A Prayer & Some Thoughts - October

[bluidkiti]

October 18

Accepting Others Prayer

Lord,
It's sometimes hard for me to understand or accept or love those who are different from me.
I find myself wanting to change them, so that they fit my accepted patterns.
I know that the difference between us need not separate us, but my lack of understanding makes me want to stay within the safety of my own perceptions rather than embrace what seems foreign.
Give me curiosity of mind so that I am open to the perspectives that others can offer me.
Help me see the similarities that bind us together.
Amen.

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Just a Thought

"Live and Let Live."

This, of course, means tolerance of people who think differently than we do, whether they are in A.A. or outside of A.A. We cannot afford the luxury of being intolerant or critical of other people. We do not try to impose our wills on those who differ from us. We are not "holier than thou." We do not have all the answers. We are not better than other good people. We live the best way we can and we allow others to do likewise.

So ............

Am I willing to live and let live?

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Just a Contemplation

Patience

How do you treat yourself? Do you talk to yourself in a kind and loving voice? We can’t be kind and loving to others until we learn to be kind and loving with ourselves. To live this way, we must give ourselves the gift of patience.
Let’s practice patience with ourselves daily. Practice talking to yourself in a kind, loving voice. Your voice will be that of a loving parent who helps a child with a new task. Your Higher Power Is willing to be patient with you. Give yourself the same gift.

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Habits

Our drinking was connected with many habits -- big and little. Some of them were thinking habits, or things we felt inside ourselves.
Others were doing habits -- things we did, actions we took. In getting used to not drinking, we have found that we needed new habits to take the place of those old ones. . .
After we spent a few months practicing these new, sober habits or ways of acting and thinking, they became almost second nature to most of us, as drinking used to be.

Living Sober, Preface

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Just a Quote

“I live on a ship full of outcasts, populated by society's unacceptable. And yet, here I stand, happy. And I love them all. It is time to tender myself the same level of courtesy. Or perhaps it is time that I simply accepted that I too am one of the strange and abandoned.” ~ Gail Carriger