love and knowing that my healing is an expression of my Higher Power. I am making daily choices to avoid beliefs or feelings that throw me back into self-defeating cycles. I am living my life based upon the firm belief that I deserve to find joy and happiness.
Rokelle Lerner
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
William James
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 29
Believe in yourself, it is your most valuable commodity. This inner spiritual inspiration will help you find the strength to commit yourself for the long-term healing process. Your acceptance will cultivate character and patience. Denial will soon pass. As you reach for your goal the reality will overcome your old desires. A wealth of happiness erases your stress of yesterday while creating a strong accountable bond for today. Your protective covering will yield to the richness that life’s new pathway will bring; the need for a sense of personal fulfillment and satisfaction.
Suzanne Baginskie
While it takes courage to achieve greatness, it takes more courage to find fulfillment in being ordinary.
Marilyn Thomsen
Footnotes for Life
APRIL 30
Darkness is relentless in conquering everything in its path with negativity and hopelessness. “All is lost,” cries out its hapless victim. Then the dawn quietly breaks through, gently overpowering its opponent.
The exhausted soul is re-energized and consumed with thoughts of endless possibilities, hopes and dreams. A new life is born and the dawn is victorious. Darkness retreats with wounded spirit, mourning its loss and wondering how the gentleness of dawn can be so effective.
Irma Newland
Expect the dawn of a new beginning in the dark nights of life.
Lloyd John Ogilvie
Footnotes for Life
MAY 1
Iwork with children who have been ravaged by tragedy and abuse. Most days I am simply amazed and proud that these kids, especially with their acting out and “behavior problems,” have survived. One little girl in particular had been victimized at every turn in her young life. During our initial session I was given all the proof I needed of a child’s resilience as she serenaded me with the best rendition of “Itsy Bitsy Spider” I’ve ever heard. Her ability to do that reminded me that despite the awful things I see every day, mine is a great reward to meet just one of these kids, who no matter what happens in their life, can still sing.
Jennifer M.Reinsch
Those who wish to sing, always find a song.
Swedish Proverb
Footnotes for Life
MAY 2
Spring arrives. The start of the new season inspires you to begin anew. You climb another step in your healing progress, an acceptance of a stronger you. The snow melts away like the anxious feelings you’ve finally shed. The ice turns into cool water and with it your worries trickle away. Your head and heart yield to the warm gentle breeze. The challenges that threatened you are easier to overcome. Life becomes simpler and each day brighter as hope and faith prevail.
Suzanne Baginskie
If the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.
Eleonora Duse
Footnotes for Life
MAY 3
Ihave something now that I did not have as a child in an alcoholic home. I have choices. It wasn’t always like that. For example, we had the same thing for dinner every night–365 days a year! What we had for dinner was tension because no one wanted to be there. I am an adult and a father now. If I don’t learn new ways, if I don’t learn healthy behaviors and if I am not recovering, not only would it affect our children, but someday I could sit at a dinner table with grandchildren who learned to hate dinner. Family rituals are passed from generation to generation. Recovering shows us how to change them.
Robert J. Ackerman
I will be an adult child of an alcoholic until the day I die, but I am not going to die one more day because I am an adult child of an alcoholic.
Robert J. Ackerman
Footnotes for Life
MAY 4
We may have become so accustomed to hardship and pain that we have lost our ability to recognize a good thing when it arrives. We have become preoccupied looking out for the next disaster that will somehow need to be handled. When better times arrive, many of us feel like imposters, undeserving of such favor. We must remember that simply because life has been a certain way in the past does not require it always to be so. We can train our hearts to recognize and accept the good.We do ourselves a great kindness in learning to gratefully accept positive, life-giving occurrences as easily as we once accepted gloom.
Rhonda Brunea
Nothing is too wonderful to be true.